-Hearing kids engage with God. Caleb, my 3 year old friend, was showing me his foot saying that it had been hurt. He then proceeded to tell me that it was okay though because "God healed [his] foot." Then he said, "Thank you God for healing my foot," and went back to playing like it was nothing. I stood there beaming, because I knew I was witnessing a precious moment. He also at another time was coloring a page with orchids on them. He told me that they were monsters. I asked him what monsters do. He looked at me, and smiled, then said, "Rawrrrrr!" and went back to coloring. Haha. Yes, that is what monsters do.
-Road trips! (minus the traffic)
-Meeting people from other places. At the show I went to, we met Dave. We called him Apple Dave because he works for Apple. Apple Dave is from England. He insulted my camera, calling it "practically a Poloroid", and joked with us about needing subtitles. My roommate Gayle especially had a hard time understanding him. He was pretty funny, and was our friend for the evening. He just enjoyed hanging out with the band along with us (more on that soon...)
-Realizing on a Friday that you have taken off of work that you still have a FULL weekend ahead.
-Sleeping in. :)
-Live music.
So, yes, the SHOW. Gayle and I arrived at Cafe Du Nord at about 7:45, just in time to grab a drink and get ready for everything to begin. The first two bands were pretty good. I enjoyed both. Usually I feel fairly ambivalent toward opening bands, but not this time. By the time it was Needtobreathe's turn, the place was crowded and I had a few people standing in front of me. I wanted to be as close as I could be. They played a variety of old and new songs, and I was excited to hear Bo lead a song. Usually Bear leads, as he is the frontman and sound of Needtobreathe. But Bo, Bear's brother, is one of the main writers for the songs, and it was a treat to hear him sing one of them. At the very end, they unplugged and sang two songs over us. They also earlier in the show sang a part of "Stones over Rushing Water" completely acapella. It was magical.
The end of the show came, and Apple Dave introduced himself to us. Then, as we saw members of the band come out to hang with the fans, Dave marched over to Bear to get him to take a picture with us. It was hilarious, and we had a new friend. Bear was very accomodating, and Gayle told him that he needed to come to the Central Coast to play. They ended up talking about how they went to the Pismo dunes and how his wife is a nurse...Gayle works at the hospital, so they had quite the conversation! Soon, we met Bo, who was obsessed with Gayle's headband! Haha, we took a couple of pictures with him, but he was not as easy to converse with. Next thing you know, Joe, the drummer, was standing by himself, and we walked over to say hi. Hi turned into an hour conversation ranging from why they don't ever play in the UK (asked by Apple Dave) to what his relationship with God looked like. He told stories about having to buy new clothes at Walmart sometimes because they ran out of clean clothes...life on the road does not always include laundromats. And that they are probably Febreeze's main supporter being a group of sweaty guys and all. Gayle and her friend broke off to meet Seth, the bass player, while Apple Dave and I continued our talk with Joe. Eventually we wore him out, and realized it was 1am. And so we headed out. We crashed at her friend's place, a typical small apartment in San Fran. It was delightful. I am pretty sure I did not sleep until 2:30am. But it was all worth it.
I started out the trip as a fan of Needtobreathe's music but ended it as a real fan of them. They were interactive with their fans both on stage and off, and they want to connect. They don't want people to walk away liking one of their songs, but rather embracing who they are and what they produce. I believe that, in that, they are successful. It was amazing to see how they could gather a crowd of both believers in Christ and not. Their ability to reach both is such a blessing! I hope that they get the promotion they deserve, but that they do not lose the heart of what they do. These men are authentic, and I very much enjoyed meeting them.
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