Something Beautiful...
On the biggest Sunday afternoon so far in this NFL season. The Sunday when the Dallas Cowboys would travel to the bitter cold to face the Terrible Towels, Terrible Fans, and a not-so-terrible 9-4 Steelers football team. A Sunday when every game becomes a "must win" contest to keep playoff hopes alive. Why on this Sunday of all Sundays did I not watch any football? It's a long story and it begins way back in April.
You see, I know how much my wife enjoys Southern Gospel music so when I heard Bill Gaither was brining the Homecoming Concert Tour to the Hampton Coliseum, I was looking to score some "Mother's Day" points. And I did - I was in line the day the tickets went on sale and nabbed 4 seats on the floor and not only won the approval of my wife, but my 2 oldest daughters as well who didn't have to think long to figure out 4 tickets meant they were included in this gift.
But on the day the concert was supposed to take place in September, Hampton Roads was threatened with a forecast for hurricane winds and flooding. The event was cancelled and would be rescheduled at a later date. As fate would have it, the winds were high on that September day but they didn't keep me from work and certainly would not have kept us from the concert. But that was then...and this is now.
Now was this past Sunday when the rescheduled concert took place. The concert started as scheduled at 6PM (which had us leaving at 4PM) and lasted until well after 10PM with a single 15 minute intermission. Hands down, a Gaither Homecoming concert probably gives the most music for the money than any other concert tour.
And as you might expect, through a 4.5 hour concert, I'm not going to be able to recall the entire line-up and set lists. Sorry, I forgot my pad/pen and didn't take any notes. I just sat back and enjoyed the music.
I do remember the concert kicked off with Kevin Williams (guitar) and the drummer playing and acoustic rendition of Let It Snow. Then the entire ensemble came out to join in (Bill Gaither, Gaither Vocal Band (minus Guy Penrod), Ernie Haas & Signature Sound, The Hoppers, Reggie and Ladye Love-Smith, Ben Speers, Janet Paschal, Gordon Mote , Kevin Williams, Lynda Randall (Michael Tait's sister), and Jeff & Sherri Easter).
Several highlights to point out including Jeff & Sherri Easter singing a song that Jeff had written and sang for her when he asked her to marry him. Also, at one point mid-concert Bill came out and took a seat at the piano to lead the crowd (approx 8,000) in a sing-along to some of his early songs. There is some memory disagreements between my daughters and I as to which songs we actually sang during this part of the concert but I'm pretty sure it began with Something Beautiful and flowed from there.
Another highlight of the night was when the quartets (both the Gaither Vocal Band and Signature Sound) silenced the instruments and performed 4 part harmony around a couple of choir mic's - just like in the old days.
Many of Gospel Music's pioneering founders have passed away in the last few years but one of the biggest highlights was having video playing behind the group on stage which allowed Jake Hess to take the lead on a few verses and gave us a glimpse of past greats like J.D. Sumner, Chuck Younts and Vestal Goodman among others.
It was a great night. It felt like a good, old Waycross, Georgia All-Night Gospel Sing (if you've never been to one of those, you don't know what you've missed!). I'm not sure they even do All-Night Gospel Sings anymore - another great American tradition faded into history...
When the singing finally ended and the lights came up, we somehow ended up at the Merch Tables where my oldest daughter was able to meet Gordon Mote (she plays piano, he plays piano). If you haven't heard of him, check out the liner notes on a Kenny Chesney, Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley or Martina McBride album - you'll find him there. Oh, did I mention he's blind? But man, can he play the piano...and sing. I'm not a big country music fan, but he did a song called Don't Let Me Miss The Glory that just brought the house down!
So, on the biggest night so far this year in the NFL season, I'm not really so sure I really missed anything at all...
You see, I know how much my wife enjoys Southern Gospel music so when I heard Bill Gaither was brining the Homecoming Concert Tour to the Hampton Coliseum, I was looking to score some "Mother's Day" points. And I did - I was in line the day the tickets went on sale and nabbed 4 seats on the floor and not only won the approval of my wife, but my 2 oldest daughters as well who didn't have to think long to figure out 4 tickets meant they were included in this gift.
But on the day the concert was supposed to take place in September, Hampton Roads was threatened with a forecast for hurricane winds and flooding. The event was cancelled and would be rescheduled at a later date. As fate would have it, the winds were high on that September day but they didn't keep me from work and certainly would not have kept us from the concert. But that was then...and this is now.
Now was this past Sunday when the rescheduled concert took place. The concert started as scheduled at 6PM (which had us leaving at 4PM) and lasted until well after 10PM with a single 15 minute intermission. Hands down, a Gaither Homecoming concert probably gives the most music for the money than any other concert tour.
And as you might expect, through a 4.5 hour concert, I'm not going to be able to recall the entire line-up and set lists. Sorry, I forgot my pad/pen and didn't take any notes. I just sat back and enjoyed the music.
I do remember the concert kicked off with Kevin Williams (guitar) and the drummer playing and acoustic rendition of Let It Snow. Then the entire ensemble came out to join in (Bill Gaither, Gaither Vocal Band (minus Guy Penrod), Ernie Haas & Signature Sound, The Hoppers, Reggie and Ladye Love-Smith, Ben Speers, Janet Paschal, Gordon Mote , Kevin Williams, Lynda Randall (Michael Tait's sister), and Jeff & Sherri Easter).
Several highlights to point out including Jeff & Sherri Easter singing a song that Jeff had written and sang for her when he asked her to marry him. Also, at one point mid-concert Bill came out and took a seat at the piano to lead the crowd (approx 8,000) in a sing-along to some of his early songs. There is some memory disagreements between my daughters and I as to which songs we actually sang during this part of the concert but I'm pretty sure it began with Something Beautiful and flowed from there.
Another highlight of the night was when the quartets (both the Gaither Vocal Band and Signature Sound) silenced the instruments and performed 4 part harmony around a couple of choir mic's - just like in the old days.
Many of Gospel Music's pioneering founders have passed away in the last few years but one of the biggest highlights was having video playing behind the group on stage which allowed Jake Hess to take the lead on a few verses and gave us a glimpse of past greats like J.D. Sumner, Chuck Younts and Vestal Goodman among others.
It was a great night. It felt like a good, old Waycross, Georgia All-Night Gospel Sing (if you've never been to one of those, you don't know what you've missed!). I'm not sure they even do All-Night Gospel Sings anymore - another great American tradition faded into history...
When the singing finally ended and the lights came up, we somehow ended up at the Merch Tables where my oldest daughter was able to meet Gordon Mote (she plays piano, he plays piano). If you haven't heard of him, check out the liner notes on a Kenny Chesney, Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley or Martina McBride album - you'll find him there. Oh, did I mention he's blind? But man, can he play the piano...and sing. I'm not a big country music fan, but he did a song called Don't Let Me Miss The Glory that just brought the house down!
So, on the biggest night so far this year in the NFL season, I'm not really so sure I really missed anything at all...
Tags: bill gaither, concert, southern gospel music
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jimbo on -
you are getting like me..posting something in a variety of spots! I can't message everyone with over 100 peeps so I have to do that to have something seen by everyone.
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