> 2007 the year in review – concerts

We saw alot of good live music this year and only the lack of time and money stopped us from seeing more! My top 3 were:

Mute Math at the Intersection

Sufjan Stevens at Calvin College

Anberlin at the Intersection

Recap: 2007 started with a pleasant surprise in January with the David Crowder Band leading the worship service music at Mars Hill Bible in Grandville Mi. As it was a worship service and not a concert I have no photos. You can see some photos and what gear the band used at worshipguitarguy.wordpress.com

Way Fm 89.9 in Grand Rapids brought in many great shows and two of them were early in the year at the Ground Floor in Grandville Michigan. The shows were Skillet / Nevertheless and Fireflight / Family Force 5 / Disciple. The Skillet show was packed, hot, sweaty and loud; in short just what you’d want! Family Force 5 was at their krunking best as always. Fireflight was a nice surprise as the girls rocked harder than expected.

Skillet

Family Force 5

Fireflight

Sufjan Stevens came to Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Music, where he performed 2 sold-out shows at the FAC. His multi-piece band performed complete in butterfly wings and scout uniforms . For those familiar with his music it was no surprise that the music was unique and well performed, but it was also surprising how loud it was.
Sufjan Stevens

Mute Math made an appearence at the Intersection in Grand Rapids and played a flawless set. (See their live DVD Flesh and Bones and you will get a good idea of how good their show is.) This was probably the top performances I saw all year. The Cinematics opened and for an unknown band made a good impression.

Mute Math

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One of best albums of the year was Anberlin’s Cities, so we were geeked to see them perform it live. They brought with them Daphne Loves Derby, Playradioplay!, and Jonezetta. We ended up playing “Confines of Gravity” from Playradioplay! alot this year. I was looking forward to seeing Jonzetta who turned in a very good set . Daphne Loves Derby did a good set, but suffered from having to play sandwiched between Jonzetta and Anbelin.  Anberlin did not disappoint but photos were hard to take with all the energy on stage.
Anberlin

Stellar Kart , following up their Dove award for “Me and Jesus”, brought their pop/punk music to a small but appreciative crowd in Hudsonville Michigan.
Stellar Kart

Sullivan, Showbread & Project 86 made an appearence at Skelletones. I was mostly going to see Showbread, but found Sullivan having a better than average live show and Showbread was more screamo than I was expecting.

Showbread

The Fray brought their brand of radio-friendly pop to the Van Andel Arena along with Mae and Ok Go. Ok Go were fun and energetic. Mae played some new material from their upcoming Singularity, but seemed out of place in an arena. The Fray made the most of their 1 album of material and did a competent job of translating their songs to an arena atmosphere.

Mae

The Fray

Fifth Third ballpark was the sight of Hawk Nelson Baseball Tour with “The Nelsons” and the Send.

The Send

Hawk Nelson

We had not seen Mitch Mcvicker in over a year so it was time again to see one of our favorite artists. The Setting was a small church in Newago Michigan. Mitch brought an all new cast of band members to help him play past favorites but mostly off his new album Love will Rise. The new members were all accomplished muscians and there was a fresh energy to the songs.

Mitch McVicker

The hottest ticket of the year was not for some artist like the Rolling Stones or the Police or U2, but to Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. (Oh and the Jonas Brothers too!) Yes we did have some of those tickets that sold out in a matter of minutes. It was quite an event, but I am still waiting for a concert review from girlwithguitar…..

Hannah Montana

Miley Cyrus

So all in all a good year of concerts. We would have liked to seen some  groups  like Paramore, The Almost and Eisley. But their is always 2008………..