The J6 Journey: Year 3, May 4th, 2018: Michael W. Smith, Surrounded by A Million Lights World Tour, Anderson, IN

Phew, that's a long title. This is a bonus blog post which will be like other concert posts before it, filled with pictures, and hopefully synced with videos. I tried not to take as many pictures and videos this time, especially since I knew the light show wasn't going to be as crazy or big as WinterJam and Newsboys were. Let's just say that every year, there's more and more "gray hairs" in the room, meaning, the crowd's average age gets older and older and the concerts get more and more subdued. Not a big deal, but I did find it a little disappointing after seeing some really big shows this winter. I was also very, very tired, and somewhat distracted by the previous day's and week's crazy busy schedule and issues. If you haven't read it, go back to this blog post on how my iPhone was stolen from my jacket pocket:

Thankfully, I am 85% recovered from my stiff neck on Monday thanks to essential oils and PT and chiropractor, but, I was getting pretty uncomfortable in my seat because for Michael W. Smith, you sit down for at least half of it, if not 3/4's of it. This time we were on our feet a bit more, especially during the worship set. I was pretty with that. Most of the songs were actually from the two new albums, and not all the oldies. I love them all, but I actually get tired of the "old favorites" and just want to hear the new stuff, so I was very happy. I find some of the worship songs from the new worship record "Surrounded" a little boring, so I actually did something I haven't done in a really, really long time. I used that time to use the restroom! I hate, HATE, walking out when someone is performing, not that they would notice, but I think it's rude. But, it was perfect timing for me.

We had great seats, 5th row, right on the aisle. The church was just as big, if not a tad smaller than Indian Creek, which makes me wish we could do concerts at the Creek again. We used to, but I think some of them didn't do well. And to bring in the bigger artists, they want their costs covered and the ticket prices would have to be pretty high, like they were for this concert. Not everyone is willing to pay for that. But, now that Michael IS doing smaller venues and audiences are more used to the concept of general admission which the Creek has to use because we have pews, not actual seats, maybe I'll start investigating it a bit more and at least get some details if it's possible or not. But obviously, it's a financial risk, too for the organizer, and obviously we can't do that. It's something to explore and rule out, right? It was on my bucket list to bring Michael to the college I was at or to the church I was at, etc. You never know.

But it was also kind of interesting to note that the actual light set up was similar to what we now have at the Creek with orb lighting and stage smoke. They had some nice smaller screens like Newsboys did, so that's a nice element. But I think they were using the existing drum set and piano that the church owns, and possibly even the church's own sound system. I know that the background keyboardist would bring all of his own equipment because he has it all specially programmed. He runs all the programming in fact. I'm sure he has help maybe with what's shown on the screen, but in general, I know that's a big part of what he does. Jim Daneker is one of my favorites. He is working with another artist doing a Christmas album (most Christmas albums are worked on in the spring/summer because then they can finish up and release them at Christmas time) and the current song they did was "O Holy Night." It's an instrumental piece, and he combined a few bars of music from his own instrumental record or Smitty's, or something extremely similar. You know how artists have signature sounds? Yup, I know Smitty has some and so does Jim. Pretty cool. The song itself is going to be incredible and gorgeous and my mom would have loved it. It was her favorite Christmas song and I wrote that on Jim's Instagram post.

So, there you have it. I'll write some more little details with the pictures since they can get redundant. I really did try NOT to take a video or picture of every song. I think I took a total of 168 pictures and videos, not including the videos I took during the Q and A session. Compared to over 300 for Newsboys and even more than that for Winterjam, I think I succeeded in my goal of taking less. I also take pictures and videos when I'm bored, and I was tired and bored a bit. Not their fault, but mine for having the weight of the world on my shoulders and high anxiety (again, nobody's fault but my own high expectations). Ugh, I feel so scatterbrained by not giving all of this in chronological order, but my time is short if I have any chance of catching up. Hang in there, it does get better!

Here's all the Q and A videos!

Michael W. Smith concert snippets

A fellow fan took this picture of the set list the next night in Lancaster, PA. It's the exact same one we had in Anderson. Thanks for sharing! It came in handy when making sure the videos were in the right spots on the playlists above.

Lots of typical questions and answers, but some really weird ones, too. I broke the ice and asked about Israel. Someone asked him to spell phlegm (he uses that question when interviewing people). Others asked about what he thinks about how the industry was and how it is now, the pros, cons, and what not.

Bad lighting because of the light, but he loves his Predators gear. I think that's the hockey team for Nashville.

A little bit of trivia before the show. I wish I had asked him to name all the grandkids and their ages, especially since some just had birthdays! He has 15 grandkids!

At least I can add Stu G to my list of artists I've met! Would have loved to say hi to Jim Danaker, too.

Stu G. shared a couple of songs off the record that goes with a book he wrote. Michael sings on the album as well.

Nathan Tasker is an Australian singer songwriter with a young family. He played a couple of songs and I enjoyed it.

He wrote this song in honor of a homeless man that for 20 plus years wrote "eternity" in chalk all over the sidewalks in Sydney. No one knew it was him until just recently.

Typical Michael pose.

He seemed to be looking straight at me.

Solo set.

Oooo, nice one!

Stu G was part of a Christian band called Delirious? but has been with Michael W. off and on since 2010.

Simple stage design that Indian Creek could easily pull off on any given Sunday.

His one and only guitar I've ever seen him play. He started playing in the mid 1990's. And I've seen this particular guitar multiple times on tour.

The guy that holds everything together. He does most of the programming. Mr. Jim Danaker! I love his instrumental music.

I was thinking of Benaiah and how he could be doing this some day, playing drums in a Christian band.

I loved the tribute to Billy Graham! He shared pictures of him and Billy Graham, including this one with President Bush (the Senior).

I haven't seen backup singers at a Michael concert before. It was pretty cool. I know he had them for the Change Your World tour.

"It's in the book (Bible)!" He kept waving around his Bible. Just like Gary seems to be doing, Michael W. is feeling the urgency of facing his autumn years and needing to share the love of Christ.

Telling the story of his Dad's near death experience. He yelled from the ambulance, "Hold the phone (which is now a fan inside joke)! Do you know who that is? That's my son!" He was very proud of Michael. Michael's dad died in 2015. "Footsteps" was written in his honor.