A Concert Review...

...from a 40-year-old mom who has never been to a concert harder than REO Speedwagon in her life!! We just got home from seeing Toby Mac and Relient K and some other bands.

Give that video a lil' lookie. And just let me say - magnify that pitiful volume by a bazillion, add in a thousand screaming voices and let someone play the bass with your head strapped to the drum and that is what I heard for 3 hours tonight.

And I L.O.V.E.D. it!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I loved most of it. Except this particular band, Family Force 5. That's an innocent enough name, right? I was expecting something like the Jackson 5 or the Von Trapp family. This group consisted of 5 people who screamed like banshees for 20 solid minutes. The beat of the bass was pulsing in my throat convincing me that maybe I was having a heart attack because I have never felt this weirdness before. Right at that moment, when I was considering calling 911 but knowing they would not be able to understand a word I was saying, I picked up on some of the words the band was singing. It was their version of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." (It was a Winter Wonderslam with a Christmas theme concert.) There was nothing similar to the tune that we know this song by - but the words were there and when it was time to sing the chorus they would say, in sort of a chant-ish way "Hey now. Wait a minute. Put a little love in it." Which was quite catchy! Or maybe I was just reaching for a way to connect with these peeps.

But here's what really just cracked me up with this band: They all were jumping, screaming, flailing, shaking, etc., all over the stage. But one guy in particular seemed to have zero purpose. Didn't play a guitar, didn't sing in a mic - kwim? But he had a tambourine at one point. Seriously?????? A tambourine???? With all that screeching and loudness going on??? He's playing a tambourine????!!! He might as well have been playing the spoons!

But Toby Mac...........ahhhhhh, Toby Mac. He was worth waiting for and put on the best show I have ever seen. Really amazing. He put on a rockin' concert but everything about it pointed to Jesus. We were on our feet dancing and singing the whole time he was on stage. He sang Jesus Freak in the oncore and from there got to "Freak Out" and then to "We Are Family." Of course, Richard and I are really shakin' our groove thangs to those and Roman just looks at us and says "What are you singing?"

She wasn't familiar with this music from our "ancient days" as she calls it. She knows every word to "Diverse City" but was clueless with that blast from the past! I can't wait to hear what Josh has to say about us "enjoying" the concert. He and Paden hardly rocked out at all. Let's just say I'm already a little hoarse and my muscles in my "groove thang" are sore!!

Just fabulous!

B - back-up singer wannabe, rock star at heart!