Years ago, when it was announced that Lacey Sturm was leaving Flyleaf, I never thought I'd get to see her with the band performing live again. To celebrate 20 years of their self-titled album, Flyleaf is back together on the road again, selling out shows across the country and bringing fans a hearty dose of nostalgia with one great rock show.

On Saturday, July 11, 2026, the tour rolled up to the The Fillmore in Philadelphia, PA. It's a venue I've been to at least once before, and it's definitely a great venue for a rock show. Tonight's show - like many on this tour - was sold out, so it was a truly packed house.

The doors opened at 6:30pm and the show started promptly at 7:30pm with Credential Recordings artist MYTCH. I was completely unfamiliar with MYTCH's work walking into the venue, but he took the stage accompanied by a live band, bathed in dark purple lighting, and shrouded in mystery. Actually, all of them were shrouded... literally. This is definitely the first concert I can say I've seen in the 30-plus years of attending concerts where I've witnessed a band be dragged out on stage with bags over their heads like hostages. MYTCH himself was carried onto the stage like he was brought to a secret meeting and unveiled for the audience. Then, between songs, a voice played with a story stitching the performance together like some kind of dystopian scenario. It was bizarre, I'll just say that. It's the kind of thing that you'd expect a big band everyone already loves to do - like Twenty One Pilots - but it seemed especially strange for a fairly unknown band to do. Granted, it certainly makes an impression... but it was definitely unusual. The music the band performed was an electronic-driven rock sound, and it made for a fairly reasonable opening act for a rock tour like this one. To end their set, the band's heads were bagged again and they were carried off stage.

After a brief break, hard rocker Zahna took the stage next at 8:20pm. She's been involved in the Christian rock circle for a while now, so it was nice to finally catch her live show, personally. With a sound that is probably more of a Seventh Day Slumber meets Flyleaf with that screaming edge at times, it's a sound that definitely fits with the tour's aesthetic. Her set opened with a drum solo, and then the singer herself took the stage to perform "Hate Me." "The Archer" followed, and then Zahna announced that her new album, Break or Breakthrough, would release September 4th and that the title track had just released the day before. After performing that track, she performed another new one - specifying it wasn't out yet - encouraging the audience to clap along. Before the next song, Zahna asked the crowd, "When confronting evil, will you stand against it or bend a knee?" and launched into her new song, "Defiler." And it was to the surprise of everyone that Korn's Brian "Head" Welch joined her on stage to perform the song with her! Zahna then talked about working with Head and joining his new record label, XOVR Records, and then performed Head's band Love and Death's song "The Abandoning," with Love and Death member JR Bareis also in tow. It was a pretty neat moment for sure. Zahna closed her set with "Let Me Love You," with Head and JR still accompanying her band. Their set ended around 9:00pm.

At about 9:30pm sharp, the main event - Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm - hit the stage. But instead of coming out in a blaze, they came out in more of a whisper. With Lacey on her knees, bent over her microphone, and guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya standing stoic beside her, the duo performed a portion of "In the Dark" before the full band erupted into one of my favorites, "The Chasm." I've enjoyed seeing Lacey's solo shows several times over the years since she left the band, so it was not only a little surreal to see her on stage with them again, but she truly felt at home with her bandmates. This just felt... right. I was happy to hear a steady flow and mix of songs from their impressive catalog. With this being the 20th anniversary of their hit self-titled album, I expected the setlist to lean heavily on those songs. To my excitement, actually, it didn't. "Again," "Fire Fire," "Beautiful Bride," and "Great Love" (all songs I love) all followed before the band landed on "Cassie" from the self-titled album. The delicious rocker "Freedom" was a nice inclusion next, and I noticed the crowdsurfing picking up some serious steam by the time "Stand" came next. "Cage on the Ground" and "This Close" came next until things finally slowed down a little for "Saving Grace." But that didn't last long before "Call Out" kicked the energy back into gear, followed by "Fully Alive," when Lacey finally took a moment to address the audience. When you see Lacey live for her solo sets, she's very vocal about sharing her heart, her faith and her story. So it seemed a little strange that she had been so quiet tonight. However, it was quite evident that the band just wanted to cram as many songs as possible into their hour-and-fifteen-minute set. Slower tracks from the self-titled album, "Sorrow" and "So I thought," were next before - finally - fans got to hear the song they were probably most excited to hear, "I'm So Sick." Lacey followed it by asking how many people had seen them live before, and then reflected on how it was an absolute miracle that Sameer was standing on stage before them after having broken his spine in a motorcycle accident in November of last year. With a little inspiration in her words, the band launched into another fan favorite from the self-titled album, "All Around Me," to close out the night.

Aside from a few technical sound issues with instruments or vocals dropping out or sounding quieter, it was a truly incredible set from Flyleaf. The opening acts were both fun additions to the night, too, and it made for a pretty solid rock show. While no one really knows what the future holds for Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm behind the microphone, I can only hope this won't be the last we'll hear from them. Will there be new music? Another tour? We don't know. But I can say with certainty: if you have a chance to see this tour in person, do not miss it!

From the merch table: I forgot to take some pics of the merch tables, but Flyleaf had several new t-shirts and at least one new hoodie (featuring a skeletal representation of the injury Sameer sustained on the back of it), and their self-titled album on vinyl. The shirts and vinyl were all $40 each, and the hoodie was a steep $80. It still amazes me how high concert merch has gotten these days.

-- John DiBiase, 7/15/26