By Mitchell “Stitch” Stafford

STURGIS, S.D. — Some concerts are about seeing a band you love. Others have a way of transporting you back to a completely different point in your life.

Monday night at the Legendary Buffalo Chip was the latter.

For me, watching P.O.D. and Skillet take the Wolfman Jack Stage wasn’t simply another night of concerts during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. These were two bands I grew up listening to. They were part of the soundtrack of a generation of rock fans, myself included, and hearing those songs again underneath the lights of the Buffalo Chip brought back memories I hadn’t thought about in years.

It also served as a reminder of just how much both bands have contributed to rock music over the past three decades.

The night began with P.O.D., scheduled for a 75-minute set before Skillet closed out the evening. P.O.D. has always been one of those bands that was difficult to put into a box. They emerged from San Diego mixing metal, hip-hop, punk, reggae and alternative rock at a time when the boundaries between those genres were beginning to disappear.

And then came 2001’s Satellite.

The album became a defining record of early-2000s rock, eventually going triple platinum and producing songs including “Alive,” “Youth of the Nation,” “Boom” and the title track. P.O.D. would ultimately earn three Grammy nominations, including nominations for “Alive” and “Youth of the Nation.” Those songs weren’t simply popular. They were everywhere.

Monday night, hearing them again reminded me why.

There is something different about standing in a crowd thousands strong and hearing songs you grew up with come roaring through a massive concert sound system. You don’t have to think about the words. They’re just there.

But the P.O.D. song I was waiting for wasn’t from Satellite. It was “Southtown.” Before “Alive.” Before “Youth of the Nation.” Before P.O.D. became one of the biggest rock bands of the early 2000s, there was “Southtown,” from 1999’s The Fundamental Elements of Southtown.

It was the first P.O.D. song I ever heard. And it was my favorite.

More than 25 years later, hearing it live at the Buffalo Chip was one of those full-circle moments that music has an incredible ability to create. Suddenly you’re not thinking about how many years have passed. You’re remembering where you were when you first discovered a band and why that song grabbed you in the first place.

P.O.D. still brings the energy and authenticity that made the band stand apart in the first place. Frontman Sonny Sandoval remains an incredibly engaging presence, and there is still a looseness and groove to P.O.D. that separates them from a lot of bands from their era.

They never sounded exactly like everybody else. That’s probably a big reason they’re still here.

Then came Skillet.

And if P.O.D.’s performance felt like reconnecting with an old friend, Skillet’s set felt like opening a time capsule and realizing you still knew every word inside it. Monday marked Skillet’s first performance at the Buffalo Chip, despite a career that now spans three decades. That career has become much larger than many people probably realize.

Skillet has earned two Grammy nominations, a Billboard Music Award, three Top 5 albums on the Billboard 200 and more than 20 million units sold worldwide. “Monster” alone has accumulated more than a billion streams on Spotify.

But statistics don’t really explain what happened at the Chip Monday night.

The crowd did.

Skillet has accumulated an almost ridiculous number of songs people immediately recognize, and throughout the set the Buffalo Chip became one enormous singalong.

“Monster.”

“Hero.”

“Awake and Alive.”

“Feel Invincible.”

“The Resistance.”

These are songs that have lived on rock radio, in sporting arenas, video games, television broadcasts and people’s playlists for years. Monday night, thousands of voices reminded you exactly how deeply they’ve become embedded in modern rock culture.

For someone who grew up with this music, it was impossible not to get nostalgic.

There were moments throughout Skillet’s performance when I found myself remembering different periods of my life connected to these songs. That’s the strange thing about music. A guitar riff can unlock a memory faster than almost anything else.

You remember the people.

You remember the places.

You remember who you were.

And suddenly thousands of people at the Buffalo Chip are singing the same chorus with you.

John Cooper remains one of rock’s most recognizable frontmen, but Skillet’s live show has never been about one person. Korey Cooper brings an intensity to the stage that is impossible to ignore, Seth Morrison gives the songs the guitar muscle they demand, and Jen Ledger remains one of the band’s secret weapons — pounding away behind the kit while also providing vocals that have become an essential part of the Skillet sound.

It’s a polished, enormous rock show.

But underneath the production is something even more important: songs that have lasted.

Rock music has changed tremendously since P.O.D. first broke through with “Southtown” in 1999 and since Skillet began building its audience in the mid-’90s. Genres have risen and disappeared. Radio formats have changed. The way we discover music has completely transformed. Yet both bands are still standing. More importantly, people still care.

P.O.D. has sold more than 12 million records over its career, while Skillet has built one of the most commercially successful catalogs in modern hard rock. Their careers also helped demonstrate that bands with openly positive and faith-influenced messages didn’t have to remain confined to one corner of the music industry. Both crossed boundaries and found audiences far beyond any single label placed upon them.

That impact was evident Monday night.

There were longtime fans who grew up with these songs. There were younger fans experiencing them in a completely different era. And there were thousands of people somewhere in between, throwing their hands in the air and singing songs that have somehow survived decades without losing their punch.

For me, though, the night kept coming back to memories. Hearing “Southtown” and remembering the first time P.O.D. caught my attention. Hearing those massive Skillet choruses and realizing just how many of them I still knew word for word. Looking around the Buffalo Chip and seeing thousands of other people having their own version of that exact same experience.

That’s what makes music special.

Eventually, songs stop belonging solely to the bands that wrote them. They become attached to first cars, old friends, road trips, relationships, victories, heartbreaks and chapters of our lives we didn’t realize were becoming memories while we were living them.

Monday night, P.O.D. and Skillet didn’t just play a rock show at the Buffalo Chip.

For a lot of us, they played pieces of our lives back to us.

And for a few hours in Sturgis, we got to be those kids discovering those songs for the first time all over again.

Photos by Mitchell Stafford