Tickets were just $10 and there were no advanced sales. I arrived early hearing that in the previous gig over 11 thousand had come to the concert causing hundreds to have to be turned away. The response to the Rock and Worship tour has been surprising. I think it might be an indication that there is a turning by people to spiritual awareness. Personally, it was just a couple of years ago I wouldn’t even listen to Christian music. I actually couldn’t listen to it. Ironically, it was a song by MercyMe, sung by a customer of mine at karaoke, that started a change in me that has me now listening all the time.

Addison Road opened up. The lead singer, Jenny Simmons, was four weeks away from delivering her first child. She has a great voice, and the band is up for a number of awards.

10th Avenue North, in my opinion, was the best of the night. They have some great songs. Check them out on youtube.

Hawk was, shall I say, different. While they may have been the most talented and engaging with the crowd, the sound was so loud I couldn’t make out a word they were saying. They were the band for the teenagers as a Dad next to me told an older couple who had decided to leave after their set. Despite that, I really appreciated their energy and passion. I know that they had lyrics because the teenage girl to my right was singing every word to the noise I was hearing!  = )

Jeremy Camp was up next and I was really looking forward to hearing him. I am a new fan of his music and he has been a favorite of my kids for a long time. He has a good number of very inspiring songs. Unfortunetly, his sound was the worst of the night. Maybe it was where I was sitting. Still think highly of him and his music. I would like to see him again in a smaller venue like the Celebrity Theater.

MercyMe closed out the night. I saw them a number of months ago when they played here at the Celebrity Theater, and again, their sound was not as good as the bands earlier in the night. MercyMe still performed some good music. They have great originals and inspire you.

While this was only my second “Christian” concert, this one was impressive in the numbers of those that attended. There has been a very real evolution of the genre that has made it so relevant to people. The talent of the musicians is also clearly evident. In the same way we could relate to a secular song written about a past relationship or event in our lives, people are experiencing a drawing closer to God through worship music.

For the past few years, I have been realizing the importance of genuineness, which is where real truth begins. Even though there were over 12 thousand imperfect people at the US Airways Center, it was evident that everyone shared a common faith in Jesus … definitely creating a distinct environment.

The Alter and the Door

Keep seeking …. Jesus

A friend of mine mentioned the day of the sold out Mercy Me concert about checking for tickets. I thought, right. But, it was her birthday. So I first called to verify if any tickets by chance were for sale. No luck. They confirmed that not only were the tickets gone, but for the past month you could not have gotten two seats together either. Checked ebay for a late auction. Not a chance. She mentioned Craig’s List. I had never used it before but knew many people that had. And what do you know! There was a guy selling TWO tickets for face value, in the second row from the stage! I called him and made a deal to meet half way. This was just four hours before the concert was set to begin.

Here’s a pic of our seats:

Built in 1963, Celebrity has a capacity of 2,665 seats and none are more than 75 feet from the stage. The revolving stage! This is very cool. While the group plays, the stage turns, at a top speed of a half rotation per minute. Every so often it will stop and change direction.

Mercy Me put on a great show at Celebrity. They played their numerous top hits, shared many of the stories behind them, and sang a new one I really liked called Finally Home. One of the best moments of the concert was the band stepping out of character so to speak (in a good way) and playing a Tom Petty tune. Being a Petty fan and having seen him live twice, they were as good as the Heartbreakers!

Go to the next page to check out a Mercy Me video –

This Mercy Me video, So long Self, is a good combination of the music and personality of the group.

I am looking forward to enjoying other concerts at Celebrity. I’ll plan to buy the tickets early next time as I don’t think deals like that are very common at this popular Phoenix venue.

I have recently purchased my first MP3 player. It is a Sansa e250 with 2GB of memory. It more than meets my needs as it will store hundreds of songs and offers a memory slot to use for additional stuff.

Here’s the music I am have cued up:

• Dotsero
• Cindy Cruse-Radcliff / Israel Houghton, Lakewood Worship Leaders
• Mindi Abair
• Dave Koz
• Natalie Grant (Better Hands Now and Held)
• Mercy Me
• Casting Crowns
• Mark Knopler (Live at Red Rocks)
• and Hootie and the Blowfish (never tire of these guys)

As you know, I am a big fan of Amazon.com. One of my concerns with purchasing Mp3 downloads was that some of the services do not allow you to put the song on your player. In other words, you can play it on your computer but not take it with you. Not only that, but if you lose the license, it stops you from playing it completely!

At Amazon, the songs run 99 cents and you can use them how you would like.

((( Just added the Amazon mp3 widget where you can listen to some of the music I am listening to right now. Hit the play button to hear the samples. )))

So what are you listening to?