Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 15:02:28 From: Vicki Gerdom Subject: concert review 3/11 We arrived at Dearborn Free Methodist Church about 20 minutes before the concert was supposed to begin. I had mixed feelings when we walked in, because there were already quite a few people, which is good. But I had hoped to sit closer to the stage. It's one of those fan-shaped sanctuaries though, so you're not too far away from the front no matter where you sit. I'm sure there were at least 200 people there by 7PM. Maybe as many as 250. A DJ from a Detroit radio station was the emcee. I don't remember his name since we don't get that station in Port Huron. But he seemed like a nice guy. He first introduced a local singer named John Vass. (I hope I spelled that right. I hadn't heard of him before either.) John sang four songs. One was a funny song about junk food. He also did a rendition of Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful To Me, with some lyrics changed so that it was sung toward God. There was a bad reverberation when he was performing, though. I don't know if anyone was doing sound for John, because it was John who did the sound for Mitch and Brad, and they sounded fine. So even though I wasn't thrilled about having to listen to his four songs before Mitch and Brad came out, he did do a good job with the sound for them. Mitch and Brad just walked out and tuned up a bit. I took notes on what songs they performed so that I wouldn't forget. It went like this: Gospel Rain Only Love Will Lemonade Song *A Little Faith - a new one. I'm not sure about the title. My Deliverer Heaven is Waiting - Mitch mentioned that this was the first song he wrote with Rich. *Change? - another new song. "My home is far away but it won't take me long to get there." New Mexico On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand - a capella while thumping on their guitars. The people at the church really seemed to enjoy that one. Hope - Brad described this as their attempt to rock. Brad's song - Mitch let Brad do this all by himself. Something about just because you're wandering doesn't mean you're lost. Here and Now *Burn the Fields - I was glad to hear this one since it has been mentioned in other reviews. One of These Days Take Hold of Me *Inside-out, Upside-down - another new song I've heard talked about in other reviews. I really liked this one. That ended it, but they came back for an encore. Someone in the audience asked them to do She Asked Me How. They seemed tentative about that, saying they hadn't performed that in a while. But that's what they ended up playing. Then Mitch said, "Let's end with some choruses." He led us in singing Step By Step, I Love You Lord, We Exalt You, and ending with Step By Step. It was a very polite group of people, almost stiff. They finally seemed to start loosening up about halfway through the concert. Mitch did do the polar bear joke, which I've read about before. My 12 year old son liked that. Brad had a broken string at one point, I think, and was frantically trying to fix it while Mitch just continued on with the song. It was funny watching the frustration on Brad's face. I guess they went into the church library afterward to sell CDs and sign autographs, but we didn't stay. There was already a crowd at the door to the library when we went by, and I knew it would take us longer to get home since it had snowed during the whole concert. So I didn't get to say hi to Mitch or Brad. Maybe next time. I figured they were probably tired by then, and one less person they had to talk to would mean they could get some rest that much sooner. Vicki Gerdom