I’ve always loved gospel music. So I was very happy that I got a ticket from the Easter bunny for the concert of “The Jackson Singers” , which was on the same day.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to a concert with that many obvious mishaps. When the concert started we were immediately informed that two singers were stuck in traffic and would be 5-10 minutes late. So the band and three of the singers tried to kill the time until the rest arrived. They started a very impromptu session of some of the most famous gospel songs like “Amazing grace” or “Precious Lord“. It quickly became obvious that the sound engineering was horrible! The mike’s sounded like they were set for speech. I still enjoyed “His eye is on the sparrow“, which is simply a beautiful song and was performed with all the emotions and energy it takes.
Well, the “5-10 minutes”-delay of the two missing members became longer and longer. I assume it was 40 minutes into the show when finally they appeared. With an acapella song and “Every praise” it felt like the show finally really started. Everyone was ready to get into it – when suddenly there was no sound at all anymore! PA failure! The bandleader suggested they’d take a break to give the technicians time to fix it.
20 minutes later… and yes, the PA was working again and, lo and behold, the sound was at least a liiiittle bit better! Thank God! – and that’s exactly what they finally could do! The second set was a very enjoyable, very uplifting, very entertaining one without problems. In their very own way they interpreted many traditional gospel songs like “Amen“, “This little light of mine” or “Oh happy day“. My favourite was their rendition of “Jesus promised” with a little rap part in-between.
The musicians on stage radiated the pure joy of singing and making music. That’s one of the things I always enjoy so much about gospel music. The singers as well as the music itself convey a feeling of being at ease with oneself, satisfaction and love for life. I guess that’s what makes it so joyful to listen to, even though I cannot identify with the religious aspect. Although, when I see these people – I sometimes wish I could.
music, the world & me 