Art/Music/Justice

Re-cap of the Art/Music/Justice concert last night:
(Sandra McCracken, Derek Webb, Brandon Heath, Charlie Peacock, Sara Groves)

I was skeptical about this show from the beginning. As you know, I only bought tickets because CEC guilted me into it. In one respect, it was better than I'd hoped because a concert atmosphere is a concert atmosphere, and live music is live music (i.e. it's always better than listening to a recording).

But in other respects, it was no more than what I'd expected. It had that really family-focused feel to it. Maybe I've just gotten too used to the Vans Warped Tour and TAITV. Actually, I couldn't help chuckling a few times throughout the night that this show and the last/next one on my calendar were such POLAR opposites. Then I felt bad because they talked about sex trafficking, which is an issue that I really want to do something about, and on Friday I'm going to rock out while Cobra Starship sings, "prostitution is revolution/you can hate me after you pay me."

I guess one of the strangest parts for me was, I can't remember the last concert I went to where the primary goal was not simply to have a good time. There was just a weird dichotomy between the fact that it was a concert, but about a third of it was dedicated to the discussion of sobering issues, as well as a mini-sermon from Charlie Peacock. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I sort of expected it, based on the name of the tour. But it also seemed silly to spend so much time talking about coming to faith and battling injustice when most of the people attending the art/music/JUSTICE tour in the chapel of my Christian college were probably already Chrstians who cared about justice. It had the right emotional impact, but it's like, tell us what WE can do about these issues we're already aware of.

As far as the music went, well, most of the show wasn't my style, although there was something really endearing about Brandon Heath - maybe his nerdiness, maybe the band backing him, maybe the absence of the folk/country feel that characterized Sandra and Derek. But the concert was more or less three hours of artists singing songs that consisted mostly of religious vocabulary, which I hate in music. The name of Jesus has more impact when you don't use it every other word. I really appreciated when Charlie Peacock sang a song called "Kite in a Tree," a song whose imagery is so unexpected and really just marvelous in every way. It's still about faith, as are many of the songs and albums I love, but it addresses it in an unpredictable and stunningly beautiful way. That one song made the $8 I spent on the ticket and the three hours I invested last night worthwhile.

Also, this sort of goes without saying since it was in the chapel, but we sat in pews almost the entire time. I cannot passively sit and observe music, even music that's not my style. I've found that I will actually enjoy a show MORE if I get up and clap. Brandon Heath had us stand and clap for one song after the intermission, and it was the most enjoyable moment of the whole show. All I can say is I can't wait for Friday! No way will that be a passive audience.

On a completely unrelated topic, I'm so bummed! The purple washed out of my hair when I took a shower last night!! Isn't it supposed to be MORE permanent when you do it on bleached hair? Yet somehow, seemingly against all reason and logic of nature, the bleach also appears to have washed out. At least I don't have a random, ugly streak of yellow-blonde at the front of my head.