downhere concert in Alton

Last night we took the whole family up to the Faith Fellowship just north of Alton, Illinois, for a great concert by the Canadian band, downhere. Our church youth group was planning on going to Rock The River the weekend before down at the arch, and my son in particular was excited to attend. However, when I checked it out on-line it seemed they did not even have a lineup schedule ready and the whole event lasted for seven hours (2:30 to 9:30pm). Even though they had an impressive sounding lineup (Flyleaf, Skillet, Hawk Nelson, Red), seven hours outside at the arch with many thousands of other folks is not my idea of a fun Sunday, so I was open to an alternative. Once I found out downhere was playing in Alton the following week, I thought that was a better idea, just 2-3 hours inside with one band I knew was extremely talented and should put on a great show. And at only $10 per person (purchased on-line from itickets.com), it was not too bad of a deal either!

Although the drive was a bit of a trek, it was mostly interstate and not too bad until we got to Alton. The Google map directions were a bit confusing but we did make it there. It was funny that on Google maps it shows the church as a few farm buildings, which have obviously been torn down and replaced by the church. The building was definitely very new and was just a simple large box in a farm field and a big parking lot. After waiting inside they let us find seats at 6:30pm which were incredibly comfortable with a great view of everything (auditorium style seating). The auditorium did not seem like a church but more like a theatre, being only about 20 rows deep in total, but being quite wide so that the room probably held 500 or 600 people. I noticed on our tickets it said 137/510 so I am guessing their total available capacity for the night was 510, and there were probably 200-300 folks in attendance.

The show started up with the Faith Fellowship praise band, who does not have a cool stage name, so Jerome, the announcer/show promoter from ignitestlouis.com, decided to call them "Thumbs Up!". They performed several covers of standard praise songs like Chris Tomlin's "Your Grace is Enough", Lincoln Brewster's "Love the Lord", and Jeremy Camp's "We Give You Glory". They did a good job and they certainly have a lot of people in their ensemble, including a full-time violin player. They definitely livened up the crowd and got us in good spirits for the second act which was Mark David and Surface Deep. They actually had a good sound and energy but really did not impress us as much for two reasons. First the sound system did not pick up the female vocals hardly at all, and secondly because the songs they performed were extremely repetitive and simplistic even by "praise and worship" standards. I think with better song selections in their limited time slot they could have delivered a fine performance. Maybe the "Thumbs Up" praise band from FF set the bar too high!

After a brief intermission they showed an amusing video countdown for the last 5 minutes of intermission with the time being held by three people whose heads you cannot see. We were wondering if it was the band members of downhere, since they occasionally showed bible verses and quotes and the words "Ending is Beginning" (the title to their latest album.) Right after the countdown concluded downhere started right into "Cathedral Made of People" and launched into a great show. I remember they mostly performed songs from the latest album, but they did perform "The More" and also "Rockstars Need Money" which was really fun. My daughter thought Jason rambled a bit too much, but we explained he was helping us get to know the band better and also giving the band a rest! For an encore Marc came out and sang "The Audience Song" while playing keyboards. I did not realize Marc Martel could play keyboards that well! Then they ended with a sing-a-long version of "Mighty To Save". What a great evening! We played "Ending is Beginning" in the car all the way home singing along.

We are definitely glad we decided to attend the downhere concert instead of Rock The River. Whereas being in a sea of 60,000 people listening to Flyleaf or Skillet would have been a great experience, the Faith Fellowship venue was much more intimate and comfortable, and we could see the sweat and expression on Marc and Jason's faces. My son thought it was the coolest concert he has ever attended, and who am I to disagree?