This past Friday, I took a vanful of Sr. Highers and God’s favorite youth leader to Terminal 5 in NYC to check out the David Crowder Band in concert. If you have ever seen a Crowder show you know you are in for a good time but you also know you are in for a worshipful experience. They have this interesting ability to combine the reverence and a great mood that allows you to think, “I”m worshipping, I’m having fun, it’s not cheesy, and I don’t feel guilty. Well alright then.”
Taken from @crowderband's twitpic
Opening was Seabird who got a lot of Relevant Magazine buzz. We also caught their set at this year’s RevGen. I think what I like about Seabird is that they are a band that has a solid piano feel but doesn’t sound like Coldplay. Now we all like us some Viva La Vida but every once in a while it’s cool to see a piano and not think Chris Martin. Not only do they have their own sound, but they don’t dress like hipsters. They pointed that out when they said they needed to buy skinny jeans so people wouldn’t stare at their overalls. At least the boys from, umm …. I think they said Kentucky which makes that the first time I heard that state mentioned all year since I filled in Kentucky for my March Madness bracket. Anyway, they are comfortable with themselves. They have some solid songs like “Rescue”, “Falling For You” (which I hear was on Grey’s Anatomy) and “Don’t Know You Are Beautiful”. You can listen to their myspace stream here.
Following Seabird was a Danyew. I think it’s the lead’s last name and I think he said his first name was Phil. Not sure. A lot of the attention went to his drummer, Brandon, who plays like he was Jesus clearing out the temple. Taking no prisoners, he beats those drums with everything he’s got including coins from a barista’s tip jar. I remember liking the sound but they were more entertaining to watch. It got them noticed and I am sure they will figure out the balance of their music and showmanship. I think the catchy song was “Streetlight”. It’s about how God hovers over your life like a streetlight and illuminates the road but then it gets dark again but then there’s another streetlight. See? Ok, it’s not about that at all, in fact, I have no idea what it is but they seem cool and I wish them the best.
Then Crowder Band took the stage – in suits because you know, it’s the Church Music tour and you have to dress up for church. There is so much I like about this band. They understand that worship music needs to evolve and they create a lot of good energy that isn’t really directed at them. Who would have thought that this tall, skinny guy with big hair would be able to lead the masses over so many years in worship. I mean let’s face it, “being sexy for Jesus” is the last thing on anyone’s mind. The words are on a screen asking you to sing along and at every show there is a mandate to just sing loud and not pretty and that’s what people did.
The 80’s new wave sound of Church Music is a brilliant departure from Remedy and Collision and my hope is that we learn to incorporate these new songs in our worship communities. It will be tough but I hope to see worship bands in the future use these new sounds. I’m all for guitar, drums and the Jars of Clay violin but it will be nice to see how we evolve from here. They played the new stuff like “Happiness” and “How He Loves” and the old stuff like “O Praise Him”, “You Are My Joy” and “Glory of it All”.
To name three other big bands in the Christian music scene that I genuinely appreciate would be Jars of Clay, Switchfoot and uhh, … ummm … well three is a lot but that’s why Crowder is special.
Worst part of the night was not being able to escape all the Owl City mentions (you know who you are). Come on people, it’s catchy but we all know it’s a publicity stunt by Relient K’s Matt Thiessen.
taken from the stage by Mike (the bassist).
This past Thursday I had the good fortune of going to see U2 at Giants Stadium with some good friends. First, even if you think U2 is overrated and are convinced that Bono is the antichrist, you should really go see a U2 show. Second, even if you don’t have the money, go find a treasure in someone’s property, sell everything you own, buy the field, and resell it so you can buy a ticket to see U2. If that’s too impractical, then remember the good Lord created you with two kidneys. The one is essential for life and the other is your U2 concert fund.
1. Are all those tables in the Resource Tent necessary? Honestly, some of them mock our faith more than help it. I know it helps offset the costs of the event but is it substantial? Unless they are serving as an example of what artists like Derek Webb are singing against, I’m fairly certain that if Jesus were to return on Labor Day weekend, He would first stop at this tent, overthrow half these tables and then continue on to that East Gate in Jerusalem that He’s supposed to walk through ;-)
The story of “Revelation Generation” begins quite awkwardly for me. I had just begun my second pastorate here and had decided to take the students to this new music festival with a name that I wasn’t crazy about. Long story short – Rev Gen got rained out and headed to Philly. The following year, we attended and the kids loved the Philly Stage and stayed for Newsboys. Last year was exactly the same, kids loved Philly Stage, and the Newsboys did the exact same set list, down to Peter telling the same stories. We left during Breakfast in Hell to beat the traffic. After that, I was fairly certain that we would not return (We have a saying in Texas, “That says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again”). How could we return for a fourth year? Well, we’re glad we did and here’s why.
2. We didn’t do the Friday concert last year but this year, they had Jars of Clay, Matt West, Delirious, and Mercy Me. For most of us, wanting to hear Jars do new songs off “The Long Fall Back to Earth” was the reason we came Friday. The unfortunate thing was we underestimated a couple of things. Some of our students had just returned to school and so by the time we left, we missed most of the bands. Two, Jars wasn’t headlining. Three, Mercy Me was. And Four, it wasn’t really Jars’ best show. Not a big crowd yet, not very energetic either. Then Jars said they lost track of time and were told they had just played their last song. Frankly, I think the concert organizers should have let them play their last song, it was clearly an accident and they are an established band. I don’t know the business of putting on concerts but I’m pretty sure Jars has earned enough respect to play one more. So in the most anti-climatic way, Dan took the blame, apologized for not paying attention to the clock and said something like, “We want to be invited back so we’ll say good-bye here.” I thought it was pretty classy to submit to the stage manager and end their show the worst way possible. I know I’m not being complimentary but it was an awkward moment that Jars handled really well and it spoke to me a bit.
3. Unless you go into the merchandise tent, you don’t feel that you are at one of those cheesy Christian concert events. The production is fantastic from the signs a few miles away directing you how to get this to obscure farm to the numerous workers and volunteers that create a presence of “we know what we are doing so don’t get any ideas.” They have great signage, very professional looking stages, and enough porta-potites to “facilitate the pending needs” of their own feeding of 5000.
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