An Interesting Concert Experience

A couple months ago, we bought tickets to the Winter Wonder Slam concert tour. The headliner for this concert was none other than Toby Mac. Sierra is a huge fan of Toby Mac and had always wanted to see him. Also on this tour was the group Relient K and Family Force 5.

I was somewhat aware of Relient K's work, but had no idea on Family Force 5. I had always had a predetermined assumption about Toby Mac (something I do, unfairly, with a lot of people and artists...unfortunately). I always viewed Toby Mac as a guy who was full of himself with lots of attitude. My views on him have changed completely. Before the concert, our local radio station, KSBJ, had arranged for a free basketball game to be played in the court across from the Toyota Center (where the concert was being held) between their radio station staff and Toby Mac and his band! So, Sierra and I decided we needed to be there. We got there when they were in "2nd Quarter"...they were not sticking to NBA rules....lol. We got to sit pretty close and I got to see Toby Mac up close. It was so cute...they had these little 3rd and 4th grade cheerleaders from a local Christian school who would cheer...Toby Mac gave them ALL his attention. Towards the end of the game, Toby started going around the perimeter of the court...shaking fans hands. Sierra was so excited and I had camera ready. Unfortunately, he got called away when he was mere feet from where Sierra stood. She took it well...



The concert itself was an interesting experience. Before going to the concert, I decided to see who, exactly, was Family Force 5 (one of the opening bands). I knew who Relient K was. What I found out about FF5, frankly, scared me. I mean, they are Christian, so I was not fearful of that...but they are like CRAZY metal. NOT my type of music at ALL. WHOA...it was worse than I feared. I hate to sound like an old fogie, but I couldn't understand a word that was said and they were slamming their heads and just...well.....it was nuts. The girls were screaming their heads off...Sierra and I had to put ear plugs in between the girls behind us screaming and the levels of metal coming from the group. Sierra thought they were great...only cause she thought they were interesting. LOL I am including a short video I took of them. The sound is not great...my poor camera could not fully take the decibels.



Relient K was what I expected. They have a kind of alternative type of music that is a bit easier for me. I am not a huge fan of theirs, but they were a welcome relief from the noise of the first band! They played Christmas music, which was cool. I liked their take on some classics...they did O Holy Night...a fave of mine and they kept it as a nice, slow ballad. We enjoyed Sleigh Ride that had this little cartoon with it (one of their band members created this).



Finally came Toby Mac (finally someone I at least knew from when Sierra listens to him). The experience with Sierra and Toby Mac was one I will never forget. I mean, I know she really loves TM and listens to his cd a lot. She knows all the words. One thing I had never seen her do...or even knew that she did do...was worship! She always tells me how worship is her favorite part of church...but I thought it was because at church they make it fun with great songs, great movements, and all. But, I was wrong. She throws herself into the worship experience. She raises her hands to the Lord in complete surrender. I couldn't help but tear up. During one part of TM show, he was playing some song or another and she had surrendered herself to worship and one of the ushers came up to me and asked "is this your daughter?". "Yes," I replied. He said it was amazing and wonderful to see a girl her age praying and worshiping the lord.



On the way home, I asked her about that. Was this just a one time thing or does she usually do this at worship. She said of course she does. She told me how her teachers at Woodsedge encourage them to worship and surrender themselves. It was such a precious view into my daughter's faith. I never question her salvation...and I have been seeing some fantastic glimpses into her spiritual side more and more in her prayers and her actions in everyday life, but to watch your child just surrender herself to praising her heavenly father......WOW! I had sat through the first half of the concert uncomfortable...texting Matt and telling him how HE should have brought her to this concert. In the end, I wouldn't have missed the experience for the WORLD!!