Christian Music Online

Winter Jam rocks

February 11, 2008 – 11:37 am

I swore I wasn’t going to do another review that talked about Christian music’s integration into the mainstream.

The move has been going on for years, including the AC radio acceptance of I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe, the headliner at Friday night’s Winter Jam at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Skillet, also at the Jam, had its Savior crash into the college radio rotation a couple years back.

Going over the topic would have been cliche.

But the Jam’s opening band, NewSong, decided to demonstrate some newfound appreciation for Southern rock by covering Sweet Home Alabama five songs into the show.
Skynyrd. At a Christian festival. Can’t ignore that.

The night was equally varied. Ten bucks at the door got you five bands over about 3 1/2 hours. It was the sonic equivalent of the chocolate sampler that clueless boyfriends are buying for Thursday’s big day.

The dark chocolate with hazelnut in the middle was NewSong. The agreeable stalwart, they’ve been playing for three decades. After a couple praise songs, Blessed Be Your Name and Psalm 40, they covered People Get Ready, Shout and the aforementioned Skynyrd tune. Their strength is vocals, clear on Arise My Love and Rescue.

Then it was on to the chocolate-covered coconut. Skillet was all hard rock, shooting flames and exploding sparklers. Ben Kasica’s crunchy electric guitar and John Cooper’s standout bass pegged the decibel meter from the first notes of Whispers in the Dark. The screams built through the next three in the set, also from the current Grammy-nominated Comatose album. Rebirthing was prefaced with Cooper’s novel audience request: “I want you to think back and remember this is the song you hurt your neck on and lost your voice on.”

The band’s head count was one faux-hawk, one Green Day-style muss, one black-and-red dye job and one drummer thrashing her blond hair through to the closer, Savior. For parents who hadn’t been to a Christian concert since the heydays of Amy Grant, things were far removed from leopard-print jackets and mall bangs. The audience text-messaged for chances at prizes. Cooper implored the crowd to tell him to shut up and rock. NewSong announced a Radiohead-like plan to offer its next CD free via download to the first 100,000.

Third up was the fruit nougat you wince at. BarlowGirl, three hard-rockin’ sisters, write decent pop hooks and thoughtful lyrics rewarded with constant Christian radio play. But their guitars and drums drowned out nearly any hope of catching a word, and they must have drawn the short straw: They played only one to two verses of their songs, almost all at punk speed.

The last bite was all milk chocolate and caramel. MercyMe’s lead vocalist Bart Millard has one of the most emotive voices in any genre today, and his rich tenor complemented the seasoned and confident guitars, keys and drums around him. How confident? Guitarist Barry Graul sat his toddler son (with earplugs in place) on an equipment box close to the edge of the 5-foot tall stage for much of the show.

They played the longest set, 11 songs including hits from all five of their regular albums. The list included Billboard’s current top song in Christian music, God With Us. Millard closed things out by turning the singing over to the audience in a moving, a cappella I Love You Lord.

By recent arena attendance standards, the crowd wasn’t bad: 8,000 paid, filling up the bottom bowl. It was even better by the standard of tour pastor and Jax native Tony Nolan. A third of many of the sections chose to become Christians after his message in the middle of the show (the total given was 1,241 souls). There are plenty of pastors in town who’d love that kind of crossover appeal.

By JOHN TIMPE
The Times-Union

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