I unfortunately missed this year’s Kingdom Bound music festival at Darien Lake Theme Park this week, mainly because I thought the event was this weekend (but my apparently impaired mental faculties are fodder for discussion another day).
Right now, I’m kicking myself for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that Kingdom Bound gives me a chance to hang out with friends who are playing – like the guys in downhere, for example – as well as my friends from Kingdom Bound (hello, Lisa, Donna, Mark, Wendy!). Rats.
But I was also really looking forward to seeing the Newsboys perform with new lead vocalist Michael Tait.

I got my recap this morning from The Buffalo News, and my first thought: has this writer ever seen the band before? My guess is probably not, because he makes this statement:

“Tait was simply dynamic. If Elvis Presley stunned most of crew-cut 1950s America with his swaying hips and the musical diversity to transcend racial barriers, then the naive fan expecting calm gospel music out of Tait and the newsboys was surely blown away.”

Seriously? Who goes to a Newsboys concert expecting “calm gospel music?” Everybody who knows the Newsboys knows that you’re going to see more than a concert. You’re going to get an amazing stage show, excellent music, and a solid Bible message tucked in the middle of the show. It’s over the top, high energy music.
Is it because Tait is black that writer Charlie Specht assumed he’d be hearing spiritual hymns? The addition of Tait to the lineup has, for whatever reason, spurred a lot of comments about race, some of it generated by Tait himself. During the set, Specht writes that “Tait compared the crowd to a large black church ‘with a lot of white people,'”
Errr … OK … not sure what that means …
But in any event, I can’t believe I missed the show! If you were there, tell me: how was the band with Michael Tait on lead vocals? Was it all you expected? Did you even know that Peter Furler had turned over the reigns to Tait? And how was the festival?
For more about Kingdom Bound, visit the ministry’s website.
More Gospel Soundcheck posts about the Newsboys
Is Peter Furler Leaving The Newsboys? Michael Tait Announced As New Lead Singer
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