Skillet Ignites Pensacola
By Nikki Hedrick & Chris Nicholson
On November 20, the Pensacola Bay Center hosted The Awakening Tour featuring the bands Jeremy Camp, Skillet, and We Are Messengers.
We were fortunate that Chris Nicholson was there photographing the event, and I asked him to send along a few notes about his experience. He had previously seen Skillet during an earlier tour sometime in the early 2000s, being pulled to the concert by some younger co-workers. He called that show a ‘standout memory’, including the fact that he met and connected with their touring photographer.
But he shared that this recent performance topped the previous one. He was incredibly pumped to get approved to photograph the night, especially because of the other artists it featured. He noted how We Are Messengers opened with a very harmonic, melodic sing-along set. Next up was Jeremy Camp, who delivered inspired, high-caliber worship pop-rock. Chris noted that Camp’s set did more than just energize the crowd—it fed it, connecting deeply with everyone.
When Skillet walked out, the arena absolutely roared, and it was “Ready, Set, Showtime.”
He said everyone was absolutely amped up with anticipation and were bouncing in unison as the set began—families, friends, and longtime fans all there together, singing, shouting, and moving together.
Every face seemed to be lit up with the same electric mix of joy and intensity as Skillet reminded everyone of the power of unity and connection.
Chris noted that their set was loud, heavy, and absolutely full of monster riffs, saying that in short, ‘it was a mix of a high-energy Southern gospel church experience with a Metallica meets KISS concert’. He said Skillet absolutely blew everyone away with their music, message, and sheer force combined.
He’s so grateful for the experience and that he was able to connect with another local photographer at the show who helped him learn venue. And that is a cool thing about concert photography, in general—that sense of community and connection that often happens, where we’re all out there to accomplish some of the same goals and share music that is meaningful to us through our lens.
I know Chris had an absolutely stellar time, and his shots bear witness to that. I’m so excited to be able to share a variety of his photos below from Skillet from that night.
And I’ll leave you with his advice: If you’ve never seen Skillet live before, absolutely go out and do it.
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