Alright, here’s my “review” of last night’s extravaganza at the Dallas House of Blues. This will likely be lengthy, so roll with me here.
First of all I want to give a HUGE thanks to Keith and Faith for arranging this whole thing for my wife and me. This was a fantastic gift that I appreciate in a humongous way. We dropped the kids off at their house around 5:15 pm, and headed down the tollway towards the newest House of Blues.
Downtown in the Big-D was crazy busy, even for a Friday night. The Texas/OU game is today, so there were tons of football fans down at the local bars and clubs. There was also the Dallas Stars home opener at the American Airlines Center, which is about two blocks from the HoB. After driving around just a bit lost (since when we hit downtown, the HoB was actually just behind us as we came off the highway and merged with traffic) we got a parking spot in the West End, and asked the attendant where to find the place. He pointed in the opposite direction of where I thought the place was and said, “See that smoke? That’s it right there.” We make the walk of about a block under I-35E, and up to the ticket window of HoB to pick up our tickets.
We get in line at the side entrance, which is the entrance for concerts, and I give Keith a call to let him know we’ve arrived. He’s the Executive Chef of the Foundation Room, which is essentially where all the rich and powerful types eat when they come to the HoB. Basically, the Foundation Room collects a percentage of its proceeds and puts it towards music and arts in the inner city. That’s a pretty awesome deal if you ask me.
Keith comes out a side door just a few feet from where we’re standing, and walks with us through the line as we go through the security junket of emptying our pockets and get wanded. He tells us about the history of HoB, which I had no clue about (basically the whole “Unity in Diversity” thing of all races, religions, culture, creed, etc.) We get to the door for the main hall, and he heads back to work.
Joy and I get in and get fairly close to the stage, maybe about 15 feet from center, just a few feet in front of the sound board. (A massive Digidesign moster, by the way.) We don’t have to wait too long before The Myriad comes out to get the party started.
What can I say about The Myriad? I honestly had never heard them before, and didn’t bother looking up anything about them before the concert. Let me just say this, they rock! Now, I will say that I couldn’t understand a single word that was sung (well, not exactly true, I did make out a few, including “Jesus”) but they were still great. Their sound is massive and tight, and I will definitely get a hold on their new record when it comes out. Their drummer is an absolute monster on the kit, and the entire band is very high energy and fun to watch. Besides the drummer, I especially liked seeing the lead guitarist use a violin bow on his guitar, and the keyboard guy jump over to the drumset a start banging away on a huge bass drum.
As Keith had explained to us in church on Sunday, the production crew at the HoB runs things like clockwork. He had called earlier in the day to tell us the starting times of each band, and he wasn’t kidding. At EXACTLY 7:30 pm, The Myriad was done and the stage was being struck for Phil Wickham. Phil started playing at EXACTLY 7:40 pm.
My take on Phil: fantastic. Again, I was not very familiar with Phil, but I had borrowed his two CDs from the church youth group’s collection to get a little familiar. My verdict, he’s much better live with just his two Taylor acoustics than his studio CDs. In fact, when I listened to Cannons in my car, I couldn’t make out about half of his words, mainly because of the reverb they put on his voice during the final mix. At HoB last night, every single word was crisp and clear, and I was able to thoroughly involve myself with his music. He even quickly taught us a chorus and had us singing along loudly. My only “negative” comment on Phil’s part of the night is “what was up with that t-shirt/vest combo man?” Back in the corner of the stage, you could see Brody Harper (who usually travels with Shaun Groves) taking pictures of the event.
Again, right on time, Phil was done at 8:10 pm, and Crowder took the stage at 8:15 pm. The in-between time was less since the majority of the DC*B’s gear was already on-stage, and they moved even more in between The Myriad and Phil’s sets. After that quick turn around, Crowder and Co. simply rocked the HoB, in what was simply the best Crowder concert I’ve ever been to (this makes number 7 for me).
Take some time to hop over to the worshipcity blog, for a run down of the New Orleans HoB concert from Wednesday night. There you will find much better pics than mine, and a complete listing of what instruments were used on which songs. The set list (as best as I remember) was identical to what you find listed there, but here it is again for the record:
- Lark Ascending or (perhaps more accurately, I’m trying to make you sing)
- Oh, the Glory of it All
- Can You Feel It
- Everything Glorious
- …neverending…
- Here is Our King
- You are My Joy
- We Won’t Be Quiet
- Foreverandever, etc…
- Beautiful Collision
- You Never Let Go
- Remedy
- I Saw the Light
- No One Like You
- Oh, Praise Him
- Surely We Can Change
See below for some really poor quality video taken with my KRZR. As mentioned over at worshipcity, Crowder’s got a new guitar in the mix that has not yet been identified. Go see the close-up pic at worshipcity and help us figure out what it is. Jack’s also got a new toy, some kind of box that he “played” during one song, and then of course Dave pulled out the ol’ keytar for “Foreverandever, etc.” 
A new addition to the mix was the modded Guitar Hero controller he used on “…neverending…” B-Wack modded it to play a different chord for the song on each button, and Dave just strums along as usually. As an added bonus, it makes the “Extra Life” sound from Super Mario Bros. when he hits one button. Cool.
The theremin made a very noticeable appearance a couple of times during the night, and Crowder sat down at a Rhodes for “You Never Let Go.” Parker played another Rhodes on a few songs, and Mike D played a keyboard on “Foreverandever, etc.” Then you had the four green megaphones in front of mics for “We Won’t Be Quiet.” Amazingly (to me at least), B-Wack played the majority of “You Are My Joy” with his eyes closed. That’s some pretty intense drumming to do by “feel.”
Mark, the “new guy,” is a solid addition to the band. I miss seeing/hearing Solley, but Mark’s no slouch on his guitars. B-Wack, as always is a blast to watch, and the banter between Crowder and Parker is hilarious. All around, the best I’ve ever heard the DC*B sound live.
As usual with a Crowder concert, the crowd participation was phenomenal. I’ll put it this way, my left ear (which was pointed at the left hand array of speakers) is still ringing. It was so incredibly, wonderfully loud! But for all that, you could still hear the crowd singing along on nearly every song. Awesome. The experience was more than a concert between a band and their fans, it was a diverse group of the church gathering together for worship, and worship we did. As silly as it sounds, I often found myself with tears in my eyes, unable to sing, as I focused on what we were singing, and Who we were singing about.
A couple of times during the night, Crowder referenced their effort to be the church to the world. He talked about the collection of SOCKS and TOWELS for local homeless shelters, and pointed to the paper he had written that was handed out to everyone as they entered (pictured at right, click for large).
They finished the night with “Surely we Can Change,” to which Crowder said essentially “this is the last song, we don’t have anymore, there’s nothing left on the paper after this.” After yet again encouraging to be the church to the world, and put hands and feet to the words we had been sining all night, I was brought to tears a final time as the words of the song hit me in the context for which Crowder meant. (Go back and watch the “Eight Dollar Hot Dog” video I posted earlier this week, and then go listen to “Surely We Can Change.” If you’re not challenged by the Holy Spirit afterwards, then listen louder for His voice.)
The band was done, we clapped and cheered, the lights came on, and Crowder said they would be out to meet everybody at merch table in about 30 minutes. The crowd began to thin inside the hall, and by the time we got to the merch tables, there were hundreds of people gathered around. Knowing we had kids waiting for us nearly an hour’s drive away, and looking at the mass of people waiting for a chance to meet Crowder, we headed for the door.
As we’re on the stairs outside, Keith calls me and says, “Hey, you want to meet Crowder?” Now, this is a good question, since I once stood in a line for the better part of an hour to get an autograph once, and I was about 6 people away from the front of the line when he is literally being yelled at from the bus, “come on, we’ve got to go.” So, the answer was “absolutely.” Keith says, “I’ve got a meet and greet pass, wait right there, I’ll come get you.”
A few seconds later, Keith is escorting us through the same side door from earlier in the night, into the bowels of the HoB (a truly massive complex of corridors). We go up a couple of flights of stairs into the balcony of the hall, across said balcony and into a side door. Down a hallway, we come to the Green Room, in which is sitting Phil Wickham. What a humble guy he was. He has enough talent to easily garner a “rock star” attitude, but you could tell he had no problem with showing that he was both exhausted, and reluctant to be the center of attention. Thank God for guys like that.
As we’re there, HoB security asks us to clear the hallway and go back out to the balcony, as that’s where the meet and greet will take place. Poor Phil had his ear talked off by some HoB executive who was asking questions like, “So, have you been doing music since you were a kid?” Again, poor Phil.
As we’re standing there, Crowder and the rest of the DC*B come walking through and head to the most open part of the balcony. Mike D shook my hand on the way through, as did Jack. I’ll say it again as with Phil, what a nice, humble bunch of guys.
We stood off in the wings of the group, knowing that the band had to come back through where we were, so there was no need to get all pushy and head to the front of the pack. There were three ladies there in green and white homemade “Crowderhead” t-shirts, getting the whole band to sign their backs. Crowder’s Mom and Dad were in the group, and they were signing shirts and stuff too.
After a while, a lady we had seen sitting on stage running the LCD tv for the lyrics came over and said, “you guys are stuck way over here.” Not recognizing her, we asked how she was related to the DC*B, and she says, “I’m Dave’s wife.” Cool, we met Toni Crowder. We chatted with her for a while, and she was telling us how hard it is to hear from where she sits on the stage running the lyrics. “I’ve always got the worst seat in the house,” she joked. When asked why she didn’t get some in-ears like the band, she talked about how Mark’s got messed up at the New Orleans concert, and he’s been using her set since then. She didn’t know when/if she’d get replacements.
She was telling us about how long it took to load all the gear Wednesday night. They brought so much gear this time because they wanted their concerts to sound as near the CDs as possible, so they got a massive amount of tonnage going on. She said they would put a box or two of gear on the gate lift, and it would take like five minutes for it to rise up to level, then they did it again and again and again.
A few minutes later, you can tell Crowder is ready to head out, and he starts walking down the stairs of the venue. Props to Toni for going over and catching him before he could escape and telling him to come over and meet us. We introduced ourselves and spoke for a little bit. I just gave him as much encouragement as I could in those few short minutes, letting him know how much of an blessing he is to all of us out here “in the trenches.” Yet again, he showed complete humbleness, and grace. My camera phone was now dead after taking all the video I had done, so Keith pulls out his phone and snaps a pic of Joy and I with the main man. (I’ll post it later after Keith emails it to me.) I in turn snapped a pic of Crowder and Keith, then got Dave’s autograph on my new CD. He shook our hands again, remembering both our names to boot, and we headed our separate ways.
On the way out, I shook hands with B-Wack and Mike D, and waved at Brody Harper. Keith snuck us out the back door of HoB so we’d be closer to our car, and we headed home. Joy fell asleep on the way home, and we were both incredibly tired, but feeling immensely blessed by the time we picked up the kids and got home.
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