City Rockfest Tour Brings Christian Rock To Pikeville, Kentucky! [Review & Photo Gallery]

Seventh Day Slumber

This is the fifth year of the City Rockfest Tour but the first time the tour came to Pikeville, Kentucky at the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center. A tour featuring some of Christian rock/metals biggest names. With Seventh Day Slumber heading up an all-star group of bands this was lining up to be a killer night of music.

Amongst The Giants

This show was different than most well, all of the rock/metal shows I’ve been to lately. Who am I kidding? Its way different than any of the shows I’ve been too lately. For example, I parked next to a church bus in the parking garage! There were groups in attendance that had youth group tee shirts repressing different churches, so I knew this was going to be a different kind of crowd and it was, not saying a bad crowd by any means but it was different than your average metal show.

Zahna

There wasn’t anything average about the music these bands were about to play. The music on stage was intense from all six bands while the lyrics were filled with positive messages that were and are equally as intense as the music. There was no doubt that these bands were here in Pikeville to rock, but they had a message as well. It was obvious from the onset that this was a Christian based event, but that being said these bands didn’t try to force anything down anyone’s throat that didn’t believe like they did. No one preached at the crowd, sure a couple of the bands talked about why they were on the tour. Talked about their pasts, where they are now, how they got to this point and what helped them get there. Which from any bands its always good to hear a personal story about them between songs. With 3 hours of music being advertised there wasn’t a whole lot of time left for conversation, so bands mostly let the music do the talking.

Random Hero

Rock they did! Amongst the Giants kicked the night off, playing music from their latest release ‘Obscene’ which is anything but obscene! They were followed closely by Zahna who is also supporting a recently released album ‘Red For War’ which had a top 5 single on Billboard’s Christian Rock chart with “Underneath”. Random Hero and The Protest were the next up. Both veteran rock bands from Colorado and Indiana respectively have had several Billboard charting songs over the years. With those songs and a few others this crowd didn’t stand a chance, the rock and roll onslaught was in full affect!

The Protest

This night was far from finished though, now it was time for Righteous Vendetta and Seventh Day Slumber. Righteous Vendetta came out and kicked this crowd right up side the head! Firing on all cylinders preforming songs from 2017’s mainstream and Christian rock hit album ‘Cursed’ with songs like “War Is Killing Us All” and the title track “Cursed.”

Righteous Vendetta

The most senior of the bands on this night (formed in 1996) Seventh Day Slumber took the stage to close out this night of amazing music. These guys are a Dove Award winning band with numerous top hits on the Christian rock charts over a two decade career, that experience and talent shows on stage. One of the fore runners of Christian metal over their 20 plus year career Seventh Day Slumber doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. With their 11th studio album ‘Closer to Chaos’ due out in the next few months, the future continues to be bright.

Seventh Day Slumber

If these six bands are any indication of the quality of bands the Christian metal genre has to offer, there will be no stopping this music! As always get out and support your local venues and bands as well as these national tours when they come through your area.