Year 4, February 10th, 2019: TobyMac Deep Hits Tour 2019

Another concert is in the books!  TobyMac can put on a show like no one else!  Ok, maybe Skillet and WinterJam, lol.  But seriously, he's so much fun, and although I didn't know all the songs, I knew enough to pay attention.  He actually had several other artists with him included Aaron Cole, Ryan Stevenson, Jordan Feliz (one of Justin's favorites), and Jeremy Camp (worship/ballads).  TobyMac's drummer (who has been with him for 17 years, so I might have seen him before) presented their organization that focuses on us, the church, being One, not separated by race.  And that's been TobyMac's and Michael Tait's and third DCTalk band member Kevin Max's anthem since their inception at college.  One chocolate boy with two vanilla boys as Michael Tait called it.  But, did you know, TobyMac is 54 years old?!  He's dancing around that stage like a 24 yr old!  The light show was incredible and the catwalk and secondary stage was used so well.  It was a breeze to get in and out of parking, in and out of our seats, and enjoy ourselves.  The arena was fairly full.  And then in less than two months time we will be back in this arena to see WinterJam 360 with Newboys and Michael Tait!  So, within two months, I will have seen 2/3 of the previous DCTalk trio.  Cool!  I've seen both them individually before.  The only time I saw them as DCTalk was when they first toured with Michael W. Smith during the Change Your World tour and they were on their Free At Last record.  They hadn't hit it big with Jesus Freak yet.  It was my third time seeing Jordan Feliz and he didn't disappoint either.

I was only a tad disappointed in our seats because my neck was already in pain.  I thought I had chosen the opposite side of the arena and they must have used the opposite end that they indicated on the seating chart on the website.  But, who cares!  There was a mom next time who knew all the songs and was having the time of her life!  She even sponsored a child!  Justin had a blast dancing, and we were both humming and playing songs from our phones of the main artists last night.  I stayed in the moment and was emotionally emotional.  Well, I was happy and dancing.  I texted Jared and said, "Hey, your home girl likes her some hip hop! Peace out!"  Bwahahaha, that's SO not me! Jared couldn't sleep so he started texting me.  I felt a little rude at texting during an artist I knew nothing about, but this was the last time I was going to talk to Jared until he was stateside.  I'm sure the artist would understand.  He has a wife and little kids.  In fact, he sang his kids' songs, too!  It was hilarious!  Watch the videos below to hear them!  So, the concert was fun, and just what I needed to start off the week right.  Well worth the money we spent and I'm grateful that it was a breeze to park and to get home.  I'm feeling much more confident driving downtown, even in yucky weather or in the dark.  And the Bankers' Life Fieldhouse is well situated with it's own parking garage (if you get there early enough for event parking which was $15! but oh so worth it for peace of mind).  I'm not too sore from the concert because I conserved my energy when I could.  I also found out literally dozens of people I know went as well.  Some even volunteered for handing out child sponsorship packets because I shared the need for volunteers on social media!  Those volunteers get in free like I did last year with Third Day.  All in all, a great evening!

iPhone pics, then I'll link the videos, then I'll post the pics from the better camera, so some of it might seem a bit out of order but hang on.

Why yes, this home girl has a concert "season" lol!  Well, I only have two concerts, this one and WinterJam, on the books so far, but I have been on the lookout for For King and Country and I always look for Michael W. Smith.  We'll see!  Oh, I guess I'll have the one in August at the State Fair. 

Oh yeah! It's time.  I always get super nervous, especially when I'm the one driving.  So my stomach acts up and is in all kinds of knots, but that's ok.  I love our Bankers' Life Fieldhouse venue with it's garage that is fairly easy to get to and get out of, and worth the $15 to park for the evening.  Here is the entrance for the tour buses.  How cool that they go underground and not have to sit out on the street. 

We got there about 30 minutes before doors opened and Justin hadn't charged his phone, so we took the opportunity while we could.  I'm so grateful we didn't have to go super early because we had ticketed seats and NOT general admission.  I'm understand and am ok with general admission, but I'd rather pay more sometimes than stand in a line for hours, which we will do at the end of next month at WinterJam in this very same building!

Hm,....I thought I got seats on the other side of the floor.  Whoops.  But that's ok.  We still got to see an awesome show!  This is only their 2nd or 3rd weekend of the tour, so I haven't seen all the fun acts and lightshow yet, so I didn't know what to expect exactly, but man they used all of this equipment well.

The all important selfie of course.  I don't really like selfies, but hey, I need the kids to know I was there and had fun, too.

Vinyl records!  Yes, some artists do put their albums on LP's for fun!  I actually have some Michael W. Smith LP's, that were actually because they were common, not just a fun retro item.  They were of his first albums in the early 80's.  I got them off of eBay.

New expensive merch from Jordan Feliz.  Now, I would pay maybe $20 for a beanie, although our tickets weren't the cheap seats, but no way am I paying $30 for a little stitching, no matter if is Justin's favorite color or not.  I understand that this does help out the artist, too, but sorry, I'll wait for the clearance sale on JF's website in a year.

Lighted banner around the arena.  Here we go!

The Irishmen called The Messengers.  I think I recognized a couple of songs.

Jordan Feliz.

Light show!  I love light shows!  Jordan's was similar to his "flash and trash" type of light shows from last year at WinterJam, but that's not why we love him.  His songs are amazing and he has the biggest, softest hear if you follow him and his wife on Instagram like I do.  His little girl Jolie is adorable and his baby boy Judah, too.  In fact, I commented on one of his IG pics and said, "great show, now go home and hug those babies!" and he commented back, "Oh, I will!"  Today's artists are now doing 4 shows back to back on Thursday-Sunday and then home on Mon-Weds. It's been fun to see that aspect of their lives through their IG stories.

In our parents' days, it used to be cigarette lighters.  But for us today, it's cell phone flashlights.

Jeremy Camp.  I've heard all his radio songs a million times.  They are ok.  He's more of a ballad/pop artist and his sound isn't as distinct as Jordan's or TobyMac's.  Lots of adults do like him though.  His stage presence was ok.  I just don't know him that well.  But at least I could sing along with the songs.

It was at this point that Jared was in a hotel somewhere between Damoh and Delhi, India and couldn't sleep.  So, it was 7:30am by now and I had been texted back and forth with him for about an hour.  I felt bad because I completely ignored Ryan Stevenson's set and the talk about the Food for the Hungry child sponsorship talk, but, this is my husband who has been gone for over a week.  I didn't think I would get to talk to him again until I saw him in person.  But, during intermission, I told him, "Your home girl like her some hip hop!"  because I was getting very, very excited.  And these lyrics are what were in my head.  This song is like 28 years old.  But this is what goes through my head when I hear "TobyMac."  It's from DCTalk's "Free At Last" album, which came out a couple of years before their infamous "Jesus Freak" album that my friends and I adored.  And this Free At Last album is what they toured with on Michael W. Smith's "Change Your World" tour in 1993, which was MY first concert.  You see, me and Toby, and Michael Tait, go back way, way back to the beginning of my concert loving career.  But here's the thing, that album was much more hip hop/rap and I was NOT into that sort of thing and was so happy when they're set was done and Michael W. Smith sat down at a keyboard since I am a pianist.  Yeah, I didn't like DCTalk during that two years.  Go figure that I'm now paying $45 per ticket to see TobyMac in concert with my son of the same age I was back then.  And this is my third time seeing Toby because I saw him when he was on his Diverse City tour with Third Day I believe.  I think it was this same arena on the opposite side, a bit closer, but same tier of seats.  Anyway, I looked it up and Toby Mac is 54 years old. Oh my word! And he still has so much energy and so much lyrically and unique hip hop beats.  Just pure fun and I love it!

How cool that the Fieldhouse used a light to shine on the driveway for the tour buses!  Nice!

So, here's the four cities they were in this weekend.  That's a lot of driving!  And then they will drive back to Nashville tonight.

There's some much better pics below, but this is the opening number for TM (TobyMac) called "Elements" from his new record.  It's stuck in my head!  Check out the video of it in the link below.  But he held up his fists in fighting position when he sang about fighting.  And he wore a hot hoodie for like half the show which I have no idea how he did that without sweating to death!

Elements - as in snow (bubbles) in winter, and fire, and lightning,....it talks about fighting the elements (our culture) when fighting for your family.

There's definitely some basic choreographed hip hop dancing.  Nothing too crazy, but man, on reflecting on it, I'm so glad that I can go to a fun show and all the people are properly clothed and the dancing is appropriate.  There's swaying and kicking and beats but no thrusting hips in to the air or booty shaking or cleavage shaking and what not.  And in this picture, some band members playing horns were facing off with Toby and his two fellow singers.  Kind of reminded me of the horn section in Michael W. Smith's "Change Your World" tour that Toby was on while in DCTalk.

I thought lighting the runway/catwalk (I guess it's a runway, but I kept calling it a catwalk in my brain) to the second middle stage was cool.  It's amazing the effects you can do with lights!

Some artists used one of the "rings" as I'll call them and some used two.  Toby used all three.  They can project a video, not just random lighting, but they are a neat set design.

White flag of surrender to Jesus.

"Light shine bright, everywhere we go,...." they hip hop walked around in a circle.

"Keep walkin' " is in a song about keep pressing forward.

Hey Mr. DJ....

So many colors!  And I think the band changed outfits slightly.  They did have themed outfits that went along with the elements.  Even one person had on a coat that looked like a tan version of a Star Wars coat on the Hoth planet.

"I just need, I just need, you..."

Bubbles!

Just think, in 6 weeks time, WinterJam will be here and we'll be looking at the 360 degree stage right here in the middle!  Can't wait!

Aww, a post from Jordan Feliz about how we all looked tonight.  Yes, people, that's an arena full of "Jesus Freaks!" And again, soon it will be full again of Jesus Freaks at WinterJam.  But they also have basketball games, wrestling, Justin Timberlake, 21 Pilots (who Benaiah and Ethan will see in June), Rhianna, New Kids on the Block, among many, many others.  Great stuff (well some of it anyway).

TobyMac Hits Deep Tour 2019

Now for pics on Leah's camera.  I still can't believe how well her camera does in these settings!  The zoom is awesome and pictures are crystal clear, all without flash.  Here goes!

"Rapper" Aaron Cole.  I say "rapper" because well, I know rappers usually get in more lyrics at quicker pace than these guys, but, I'm not sure if Mr. Cole is hip hop or rapper.  The genres have changed a bit over time.  He's pretty cool though.

"We Are Messengers" and I did know a couple of songs from these Irishmen.

Our man Jordan Feliz, the whole reason I bought these tickets for Justin.  Although, I got a less than stellar response from him at Christmas and the night of the concert.  He did like TobyMac though.  This was my 3rd time seeing Jordan in the last 3 years.  First time was with MWS and I was like "who is this guy and what's all the craze about? what is this "river" song that's so popular?"  And then I saw and fell in love with his music last year at WinterJam.  And then I got to "know" him and his family and his story through Instagram.  My favorite part of music is the stories behind the music, the artists themselves, not just a good beat and great lyrics.  Who are these people and what is their message, and why do they do what they do.  Sweet young family with incredible hearts for Jesus.

I took a picture of the screens sometimes so I could get a closer view.

Ah!  Leah's camera's zoom is the best!

Jeremy Camp

Oh...my...word....THE highlight of the entire night was TobyMac's whole set.  I had no idea I knew so many of his songs!  Or maybe he just played mostly radio singles.  But he's such a showman, too, and I LOVE that!  I don't want to just stand there like I'm in front of the radio singing.  I want performance, which is an art form and an expression of what's in the song.  As explained above, this first song was all about fighting the "Elements" in the culture and fighting for your family.  He wore this cool white camo hoodie and started out on the middle stage.  You can't tell he's 54 years old.  And I KNOW his heart (and he explained it again) is to unify the church, no matter what race you are, and it always has been that mantra.  From DCTalk with two white guys and a "chocolate" guy to Diverse City to his black drummer being with him for 17 years, it's always been about embracing all the "colored people." (that's an old DCTAlk song, btw).  And the shoes!  Check out those shoes below!

Love the sweatband look, too.  And I've really come to appreciate black singers lately.  Last year, Mandisa toured with TobyMac on this tour and she's incredible.  They sang "We all bleed the same" together every night, and again, it's all about diversity in this "Police lives matter/black lives matter" culture.  I can't wait to see Mandisa at WitnerJam!

Walking the runway.

The stage design is incredible!

Almost looks like Justin Timberlake here a few years ago, although Timberlake is my age.

They used the middle stage several times.  And if you look carefully just to the right of Toby, you can see the tan robed guy that reminded me of a Star Wars character.  Actually, it's not from Hoth, it's from the Endor scenes.  Everybody on stage wore something whitish, with a little bit of neon green that would reflect in the lights a certain way.

Justin wants a pair of these shoes!

And like Justin Timberlake, Toby is wearing those blue tinted glasses.  Kind of interesting.  He does have very blue eyes, too.

Keep marchin'....

Wardrobe change.

Choreographed dancing.

It's hard to explain the fun we have at these things.  Just to sway and dance and be surrounded by music and distracted from the every day is a very cool thing, especially when the lyrics make you think, or are uplifting.  When you know that they are all performing for God's glory and not their own and that they love what they are doing and having fun, it brings a smile to your face.  I'm sure an arena filled with non believers would feel quite different, although I've never experienced it.  And I'm young enough that I'm not done getting up and moving a bit.  I know most of my fellow Michael W. Smith fans would rather just sit there and watch.  I'd rather be with the younger folk and be invigorating.  Ok, Toby isn't young obviously, but the rest of the bands were my age or younger.  And to know what the industry looked like 30-40 years ago and what it looks like now, it's an incredible journey.  When you have a genre of music that has impacted your life repeatedly, it's important to make note of it.  Christian music had pulled me out of my funk many times.  Not everyone understands that and it's ok.  This is who I am and I'm grateful that I can bring my kids along with me now.  And hopefully, Jared will go with us to WinterJam.  I want him to experience these things with me.  No, I won't drag him to MWS, but to concerts he might actually enjoy at a price we can afford, lol.  We'll see!  Justin wants to bring a couple of friends and Benaiah wants to bring his girlfriend this time, so yeah, it's going to be a good time!

Praise God for a wonderful, uplifting, God honoring evening in the middle of a long stretch of time with my husband.  It's just what I needed!

The End