the Alley blog

I have been somewhat down on Casting Crowns over the last year or so because I was tiring of their consistent message of how the church needs to step it up and live out the mission. While I really wanted to hear something new from them their message remains the same. Chalk one up to consistency I guess. HOWEVER, the more I think about it and the more I observe the more I realize that as a church and as THE church, it is a message that should never fade from our minds. So there you have it; I’m not down on them anymore. Friends? Good.

So last weekend I had the privilage of tagging along with world renown concert reviewer, staple of the Pioneer Press and of course theAlley’s own: John Nemo to the concert on Saturday night. It was a great experience and here are some of my highlights ( You can read Nemo’s far superior review here ).

So the night kicked off with John Waller. I was semi looking forward to his segment. It was decent but not great. I don’t think he was playing with his usual drummer ( he was the drummer for the next band ) and really the audience wasn’t all that attentive. To his credit I don’t think he is best suited in an arena. Waller has a song out currently called “The Blessing” and of course that is what he ended with. I like his stuff and hope he continues on and maybe I’ll catch him in a better setting sometime.

Leeland was next up and I was really looking forward to seeing them. They have probably grown up a little since I was turned on to them, but at the time they were still in high school I think. They have some great melodies and convicting lyrics. There wasn’t a lot of energy to their segment but I don’t think thats part of the experience. I wouldn’t go see Radiohead and expect to see them running around going crazy, kind of the same here.

Crowns came on just after that and brought the house back to life. They had an amazing set which was actually kind of ironic. They are very down to earth folks, not the rock star types at all. In fact during the week they return to their jobs as youth workers in local churches in Georgia. Well the set had the feel of an old time theater with huge red drapery and gigantic chandeliers. In the middle was a big ol’ screen displaying various shots from the 100’s of cameras running around. That too struck me as a little odd but being someone who has sat in the upper deck before I can see where that would have been really nice.

They played some of the old standards and sampled quite a bit off the new disc, The Altar & The Door. Those familiar with the band know that they utilize multiple vocals, usually dominated by lead singer Mark Hall but the night also showcased the ladies in the group and both of them together really sound sweet. I think they probably did the most singing on this night than they have done in the past.

Keeping with tradition of 99.9% of Christian concerts they broke in the middle and highlighted the missions work that they have been doing with World Vision and showed their highlight reel from the trip last summer. I guess it’s always a good reminder to see and hear about these things. Made me realize that we need to do more for our sponsored child besides throw a check in the mail each month.

They came back on after an intermission and did a cool thing with a painter. This idea isn’t new by any means but I haven’t seen it done in some time so it was really cool to watch. The guy painted over 2 songs and incorporated words and phrases from the songs. The end result was a guy in the middle holding up the Bible with arms on both sides of him raised in worship. Very cool. I think Ben should paint something during worship…..  If memory serves correctly (and it usually doesn’t) the guys name was Aaron Eckels or something like that.  It was really cool to watch and you could tell that he was worshiping right along with the rest of us.

So that was the night in a nutshell.  It was a great time of worship and realization that there is so much that we as the church and body of Christ can be doing and should be doing on a daily basis to reach out.