It started Friday night with a David Crowder concert. A group from the college along with some folks from a nearby church trekked three hours to Cedarville University to see the band perform. I had never seen them live before, but they sound just as great live as they do on their recordings. The dynamics of their sound is what's most astonishing. They range from their typical upbeat rock sound to bluegrass and into praise and worship, using a variety of electronic creations along the way. The highlight is when David grabbed a Guitar Hero guitar controller. He wasn't just going to act like he was playing - the thing actually made guitar noises. The sounds weren't just five notes like you'd hear on the game. Different combos of buttons made different sounds. It was awesome.
The next day, I was at a youth leaders convention in Pittsburgh and due to it being large-scale, it brought in a lot of good artists. The first I heard was Starfield. They are relatively unknown but are starting to make it big. I don't remember much about their sound, but I did like it.
After them was Mercy Me. I was fortunate to see Mercy Me perform their hit song "I Can Only Imagine" back in 6th or 7th grade before they were popular, so it was neat to see them again. I didn't know much of their stuff, but it was still great to hear them play.
The next day was the highlight. The morning started of with a short session with none other that Shane and Shane. These two guys, both named Shane if you didn't figure that out, are absolutely incredible. They have the best voices I have ever heard and their live sound is ridiculous. I honestly cannot put into words how great they are. And what makes them go above and beyond any other band is the power of their lyrics. Many Christian artist sing about how great God is, which is not wrong at all - it's great to sing about that. But they tend to refrain from singing about struggles and songs of lament. Shane and Shane don't hesitate in singing about what's Biblical truth. Their line in the song "Beg" that says "at the end of the day, my words get burned as wood." This shows that if a Christian isn't into their faith whole heartedly, then their words mean nothing.
Capping the night and the conference off was another dose of David Crowder, this one much superior to the one on Friday. The first reason is that I was right at the front of the stage. When they let us in, we had to run to get good seats, but we got them. Secondly, the audience was much more into it. There was more energy which made it more enjoyable. It was pretty much the same set (just a little smaller), but none of it felt repetitive.
I don't know that I'll ever have another weekend with as much stellar music in it again. I better soak it up while it's still fresh.
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