1. The venue staff are nice guys, have a good heart and mean well, but good night "fellers"....1.5 hours of opening band and 45 minutes of John? Come on. To quote Larry the Cable Guy, "That ain't right!" John is going on in 30 minutes to help lead worship and speak this morning.
2. Packed house. SRO in the back. Too many tables, not enough chairs.
3. KLove and Air1 were there. Funny. Neither play John or Petra here. Neither pimped the show. They are blood suckers and I think it is justified that their tables saw little action. Up theirs.
4. John spoke between every song almost. He shared basically the same points that are hot buttons for his ministry since The Grafting, but in new ways. He was very well received by the crowd. John was very animated and expressionistic in his own likable passionate-John ways.
5. The lighting person was way too active. Lights did not match the music AT ALL. They have no white light, all red, green and blue, which makes for a dark stage.
6. John's set-list was very good. There was not much rock. It was pretty much the same set-list he has done here, only this time he was not sick and he was bang-in out some impressive notes. There were a few songs that were giving him grief, but that was not on him I suspect. I told Sue before the show that we have had record high pollen counts this week. There are crowds of people with sinus issues here. It was amazing to me that John was able to sing and talk as long as he did with no Coke, his stage drink of choice. (Most singers wouldn't think of doing that, but it seems to not be a problem for big John.)
7. John sat comfortably while he spoke and sang. It would have been nice to have had some lighting that was a little more intimate to fit the mood.
8. They gave John a crappy mic stand and boom arm. He went to pull the mic out of the saddle and the boom popped off and the stand fell over. He had fun with it. His music stand was also very loose. He about lost his MP3 player and set-list, but he quickly recovered and the crowd applauded. Pretty darn quick.
9. I know what John sounded like in his early years. He has more texture and grit in his voice now. I actually like that. But more than anything, as John ages and grows closer to God, you can tell that he cannot pack enough emotion in to his songs to relay what he feels. It appears to me that he appreciates and believes the words and spirit of the songs he sings now, more than ever. It is like John is singing for his life. That is the way it ought to be in Christian music.
10. John said that he just turned 60. Each year I hear of my cultural icons passing away. It saddens me to think that one day there will be a world with no John Schlitt, that his voice will be silent aside from CDs. My wife and I discussed how great John looks, sounds and is active for someone as old as our parents. Comparatively John is mid 40s, early 50s. The words he sings and the faith he holds are surely life to his bones.
11. I had a daughter at a prom and promised my friends that I would not put them off any longer and would go experience their concert. So, I was a bit tired and did not make it in to see John today. I wish I would have.
