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Michael W. Smith is an icon within Christian music, and MercyMe has become one of the most successful groups of the past few years ever since their song "I Can Only Imagine" impacted mainstream radio. With these two performing a tour together, it is a concert that few would want to miss. David Crowder Band has had a few popular songs on radio (and has been an integral part of the Passion worship band), so they are an added bonus.

David Crowder Band opened up the concert with a half hour set with at least five songs, including their two radio hits. It was clear that the crowd did not recognize most of their songs, but many got into the music when the group performed their two radio tunes. It was still clear that people were patiently waiting for MercyMe and Smitty. Unfortunately after David Crowder Band was finished, the crowd was forced to wait through a 30-minute intermission. Yes, there was a half hour intermission after only half an hour of the concert. Go figure.

Finally, MercyMe came out and got the crowd going as they performed their current hit single "Here With Me." The crowd continued to stay hot as the group performed "In the Blink of an Eye", which is also from the current CD, Undone. They transitioned into "The Change Inside of Me" from Spoken For, followed by "Here am I" from Undone. With the crowd still hopping, they performed the title track from their newest CD, followed by "Spoken For," the title track from their second CD. Bart Millard slowed down for a few minutes to describe the tough times the band had last year as they saw many people close to them pass away. Bart said that the one event that affected him the most was when his brother-in-law passed away in a car accident less than an hour after talking to Bart and his wife. The band respectfully performed "Homesick", which could easily be its next single. After performing "Word of God Speak," another of their most popular songs, they were joined by Michael W. Smith as they performed U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name" (which interestingly enough, was also performed by American Idol's Clay Aiken in a concert several days later in nearby Portsmouth, Virginia). The crowd enjoyed every bit of the group's hour long set, singing along with the many radio singles and just enjoying the time of corporate worship.

Michael W. Smith performed for almost an hour and a half, singing many of the songs from his two worship CDs, as well as dipping into his older songs and even featuring two new offerings from his upcoming CD, Healing Rain. He began his set off a worshipful version of Chris Tomlin's "The Noise We Make," along with several other praise and worship songs. One of the highlights of his set came when he dove into his deep catalog and performed "Secret Ambition" from his 1998 I2Eye project, which left the crowd in awe. Another highlight was when Smitty said he had a pop CD that he had been working on for three years that would be released in October, then performed the title track from that upcoming CD, Healing Rain, which had a bit of worshipful feel, especially considering the lyrics. The most touching moments of his entire set came when he shared about how he was impacted by the events of the Columbine tragedy and the events of September 11th. In response to the events of Columbine, he wrote "This is Your Time," which he performed to a somber and silent crowd. Smitty also related how--after the events of September 11th--President Bush asked him to write a song about the tragedy. He confessed that he had difficulty with it for a while, but he was at home one day and looked out at the big American flag that he had and was just deeply moved. From this experience came "There She Stands," which he performed to a still silent crowd. Smith performed several other songs including another song from his upcoming pop album.

The concert closed with MercyMe joining Michael for "Above All," and Smitty returned the favor joining them to perform "I Can Only Imagine". All the artists came back out for an encore of three or four songs, finishing the concert with Rich Mullins' "Awesome God."

With a concert that ran three hours (not including the half hour intermission), most people left feeling that they got their money's worth, but more importantly left in a worshipful mood, feeling that they had spent several hours in the presence of God. While it was wonderful to hear former and current hits from MercyMe and Michael W. Smith, the biggest blessing was the time spent in worship.

Burton Wray  7/31/2004