see Psalm 25
Third Day
Hillsong – January 25 2005 (Support: Day of Fire / Rookie)
My Hope Is You
Come on Back to Me
Sing a Song
You are So Good to Me
These Thousand Hills
Come Together
Creed
God of Wonders
Love Song
I Believe
Thief
Show Me Your Glory
Took my Place
Consuming Fire
Blackbird
I Got a Feeling
+++
Your Love Oh Lord – You are So Good to Me
^^^
Well, I think it has been eight years, six albums since I first heard Third Day - last night was their second concert in Sydney. I went with a group from my old church in Wollongong, and was staggered with the number of people there I knew. (Most of whom I’ve not seen for some time, and were from my Mission). It is the words that have really drawn me to, and kept me interested in Third Day. On a number of their CD’s there lyrics are biblically based, for example they have written are number of songs based on passages of scripture, (Your Love Oh Lord; My Hope is You; You’re Everywhere), are a few examples.
Seeing we missed out on the first night (because it had sold out, before I knew it was on) we missed Audio Adrenaline, (I’ve not heard a whole lot of their studio stuff, but was interested in hearing them play live). We had Day of Fire, an American group, and Rookie (a band from Queensland). Was not impressed with Day of Fire, not really my style of music, the mix was too loud (maybe I’m getting old, but I felt that was an issue all night), as a result the words were lost. I found some of talking between songs theologically off. The singer talked a little about how Jesus wanted us to be victorious in life, and we could, and should overcome everything, victory = blessing = prosperity, and during he last song, he asked us to dance to drive the devil away, and claim the victory, found that really hard to handle.
Rookie, I found to be a touch better, clearer mix, and there were moments of fun, the singer connected with the audience a little better than Day of Fire. Their set included a cover of Hero (Enrique Iglesias). Though one band’s singer made the unfortunate mistake of calling Hillsong the praise and worship capital…
Then (quite soon) after Rookie, the lights went down, mist filled the arena, Third Day took the stage, and Mac Powell opened in prayer. (I liked that).
Overall impressions, I thought they were good. The band members were filled with energy and appeared delighted to be there. Mac Powell was quite talkative (his vocals are very reminiscent of the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish), and talked a little about the songs, on the advice of Paul Coleman did the Aussie [Oi] thing, and then because it was Australia day they threatened to play the Aussie National Anthem, which turned out to actually be an AC/DC song, (which was halted quickly, with the quip, that he couldn’t sing it). The bond the band share was quite clear for all to see, even if Tai (the Bass Player) decided to try and become an Aussie citizen. But more importantly the band focused on the calling that God has given them, rather than their music or musical talent.
I have the usual fan gripes though, the setlist was a touch disappointing. I really enjoy Wire (the band’s latest album), and they only played two, possibly three, songs from it. I was delighted that we got to hear Thief, from their self-titled debut album, which remains one of my favourite songs. And there was of course the encouragement to participate as well, in the guise of trialing to hit the road with them. Both Mac, and the singer of Rookie, decided to climb on the speaker stacks (during their sets). Once Mac got up he wasn’t sure about how to get down. During I Got a Feeling, we got the members of both Day of Fire, and Rookie all come on stage to dance (read jump around together)
Kind of related to the concert, it was interesting looking at the way people responded to the music, and how the bands articulated their faith. I alluded to this earlier, but I found some of the theology off, probably more Pentecostal than what we are used to at Unichurch. Which lead me to wonder, what does it mean to share ones pulpit? Is there a big difference between what is preached to us, and what is sung?
Some of the comments between the songs were interesting; I found some of these comments alien or unnatural. Perhaps this is the product of a lack of knowledge on my part rather than error. Though to balance this off though Mac made a comment that made my night, he said that whatever we do, we are missionaries for the LORD. And that is at work, at school, on Sunday, through all of our lives. [See Ecclesiastes 9:10; Col 3:17)
In any event, it’s now my intent to spend a Sunday Night at Hillsong. I’ve got no place to comment without having been there, and I sure there are lessons we can learn by discussing with them their frameworks for ministry, perhaps with humility acknowledging that we have lessons to learn.
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