Natalie Grant was golden with her talented vocal range. The control that she has has also been impressive. What was interesting with her section was her song choices. She is a self proclaimed Tweeter Geek, and she had asked her followers to request what songs they would like to hear. I agree with Natalie when she said that the stories received with the song requests make the song more than just about a song. It is about the message of Jesus within the songs that have the power to touch someone's heart and life. This song has a story that was shared. Parents had written to Natalie and said that this song helped them deal with the sudden lost of their little child do to an accident.
Brandon Heath knows how to put on a great show with just enough new mixed with classics songs and sharing words with his audience without sounding preachy. YAY! The only sad news that I have to share is that my video of Brandon didn't turn out so well (the camera couldn't handle the bass). Brandon sang songs from his new album of "Stolen," "Leaving Eden," "Your Love," and "Light in Me." He also sang amazing songs from his two previous albums of "Love Never Fails," "Give Me Your Eyes," and "I'm Not Who I Was." It was some great times of singing along, and Brandon kept the crowd encaged through a couple of different ways. As when he jumped up and then down from a big black box and walking into the audience by walking on chairs. There was this one little boy who didn't release that Brandon had left the stage until he looked up and Brandon was right in front of him. The little boy was so excited. It was cute. I thought the way in which Brandon related with the crowd was sweet. He told us of how he rode his Harley to Yesturdog, a famous hot dog place in Grand Rapids, and he has a connection with Youth Unlimited that headquarters in Grand Rapids. Needless to say the crowd loved him.
MercyMe is a band that loves the audience to participate, and I can see their logic. It is more fun to participate in life than to just watch from the sidelines. MercyMe had the audience participate in a number of ways. One was singing along and pointing your finger as a motion. There was one point in which Bart Millard had asked the audience to dance with him. He put it like this, "I grew up Southern Baptist, where one person dancing is a sinner, but where many people are dancing is choreography." I don't know about you, but I wish that I used that line in my conservative Christian high school. They had done a rock song from the 80s that has been their warm-up song for many years (though now I forget the song), but it was interesting with the different generations that either knew or didn't know the song. Being that MercyMe is over ten years old, there was many choice songs that they used. Some that I was happy to hear again. One of my favorite parts was when the confetti exploded over us. It was a great concert well deserving of the encore that it received.
