The Petra Zone

The next Petra show is in Longmont (near Denver) on July 31. Anyone going?

Here's a nice article from the local paper on the event, and Petra's participation in it:

http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=22797

Read halfway down... I love this intro:

Many of the acts owe a debt to Grammy-winning Petra, which formed in the early 1970s and is one of the original Christian rock bands (the name comes from the Greek for “rock”). The band is officially retired, but some members, including lead singer John Schlitt and co-founder Bob Hartman, reunite occasionally for special occasions, such as Heaven Fest.

In the course of Wiki research, I've run across a lot of old newspaper stories about Petra when their tour would come to whatever city back in the mid- to late-1980s. Funny to compare the story you just posted, Sue, to those. Not much has changed, certainly not the headlines, which still treat Christian rock music as some weird thing these holy-roller kids are doing:

"Bang your head for Heaven"

Made me smile.

sue d. wrote:The next Petra show is in Longmont (near Denver) on July 31. Anyone going?

I was hoping to go to the Hills Alive show, but the same old bugaboos kept me from going...lack of money and my crappy car.

*sigh*

This has to be the poorest audience participation/level of enthusiasm I've seen since Smitty played Secret Ambition at World Pulse festival a couple years back! Either the audience didn't know the song, was too hot, or came from very conservative backgrounds!
Nonetheless Schlitt and Hartman sound good still!

Hmmm... I'd have to agree the crowd looks pretty wilted. Maybe it was just hot.

They're a little more alive on this one:



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Thanks for sharing the link Sue. I like how John's voice sounds here on the medley, not exactly perfect, but raw and real!

WOW! ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW! JOHN SOUNDED INCREDIBLE! I EVEN DARE TO SAY THIS PERFORMANCE WAS BETTER THAN THE ONE IN FAREWELL. HE SOUNDS CLEAR, ON PITCH, NOT GASPING FOR AIR, HOLDING NOTES, NOT AS RASPY. HE CAN DEFINITELY PULL IT OFF FOR PETRA FOR MORE!

soooo wish I had gone to this, they sound great.

Great!
Two weeks to see them live here in Brazil...
I'm counting the days!

sue d. wrote:Hmmm... I'd have to agree the crowd looks pretty wilted. Maybe it was just hot.

They're a little more alive on this one:



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Yeah, it was hot, very hot....(by the end of the day, Heavenfest had given away over 4300 gallons of water) I was down front, not the VIP area, but still close and the audience up there was singing right along and were into it. It was a great show, glad to have seen them....

One thing that definitely sets them apart from a lot of the up and comers, they know how to handle things when they go wrong....Bob was having problems with his guitars a couple of times. John just vamped right through them until the problem was fixed and then launched into the next song.....nothing replaces experience when it comes to performing.

I do wish they had mixed up the set list. It was the same one they used for the Farewell tour. Oh well, just a nit.....great show.....

Bob broke strings - TWICE, which, according to John, has never happened. Ever.

(I enabled the bb code, and it still didn't work.... hmmm....)

If Bob forgot to loosen his strings when he traveled with the guitar, that could be part of that. Tension at high altitudes can cause the neck to shift and then strings to break.

I never gig without 2 of my guitars, specially since I can not afford a guitar tech nor roadie like Bob.

Bob doesn't travel with a tech or roadie any more.... not since Petra ended.

Besides, it's hard to fly with one guitar + luggage, much less two guitars. Shame on the airlines for charging people to death just to bring along their clothes!