These Are the Days

Ok, so this isn’t a final installment of the YIR but after my experience tonight I had to write. I will 1st preface this by saying I am not trashing the whole Christian rock scene, this was just a whole different event to us & I had to record my experience. I did genuinely enjoy the event but one cannot enjoy the humor present. The 3 Amigos went to a little concert in Green Bay to see headlining band Skillet who sings hit singles Savior (the song of the summer) & Open Wounds. I should start by saying we discovered about half way through the summer that Skillet was a Christian Rock band in the mold of POD & surprised because they are freaking hard. We don’t really care about religious affiliation, just good music so when we saw the concert advertisement in the paper a couple weeks ago we had to go to the concert.

A few days ago I am sitting at my computer & decided to finally figure out exactly where the concert location was in Green Bay. The place was called Skateside & I checked out their website Skateside.com. I soon learned this would be a full out religious experience as their mission is to provide a safe and positive skating environment for kids of all ages while proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. OK, so we know this is a full out Christian concert. (In fact, a picture on the website shows a skate ramp with a ‘Jesus Saves!’ spray-painted on.) We were now were forewarned this would be no dredg show & would probably run across something we have never experienced before. I personally had 3 goals, to see no one I knew for fear of being called out at a kiddy skate park, to hear Open Wounds, & to hear Savior.

So we roll up on Skateside & are directed to a parking space.(No charge as compared to $20 last show I went to in Milwaukee, sweet.) We roll into the joint & immediately realize we are about 5-10 years too old for this event as we tower over everyone around us. Another good indicator was the large amount of ping pong tables & arcade game in the lobby. We get into the concert area & continued to tower over everyone around us. I may have introduced myself to the ladies around us but lacking a bag of Blow Pops I decided I would not have an in. Scanning the crowd I quickly failed one of my goals. I not only saw someone from the SNC but it happened to be a smoking hot chick from one of my classes. Never having talked to her I decided I would not further my already tainted image & skipped saying hello.

So the 1st band Kids In The Way start playing at 7 & began to rip it up for a couple songs. They then began to preach, this would become a theme. After the preaching they busted into a song called Halleluiah, definitely a goodie. KIW finished their show after a 5 song set & on came 7th Day Slumber. I think we came to conclusion they, after seeing many live acts, were the single worst live band any of us had seen. I can’t emphasize how bad this show was. We literally stood there laughing the entire time they played. It was that bad. Not only were the singer, lyrics, & music bad, he stopped 3 times to tell stories of him trying to commit suicide & people dying in his life. I hid my box cutter deep in my pocket fearing we would add many more to the death toll in his life. He talked more than they played. The highlight had to be the lead singer calling his band mate out on having never kissed a woman as he was saving it for the woman he marries. Let me be straight here, I can understand waiting until marriage to have sex with someone. I respect it & would even be wiling to wait with the right woman. But come on, not even kissing? I began to feel like I am going to hell sooner than later. As J put it, “I think we are just jockeying for better seats on the plane now dude.” It seemed as though they were trying to relate to the crowd but were rather depressing all of us. I will admit that some in the crowd did seem to be deeply moved by these speeches & I respected that they were able to reach some. We came into this expecting very little & got what we expected. Had this concert happened at the Rave, the crowd would have burned the joint down. Things soon began to improve.

After 7DS stunk up the joint, the announcer (Wearing a ‘I am the Christian the Devil warned you about!’ T.) started tossing stuff into the crowd. 1st up was a CD, then a bible with a carrying case, then the T-shirts. A T came flying our way & I got that determined devilish look on my face. This thing seriously went soaring over our heads. Using a move I learned from MJ, I flew into the air & made my assault on it. With a left handed rip, I tore it from the air. J. Walk has nothing on me. Still reveling in my glory, Skillet took stage. OK, here’s some advice, download Skillet. They absolutely rock. I thought the showed kicked ass although even the lead singer did stop to preach from 10 minutes. They played for an hour & a half & we began to wonder when the two songs we came to hear would play. They were 2 of the last 3 & it was more than worth it. The ‘pit’ exploded. Well, they tried at least. I have never seen 13 year olds push each other harder. My favorite part was J & a security guard jacking these kids next to us. Priceless.

Well, in closure, 2 of 3 goals accomplished. Valuable lessons learned & we ended up chilling in my hood for once. All in all this was another pimp night for the boys. Peace…

Posted by D. Schwa on Friday, January 14, 2005 at 3:11 AM | Permalink