Leeland in Concert

This past wednesday night, my wife and I took 11 students to go see Leeland in concert. This is my second time to see them and I was even more impressed this time.

What impressed me?

1. There is an obvious humility that shows up in their desire for the audience to not just come to a concert but to worship God through song.

2. They sounded really great. The album is really good but I think they actually sound better live.

3. They are young. The lead singer, though engaged is only 19. He shows a maturity in his desire for God to be exalted through the music that is lacking in most young people I know.

4. But what impressed me the most was when they played some new songs from the next album they did not seem to "graduate." For some reason alot of the bands/singers I used to listen to used to have an OBVIOUS evangelical faith oozing out of their lyrics. But when I listen to new Derek Webb and new Waterdeep their is an obvious lack thereof. Sure, there is God-talk here and there and perhaps all the songs sprang from a heart for Christ. But there is not much more than "poetic" generalities, lines about the effects of sin without mentioning sin and leftist social/political jargon. They seemed to have graduated by the second or thrid album.

Not Leeland though, they were content to exalt Christ for students, adults, parents and more than a few grannys to enjoy.