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St. Cloud State University
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Jars of Clay obviously Christian
By Carol Seavey
Published:
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Media Credit: Jason Risberg
Charlie Lowell, left, and Dan Haseltine, from the Christian rock group Jars of Clay, performed for a large audience at the Lighthouse Ballroom in St. Joe Thursday night. Members of the band who also played Thursday but are not pictured are Matt Odmark and Steve Mason.
Jars of Clay and Caedmon's Call put on a decent performance last Thursday.
The two Christian bands played at The Lighthouse in St. Joseph to a large crowd.
The bands played for a diversified age group. Families, children, teenagers and college students enjoyed the show. Both bands are about 10 years old so it makes it easier to cross over the generations.
Caedmon's Call opened for Jars of Clay with soft rock, folk music. They were promoting their newest album, "Back Home." The band used acoustic guitars and a variety of drums. They played bongos and the conga during many songs while playing an ethnic rhythm similar to African or Hispanic music. Their music is good for chillin' to and slightly resembles a soft version of Matchbox 20.
The six-member band had one female vocalist, Danielle Young, a soprano. The songs she sang were more gospel or worship style songs.
Not every song they played was about God or Christianity and that's okay. I figure after 10 years that you could start to run out of Christian material. Then again, The Rolling Stones have been around forever and always seem to find new things about drugs, sex or booze to sing about. So, I guess if you think of all the material in the Bible and the many ways that it can be applied to people's lives, then, there is a lot to sing about. But, I still think that they won't go to Hell just for having a few secular songs in their playlist. I really liked what the founder and lead vocalist had to say about that.
"I've seen believers who have pulled away from our world and that seems like a good thing," Young said. "We can be believers and stay in our own safe world. The less we go out into the world, the better."
Young encouraged people to explore and evangelize beyond their safety zone.
The crowd roared as Jars of Clay entered the stage. Jars of Clay was promoting their new album, "Furthermore-From the Studio: From the Stage."
They played acoustic guitars to the docile crowd. Their music spanned a variety of styles, as they played both new and old favorites. Some songs were soft rock with harmonizing vocals. Others were more rock/pop sounding. I liked their blues tunes the best, with their slow, driving baselines.
At one point they made a huge build up to the song "Next Song," saying it has changed their lives. That song ended up being "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." There's just something about five guys playing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" that one can't help but enjoy it.
It was a laid-back concert with both Christian and secular songs. The audience was pretty calm the entire evening except for getting up to clap for the rock or worship songs. Their most recent hit song, "Flood," got everybody up and moving.
Surprisingly, members of Jars of Clay didn't take up concert time to preach or evangelize. They joked around and talked to the audience, but didn't say much about religion. I was expecting them to take the opportunity in between sets to talk about God.
I've been to a few Christian concerts and that seems to be what they do. But, I like that Caedmon's Call and Jars of Clay don't act like typical Christian bands.
If you like soft rock that you can easily sing along to or use for praise and worship, then you'll like the new albums by Caedmon's Call and Jars of Clay. I prefer music that is less obviously Christian, though. I don't think that all Christian music has to sound the same. Especially right now, when there is a lot of Christian rock available. I'd rather listen to something a little bit heavier like Audio Adrenaline, Skillet or Five Iron Frenzy.
