![]() ![]() Side note (and in all good humor), it was performed minus the ‘misty taste of moonshine’ lyric so I suppose it was indeed just a little closer to ‘almost heaven’! There were numerous chorus’ of other well known songs mixed in that could have added to the total song count if all were tallied up that tied in various segments of the performance: ‘It Is Well With My Soul’ (Traditional), ‘Great God Almighty’ (David Crowder), ‘I Love You Lord’ (Petra), and ‘Graves Into Gardens’ (Elevation). ‘Welcome to our makeshift fire pit, it’s the magic of the fire pit, and so I’m telling you, this will be the moment you talk about when the night’s over.’ That particular moment would be a sing-along of John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’. We are almost home.’ Mid-set there was a fire pit scene, the band seated circled around a realistic looking campfire a front a videoscreen-wide backdrop of a wooded forest evening scene complete with the twinkling of fireflies. Sister, run wild, run free, hold up your head keep pressing on. Attenders experientially identifying with the song’s lyrics swayed along, ‘Brother, it won't be long soon all your burdens will be gone. ‘Almost Home’ seemed organically to capture the audience as hands began to lift breaking out at first in different pockets and moving throughout the arena. ![]() ![]() ‘Better Days Coming’ from the new album had a subtle and fun reggae flavor Live not noticeable on the studio rendition. ![]() With due respect, the set had a great designed flow and the new mixed in well with the old weaving in songs such as ‘Move’ (complete with disco ball and a 70’s/80’s vibe), ‘Grace Got You’ and audience favorites, ‘Flawless’ and ‘Then Christ Came’. Beginning with ‘Grace Amazing’ from the new release ‘Always Only Jesus’ the band steamrolled through 4 consecutive songs prior to addressing the audience with a note of thanksgiving, ‘Thanks for waiting, man I can’t even find my receipts from last week so you guys are doing a great job still having tickets’! Bart at times seemed apologetic when introducing the new material, ‘We’ll give you a little fair warning before we start doing a couple new songs so you can take a bathroom break’. The band took the stage at precisely 8:44 for a 1:45 hour/21 song set. One single stage length video screen which occasionally served as five tall-skinny ones provided the background, while consecutive stage length sets of floor lights provided the forefront. The straight-forward set up was stage L to R: guitar/keys, drums (platform), vocals, bass/keys (platform), guitar. Upon entrance to the arena I made my way to a pair of really good lower bowl seats 115/E for a first glimpse of the stage. In addition there were Robby Shaffer (drums - ’97), Nathan Cochran (bass/keys - ’98), and Barry Graul (guitar - ’03). The Oklahoma based band featured a seasoned line-up with two original members and the rest going way back: Bart Millard (vocals) and Michael John Scheuchzer (guitars/keys) from their very beginnings in ’94. Lovewell’ (2020), I wasn’t at first too excited about the setlist, but being my first time seeing the band Live I took what I could get. On a plus side the opener changed from what would have been Micah Tyler to Rend Collective, a big win for me! Being only remotely familiar with anything other than my well worn MercyMe essentials ‘Almost There’ (2001) and ‘The Generous Mr. Billed as the ‘Inhale (Exhale) Tour’, it would turn out to be an entirely different show this year heavy on the last two releases 2021 & 2022 (9 songs) and light on their early material 1994-2013 with just 2 songs). The original show scheduled 11/18/21 was postponed one week prior due to ‘several personal testing positive for Covid’. MercyMe: 11/18/22 “I could almost imagine this concert not taking place as it was rescheduled from 2021 exactly one full year later, a year and a half after original ticket sales opened up. ![]()
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