Sunday, April 20, 2008

My first "Christian" rock concert [10/30/07}

I was a 16 year old teenager when I was part of this gospel oriented "church" group called God's New Covenant People. Basically, it was this church formed from a split, or something like that. Actually, it's all hazy, and what I remember is lame from the whole experience. The members of the band were all teenagers, and we were trying our chops at becoming a rock band of some type. We all went to see Randy Stonehill and Daniel Amos play at Full Gospel Tabernacle in Hamburg, NY. All my friends basically came to see Stonehill. Here was this tall, lanky guy with curly hair and glasses playing guitar with a band. He was kind of geeky, and DA backed him up. It was Between The Glory And The Flame that he played mostly from, with older songs like Keep Me Running and The Great American Cure sprinkled in for good measure. It was thoroughly entertaining.

Then came Daniel Amos. The album for this tour was Alarma. Anyone knowing the time frame is well aware of how history was made because of Alarma. Needless to say, most of my friends left after the first couple of songs. This was too bad for them. I'm glad one of my friends, Scott, and I were into it. Raw new-wave-meets-punk-space-freaky rock is how I can describe Daniel Amos. I remember Through The Speakers, Alarma, and Walls Of Doubt. Actually, they played each song from the album. They also played Horrendous Disc and I Love You #19. After the show, I went up front where another buddy of mine, Steve, was getting his albums signed. I picked up Alarma off the merchandise table and was blown away by the cover with the almost sci-fi vibe. The eyes were blotted out. Totally cool!

The whole experience, including my lame friends deciding to leave, was something to remember. Who knew that a teenager would be witnessing pivotal history in the making? As I reflect now, seeing Daniel Amos then was huge. The Alarma Chronicles would become an incredible influence for many a band in the mid 80's to the present, including this fan. Music is central to my very being. Albums to cassettes to CD's to mp3's on an iPod...I'm definitely a supporter of this little niche of a scene. I don't ever see it stopping either, Lord willing and creeks don't rise. It's sure a hobby

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