Michael W. Smith concert!

Okay, here is the afore-promised concert post!The concert was amazing! Everyone was just as good live as they are on cd. If not better. And it was really cool, because the whole night only cost us $7; the $86 tickets were free, the gas for the car was free (It's my dad's work car; he gets free gas for his personal use :), all we had to pay was five dollars for parking and two for toll.

Okay, on to the interesting part: the singing!

Matt Maher (MM), Meredith Andrews (MA), and Phil Stacey (PS) came out first and sang MM's song "Your Grace is Enough" together, then MA sang two of her songs, one of which was "You're Not Alone." *melts* I love that song. :)

PS came on to sing "Unshaken," and a patriotic song that he wrote (loved that one, too!), and one I didn't recognize. He's good, too! (I have to admit, at first I was a bit prejudiced against him because of his American Idolishness. I don't like American Idol. All the hype about it [sorry, folks!] just irritates me. A lot. Because of all these people swooning over other random people who all sound the same. Anywho. Back to the pertinent facts...).

MM sang his radio hit "Alive Again," which, of course, was just as good live as in concert. He sang that and four others, one of which included a lot of repeats of "This is the first! day! of the rest of your life This is the first! day! of the rest of your life" and also of "Love! will! hold us together dadadadalateedalalalalalalala brother's keeper! lalalalalala" ['la's and 'da's and 'lateeda's are my own addition].

Then, during intermission, I saw that the lady sitting in front of us was one of the radio peoples for the station who gave me the tickets! So we sat and chatted a little bit about how we liked the concert so far, and stuff like that.

Michael W. Smith was next, with a surprise! His first song was one that all (or most) of us should recognize: "I Am Free!" [Y'know, the Newsboys maybe should have gotten Michael W. Smith to replace Peter, instead of Michael Tait! But I am really liking Tait so far, too, but this isn't a NB discussion, is it?]

MWS sang 17 songs total. I won't tell you all of them unless you ask me to, because I don't know if anyone is planning to go see the World Hallelujah Tour, and I don't think it would be as much fun if you knew what was coming when. But he sang "There She Stands," which is a reeeaaaallly beautiful song. President Bush asked him to write it several weeks after 9/11. *melts again* Oh, it's a good song. :) And he sang "Let me Show You the Way," one of my all-time favorites. I own the "Live the Life" cd, which is the one it's on. He announced all but two of the songs before he started them. 'Twas mildly funny when he announced "Let me Show You the Way," because I was the only person in the Whole Audience who clapped. It made me think "oops, maybe I shouldn'ta done that...." But I did anyway. At least he now knows that someone likes that song!! ;P

So anyway, the concert was incredible. All the artists were really good, all the songs were good (some more than others), all-in-all, it was a great time. Then afterwards we got to meet Matt Maher, Meredith Andrews, and Phil Stacey, which was cool. Still wish MWS had come out, but I guess the 'big' people rarely do, for fear of being mobbed.

Here are some pictures. I only took a few, and the ones I took were taken without flash, so most of them were blurry. I'll have to put a few on my photoblog, because I had some fun a few minutes ago goofing around with Picasa.

I'm going to have to show them backwards, because the computer won't let me switch them around on here, and I don't feel like re-loading them!

Phil Stacey and Li'l Bro. (This pic was supposed to go after the next one.)

Me, Li'l Bro, Meredith Andrews, and Rapunzel. (she's tiny! My brother's about five feet, five inches, and she's only a bit taller than him. And she may have been wearing heels, which makes her even shorter. Actually, she reminds me of a Barbie doll. Small, pretty, except Barbies are usually blonde. ANYway!)

MWS performing. For the World Hallelujah tour, they are getting local choirs to sing back-up to him. Isn't that a cool idea?!? I'd love to be in that choir.

We were that far from the stage! I'd say they were pretty good seats!

Pre-concert excitement. I'm on the left, with the silly smile. Oh, ugh, it makes me look like I have an extra chin or two!! Don't look at that picture anymore. I said don't look at it! STOP!! :D

Well I gotta scoot. Was this a detailed enough description, cousin, or do you want more?

See y'all later!

~Kiwi~

P.S. I am giving you due warning! I will be changing my blog background soon. Just so y'all know.