John Sclitt Athens Concert Review

[petranite]

Well figured I would give a review of the John Schlitt Show:

Details:
Where: Athens, Illinois
When: 5/22/10
Attendance: Approx. 100
Length: 90 Minutes

Set List:
1. Gravity
2. God Is To Big
3. Show Me The Way
4. The Grafting
5. Only Men
6. Just Reach Out
7. No doubt
8 Wake The Dead
9. Beyond Belief
10. Inside of You
11. Reign In Me


Production: So to start off there was really no production whatsoever so I will not speak to all the improvements that could have went in to setting John up for a win taht the church could have done. And no you don't have to get a lighting rig the little things like dimmed lighting and pre/post show music being played are nice touches but at last it wasn't my show.


Performance: John had a lot of energy and even commented on the fact that he was in a really good mood that night. He was dancing and cutting up with the crowd quite a bit. The set list was EXTREMELY low key as you can see above. John IMO struggled getting going vocally and just flat out could not hit the higher notes at all. We all know that and so my expectations were not looking for high stuff but it was pretty obvious that he cannot hit close to high notes which was eye opening to me. Not saying it was bad just since the last time I saw him (3 years) his range has changed quite a bit. By song 4 he was really getting going and was seemingly warmed up and I thought he gave the best performance of Only Men that I have heard to date. Just Reach Out & No Doubt
gave him little challenge. Wake the Dead was simply AWESOME and John really got into it and sounded his best during that and Beyond Belief. The only problem was he turned off his mic during the sceond verse of Wake The Dead which made for a comedic turn of events. He finished up with a congregational worship chorus with reign in me and everybody seemed to enjoy it.

My Take: I am going to try and remove myself from being a fan of Johns and try and be objective about this. It's hard to do since I have stated many times that John is my all time favorite vocalist and I would buy "John Schlitt Sings the Alphabet" if he released it. With that said my wife was with me who is way more objective then I and we discussed the show for quite sometime after. I walked away kinda sad on the inside because I know how John was in the prime of On Fire/War/Belief/Power/No Doubt no christian band out there could touch what Petra was doing at the time and John was simply phenominal. This night however really drove home the fact that some things need to change. First I would say 80% of the crowd had NO IDEA who John was and knew NONE of his solo songs or Petra stuff. About 15% knew the Petra stuff and ate it up when he sang the 3 Petra songs. 3% were there because they loved Head East (two guys would not stop talking about it behind me and a lady brought her Head East album to get signed) then there was the 2% me and 1 other guy that knew and loved everything Johns ever done.

So now that you have a feel for the crowd let me say that I think John really needs to push the new stuff he is doing like crazy. Sing the WHOLE freakin Grafting album if need be and drop the old solo stuff. If need be sing 1 maybe 2 songs from them. He did 4 songs from them and 2 people knew them. He needs to also do some more Petra stuff that people really know. I put myself in the shoes of those that were there the 80% and you know most of them were quite older 50 and up. They dug the Grafting stuff but the other stuff just didn't get over as much and partly because you could tell John was more into the new stuff as He should be. He spoke personally about every new song with passion and while he mentioned the purpose behind the other stuff you could tell it was old to him or at least appeared that way.

I think he should focus on the new stuff and Petra stuff because the Petra stuff at least hit almost 20% of the people. BAM!!! Sing Beyond Belief stuff then bring Grafting material. KABOOM!!! with Unseen Power stuff the bring the Grafting Material SOCKO!!! with the No Doubt stuff then bring the Grafting material. Interlacing it I believe will have a much more positive effect in keeping people into the concert.

I will say I did experience a first at this show. I have seen John perform well over twenty times and last night there was a HUGE first. John DID NOT forget the lyrics to any of the songs. He sang 11 straight and didn't miss a line. I wish I could put everything down but I just can't I guess it was just sad to know that I am in the small minority of people that really likes Johns music now. All day Sunday after the concert I had to defend my decision to go and see John from other people who were constantly saying "PETRA those guys are still around?" "John's touring solo?" "Man is he singing stuff from his old solo albums from twenty years ago?" "Dude that guy hasn't had a solo hit since never" "John who?" It's tuff because I used to say I'm going to a Petra concert and the responses were something like this "Oh man I want to go so bad" "I know I can't wait"

I think if John embraces Adult Contemporary then he may have a future success in the music scene. And yes I will be the first to say I want John ROCKIN AND SCREAMIN but man there is not enough of us to justify John staying with that style. As much as I want MY JOHN SCHLITT I belive the world needs the John Schlitt that can be successful and have a bigger impact at this stage. Reality is my John Schlitt isn't possible anymore without John going broke but another John Schlitt that appeals to another more laid back crowd (not spiritually just musically) is probably what is needed.

John can only do the old Petra and solo stuff about 80% of what he used to but you know what. John can do the grafting and two guys stuff 100% and he does it well. The fact is I will always support John unless he just does something stupid and unethical and even then if he asks forgiveness I will be right there giving it. I want different people to experience his ministry I've had him for twenty years I hope others will discover him now. Now with that being said you can begin bashing me and disagreeing with me. Just know my heart is and always will be behind John

[mbrew5000]

I have to say I had the opposite experience at the Fairdale KY show. John's voice was dead on that night. His singing was way better than you could expect from a 60 year old rocker. His classics sounded great and his new stuff sounded dead on the album. I was extremely happy when I left. Also John was extremely generous with his time for the meet and greet afterwards. I can't say enough good things about that show.

[St_Augustines_Pears]

I was hoping to go to this show, but, alas...I couldn't get off work.

Glad to see he's playing songs from his first solo album (which is out of print, I believe) and II Guys From Petra. "Wake The Dead"? Dang...now I'm really kicking myself for not being able to go!

Three songs from THE GRAFTING sounds like a good amount. No matter what, John will always have to play some Petra songs...that's his bread and butter, and he's wise enough to know that.

All in all, it sounds like it was a great show. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cry some tears of regret into the pillow of remorse.

[Jan]

You can still get Shake. I just got it last September - LOVE it!!!

[brent]

IIRC correctly, someone said Shake would no longer be pressed. This may explain the price for new CDs on Amazon.

[Mountain Man]

Old Christian albums can be hard to get a hold of due to low demand. Rather unfortunate because there was a lot of really good CCM music back in the day that will probably never be released again.

[brent]

http://www.rocksolidmusic.com/ has just about anything you could ever want and it is completely legal. They pay the artists royalties on all pressings. Some of the items are new old stock, some are used, some are copies of impossible to find releases.

[Vic]

Lets sue Coke for destroying the greatest voice on Rock n Roll .

[p-freak]

[sue d.]

Destroying? Ah... contrare! He sounds EXCELLENT, and on June 25 you'll be able to see and hear him LIVE, singing up to 10 songs -- for 4 full hours! Details to come....

[Jonathan]

Four hours, ten songs... So he must be singing the extended dance remixes?

[sue d.]

Gettin' jiggy wit dit too!