[Previous entry: "Dylan Vs. Dowagiac: The Pictures"] [Next entry: "Katelyn, Rough and Tumble"]

10/22/2007: "Friday Night at Michigan State University"

I had an amazing time Friday night at the Thousand Foot Krutch, Barlow Girl, and Toby Mac concert at Michigan State University. I had forgotten just how much fun it was to see concerts. I have been to three PulseFest’s since we have been here in Michigan, but outdoor festivals are just different from regular headlining tours. As awesome as outdoor shows are, they are like dairy-judging contests compared to true headlining shows!

First off, Anna had no idea we were taking her. She thought she was going to be baby-sitting Katelyn while Heather and I had a date night. Once we were on the Interstate for a few miles, she finally caught on that we were not taking her to our house. She was completely taken aback, and was absolutely thrilled to death. Her reaction was truly precious and memorable.

We had a great and quick two-hour drive up to East Lansing. The Wharton Center was easy to find . . . too bad the concert was not there. We were lost for maybe five minutes, but managed to find the MSU auditorium and get easy parking. Once the doors opened, we met up with Michael, who is a sophomore there at Michigan State, and the four of us found our seats.

If you have even been in older public buildings, have you ever noticed that the women’s restrooms often have foyers in them? I remember that the women’s restrooms at Purdue University’s Memorial Union had rather lavish foyers in them, complete with carpeting, couches, end tables and lamps. I would occasionally catch women napping in them. Well, the men’s restroom at the MSU Auditorium had a foyer as well, and I had never noticed one before specifically for a men’s restroom. Now, it was not that fancy. It was a plain room with some chairs and tables, but nothing lavish at all. It had the potential to be a really nice area, but seemed somewhat neglected. How cool it would be to have some couches, footstools and a television. Guy’s room only!

I was surprised that Thousand Foot Krutch only got twenty minutes and five songs of stage time. I admit to being disappointed. I thought they did a great job, and the crowd seemed to be reasonably into them. Heather did not hear one song she wanted to hear, and I hoped that this was not indicative of the rest of the evening. I wanted more!

Barlow Girl raised the bar quite a bit. They appeared on stage less than ten minutes after TFK left, and enjoyed a forty-five minute set, complete with ten or so songs, several minutes of sharing, and even some Bible reading. Lauren Barlow, the drummer, left her kit for one song and sang and danced around.

They stand for purity and modesty in women, and made their stance on such issues quite clear. The girls backed it up with their song “Average Girl.” It’s a hardcore stance against the momentum of the world. Their music is primarily aimed towards a female audience, but they jam pretty hard, which is why I really like them. Hey, chicks can rock too.

When Toby Mac hit the stage, the crowd was more than warmed up and ready for him. He had about and hour and a half set, and he did not disappoint one bit. He and his Diverse City band put on quite a show, including beat boxing, break dancing, brass instruments, a great light show, and good old-fashioned loud rock n’ roll. Like Barlow Girl, he stood at the edge of the stage and quoted Bible scripture, and went on to give a passionate altar call during his encore. I was not the least disappointed at his show and performance. As awesome as he had been at the PulseFest’s, he raised the bar of excellence out of sight during this show.

As we were leaving, I realized that I had not seen one single person wearing Greek letters. Is that because the Greeks in attendance are closet Christians, and did not want their “Greekness” to show, or is that because there are no Greek Christians at MSU? I don’t know the answer. I imagine that if this concert had been at Purdue University, I would have noted the same thing. Christians are not in dominating numbers on Big Ten campuses noted for large Greek populations and heavy drinking engineering students.

I was dead tired by the time we got home at 1:30 Saturday morning. I could hang with the kids until the show was over, but I showed my age nodding off to sleep one hundred times on the way home. I don’t know how Heather stayed awake to drive home.