Rebecca St. James and Barlow Girl, with special guest Jadon Lavik, put on an outstanding show in Jackson, TN, March 13, 2006. This stop was all part of a benefit to raise funds and awareness for ACTS, Abstinence and Character Training Services, in West Tennessee. The concert was held in a donated venue at West Jackson Baptist Church in Jackson.

Jadon Lavik opened the show with wonderful music he has written and played the acoustic guitar to accompany his voice. He did well to warm-up the audience as he performed songs from his new album “Life on the Inside”.

Barlow Girl hit the stage next and that was to thunderous applause and excited screaming, shouting and whistling from the audience. It was apparent that many of the youth at this concert were there to see and hear Barlow Girl, and a large crowd of young people rushed to the front and gathered together close to the stage. Barlow Girl was warmly received by the Jackson, TN youth for sure!

During their set, the three Barlow girls, Rebecca, Alyssa and Lauren Barlow, displayed a remarkable talent for music and their amazing ability to engage the audience. We were treated to great rock music through songs off their album including the hit “Let Go”, as well as the more subtle, intimate balladry of “Mirror” and “Never Alone”. At one point everyone in the audience was asked to get out there cellphone and turn it on and the traditional “lighter” tunes are now lit up with cellphones and digital cameras. It was a neat effect to look about the fully packed venue and see all the lights from these devices sparkling like stars in the night sky, but waving to and fro.

Alyssa, who acts as the MC for the group, would talk to the audience while playing background music on her keyboard to set the tone. She talked to the audience about the different passions of the three sisters and how at one time, they did not line up with God’s will for their lives. She encouraged the audience to submit to God’s plan for each of our lives because He can and will do amazing things through us if we let him.

The Barlow Girls vision, as stated from their website is:

Barlowgirl has a passion to write songs about the journey that God has taken them on in their lives. Our main topics include trusting God, purity, and our stand on not dating.

The drummer, Lauren, at one point told the youth in the audience that this world constantly bombards us with images of immodesty and impurity, especially in the media. She confessed that her desire to look like the models on the pages of the latest fashion magazines led her into an eating disorder. She encouraged the youth to not succumb to the standards society expects, but rather to honor God with what we do with our bodies, including what clothes we choose to wear. She said “you know, if we don’t buy the clothes, they’ll stop making them!”

Barlow Girl not only entertained with great rock n’ roll music, that had people dancing and singing along, but they shared a great message of hope through trusting God, staying pure, and also encouraged the kids not to date, because it just leads to other pressures and worries that young people should avoid.

After a short break between performers, the countdown started up on the screen. It didn’t take long, perhaps only to the number “9″, for people to leap to their feet in anticipation of the headline performer, Rebecca St. James, to take the stage. The audience was shouting in unison, “3 - 2 - 1″ along with the countdown, when suddenly the pitch black church sanctuary was flashing in bright white lights to the rumbling lines of the opening tune “God Help Me”. I knew it! I knew the first time I heard that track on her new CD “If I Had One Chance to Tell You Something” I said “That would be a great opener!” and I was right on! Whew! It is a rocker that pumped up the crowd and really started things off with a bang!

Next up was “Lamb of God”, a worship song from “Worship God” that has a thick beat and repetitive melody that has you singing along even if is the first time you’ve heard the song. The audience was caught up in the moment and was belting it out right along with St. James and she would turn her mic toward the audience to encourage us to sing it to God. The audience responded as one voice singing praises. It was a “chill bump moment” to listen to the sound of the many voices lifting up hearts and melodies before the Lord, awesome. We had the opportunity to sing together as brothers and sisters in Christ later on in the show as well, to the worship song “Blessed Be the Name”.

The experienced performer that St. James is keeps the audience engaged for the duration of the show, with no “downtime” at all. The music was great and boy was it LOUD and ROCKIN’! She sang many of the songs from her new album and a few from years past. “Wait for Me” is a song about waiting for the one God has for you. It was performed in sync with the video, that was being shown on the large screen above the stage. It was perfectly synchronized and really helped to get the message of waiting for, praying for, one’s spouse, across.

Rebecca St. James at one point left the stage and allowed her brothers, who are backup singers for her, to perform a song from their forthcoming debut CD that is currently in the works. They sang a great song that has me looking forward to the CD!

St. James would take some time between a few songs to share her experiences on a trip to Rwanda and related some stories that might sound familiar if you have ever seen the movie “Hotel Rwanda”. She shared the mighty things God has done and is doing in that country. She also shared some insight that she gained on her sabbatical last year in Switzerland. She spoke directly to the youth as she encouraged them to remain pure and remain devoted to God. These breaks in the music did nothing to detract from the entertainment aspect of the concert at all, and in fact, the interludes were masterfully weaved in to be complementary to the entire show and purpose of the evening.

The Rebecca St. James 2006 Spring Tour is a wonderful production. It has solid polished performers in Barlow Girl and Jadon Lavik supporting it, who not only contribute exceptional musicianship and showmanship, but real heart, with a real purpose. The technical aspects of the show were flashy and enhanced the show without overdoing it or distracting from it. The breaks in between bands were minimal, once the show is underway, there isn’t much downtime at all. It is so well set up and organized that there is not a huge need to reset the stage after each band is done and things run very smoothly. As impressed as I was with the performers, I was equally impressed by the tech people who also did an outstanding job.

The show rocked!

Visit these sites:

Rebecca St. James
Barlow Girl
Jadon Lavik

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 at 11:46 am and is filed under , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.