and each artist recently released new albums this Fall which were great to experience live in concert. They all had equal billing and each performed 30-40 minute sets with 22 great songs in total. Here’s my song-by-song description of the concert.
Aaron Shust opened with the title track, “This Is What We Believe” from his new album This Is What We Believe. The song is one of many songs that are vertical worship declarations about who God is and who we are in Him because of His great love for us. Next we sang “Risen Today” which led to Aaron’s hit song “To God Alone” which really convicts me to try to live out the words of the song “Everything I say and do, Let it be all for You.” As we start to prepare our hearts for celebrating the birth of our King Jesus try meditating on these words: “Take the offering I bring, You want more than what I sing, Can I give You every part of me?”
Next, Aaron sang his new songs
"Your Majesty" and
"Never Been A Greater Love" and it was great to sing these songs with fellow believers as they are proclamations of worship. One of Aaron's strengths is the strong biblical Truth of his songs, and he prays and calls upon our King Jesus in every single song. There is absolutely no doubt who these songs are about. Aaron closed with his stand-out number one hit song and Dove Award winning Song of the Year,
“My Savior, My God” and his current #1 hit
“My Hope Is In You.” The song is based on the truth of the Psalms. I can't get enough of the Biblical truth of the song and I love when artists take God's Word from the Bible and turn it into a great and catchy song filled with truth. I sing this song to God with all of my heart and know that
"My hope is in You, Lord, all the day long." The timeless passages,
Psalm 25 and
Psalm 121, have application for us today as we live in uncertain times. Know that God is your refuge and your hope comes from the Lord.
When Jason Gray inked a contract with Centricity Records in 2006 after a run of more than a decade as a hard-touring indie artist, he did so after a lot of soul-searching, wondering how his highly relational artistry would translate to a broader audience. Now with the release of his third studio album for Centricity, A Way To See In The Dark, that tension can probably be laid to rest. What emerged on the new project is a thought-provoking collection of artful, emotional and radio-friendly tunes that achieve a high level of accessibility without sacrificing any of Gray's personality or creativity. Jason opened with "Good To Be Alive" which was co-written with Brandon Heath and Jason Ingram will remind you of Brandon's recent hit song "Your Love" both musically and lyrically. Jason yet again yields his signature stamp in the bridge where he croons "I won't take it for granted, I won't waste another second, All I want is to give You, A life well lived, to say thank you."
NRT's Kevin Davis and Jason Gray before the show.
He followed it up with his hit song
“More Like Falling In Love” which takes the listener to a deeper level, asking to fall in love with Christ instead of just following the rules of Christianity. This song provides a real life picture of the difference between dead religion and a vibrant relationship with Christ. Jason went on to tell us about his history as a kid with a chronic stutter who eventually discovered his calling as a singer meant that his weaknesses are nothing to hide, reminding us that “God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” Amen to that!
Jason then performed a trio of my favorite songs from his new album,
“The Sound of Our Breathing,” “Fear Is Easy, Love Is Hard” and
“Nothing Is Wasted.” The basic message behind Jason's songs is that "the added benefit is that people are able to see how God's grace works in a real person's life. When we come clean about our brokenness, Christ becomes the star of our testimony and not us."
Before the show, I interviewed Jason for an upcoming “behind the song” devotional about current hit song "Remind Me Who I Am" which really displays Jason's heart and transparent song-writing style. I have played the song non-stop since I first heard it. It is hooky and filled with biblical truth just like Jason's hit song "More Like Falling In Love." The lyrics,
"If I'm Your beloved, can You help me believe it?" keep the theme from "I Am New" going, Jason’s closing song based on
2 Corinthians 5:21:
If we would only run to Christ, He would remind us who we really are.
As students of history, Downhere band members Jeremy, Jason, Marc and Glenn have come to recognize and appreciate the fact that their faith is not simply their own--but that it's part of a much larger communion of believers that stretches across cultures and thousands of years. Their new album
On The Altar of Love is a pop-driven project that offers a positive outlook for our future, while maintaining the integrity and artistry of Downhere, one of my all-time favorite bands. As a major fan of the Canadian band since their Dove Award nominated debut in 2001, this band has only managed to get better this decade putting them in the ranks of my other favorite bands Jars of Clay, MercyMe and Sanctus Real. Downhere started off their set with bassist Glenn Lavender playing trumpet to lead into the great rock anthem,
“My Last Amen” from
Ending Is Beginning which was my top overall album of 2008. Co-vocalist Jason Germain introduced that the next song was
“Here I Am,” based on my favorite passage of the Bible and my life verse,
Isaiah 6:8:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!" This verse stirs me to answer my calling as a Christian to do God's will. They continued with
“Living The Dream” a new song from their current album,
On The Altar of Love, one of my top albums of 2011.
Marc Martel started singing
“Let Me Rediscover You,” and they showed a very poignant video in the background that was as moving as the amazing song. The song is based on
Genesis 1:2:
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. That passage of Scripture has always captivated me. This band just has a knack for hitting me where I am spiritually. This song expresses the biblical truth that what we can’t find in ourselves alone, we can find in the community of believers and in our relationship with God. God’s community with us is that He sent Jesus to die for us and gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit within each one of us. With everything going on in our world, we need the encouragement that God is with us and we’re not alone. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which our Lord Jesus is not present.
Jason introduced us to the next song, which he wrote to be an anthem for Christians, a contemplative prayer song called
“Reveal The Kingdom.” Jason had us all crying out to God
“His life compels us to serve in love…may we live to reveal the unseen Kingdom, the glory of the new Son, wherever more His love imparts the Kingdom in our hearts, reveal the Kingdom..” The compelling ballad ends with a chant in Latin from
Isaiah 40:8:
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Gorgeous.
The title track “The Altar Of Love” says to lay down your possessions and obsessions with the profound lyrics—“Love will ask of you more than treasure/When you’re willing to trust/Blessing far outweighs the loss/When you lay it all at the altar of love.” The melody and music is upbeat and had the capacity crowd moving along in worship with yet another incredible song. Jason and Marc’s vocals combined perfectly and flowed seamlessly into “Rest,” with a beautiful chorus, “Come to Me, all you tired and helpless, come to Me and I will give you rest” sung in the person of Jesus, similar to “Bleed For This Love” from Ending Is Beginning.
They closed with Marc Martel’s YouTube sensation cover of Queen’s “Somebody To Love.” Many have compared co-vocalist Marc Martel’s voice to Queen’s Freddie Mercury, and he has gone beyond proving that the comparison is reasonable. The crowd all sang along and I wished Downhere would just keep singing their songs, they are that good. Jason Gray and Aaron Shust returned to the stage and they finished with a worshipful rendition of Hillsong’s “Mighty To Save.”
Downhere’s live set harnesses the best of what I’ve come to love about this band, sing-able melodies, songs filled with biblical truth and some of the best vocal combinations in any genre.
NRT's Kevin Davis with Marc from Downhere.
