03/17/2008
SKILLET CLOSES OUT WINTER JAM SUCCESS WITH LAUNCH OF HEADLINE COMATOSE TOUR - BAND TO ROCK NYC, CHICAGO, MINNEAPOLIS, AND MORE
‘COMATOSE’ in Christian SoundScan Top 10 After 75 Weeks of Release NASHVILLE, TN….3/17/08….In follow-up to a stellar 2007, in which Atlantic/Lava/Ardent/INO record’s band Skillet received their second consecutive GRAMMY® nomination, garnered 4 back-to-back No. 1 singles and doubled the sales of their 2004 release, the rockers just performed before over 300,000 fans on Winter Jam and are ready to headline their COMATOSE TOUR starting next week on March 27th in Minneapolis. Hitting approximately 30 cities, including New York City,’s Grand Ball Room and Chicago’s House of Blues, the tour will also feature Thousand Foot Krutch and special guest Decyfer Down, running through May 11, 2008. Tour dates are listed below and more information can be found at Skillet.com and Myspace.com/skilletmusic.
Criss-crossing the country over the past year and a half with other bands like Flyleaf, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace and MercyMe, Barlow Girl Mandisa and more on Winter Jam, Skillet is excited to be launching their own tour. “we’ve had an amazing run with this album and these songs,” frontman John Cooper remarks. “We’ve done everything from arena’s to theaters, to churches and small clubs, and it’s awesome to finally go on a headline tour where we can play over an hour of rock!!”
As COMATOSE continues to be one of the best-selling projects in Christian music, in the top 10 after 75 weeks of release and 312,000 units scanned, Skillet is also nominated for a GMA Dove Award for ARTIST OF THE YEAR and ROCK RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR (“Comatose”), and became one the most popular bands ever in the history of the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, Christian music’s largest annual musical tour. In 2008 Winter Jam brought in more fans than ever before, with attendance trending 20 percent ahead of last year.
“Skillet was positioned on the Winter Jam 2008 Tour to provide a major part of the rock format for the event,” commented Premiere Productions’ Roy Morgan, who co-produces the Winter Jam Tour with NewSong. “We were pleasantly surprised at the response the audience gave them each night. Thousands of Skillet fans attended Winter Jam and Premier Productions has signed on to promote some of the COMATOSE tour dates. We look forward to growing together with this band in the future.”
Skillet’s current rock hit is already #3 on the Christian rock chart with a bullet on their song from the COMATOSE Deluxe Edition, “Live Free Or Let Me Die,” and they’ll be releasing “Those Nights” to CHR in April. In addition, Skillet will headline several rock stages and pre-closing slots at top summer festivals including Creation East and West, Kingdom Bound, Soulfest, Cornerstone, Icthus, NewSong, Rock the Universe, Spirit West Coast, Sonshine, LifeFest Alive, Red Letter Rockfest, and many more.
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Skillet’s explosive 2006 Lava/Atlantic/Ardent/INO Records GRAMMY-nominated release, Comatose follows 2004’s Collide, which launched the group into the public eye and garnered the band their first prestigious Grammy nomination. A critical fave, Comatose has become their best-selling project to date, doubling the sales of Collide in half the time. In follow up to packed out headline club shows, a tour with FlyLeaf, and summer festivals Skillet spent last fall opening for mainstream rockers Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace. In the process of becoming one of the hardest working, most rocking, and broadly appealing acts of its generation, radio welcomed Comatose with open arms, as the first single, “Rebirthing” spent seven-weeks at No.1 on Christian Rock. Their second single, “The Last Night,” also took the top spot, this time at both Rock and CHR (CRW/R&R), while their latest singles, “The Older I Get” (CHR/Rock) and “Comatose” have become their third and fourth consecutive No. 1 singles. At the end of 2007 the band was lauded with R&R’s No. 1 Christian CHR Song of the Year for “The Last Night”, which was also R&R’s No. 2 Christian Rock song of the year. In addition, Skillet was named 2007s No. 2 top artist on both the CHR and ROCK year end lists.