The sold-out 7 Tour at The Electric Factory in Philadelphia on Sunday, October 30, 2011 was the fourth time I’ve seen David Crowder*Band live in concert. This is the band’s farewell tour before they release their final album on January 10, 2012. If you’ve ever heard the expression you need to see a hockey game in person to experience the true essence of the event, I would apply the same description regarding David Crowder and his band. I’ve re-listened to the studio and live versions of the songs from the concert, and I love the energy and audience participation of the live recordings. Preceding Crowder were John Mark McMillan, Chris August and Gungor. The almost 4 hour concert opened with worship leader John Mark McMillan singing  a brand new song from his current album, Economy, “Sheet of Night.” He then sang “Death In His Grave,” which is based on 1 Corinthians 15:21:   For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  I love the song and can’t get enough of John Mark’s sincerity and excellent song-writing. He transitioned into “Skeleton Bones.” McMillan then took a moment to talk a little about Economy and its release the following Tuesday, and then played another new one, titled “Love You Swore.” Afterwards, he talked about singing “greasy southern rock music” like Tom Petty and performed a track he considered to be in the same vein, another new one called “Daylight.” McMillan then brought his set to a close with “Seen A Darkness.”

Chris August opened his set by telling a story about how Crowder had invited him out on the tour but had asked him to leave his band at home and perform an acoustic set. With that, he opened with “Battle,” and then issued a disclaimer that he’d be performing a couple songs now, leaving, and then coming back, and didn’t want anyone asking  “why’s he back?” He then shared a bit about the theme of forgiveness inspiring the next song, performed “7x70” based on Matthew 18:21-35, and left the stage.

Next Gungor took the stage for an acoustic set. Michael Gungor provided vocals and guitar, banjo and kick drum, while Lisa Gungor offered vocals and keys playing a glockenspiel, and cello player Kevin Olusola provided strings and beatbox. Michael gave a little disclaimer about this being their non-standard acoustic set too, and opened their performance with “When Death Dies” from their new album Ghosts Upon the Earth. It was with the first song that Olusola proved to be more than just a cellist. Before the song’s close, he offered some impressive beatboxing to add another layer to the song. Their whole set just oozed an artsy feel and it was fun to watch the trio with each song. “The Earth Is Yours,” from their debut as “Gungor” titled Beautiful Things, was next, followed by “You Are The Beauty” from Ghosts Upon The Earth  which featured Lisa on the melodica. “You Have Me” followed, and then Lisa and Kevin left the stage for Michael to perform the emotional “Song For My Family” on guitar from the Michael Gungor Band 2008 release, Ancient Skies. To close, Lisa and Kevin rejoined Michael for the anthemic “Beautiful Things.” The message of the song is contemplative and worshipful and includes God’s promise to us in Revelation 21:4-5: “Behold, I make all things new.”  Amen to that! 

Before the next set change, Chris August came back to perform a couple more songs. He performed a brand new, unreleased song titled “Amen” and joked about the simplicity of the title having been due in part to the confusion his “more complicated” titles, like the mathematics in “7x70,” had caused in people. After he finished the song, he said that it hadn’t been recorded yet, but that he had contemplated what it might be like to have someone Kirk Franklin and God’s Property back together to sing background vocals for the song as a church choir.  Afterwards, he talked about having been to The Electric Factory when he’d toured with Ashlee Simpson in 2006 and how he has a fond memory of getting the Passion: Everything Glorious album at the time and skateboarding around Philly while listening to it. He said it was the renewed fervor for Jesus he began feeling then that had inspired writing his hit song, “Starry Night.”

David Crowder*Band opened with a new song with the chorus “Let It Shine On Us” which led to the great song “The Veil” from Church Music, with the worshipful chorus: “What A Savior, What A King.” This really personified the enthusiastic style of the evening, which included 20 incredible songs over the next 2 hours. In the next song “No One Like You,” David asked the audience to sing back in unison in response to him and made us sing again when he reminded us that he wanted “loud, not pretty singing.” “Foreverandeveretc.” was next, and I loved the build-up to the whistling part where David had us whistle along and jump up and down as we sang “and ever and ever and ever and ever..”

One of my favorite albums ever is A Collision and we were treated to several amazing songs from that album including the title track, “A Beautiful Collision.” We also had the opportunity to hear some other deep album cuts including “Intoxicating” from Illuminate. We were treated to the brand new song “Let Me Feel You Shine” and then transitioned to “The Glory Of It All.”  The power of our corporate worship could be felt as we sang in unison “We will never be the same!” Next came one of my favorite songs by David Crowder*Band, “Shadows,” which on the Passion: Here For You recording gives me chills as that version has a guest rap vocal by Lecrae.  The energy and power of this song are amazing as a studio version, but the song was truly meant to be experienced live and loud, and guitarist Mark Waldrop performed Lecrae’s rap vocal from the song “Boasting” in the concert which was awesome. “You Are My Joy” was next which David describes as his rock opera song. As we were all cheering wildly, they started the guitar-shredding ‘guitarmony’ of “God Almighty, None Compares”

We jumped right into “Here Is Our King,” which was a blast to sing in unison with the capacity crowd going crazy at The Electric Factory. They asked if we could have a sing-along which led to the combination of the songs “Go Tell It On The Mountain” and the hymn “Because He Lives.” The fun continued with David’s reminder that he and the band are from Texas and prepared us for the hoedown to the banjo-led “I Saw The Light” remake of the Hank Williams song as a medley with “I’ll Fly Away.” The dancing led perfectly into David Crowder*Band’s beautiful cover of “How He Loves,” from Church Music was originally written and recorded by John Mark McMillan. The band finds a unique balance of capturing the sweet lyrical moments of the song but continually crescendos the intensity of the song and the message as the simple chorus builds over and over again. The concert version of “How He Loves” was spectacular as John Mark McMillan came back on the stage to sing the second verse and his amazing bridge. The song has a beautiful chorus and we all prayed along at the top of our lungs— “We are His portion and He is our prize, Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.”  They left the stage and the crowd cheered over and over “one more song” until the band returned and performed a few more songs, starting with their performance of “Carol of the Bells/Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” as made famous by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They continued with their all-time classic “O Praise Him.” That led to David explaining how the band began and he sang a snippet of ”You Alone” which led to the closing song which started the entire Crowder*Band journey entitled “All That I Could Say.” This was an incredible concert and a chance to see a remarkable farewell tour.

A pretty darn rad 8-bit version of Satellites and Sirens’ “Anchor”.

Newly signed Lamp Mode Records artist S.O. the kid, or S.O. for those who know him, has just released a FREE FOR DOWNLOAD album titled “So It Begins”. He’s Nigerian born and London raised with an American accent…

The record combines quality beats, clever wordplay, and the heartfelt desire to know Christ, and make Him known. Download the record (So It Begins) and be sure to check out his two newest videos…

After 5 years, UR finally has a new EP out. It’s called “This Side of the Sea” and this is my favorite track “God Leads Us Along.” It’s a rad adaptation of an old hymn into a gospel/porch blues jam session. It’s a pretty loose sound, but I think it works, let me know what you think.

<a href=”http://universalroyalty.bandcamp.com/album/this-side-of-the-sea”>The Albums available here.</a>

<a href=”http://universalroyalty.bandcamp.com/album/tsots-bonus-tracks”>They also have 2 free bonus tracks here.</a>

Hillsong - The First and the Last

Dignan - Listen