Category: Music

Last night, I saw Shawn McDonald in concert at Dwelling Place, a church in Christiansburg. I didn’t recognize the name when I first heard about the concert yesterday afternoon, but I decided to take a look at his site, and some of his original songs seemed familiar, so I decided to go. Someone from Dwelling Place was opening for him. I was hoping that it would be Isaac, one of the ministers from Chi Alpha who goes to Dwelling Place. Instead, it was someone who I didn’t know. He was too long, and I didn’t like his style.

Shawn had a great solo acoustic set, and I was able to talk with him and get a copy of his latest studio album autographed after the show. It turns out that he was the opening opening act the first time that I saw David Crowder Band on tour. That night was amazing, but I missed most of Shawn’s set because of several wrecks on the capital beltway. Apparently, that night was Shawn’s first time on the east coast ever and he thought that it was one of the best stops on that tour. I was glad that I went, and it was cool getting to meet an artist who seemed to really want to connect with his fans.

UPDATE:  Shawn’s song that has made it onto Christian radio is called “Gravity”.  It’s also was a bonus track on the purple disc of WoW 2005.

I saw David Crowder Band and Third Day in concert last night at Liberty University. Both bands did an excellent job, but I’m not used to seeing Crowder as an opening act. I’ve seen Crowder play four times since October 2004, and every time, he was the main performer except for this time. I guess that Crowder is still not a big name, even though I think that he’s one of the best musicians alive, and his songs are widely used in churches. I don’t think that Crowder does as well live on his rock stuff, which is largely what his current album is. He’s a great worship leader, so I prefer seeing him when he’s leading worship as opposed to performing or when he’s touring with a mostly worship album.

Third Day did a better than expected job as the headline act. I have to admit, I’ve never really gotten into their music. I would have preferred to have Third Day open for Crowder, but I think Third Day has more name recognition, since their music tends to get picked up on the God stations. Third Day has an amazing keyoard player, and he toured with a Hammond organ. Makes me want to get a Hammond and start rocking out on it. I may have to get the new Third Day album yet.