Newboys..Current Version

cvs2kids · Post by **cvs2kids** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 5:59 am

Happy fall everyone,

The Newboys are coming into town with their "The Way We Roll" Tour. I have never seen them and was wondering if the latest version with Tait is worth taking in?

To make this psuedo Petra related, Breads of Stone (who were on the Farewell Tour) are also on the bill. It also features Seventh Day Slumber and a 4th act I can't remember.

gman · Post by **gman** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:15 pm

I'll speak for myself here. I saw them recently, only because someone else offered to pay for the ticket. I was curious to see how they would be with Tait on vocals. I thought they were definitely missing something without Peter out front, then again I went in expecting that.
I questioned what they would do with songs like Shine, given the amount of lyrics to squeeze in, and given that Tait is more of a smooth type singer. Here's how they got around that. They had a catwalk going out into the crowd. Partway through their set they went out onto the catwalk to a mini setup and did a back and forth deal with snippets of Newsboys and DCTalk greatest hits. They played it up as the friendly competition that once existed between both bands. So, they did Shine without the verses. That song was always a concert highlight for me. Instead it was relegated to a stripped down set, and only an abbreviated version was done.
For their encore, they did Jesus Freak. Covering DCTalk hits has gotten a little old for me.
It was a decent show, and they are still a good band. I just think they could have done better by putting in someone like Paul Colman, or trying to get Phil Joel back out there. Heck, even get a new drummer and give Duncan Phillips a try as frontman. It's not the same without the Ausie accent.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 6:52 pm

Going in November. Never saw either, but looking forward to it.

cvs2kids · Post by **cvs2kids** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 5:56 am

Saw them last night and a quick report.

Bread of Stone
Were the firrst act and the sound was terrible. Too much bass distorted everything. All the bands used the one sound board and engineer, so it wasn't an equipment issue. I have a theory opening bands are meant to sound worse so the final bands sounds so much better.
Otherwise, the songs were catchy and they performed well.

In between sets, a niece/daughter of one of the Newsboys came out and sang one song. She has a cd coming out and she sounded incredible. A great voice.

Me in motion
Fairly young 3 piece band. Gotta say I really enjoyed them. Sound got a bit better and they were smokin'. Loved them. Bought their cd at the show and really like it.

Seventh Day Slumber
They have a new p&w cd coming out, so their sound was a bit mellower than I expected. However, they were my favourite band of the night. The lead singer gave an incredible testimony (reminded me of JWS). The music was really good.

Newsboys
They opened with U2's "Its a Beautiful Day". I guess as a new band they didn't have any material of their own

.
The sound was good and crisp and they were tight. Mr. Tait certainly added a bit of funk to the sound. I'm not a big fan, so its hard for me to compare to earlier versions. MT didn't play an instrument, so he danced and grooved quite a bit. He interacted really well with the audience. But it seemed out of place for a rock show. When they played a rock song, it didn't seem to fit his style. At one point, they came to the end of an extended catwalk, set up a keyboard and another basic drum set and they played snippits of their's and DCTalks hits. It really didn't flow well. I guess I'm more inclined to the melody style of Petra. MT would talk about the song, sing about 30 seconds of it, and then move on. However, they whole band wewre great showman and certainly demonstarted a love of the Lord. They also mentioned they have been called to do a series of free concerts next year throughout the USA. SO look for that.

At the end, all the bands were at merchandise tables. Since there was only 1,000-1,200 people there, it made it do-able. I'm not sure if they could in a crowd of 2,000+. The bands were great one on one. They seemed sincere and grateful to be there. People were buying cd's, tshirts, etc.. from everyone, so they could have made additional coin that way. The Newsboys were to come out eventually, but I left after 10 minites and didn't wait for them.

Hy, they're no Petra.

Edward · Post by **Edward** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:24 pm

I had a completely different experience.

Listen to Tait's CD. Beautiful Day was a tune he covered. If you listen to Tait's solo stuff or could have seen him in concert, or even experienced DC Talk live, you would think differently. Tait has a very rock voice and does a rock oriented show well. He is just the plug-n-play replacement for the previous singer, and not what you are used to. This band is at the end of expiration date. I suspect it will be pushing up daisies within two years.

separateunion · Post by **separateunion** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:38 pm

cvs2kids wrote:I have a theory opening bands are meant to sound worse so the final bands sounds so much better.

It's called blue mixing and it happens all the time.

cvs2kids · Post by **cvs2kids** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:51 pm

So is does blue mixing mean opening bands are meant to sound less dersrable or that its the period when the sound enegineer can master the proper levels with the crowd in there.

brent · Post by **brent** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:55 pm

cvs2kids wrote:So is does blue mixing mean opening bands are meant to sound less dersrable or that its the period when the sound enegineer can master the proper levels with the crowd in there.

It is not that opening bands are meant to sound worse per se. It is just the way it happens. Why? They usually do not get a sound check, just a line check. They usually do not get what they need, because the main act that is the money maker takes priority. So, if the opening act requires 36 inputs on a 48 input mixing console, and the opener needs 16, something gets sacrificed. Also, if you need monitor mixes, and there is only one send less, and you have 4 players, then everyone gets the same mix, which sucks.

Opening acts are advertisements for future albums and tours. They need to be good. But the facts are that nobody is paying to see them, so the opener is all the promotor cares to provide for.

Now there is a common practice to keep the opening acts lower in volume, to increase the dynamics/impact of the main act. This is done all of the time.

cvs2kids · Post by **cvs2kids** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:27 am

Thanks for the clarification, and good to see you post again.

cvs2kids · Post by **cvs2kids** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:23 pm

Hey Jonathan,

Did you catch them and what did you think of the opening acts?

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:42 am

I didn't make it out to see them unfortunately. Maybe I can catch them next time around in Grand Rapids.

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