THIS WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This will be my personal review of the concert, not a critique.
By the way I LOVED IT!!!
First off the W is an absolutely incredible location.
I made the trip from Kentucky with my Brother(Ryan) and a friend (Flutie). We got tickets, wrist bands around 4 pm and got to do a brief outdoor interview with the film crew along with the other 20 or so Petheads that missed the first round of fan interviews that took place inside. These are to be included in the DVD and I really look forward to watching them. It will be a treat to see what all the Petheads said on camera. We then went to eat. We got back aroung 5:45 pm and stood in line for an hour til 6:45ish til the Petheads were let in. The W
was not what I expected. IT WAS BETTER! I thought we would be sitting in seats and not allowed to make a whole lot of noise, but I was WRONG. There are no seats in the recording area and we were allowed to make lots of noise. Just a stage and a hardwood floor to stand on. Which was fine I wanted to stand the whole time. The whole recording area(where the artist performed) was about the size of half a basketball court with no bleachers. So it was very intimate and close up. There was a very NICE SIZED CROWD. Several hundred were in attendance. I was on the right side of the stage opposite of the door. The door side was more crowded and realistically I think about 60 more people would have maxed it out before it started getting really crowded(this was for the first session, the second session had plenty of room and less people, JUST US DIEHARD PETHEADS!) We stood about halfway back, the stage area was jammed with petheads and I prefer a little room. To start the show they got some different levels of crowd noise from the crowd and then the head of the GMA came out and gave a nice introduction of PETRA!!!!.
There was a large screen behind the crowd and you could read the songs right before and when they were sung. I enjoyed knowing the songs before they were sang.
Then Petra blasted away with ALL ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW! It was LOUD!!! I have been to a lot of concerts but only a rare few make my ears ring and this one did! They repeated AAWYK because Johns pack kept going out. Which was fine with me. Petra continued to rock for several more songs. Then came the rock medley. This was very SWEET!
If you like the medleys on other albums you will love the medleys on this one. They are tight! I have always wanted a CD with John singing Judas Kiss and It Is Finished. These songs were done without keyboards ALL GUITAR! They sound SUPERB! I hope the crowd singing really comes out in the cd because they were extra loud on This Means WAR!, I Am On The Rock, and Creed. I also hope a lot of the commentary from the band gets left in it was excellent and sometimes funny.
Then came the ballad medley.
This was extra special.
Greg Bailey played the Cello(spelling?)and Greg Volz came up and sang. It was quite special to see them(John S & Greg V) singing the songs from each era and harmonizing together.
It was a wonderful touch, THANK YOU PETRA!
Then came I am C, I am a C-H, you know the rest, but it was cool watching all the guys have a blast singing this song. As for the DVD, the Ballad medley will be a treat for everyone who buys this just to see how special this was. After they finished the ballad medley, the guy running the show with short gray hair(former Petra Member Jim Cooper) came up and asked them to redo the medley and commented on how special this was to the crowd and everyone concurred. So they did it again, It was awesome all over again. Then John Schlitt quitely exited to the right side of the stage and Greg Volz and John Lawry with Bob,Greg, and Paul did Graverobber. This went over FABULOUSLY. From where I was standing I watched John Schlitt a little during Graverobber and he was an inspiration in the way he handled the whole night with extreme class. It was a great witness without saying a word. Thanks JOHN!
Then John Lawry hit the stage for a SOLO, which was DYNAMIC! And finished it off with JESUS LOVES YOU ala Captured in Time and Space! This will be really cool on both DVD and the CD!
Bob Hartman busted into at least 3 solos durint the taping at different moments so get ready for lots of BOB on CD and DVD!.
Lawry stayed on the keybopard and they did a fantastic version of Beyond Belief. It was a Huge crowd sing a long, should be great on cd and dvd!
They finished up with a crowd BOOMING VERSION OF LORD I LIFT YOUR NAME ON HIGH. SWEET!!!!!!
I think it was then John asked for requests and I quickly belted out LUCAS MCGRAW, then John Schlitt called for Security. It was pretty funny.
I hope it makes the dvd! The Petheads yelled several songs, but they played a super version of He Came, He Saw ,He Conquered it was MARVELOUS!!!
I am sorry if I got things out of order, but there was a LOT of PETRA to remember!
The band then repeated a few songs and took an announced 20 minute break. I needed WATER. I had sang my heart out.
After the break the band came back repeated the whole rock portion of the concert, but several people had left, but WE PETHEADS WERE READY TO ROCK. So Petra repeated the whole rock portion and it was awesome. John even commented that the small crowd was literally as loud as 400,000 people. Pretty nice compliment.
But HEY WE WERE MOTIVATED!
They finished up the concert at aroung 11pm local time. 4 Hours of PETRA! They had played for over 3 1/2 Hours, they had to be exhausted, BUT I WAS PROUD OF PETRA THEY GAVE IT EVERYTHING THEY HAD, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! They were awesome and I am positive PETRA's incredible effort during the performance will transfer very well onto cd and dvd!
Afterwards they stuck around and did a meet and greet for quite a while. Our party of 3 was talking Jim Cooper and my brother, RYAN, asked if Tony Palascios of Guardian(who is mixing the album) was coming out front. Jim Cooper told us to go wait over by the artist door and he would get him, sure enough he did. Tony gladly came out and talked to us for at least the next 45 minutes. He is an extrememly nice guy and very personable. He took us outside and let us listen to a new band he is producing/mixing, Decipher Down(they may change the name). They sounded pretty cool(very guitar driven sound with a soild lead singer). He told us if you like Petra you will probably like these guys. If I find the cd after the start of the year(when it is released) I will probably get it. As for a new Guardian album, maybe?
This night was exactly what John Schlitt said, a Night to Remember!!! My FAVORITE PETRA CONCERT EVER!
In closing,
FAREWELL PETRA, THANKS FOR SUCH A WONDEFUL NIGHT AND A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES. GOD HAS USED YOU MEN TO HELP DIRECT AND FOCUS MY LIFE MORE ON CHRIST! THANK YOU! 1000 WORDS WILL NEVER SAY WHAT YOUR MINISTRY HAS MEANT IN MY LIFE!
SHALOM ALEIKHEM!
