Stryper perform with battery-powered practice amps following venue power cut

For most bands, the power cutting out mid-set ranks among the most nightmarish of live scenarios. But when Christian metallers Stryper suffered a loss of power before their Saturday (November 5) performance at Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go, fortunately, they had a plan.

As the band explain in a new Instagram post, the iconic Sunset Strip venue lost power 30 minutes before they were due to go onstage. However they remained insistent to perform, and did so using two battery-powered practice amps, one snare drum, a choir of three acapella vocals and some help from the audience.

Ironically, 30 minutes after the group had finished their set – which included unplugged renditions of More Than a Man, All For One, Always There For You, Free, Yahweh and Sing-Along Song – power was restored.

“Well that was a first!” the group says, adding: “You can’t stop the rock… It was one for the books. The light always shines in the dark.”

It’s hard to make out from fan footage exactly which practice amps guitarists Michael Sweet and Oz Fox were using during the performance, though they could be a pair of Nux Mighty Lites.

This isn’t the first time in recent memory a band has improvised a show due to unforeseen circumstances. Back in June, Tracii Guns – with whom Michael Sweet teamed up with for a classic metal and doom-inspired project in 2021 – played a gig from a backstage bathroom after a panic disorder flare up.

While Michael Sweet is currently firmly in Stryper mode, he’s also enjoyed a prolific solo career, his most recent release being 2019’s Ten.

In a 2020 interview with Guitar World, the guitarist waxed lyrical on the album – which features a host of guest shredders, including Jeff Loomis, Gus G and Joel Hoekstra – and discussed why despite being a right-handed guitarist, he should have been a leftie.