We shared a dressing room (the guys had one and the girls had another) with the members of the adult choir who was singing with the other performers, some of whom were tickled pink to see us in our bright green shirts. The last time we were here we had fluorescent orange shirts. I don't know which highlighter company we're trying to outdo, but at least we're recognizable. We sat in the audience and listened to many of the artists singing (see Amber-Drew's pictures for names and faces) and doing sound checks, which sounds lamer than it was. The artists ran through the songs and knew their stuff and the house band was pretty great (harmonica! Also, I've decided that Eli has to grow a mullet because the fiddle player in the house band had one), so we got a pre-concert for just us.
We ran out to lunch and came back sweating (ridiculous heat) and then it was time. We sat in the balcony for the first part of the show before intermission. Ron keeps on saying all this stuff about really carrying the message through your song, because anyone can be taught to sing pretty decently. What makes someone worth listening to is the way they tell the story and whether you can see God in it. I'll be the first to tell you that country music is not my scene, but I couldn't help being glued to the stage because there were stories to be told.
Intermission came and we headed down and spent a ton of time backstage. We lined up in our rows and proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. The lady who played the banjo came over and talked to us and a couple people from the choir sat near us for a bit of it. Mostly, we were all trying to pump each other up and make each other smile and laugh so we could live up to the expectations. It was pretty much the best. We sang along to I Saw The Light while we were back there, and danced around, all the while trying to be quiet and holding in silent laughter. Then, with nervousness and without, we walked onto the stage and up on the risers (walk, turn, step up, close, step up, close, step up, close, turn). Apparently the joking and the preparation worked: we've heard all lot of good things from a lot of people about our performance. One of the chaperons was even complimented on our performance from a car window by people that had heard us and identified her (it's not hard) from our shirts. We stayed backstage after we performed much more relieved. All in all, not bad for the first performance of tour.
We came back and ate dinner and had a devotion. One the way back from dinner me and Hannah and Elizabeth passed a bunch of blackbirds getting their last meal of the day and it made me smile. God moments for the day from the group: We've heard from a group member that we're all bonding pretty well this trip, which is a wonderful blessing in itself. I had two-ish. One, when we were waiting to get our backstage passes (we're all VIPs- yup, we're that awesome) a group of people came through carrying things for the performance. We asked if they needed help and two of our group members helped them carry in crates of water. It doesn't sound like much, but it was great how trusting everyone was, our group members in offering help and them in accepting it. Also, waiting on our sound check, I overheard two of the sound guys talking about how great it was to work with this group of people- you get more pats on the back and more thank yous than you do working everywhere else. In a culture that increasingly views Christians negatively, it was wonderful to see something good happen between us all.
So, to sum up: We came, we saw, we sang. Third God-moment for me- so we kinda sucked it up on the sound check. We were just shaky on the words and when to come in and everything, so I was more than a bit worried when we walked back into the audience while the musicians stayed on stage. At Catie's behest, I got the group's attention and went over the words again. Catie said that we should sing it, which didn't seem like a bad idea to me. Amber-Drew gave us a starting pitch and I launched into what I was sure would be a failing endeavor. Then, somehow, everyone knew their words and sounded good. The tenors broke out some harmony and I heard an alto voice or two. It was wonderful, unplanned and beautiful. It was the choir I've been waiting to hear.
Like I said, country music isn't my scene- this post owes its name to the Beatles.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
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