NQC 2007 – Friday

Friday night was good, but to be honest, I spent most of the evening in the exhibit hall.? I did catch the last song by the Specks, which was OK…..not great.? I then sat through the Kingsmen timeslot.? They started with part of “The Judgement” accapella, which I could have lived without.? No one, in my opinion, was better than Garry Shephard with that song….which should be expected since he wrote the song.? The rest of the set was good.

Dino was next which prompted me to play a game of Zuma on my cell phone (which was much more enjoyable for me).? I did have the time to get through? 3? levels of this game before Phil Cross & Poet Voices came onto the stage.? I used to love this group, but their new material just bores me.? I guess I keep buying their new releases out of habit, but their best song of the evening went back several years to their mega-hit “I Am Redeemed”, which was, to me,? when the group was at it’s best.? I then left for the exhibit hall? for a good bit to visit with the Prophets Quartet and some other artists.? I will give more detail on this in future articles.?

I made it back into Freedom Hall to catch Mark Lowry bringing down the house on “Mary, Did You Know?”.? I actually forgot? what time he was scheduled, so I possibly missed? one? of the best? performances of the week.? ?

Ivan Parker was up next and I really enjoyed his set.? I had climbed to the very top of the nose-bleed section so I could stretch out a bit and relax for a while.? The sweetest lady was sitting a couple of rows in front of me and I got a special blessing just watching her.? During Ivan’s closing song, “Midnight Cry”, this lady stood with uplifted hands and just sobbed throughout the entire song.? You could tell that it wasn’t a heartbroken cry, but a cry in praise to the Father.? Seeing her praise our Lord was a wonderful sight to see.? In fact, much of the time during the evening performances, there has been? a spirit of praise and worship that I frankly did not expect to see during this event.

The Florida Boys were next with Harold Reed on tenor and Buddy Liles on Bass.? Their set was entertaining.? Darrell Stewart was a ham as usual and was quite fun to watch.

The Kingdom Heirs started their set with “God’s Word”, which sounded to me like something was going haywire with their track….it wasn’t a vocal problem, but it made the song almost unbearable.? I hate to say this, being such a fan of their music, but I did not enjoy their performance tonight, with the exception of “I Know I’m Going There”.? That was awesome.? Had it not been for that song, I would have not had anything much good to say about them tonight at all.? It’s been almost the sang song line-up every night.? Maybe I’ve almost gotten too much of a good thing this week or maybe the lack of sleep is affecting my judgement.

One word describes Gold City…….Awesome!? They sure pulled off a great set.

Triumphant closed the evening and boy did they go out with a bang.? This was my first time seeing them with a full set and I was so excited to finally get to hear them live.? I think they are on their way to being the top quartet in SG music.? Going on the road full-time in 2008 is certainly going to be a boost to their fan base, so watch out Booth Brothers.? My current favorite song, “I Know I’m Going Home”, is from Triumphant’s “You Gotta Love It!” project and was the big finale to their set.? This song may not hit #1 on the charts (although I think it could), but it sure is a fun song to listen to.