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Like a child waiting for the gates of Disney World to open, I arrived with my son Eric at Northside Christian Church in Kansas City, MO a full two hours ahead of time. The concerts general admission seating policy created a sense of paranoia in my brain. As we cruised I-29 from Omaha to Kansas City, I daydreamed I was late, relegated to the attic, dodging cob webs and straining to hear "Nothing To Say" as I adjusted my dunce hat. Not to worry. We scored front row seats.

The concert setting was simple, yet impressive. Northside Christian Church is a small, intimate venue with an earthy, organic feel. The expansive beams and wooden ceiling helped provide a relaxed, homey ambiance. The stage elevated the band and instruments slightly, just enough to provide a decent view for all 200 members of the audience. Strategically placed blue and red lighting created a bit of a night club aura, casting subtle light over the entire stage area. Candelabrum decorated the stage, complimenting the intimate surroundings with flickering light. A large black curtain extending the full length of the back stage hid potential distractions, allowing the audience to focus entirely on Andrew Peterson and his band featuring Eric Peters, Ben Shive and Laura Story.

When the band was delayed ten minutes, I imagined they had been kidnapped. The stress of anticipation was starting to take it's toll. I figured they were probably shackled with duct tape, shuffled off to a utility van somewhere, final destination unknown. Just my luck! "Well, now that Andrew cut most of his hair, at least it won’t hurt when they remove the duct tape", I thought to myself. Jay Roberts, morning personality for Gorilla Force.com abruptly ended my startling vision by introducing the band. Man, I was pumped and just a slightly out of my head.

The talented Ben Shive began the show with an interesting piano introduction which provided no hint of which song it was associated with until Peterson strummed the opening bars of the bouncy and catchy "Isn’t It Love". This song is closer to the pop end of the folk/pop continuum that most of Peterson’s songs fall under. Don’t assume for a second that because the song is a bouncy, radio ready composition, that it doesn’t have something profound to say. All of Peterson’s songs offer meaningful commentary.

I underestimated the spice an accordion might contribute to these songs. The accordion is surprisingly versatile in the hands of Mr. Shive providing a vehicle for conveying reverence, whimsy, or simple, unadorned accompaniment. Take the "The Chasing Song". This haunting, profound Pharisee busting tune is provided with an accordion treatment which underscores and enhances the convicting lyrics. If Shive were a painter, he selected the most appropriate hue from his palette for this song.

Andrew Peterson carved a niche in the program for Eric Peters solo work. I’m glad he did. Peters shares at least one characteristic with Peterson. They are both about as far away from the cliched folk singer/songwriter template as you can get. Like Peterson, Eric Peters writes literate, mature, thoughtful songs. He plays guitar with the precision of a surgeon. He has an astounding, beautiful voice which is occasionally reminiscent of Vigilantes of Love's Bill Mallonnee, but much more precise and refined. Call me crazy, but I hear something in Peters voice that reminds me of Phil Keaggy too. This young man probably puts as much sweat into his craft as the next artist, but when I think of Eric Peters, "natural talent" is one of the first phrases that come to mind. The audience was treated to three songs from Peters sophomore release Land of the Living plus one of my favorites called, "These Three Remain," a tribute to what Tom Brokaw calls, "The Greatest Generation. Sharing a stage with a solo talent as gifted as Eric Peters speaks volumes of Andrew Peterson’s humble, generous spirit. Peterson appears to be a genuine fan of Peters himself, revealing that Land of the Living spends much time in his own CD player.

It’s tempting to elevate the stature of great writers such as Andrew Peterson, but don’t do it. He wouldn’t want that. Inherent in the appeal of a man such as Andrew Peterson is his unmitigated modesty. When an artist so skillfully identifies the inner truth of personal pain, hurt, joy, contrition, longing, graciousness, and fear, it spawns a sort of catharsis which in itself produces great joy. We all want to be understood. When a man like Andrew Peterson writes with such transparency and care, even a blockhead like me feels understood and I appreciate it. That’s my hypothesis on why an artist such as Peterson ends up with such intense, passionate devotees.

"Land of the Free" with a reference to Kansas City, further hyped-up the crowd, just in time for intermission. Doggone. I put the break time to good use by purchasing, "Land of the Living" for my son, so I wouldn’t have to share my copy.

Peterson opened the second part of the show with "Mary Picked the Roses" followed by "Hold Up My Arms," "Family Man," "The Thing About Airplanes," "Loose Change," "Nothing To Say," "Come Lord Jesus," "Silence of God," Pierce Pettis’ "God Believes in You," "No More Faith," "Love Enough," "Alaska or Bust," and Rich Mullins' "Land of My Sojourn".

Peterson seems at complete ease on stage. He appears comfortable in his own skin, unafraid to share whatever pops into his head. He’s a genuinely funny man, unpretentious and humble. He’s also accommodating and mannerly in the face of what must be a stressful and trying lifestyle on the road away from his family.

Peterson makes musical mistakes once in awhile. In keeping with his unflappable nature, he carries on unfazed. When he launched into the popular, "Nothing To Say", like an idiot I started clapping like one might for an arena band when they play the introduction to their biggest hits. I’d like to think there was one or two more idiots that joined me, but I might have been the only one. It's not clear if I embarrassed him or diverted his concentration after the first few bars, but he was sufficiently distracted that he had to start the song over. I don’t remember what he said. It was probably funny because I heard the echo of laughter, but I was too busy crawling under the pew to notice. 

"Silence of God" is an awesome and haunting song. Peterson continues to invent melodies that clothe his lyrics with the most appropriate style. He introduced the song with some thoughts about pain. Peterson wondered aloud, "… why as Christians, we pretend to be happy, when we aren’t always happy … ". He maintains that a hurting world might be better healed by an understanding, kind spirit, rather than a Holy Joe, with all the answers (my paraphrase). He introduced a profoundly original interpretation of John 10:10, the verse that says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly". Peterson suggests that although our connotation of that verse typically implies positive abundance, maybe God intends for us to experience life in negative abundance as well. Experienced believers can testify that some of our greatest revelations, blessings, and lessons are inspired by the most trying of times. Laura Story’s harmony on "Silence of God" was exceptional.

You say you haven’t heard of "Family Man"? Surprise, surprise! Andrew Peterson has written a new song! He said he just finalized the song in a hotel room in Wichita, Kansas a few days ago. How exciting is that? It’s a fun, sometimes funny, yet aching song about making the life transition from single dude to family man. The lyrics muse about trading the Mustang for a mini-van, saving up for Disneyland and knowing every song in Peter Pan. I want to hear it again. Pop culture references in music can be a double-edged sword. The audience usually instantly understands. The song got several knowing laughs from the audience. The down side is that the pop culture references can easily become dated. With Peterson’s habit of retooling and rewriting his songs, I doubt this will  become an issue for him.

Yes, my expectations for this show took on a life of their own. Happily, rather than creating an unrealistic scenario which could never be realized, my imagination served to prepare me for the show of my life. Maybe you can start anticipating your next Andrew Peterson show. Remember, you won’t get dry ice, spinning flood lights, and mirror balls. Andy won’t jump off of speaker stack and the rest of the crew won’t do synchronized dance. What you will get is a real man with a real heart, a fellow traveler in our life journey, who just happens to be one of the best stinkin’ songwriters walking the planet.