gig review.

I must say, the Clovis gig last night Rocked. It was simply amazing. The energy was high and the crowd was awesome. They played LOTS and LOTS of their new songs and the crowd knew them all dead on. Martin was actually suprised when he stopped and let us sing the "OHOHOH No Compromise...." in "Now Is The Time". He was like "you know it!" then he kept making us sing on every other song, and we delivered. The crowd even seemed to know all the words to the older songs too like "What A Friend" and "Love Falls Down". The guys behind me during "Take Off My Shoes" were even vocalising the extra instramental parts on the cd that the d:? boys dont play live. However, Martin couldnt remember all the words. There was a part in the song "Solid Rock" that he just ended up going "do do do da do do do" in the tune of the song, but it didnt take away from the song at all. There was almost non stop jumping and non stop worshiping. It was great. Someone also yelled out "I like Tim Jupp!!!" really loud. It was the little things like that that made the night really funny, but because of those little moments, for the first time at a gig I felt like the people there were genuine fans. What was most amazing, was the diversity of the crowd. There were older people (40s-60s) Young adults (18-30) Teens, Pre-Teens, and even really small children (3-9) all in the first two rows! It was great. Every age group was just as excited as the others. The gig started out strong with "Here I am Send Me" and they played most of the songs on Mission Bell, but honestly I cant give you the order. They also played some songs from World Service. And, of course, they played the two great hits that no one can get enough of, "Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?", and "History Maker". Sadly when I yelled for the Happy Song they seemed to conveniently ignore me. Over all, it was a great gig, I cant say that enough. They were having a bit of trouble with the lights. The problem being, they kept turning off. After the second time the lights went off Martin sang into the mic "Even when the lights go out, we keep on playing." crowd: "YEAH!!!" "Even when the lights go out, the people keep on singing" crowd: "YEAH!!!!!!!!" Stu and Martin talked about how they first came to Cali ten years ago. Martin said "Sadly that means we are ten years older than we we first came... we have a bit more kids now than ten years ago." then Stu said "Well, you do." It was funny. My mom enjoyed the concert, her favorite song was "Paint The Town Red" (suprisingly, I wasnt expecting that), and my little brother had a blast.The security guard in front of me said that that was his first Christian concert and he was very impressed. And already today at school I saw a boy with a Mission Bell shirt on. I also met a friend from Portland Oregon and we were going to get each other's email addresses but I was so distracted by the 5 guys in front of us I completely forgot. So if you are reading this.... email me!! (mandymacd88@hotmail.com) Anyways... I was also impressed by all the new merchandise! I kept looking at things thinking "ooh I want that... ooh! I want that!! OOH!!! I really want that!!" I couldnt get everything, but I did get a new hat, a new shirt and some new buttons! Yay new buttons! And yes, as I may have told some of you I was thinking about it, I did wear a "Have you seen Dave Wood?" shirt. They guys smiled when they saw it from the stage and then afterwards Jon was like "Actually I saw Dave last week!" So the shirt was a success. I thought it would be funny to wear one in California. But mostly ALL of the people there except for one were like "Who's Dave Wood?" Soo yeah... that was my experience at the Clovis gig! It was a great night, a great concert, a great and passionate crowd, and I can honestly say the boys played the best I have ever heard them.