Location, location, location. What a difference a seat can make at a concert. Back in April I blogged about the Skillet and TobyMac concert at Liberty University (see "Joyful Noise"). I was disappointed about the seats we got (General Admission + not arriving early enough = FAIL), and also that Rebecca couldn't come along. But last night, lo and behold... God gave me a second chance. The tour ended last night in our hometown. My brother-in-law and I went to the Salem Civic Center a couple months back to get tickets and make sure we had decent seats. Boy, did we pick out some decent seats.
I don't necessarily want to recap everything the way I did for the previous concert, but man, as good as it was back in April... last night was infinitely greater. No exaggeration here... I think it was the best concert experience of my life. Please re-read. Okay, I did not say it was the greatest concert ever. What was? I don't know. Not qualified. But last night was the greatest concert experience ever... for me.
After "Shonlock" (Desean Bullock) warmed things up a bit, Skillet set the place on fire... almost literally with a nice touch of pyrotechnics. They are a band worthy of their own headlining tours. Lead singer and bass player John Cooper is a rockstar/performer/screamer/vocalist that I think tries to lose his voice during every show. His wife, Korey Cooper, jams along side him on rhythm guitar and keyboard. Ben Kasica is their well-qualified lead guitarist (meaning he can play the guitar behind his head... really well). And if you don't love their back-up vocalist and drummer chick extraordinaire, Jen Ledger, by the end of the night... leave your man card at the door. Anyway, big props to Skillet... again the best band out there with the worst name. And I recently read that John Cooper would agree with me about the name.
John Cooper of Skillet.
To quote some of his Funky Jesus Music lyrics, TobyMac and the Diverse City Band brought "that hip, that rock, that funky soul" and we watched that tour finale party grow! Yes, the night got better (as you should expect). Toby did his thing, and while I didn't document the entire night because I was just trying to take it all in, enjoy it, and worship God in the most exciting way for me, here's what else I want to remember and share about this concert: (a) God was in it -- I'm not a Christian hand-raiser (you know who you are and what I mean), but I was last night, and I wanted to show God not just with my heart, but publicly with my hands that I am His, and in some of those moments of true worship it almost seemed quiet in there; there's my touchy-feely thought for the day; (b) it felt like my wife and I were actually on a date, which there aren't enough of these days; (c) again... GREAT seats; (d) Toby's participation in the crowd -- Toby popped up at one point in the stands, and this teeny-bopper girl is freaked out next to him, and as he made his way back to the stage climbing across the chairs directly in front of us... OMG, I touched him with a manly slap on the back! You're jealous; (e) the acoustic set with Toby, Gabe Patillo (beat-boxing fool) and Tim Rosenau (guitar) -- happened right in front of us (see pic below -- no zoom, iPhone pic) and Toby gave us some scripture from 1 John 1;
Toby, Gabe, T-Rose.
(f) although Toby sported a green and black Houston Astros cap during his performance, he originally came out with a St. Louis Cardinals cap on -- and my "man crush" was official; (g) jammed some of my favorites: Tonight (tour/album title track), Extreme Days, Lose My Soul, Made to Love, City On Our Knees (with God of This City finish on it), and of course, J Train to name a few; and (h) the Winter Wonder Slam finale complete with white paper confetti snow and during which the Burger King Bandit (yes, that one) busted in and "shared" some Whoppers. Silly...
Enough said. It was a good night. Another memorable night of joyful noise.
I expressed to my church family yesterday that the concert my friends and I attended Saturday night was filled with music that many would likely consider "just a bunch of noise." I am here to testify that Skillet and TobyMac make incredibly joyful noise. The Vines Center at Liberty University has officially been rocked.
The concert was great and I left only wishing (a) that Rebecca could've come, (b) that we got there sooner because (c) our seats left much to be desired (vision, sound... oy!), and (d) that Kirk Franklin was there to sing his part of Lose My Soul. A concert like this is not meant to be experienced in general admission seats. I mean, I could still hear when I left. That won't happen again.
What was awesome was (a) the company (Wilson, Matt, Catherine, and thousands of others); (b) Skillet busted out the pyrotechnics... yes, enormous burst of flames that may have claimed a few eyebrows before the night was over; (c) Tobymac opened on a small platform at the back end of the floor (right where my seats for his previous concert were... doh!) and then proceeded through the crowd, eventually body surfing to the stage; (d) Skillet's girl drummer/back-up singer -- who banged out a solid solo at one point; (e) Toby's participation in the crowd; (f) the acoustic set also done from the small platform; (g) that we were able to move over to some better seats for the last 4 songs, including the Jesus Freak finale; (h) Skillet playing Monster; (i) TobyMac mixing in some familiar secular sounds (i.e. We Are Family by Sister Sledge and Imma Be by the Black Eyed Peas) and medleys of tracks from prior albums including... (j) J? J Train, of course.
There is likely much more that I'm leaving out that I might have caught if I had better seats. Regardless, it was a good time, and in the end I realized that there were a bunch of young people there (college students, high school students that were also there for Liberty's "College for a Weekend" program, and kids even younger than that) that all likely also listen to a lot of music/noise that isn't as good for the soul as Skillet and TobyMac. And I praise God that there are some solids artists out there looking to praise Him with a bunch of really cool noise.
I love Jesus, I love my wife, and I love my kids. I love the rest of my family (church family included), too. Next comes Cardinals baseball and my dog. Then the Redskins. Then other dogs.
At 33, I decided to carry the burden of a blog. No, it’s not exactly like getting flogged and having to drag a cross up a long hill only to be hung on it to bear the sin of all mankind like someone else did at 33. Rather, a burden of upkeep and the pressure of keeping it creative and interesting for the thousands who will likely follow this blog religiously, questioning everyday whether they should check for updates here or read their daily devotionals first. I am uncertain what will come of it, but my initial intentions are to catalog family stuff I don’t (and do) want to forget, think out loud, ramble aimlessly if needed, be incredibly clever and witty, avoid politics, attempt brainwashing, talk sports, reminisce, and through it all, share Jesus as I get to know his heart better. Your thoughts are welcome.
