Okay...I'm not really sure where to start this. How about I start with this: I witnessed the single best concert of my life last night. No joke. Here's how it went down.
My friend and I are huge
NeedtoBreathe fans, but sadly, working for a radio station, we've run into other obligation when they've come to town, and have never seen them live in concert. So when the opportunity came up that they were back in the Grand Rapids area, and we were available, we had to go, and go we did.
We showed up just in time to catch the end of the opener Andrew Ripp. From what we caught...He sounded good, and we apologize for not catching more of him, we were running a little late.
The next band to take the stage though...Blew our minds. However, we weren't really sure what to expect, but
The Alternate Routes, were REALLY good. Great flavor of music, and it was fun to watch their band grow a member at a time during their time on stage.
For their last song, NeedtoBreathe's Joe Stillwell
(drummer) played along with them. This is a favorite of mine. I love it when touring bands mix-n-match with each other, and play on each other's songs...it's just really cool, and something you can't get on the album.
Anyway...One thing I'm still trying to figure out is...During
The Alternate Routes' performance, I quick ran back to the car, and I'm like 85-90% sure that on the way back to the car, I walked right past Bear, Bo, and Seth. Only thing...It didn't register quick enough and I didn't have the guts to turn back and say, "
Hey!". Oh well...Maybe next time.
Finally we come to
NeedtoBreathe on stage. Of course, since the tour was highlighting their most recent album, "
The Outsiders" they kicked the concert off hard with the title track. After that, for me, it was a mix of familiar tunes from "
The Heat" and "
The Outsiders", with a couple of tunes I wasn't familiar with, which was very nice.
"The Outsiders" LiveMuch like Joe Stillwell
(drummer) went and played with The Alternate Routes during their set,
The Alternate Routes lead singer Tim Warren came out and shared the mic with Bear at one point during NeedtoBreathe's set, which sounded amazing. Great job guys.
Now...This was the last concert of the tour, at least according to the tour t-shirt, and you know what...You could kind of tell that they really let it out. They finished their set and eventually came back out for an encore and played 3 more songs. One lead by Bo this time, which was a nice opportunity to hear his voice on a song you normally don't, but it was the final song that wrapped this concert experience up in shiny wrapping paper with the most perfectly styled bow.
In the intro for the last song, Bear announced that they'd be turning everything off and play their final song completely acoustic. That meant for us, that everyone needed to squeeze together and gather up front in order to hear, how fun. The song by the way, "
Something Beautiful" off of their latest album and it sounded AMAZING!
"Something Beautiful" acoustic is really good at what they do. Music. Performing.
(Especially Bo. Dude...You're awesome on stage, keep it up.) Oh...and sounding good...wait..no..GREAT...live. Not many bands can claim that, so don't take that for granted.
As I close on this concert review, I'll say this. I wish that more people payed attention to NeedtoBreathe, and appreciated them more, however...the selfish side of me says, "I hope they don't", that way I can still pay $12 to see this amazing group in concert.
Oh...and since this amazing event was at the Intersection in Grand Rapids, I could actually see the band. What a difference being 20 feet away, rather than a mile away at the back of a stadium. THAT'S the way to see this band...well...ANY band...small intimate venue with real fans.
Like I said, "
I witnessed the single best concert of my life last night.", and I did. Sure...being a fan helped, but I can be pretty objective, but here's the thing...I've never left a concert as excited, in awe, and on fire, as I did with this one. Keep up the good work guys, you've got something special!
~j
themusictest@gmail.com
