Concert!

The bad thing about writing these posts late at night is that by the time I get around to writing, I'm often completely exhausted.  You lovely readers may have the privilege of reading these at normal hours of the day, but not so for me (what's more, I have to think up clever things to say).  This is particularly unfortunate tonight, because I have a lot of stuff to write about, and little energy to do it.

Two notable things happened today.

First, I cleaned the apartment.  Yeah.  Unless you were actually IN my apartment during the last few weeks, you can have no idea what kind of pit of despair and cluttered catastrophe I was inhabiting.  It was bad.  But now it is good: very good!  Everything's all shiny and dusted and nice looking, and I can actually SEE the surface of my coffee table again!  I didn't get to my bedroom, but that's not that big a deal.  I like being able to sit on my couch and look out at my pretty apartment.  The intrinsic stress level of the apartment has been decreased significantly, and the ability to be productive in the apartment seems to be ameliorated.  Good things.

Second, I went to the concert to end all Christian music concerts: WinterJam 2011.  This is the largest annual Christian music tour, and brings in a bunch of big-name Christian artists for a general admission price of $10.  TEN dollars.  And open seating.  It rocks.  I've been to one other WinterJam, and that was in 2007 (freshman year at Transy), and it was actually that concert that really helped kickstart my faith into gear.  So, it was nice to go back to one again.  This year's lineup included Jason Castro, Chris August, and Sidewalk Prophet as opening acts, followed by Red, Newsong, Francesca Battistelli, David Crowder Band, Kutless, and Newsboys.  If you're at all familiar with Christian music, you were probably impressed with that list.  It was legit...especially when, mathematically, I only paid approximately $1.10 to see each performer.

All the acts were good, I thought (although Red was a bit too screamo-rock-ish for me).  But, David Crowder Band and Newsboys totally kicked butt.  David Crowder Band, of course, played all kinds of familiar praise songs (since that's what they write) like "There is No One Like You" and "O Praise Him," and sounded REALLY good.  I hear they always put on a good show.  The thing about the Newsboys that was so great was that they were so bouncy.  The lead singer jumped around all over the stage and danced about throughout the entire act.  Also (I guess because they were the finale?) they were the only act to use the intense stage-rising/floating over the audience effects.  I can't explain it well.  Observe for yourself:

Up in the Air.  Click to make it bigger...

Kutless had an unusual lineup of songs - much more low-key than some of their stuff - that made me like them a lot too.  Francesca Battistelli was singing with a cold, and was obviously feeling under the weather...I actually felt kind of bad for her having to perform.  I hope she got orange juice and took a nap afterwards.  Still a good performance, but probably not her best.  Newsong was alright...they kind of paled in comparison to the others, I thought.

Here are some pictures from the concert, and the music video of my favorite song of the night (Newsboys, "Born Again" - it has intriguing harmony).  Check them out, yo!

Concert Buddies: my friends Sarah and Miranda and I

Our view of the stage

Kutless

David Crowder Band

Newsboys