STRIKER CONCERT REVIEW NILE THEATER APRIL14, 2022

Striker Concert Review Nile Theater April 14, 2022 by Roc Boyum

Striker, Canadian heavy metal masters, brought their neo/classic 80’s style metal to a ravenous Nile Theater audience on April 14, 2022. The band is Dan Cleary-vocals, John Simon Fallon and Tim Brown– rhythm/lead guitars, backing vocals, Pete Klassen-Bass, backing vocals and Jono Webster-drums and backing vocals. Striker hit the stage full throttle with a seven song set that was like an unstoppable tornadic force! Unleashing their signature sound of screaming vocals, lightning fast lead guitar solos with melodic guitar harmonies, a rhythm section that rolls like thunder and vocal harmonies by each band member, all make Striker, a truly awesome live concert experience!

The band came out of the gate with their hard hitting track “Heart of Lies” from their latest 2018 release, Play to Win. Singer Cleary fired up the audience from the moment the band hit the stage with his intense cyclonic energy that immediately had everyone pumping their fists high in the air. Cleary’s scorching vocals had elements of Sabastian Bach and Bruce Dickinson while maintaining his own unique vocal style; Cleary is definitely one of the most powerful hard rock singers on the scene today! The band’s studio recordings, of course have excellent musicianship and superb vocals but can a band deliver that same studio magic live? Striker, unequivocally removed any such doubts, proving that this is a live band that exceeds their studio performances.

Dan Cleary

Singer Clearly introduced the Arizona fan favorite, “Phoenix Nights” by saying; if you haven’t heard this one, it’s about your home town, before we start this song I want to see double fists in the air; immediately the audience was a sea of double fists that were held up high in the air! The song starts with drummer Webster unleashing a rapid fire combination attack of 16th notes between his tom toms and double pedal bass drum that were a brutal assault. Webster’s punishing drum carnage was then ensued by Klassens pumping bass rhythms and the driving guitars of Fallon and Brown. The song also has some blistering guitar solos that were led by Fallon, who shredded his fret board with a combination of mind numbing speed and brilliant finger tapping; guitarist Brown finished the solo section with a flurry of rapid fire 32nd notes. The song of course has some insane vocal acrobatics by Cleary and some real sweet vocal harmonies by Fallon, Brown, Klassen and drummer Webster that are a cut above most bands live.

Tim Brown

For the song “Too late”, the audience began throwing their fists in the air to the beat of the band’s driving rhythms while simultaneously chanting Hay Hay Hay! to the pounding drum and guitar accents. The last song of the night was “Fight For Your Life” from their 2012 release, Armed to The Teeth. This song had the whole audience chanting the chorus lines, Fight for Your Life, Fight for Your Freedom throughout the entire song.

L-R, John Simon Fallon and Pete Klassen

Their set was a total of seven blistering songs with only one track,” Heart of Lies” from their latest Play to Win LP. I am looking forward to when they come back around next time with a longer set and hopefully some more songs from the Play to Win LP that contains some of their best work to date.

Metal bands grow their fan base by playing live shows, and these guys are gathering their fans at exponential numbers with every show they play. It definitely won’t be long before Striker supports their own headline tours with sold out venues and escalating ticket prices. You have to see Striker live to get the full intensity of the band’s music, so don’t hesitate to get out there and ride the wave of this powerful musical force; you’ll be glad you did!

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The Striker Nile Theater set list was:

Heart of Lies

Born to Lose

Deathwish

Strange Love

Phoenix Lights

Too Late

Fight For Your Life