Gungor – Beautiful Things

I will have some posts coming this week to talk about my experience at re:create but, first, let me tell you about one of the most profound things I was a part of.. ever.. in my entire life.. in the history of the world. Seriously.

If you follow Christian/worship music, then you are probably familiar with the name Michael Gungor. He has written songs that are being sung in churches all around the world – Friend of God, Say So or Wrap Me In Your Arms. You may know those songs and maybe you even sing them but, I promise, you have not heard the best of what Michael Gungor has to offer.

This week at re:create we were part of what I could only describe as a holy moment. 10 incredibly talented musicians, 13 songs, 60 minutes of creativity, passion, devotion and honesty packed in to one incredible holy moment.

“Beautiful Things” is the name of Gungor’s new CD (which releases tomorrow) but it is also the live experience that they have created to accompany the CD. You might call it a concert.. but you’d be mistaken. “Beautiful Things” tells the story of creation, fall, redemption and restoration through music, video and spoken word in a way that brought a room full of “creatives” (whatever that means!) to its knees, figuratively, and to its feet, literally. There was weeping, whooping, silence, cheering and the realization that we were witnessing the birth of something new – something very real – that is about to invade the world.

Am I going over the top on this? Honestly.. No. The only thing that I would be able to compare “Beautiful Things” to would be the U2 tour that came through town in the fall. And yes, there’s been much hype on that tour – justifiably so. The Gungor experience left me in the same kind of place as my night with Bono and the boys. Someone said to me this week that the only thing that they could use to compare Gungor was a live show by Sigur Ros. “And,” they continued, “it compares.” That is high praise.

So, can I give you a taste of what it was like? Sort of. Check this out –

How can you find out more?

Gungor – www.gungormusic.com
Twitter – www.twitter.com/gungormusic
iTunes – “Beautiful Things”

So what can you do? Let me suggest three things –

1. Buy the CD and support the band. You might feel it’s your God-given right to steal music and “share” it from friend to friend but.. honestly.. these people need your money. Quit being selfish and vote with your wallet.

2. Go and be a part of the live experience. There are tour dates listed now on their website.

3. Tell someone else about the CD and the “Beautiful Things” events. If music like this is going to spread around the world it will only happen because people who have been moved by it introduce it to others who will be moved and will tell other who will then be moved. So do it – introduce Gungor to someone who loves good music and good artistry. They will not be disappointed.

And, finally, let me say that this experience, for me, would not have happened if it wasn’t for the community and the event of re:create. Worship leaders, you know that there are a zillion worship conferences for you to attend every year. There are all run by good people who have good intentions and good desires for the church. But if you are looking for something more, something different, something challenging, you owe it to yourself to investigate re:create and be a part of it. More on that later.

Image from stripspiritual

Chris Tomlin – Toronto on Saturday

I’m really looking forward to the Chris Tomlin & Kristian Stanfill concert in Toronto at Queensway Cathedral on Saturday night. Any blog friends going to be there?

Let me know!

U2 in Toronto – recap

U2. SkyDome. Toronto. 60,000 of my closest friends. My wife beside me the whole time. Doesn’t get much better than that. My first – I’m hoping not last – time seeing U2 live and from what I hear these guys are on the top of their game.

The show ran 2+ hours and U2 pulled out all the stops – the local Toronto references to Yonge Street and the Toronto International Film Festival, old and new favourites and of course the ridiculous stage setup nicknamed “The Claw”. Everything about the night was impressive – the look of the SkyDome with the roof wide open and the CN Tower looming overhead, the ridiculous LED screen above the stage, the live concert DVD quality content that showed up on those screens, the audio mix, on and on and on.

A couple of strange moments – at the end of one song Bono’s wireless mic began losing signal and there was a good amount of static for 15 seconds or so. I’m sure someone got fired. Then towards the end of the first set, things turned a little and became less about “the show” and more about U2’s message. For this tour, the band is focusing on raising awareness for the situation in Iran as well as in Burma and they used two songs – Sunday Bloody Sunday and Walk On – to do that. To be honest, I’m a bit beyond artists using their platform to simply “raise awareness” for issues without giving the audience an opportunity or an encouragement to be mobilized in some way. It seemed to lessen the original significance of those songs and the Walk On moment, particularly with the volunteers holding up masks and walking the stage, came off a bit high school talent show for U2.

(Hit the pause button. I’m not saying that the two issues they are hilighting are not worth the awareness. I’m saying that the WAY Bono and U2 did it seemed to be very disconnected from the rest of the night.)

All in all, this was a night I hope I’ll never forget. It was worth every dollar, every moment, every bit of lost sleep once we finally pulled in to our driveway at 2:30 in the morning knowing our kids would wake us up four hours later

If you want a bit more of a play-by-play of how the night progressed, here’s my twitter feed from the show –

#U2 #Toronto #theclaw

The roof is open at SkyDome for #U2 #panorama

iPhone battery is proving to be pretty lame compared to BB Pearl I switched from. Not sure if it will last.

Space Oddity. Here we go!

“We’ll take this spaceship and boldly go where this rock band has never gone before!” -Bono. #U2

– Get On Your Boots. I don’t really believe what I’m seeing. #U2

“I’m not a stranger in the eyes of the Maker” Bono is preaching it. #U2

I Still Havent Found with a choir of 60,000. I think I just peed myself.

– Look up. Look waaaaayyyyy up.

A kid named Lucas is living a memory he will never forget. #U2

“Blessings. Not just for the ones who kneel, luckily.” -Bono. #U2

It cost $40 million to build this stage. I hope the guy who designed it got paid at least that much. Ree. Dick. You. Luss.

– We’re having a little church tonight. Here’s the steeple. #U2

– With or without. #U2 Skydome as a snowglobe.

The biggest question I’m left with after the #U2 show: What am I spending my life on? Thanks fellas.

U2 in Toronto

What are you doing tonight? This is where I’ll be!

I’ve never seen U2 live but four years ago, after U2’s last tour stop in Toronto, my wife and I decided that we would go see them the next time they came through. This is that next time! So tonight we’ll be at SkyDome with 50,000 of our closest friends and one really great Irish rock band.

The incredible part about tonight is that the weather is going to co-operate for the roof to be open! The only time the roof has ever been open for a concert at SkyDome is when Bruce Springsteen was here back in 2003. They had the roof open last night and it looks like they’ll be able to do it again tonight. U2 has been talking all along about doing everything they can to make the stage “feel” as big as the stadium and now that we’ll be under the stars in downtown Toronto, this will be a night I will remember for a long time.

Lots of reports last night of cell phone signals being totally jammed in the stadium (probably partly because of people sending photos to Twitpic, etc) but I’ll see if I’m able to get some photos and send them along. Check the Twitpics over on the sidebar or follow along on twitter tonight – @chrisfromcanada

Chris Tomlin – Canada tour winner!

Thanks to everyone who commented, tweeted and facebooked the Chris Tomlin giveaway. I used random.org to choose a winner and the lucky person is..

Dan Brubacher!

Congratulations Dan! I know you were excited about seeing this show and here’s your chance. I’ll have the Unite Productions guys get in touch with you to work out the details for your tickets and your copy of the Chris Tomlin CD.

PS I know the post says 19 comments and the randomizer image says 20 – there was one comment from Renee that included her twitter/facebook links but it wouldn’t show up on the post for some reason.

Chris Tomlin – Canada tour giveaway

Chris Tomlin is coming to Canada this fall and I’m teaming up with my friends at Unite Productions to give you the chance to be at the event for free AND win a copy of the new Chris Tomlin CD, “Hello Love”. Chris Tomlin and his band will be joined by Kristian Stanfill for shows in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary. You can find more details by visiting the Unite Productions website here – www.uniteproductions.com

So here’s how this contest is going to work. The tickets are only available for the shows in MONTREAL, TORONTO or SASKATOON. If you live in one of the other cities and are interested in going, you better move quick because the show is either sold out or very close! Alright.. So we’ve got two tickets available to one of those three shows – Montreal, Toronto, Saskatoon – as well as a copy of Chris Tomlin’s new CD, “Hello Love”.

How can you enter? Let’s do the contest this way -

1. Leave a comment on this post and include the title of your favourite Chris Tomlin or Kristian Stanfill song.

2. Post about this comment on Twitter, Facebook or your own blog and then come back here and post a second comment with a link to your tweet, blog or Facebook post. That will count as a second entry.

3. The winner will be announced on September 16 and I’ll email that person that day.

Remember – this contest is only for the Chris Tomlin shows in Montreal, Toronto and Saskatoon so it would be helpful if you were able to go to one of those shows

Let’s do this – enter away!

Building429 & downhere – Ticket Giveaway!

UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations to Ami on winning the tickets. I hope your son and his friend have a great time! Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks to random.org for picking the winner –

Two great bands are coming up to Canada for a pretty solid tour and the good people at World Vision Canada want YOU to be there. Lots of tour info is available at www.building429canada.ca so head over to that site to get filled in.

If you’re not familiar with these two bands, here are the quick hilights -

Building 429

• 2005 GMA New Artist of the Year
• Signed to INO Records
• Toured with TobyMac, SonicFlood, TFK, Jeremy Camp, Tree63 and more!
• Latest album “Building429″ released October 17, 2008

downhere

• Juno, Dove and Covenant Award-winning band from Canada (!!!)
• Signed to Centricity Records
• Won 2007 Juno Award (Canada’s version of the Grammy’s) for Contemporary Christian Album of the Year for “Wide Eyed & Mystified”
• Performers of one of my favourite songs of all time, “Great Are You”

So here’s the deal. We’re going to give away one pair of tickets to one of the shows on the tour that these guys are doing together. If you live near one of the cities and are planning to hit the show, then this contest is for you! Here’s how we’ll do this giveaway -

1. Leave a comment on this post and tell me why you’re excited about winning these tickets. Lots of comments are great but it will still only get you one entry in the contest

2. Post about the tour and the contest either on your own blog or twitter – make sure you include a link back to this blog when you are posting! Post a link to your post as a second comment and you’ll get entered TWICE in the contest.

3. The winner will be chosen early on Friday, August 14th – so if you are wanting to go to the first show in Toronto on Saturday, August 15th you will have time to get your tickets worked out.

So leave your comments – good luck!

Hillsong United – Toronto – concert review

I made it down to Ontario Place in Toronto on Saturday night to spend the evening with 10,000ish friends listening to Hillsong United and Bluetree. The event – a one-day festival put together by Unite Productions – was a big success and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

This was not the first time I’d seen Hillsong United live – they were in Toronto a few years ago and played at a large church in town. They’ve been back a bunch of times since then and have required bigger venues each time. This is the second year they played at Molson Amphitheatre at Ontario Place and the the whole night was great.

We made it down in time to catch the last half of Bluetree’s set. Most of the songs they played were the same from their set in Toronto with Vicky Beeching from last fall, including “God of this City.” The guys are great musicians and learning more and more about playing venues of this size. This is really something they’ve been thrust in to with the Chris Tomlin-induced success of “God of this City” so the band is playing some catch-up when it comes to working a crowd, etc. But, all in all, very solid set from these guys and I’m looking forward to seeing them again.

The always-awkward intermission was next and I’m not exactly sure why the break between bands needed to be 45 minutes but it definitely seemed like the guys on stage (including Hillsong’s youth pastor who made an appearance laster) were just killing time before getting Hillsong United on stage. On a pretty random sidenote, in all of my years of going to concerts I have NEVER been to one attended by a couple who had just been married. Not only did that happen on Saturday at this concert but it also happened at the Michael W. Smith concert in Hamilton last month – two concerts in a row where the bride & groom show up to the concert after being married without even taking the time to get changed. Nevermind the comments about having “better things to do”…

After intermission, the Hillsong United guys finally made it out. The show went pretty much as predicted – 4 or 5 hype songs at the beginning, leading to some more reflective stuff for a while, a quick build leading in to the youth pastor talk, some extended quieter response songs and then ending with the hyped up pump songs. I should have kept a songlist of the show because by the time they were done the band had played for about 3 hours and seemed to just keep going and going!

Hilights of the show for me –

• Joel leading us in the chorus of “The Stand” and looking around at hands and hearts raised to God all over the amphitheatre – thinking about the impact of those lives surrendered to Him
• Jill McCloghry (for everyone who was asking, she was the one in white on the right side of the stage) singing an incredibly beautiful new song (“At The Cross”?) which will apparently be on the new Hillsong Live album.
• Brooke Fraser – that girl could sing the phone book and I’d be mesmerized. I love her voice, her demeanor, how she handles herself on stage – everything. She sang “Desert Song” and “None But Jesus” and also talked about the refining of her faith through struggles. Great wisdom and insight from her – really appreciated it.
• The Hillsong United guys were obviously impacted by the level of engagement of the crowd. They made several comments about loving being in Toronto, their memories of being here and how the Toronto audience was really the first one to “accept them” and make them feel at home away from Australia.

All in all, it was a great night. Big thumbs up to Unite Productions for putting together such a great event. The guys at that company are awesome to work with and I’ll continue to do what I can to support them.

UPDATE: My friend Matt has posted some video of that incredible song from Jill. It’s called “His Glory Appears” – here you go!

Hillsong United – Toronto – tickets available!

I know that lots of people are looking for more information and for tickets to the Hillsong United event happening in Toronto on Saturday, June 6th. Unite Productions has said that most of the good seats for the United part of the day are sold out but I’ve got a pretty sweet hook-up for you! If you are looking for all day passes at Ontario Place and tickets for the Hillsong United show, leave me a comment on this post and I will reply right away. I’ve got LEVEL 200 (SOLD OUT!) tickets available.

Here are the artists who are playing on Saturday –

Hillsong United
Bluetree
Hello Kelly
Manafest
This Beautiful Republic
Group1Crew
Finochio
Carried Away

That is a pretty sweet line-up of Canadian & international talent. If you are looking for tickets, comment here and I will be in touch. Make sure you include your email address!

Hillsong United in Toronto – contest!

Hillsong United is coming to Toronto next month and the folks at Unite Productions are giving away some tickets. The response to the HU band is incredible every time they come to Toronto and lots of you are ending up at my site looking for Hillsong United info. So – here you go!

To enter the contest, click here and submit your info. The winner will be selected on May 15 and gets 4 tickets to the event on June 6.

Newsboys in Toronto photos

I went to see the Newsboys play in Toronto last night – it`s been a long time since I`ve seen those guys play and although I`m not a huge fan of the band they put on a great show and were really entertaining. I was definitely intrigued by the recent addition of Tait as their new lead singer and he did not disappoint. These guys for sure have a bunch of years left in them!

It was also really nice to see a good crowd for a good show! We have had some rough times with the Christian concert scene in eastern Canada but some good tours are starting to pop up every now and then. All of the bands that night were great – DecembeRadio, Vota and Bread of Stone all made new friends in southern Ontario last night and hopefully they`ll all be back.

Click here for the gallery
RSS peeps you might have to hit the blog to get the photos

Hillsong United in Toronto – June 6th

Hillsong United is coming back to play in Toronto on June 6th at Ontario Place & Molson Amphitheatre and people are excited about it – holy smokes! I have been getting tons of web searches landing on my blog with people looking for more info.

Here’s how much I know about the Hillsong event in Toronto -
Saturday, June 6th in Toronto
Artists: Hillsong United, Bluetree, Group1Crew, This Beautiful Republic, Hello Kelly, Turn Off The Stars & Nathan Finochio.

The event is being run by Unite Productions – great guys who do awesome events. You can get more info at their new website – www.uniteinworship.com – or buy tickets directly at iTickets.

UPDATE: Joshua Seller is the worship director at Harvest Bible Chapel in Oakville, ON and let me know about a great offer they’ve got going:

Harvest Bible Chapel in Oakville, ON. is offering a free Front Row ticket to the United Live Concert with the registration for the young adults conference “Ignite” that is taking place that same weeekend in Toronto.

Check them out on facebook “harvest young adults”

Contact Joshua for more info.

Free tickets & a free song!!

Not only am I giving away free tickets to the upcoming Vicky Beeching & Bluetree tour that’s making away across Canada but now Bluetree is giving everyone a free download of one of their awesome songs.

Head over to their site here – www.bluetreeonline.co.uk/backstage – and check it out!

There’s still time to get in on the contest for free tickets. I’ll pick the winner on Thursday. Head over to this post and leave a comment!!

Free tickets – Vicky Beeching & Bluetree

My friends at Unite Productions have been very generous in offering two tickets to any of the shows on the upcoming Life: Just Add Water Tour that is making its way across Canada this month. This tour features two incredible artists – Vicky Beeching and Bluetree – as well as an incredible speaker, Phil Cann.

Want free tickets? Keep reading!!

Every night of this tour promises to be a great show but it is also for a great cause. Check this out -

Life: Just Add Water Tours Across Canada
Come and be a part of the first cross Canada social justice tour whose goal is to deliver fresh water to some of the world’s poorest regions. The tour will hit 12 major Canadian cities beginning in Gander, Newfoundland on October 10, 2008 and ending in Victoria, BC on October 23, 2008. A major donor has underwritten the tour so most of the $10 ticket will go solely as funds to drill wells in regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

That is pretty amazing! So great to see artists and concert promoters teaming up for a great cause.

So how can you win the pair of tickets? Just leave a comment with your name and the show you would like to attend. In the interest of fairness, let’s keep this limited to Canadians who are living near where the shows are happening. I’ll choose a winner at random on the morning of Thursday, October 9th.

Life: Just Add Water Tour Dates
October 10: YC Newfoundland – Gander, Newfoundland
October 11: Moncton, New Brunswick – Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church
October 12: Montreal, Quebec – Evangel Pentecostal Church
October 14: Ottawa, Ontario – Woodvale Pentecostal Church
October 15: Brampton, Ontario – Kennedy Road Tabernacle
October 16: St. Catharines, Ontario – Central Gospel
October 17: Winnipeg, Manitoba – Calvary Temple
October 18: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Elim Tabernacle
October 20: Calgary, Alberta – First Assembly
October 21: Edmonton, Alberta – West Edmonton Christian Assembly
October 22: Langley, British Columbia – Christian Life Assembly
October 23: Victoria, British Columbia – Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church

There you go. Who wants free tickets?? Just leave a comment!

Brooke Fraser – concert review

I haven’t had a chance to talk about going to see Brooke Fraser in concert at the legendary El Mocambo in Toronto last week. I had a great time with lots of friends – old and new. The venue was packed (I’d guess capacity to be 250-300) but it was stinkin’ hot!!

The opener was a solo acoustic guy with a great beard. His songs were very good and he had an awesome personality. Unfortunately the PA was very quiet and so it was kind of hard to hear what he was saying/singing. He actually asked people to be quiet and listen to his songs while he was playing so that people could hear.

Brooke came out with two other musicians – a girl who played keys and violin and a guy who switched between drums, xylophone and keys. Brooke played acoustic and piano for a couple of songs.

Overall the show was good, not great. I’ve listened to lots of her stuff this year so it was good to see it in a live setting. Brooke is a fantastic singer with a beautiful voice but she is not the most engaging personality which makes things kind of tough when you’re in a small, hot room with poor PA. She talked LOTS between songs – and talked between EVERY song, which is a big no-no in my books – and really never got much momentum happening over the course of the night. Her songs are great but it seemed like just as the crowd would get in to something she would stop, talk and draw out the segue to the next song.

The PA issues continued through her whole set. People were calling out for her mic to be turned up – everything else was loud enough but for some reason the sound guy couldn’t get her vocals to the same level. I’ve seen lots of loud shows in the venue so volume is definitely not a problem. There was never anything close to feedback so I don’t know what the issue was. The combination of Brooke talking for good chunks of time and the quietness of her mic really didn’t help things.

All in all, it was a good night. Lots of friends there which made it a great chance to catch up and hear how people are doing. It was a rare opportunity for me to get out for a few hours without kids (thank you, wifey!!) so I tried to make the most of it. Brooke’s show seemed more like background, mood music rather than her being a feature entertainer that we were all there to see.

I’d pay money to see her again in a heartbeat. Her songs are incredible, her voice is incredible and I’m sure that she will develop as a performer as her career continues.

Joel Auge – “On The Blue” CD release show

I went down to Oakville on Sunday night to see Joel Auge at his CD release show. You might know Joel as the lead singer of Capstone and then fronted sixdays/Hewit for a few years too. He’s now signed as a worship artist with Integrity and his CD is out in Canada this week and next month in the US. He’s getting tons of buzz from Integrity and is already booked to play lots of the bigger conference and events that happen in worship world.

The release show was at The Meeting House – basically a warehouse-turned-theatre – and it was the first time I’d been there for a live event. The room was too big for the crowd that had gathered but it didn’t seem awkward – probably because most of the people there were from The Meeting House (Joel’s church) and already knew each other. The room itself is pretty impressive – I’d guess 800 seats with really nice-sounding PA. The stage is a good size for the room and gave the bands enough room to be comfortable during the show. There are two main screens in the room which were used for lyrics as well as a couple of quick video promos shown during Joel’s set.

I got there at about 7:15 with my daughter Avery and just as we walked in the opening band was being introduced. I recognized my friend Kieran who was leading a band of jr. high and sr. high students. They played a good set of 4 covers and pulled it off really well – their medley/re-working of Lifehouse’s “Everything” and “Fix You” by Coldplay was pretty interesting. They also did a really solid cover of Switchfoot’s “Awakening”. Overall I was pretty impressed with the band – they definitely did not sound like your typical jr./sr. high church band.

After their set Joel was introduced. The label has put together a promo video to introduce Joel and his music to people and they played some of the video that had him talking about making the record, a bit of his personal story, etc. It was a good way to start.

Joel and his band played three songs off his new record which were very solid. Joel is an incredible songwriter and I’ve always thought his songs sound “natural” – the melody, lyrics and structure all sound like they just rolled out of Joel’s guitar together. After the first three songs there was some Q&A with the MC where Joel got to talk a little bit more about his life, his ministry and his new record before coming up with the band to do a handful more songs.

After showing another quick video clip – Joel talking about the song “On The Blue” and where it came from – the band came up to close with two more songs and then Joel ended the show on his own with “On The Blue.”

Overall, it was a very solid night. Joel is an incredible singer, very entertaining and engaging. His band was incredible and the audio mix in the room was pretty impressive considering how empty it was.

The songs off of “On The Blue” are already getting some attention and some good radio play. The combination of great songs and Joel’s personality made the evening fun, relaxed, entertaining and just a really good time. Having my daughter there and seeing some old friends made the night a big success.

Joel’s CD is in stores in Canada now and coming out in the US on July 1. Tracks are also on iTunes and “So Deep In Love” is a free download in the iTunes US store – pretty cool promo.

Brooke Fraser – Shadowfeet

May 12th, 2008 | asides, concerts | 2 Comments

Yeah so this CD has been my soundtrack for the past week or so. I’m excited for the Brooke Fraser concert in Toronto on July 2nd!!

When the world has fallen out from under me
I’ll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I’ll be found in you

Starfield – Tour continues after accident

May 7th, 2008 | asides, concerts | 1 Comment

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the accident at the concert in Abbotsford, BC where Starfield, Shane & Shane and Bethany Dillon were playing. From what I’ve heard from people who were there and other people who understand church architecture is that buildings are rated for a certain weight-load when pews are involved but that the weight-load increases significantly when the pews are removed and that space is filled with people. If you’ve seen photos or video of the church that night, there were no pews where the section of floor caved in.

It must have been unbelievable for the Starfield guys on stage to see the accident happening right in front of them. I’m sure some crazy thoughts were going through their heads. I still find it amazing that nobody died that night!

After cancelling the show the next night, the tour resumed in Kelowna. Tim Neufeld, Starfield’s lead singer, opened the night with this -

Pretty amazing. The thing I’m most excited about with the tour continuing is that I’ll be able to get down to the show on Friday night in Cambridge, ON. It will be good to see the Starfield guys and David Nasser again and to see Shane & Shane and Bethany Dillon live for the first time. Definitely looking forward to it.

Accident at Starfield show in BC

Apr 28th, 2008 | asides, concerts, friends | 6 Comments

On Saturday morning someone told me that they had heard on the radio about an accident at a Christian concert out in BC. I immediately thought of my friends in Starfield and Unite Productions who had just started a cross-Canada tour with Shane & Shane, Bethany Dillon and David Nasser. I jumped online to try and find the story and was able to confirm that there had been a very serious accident at the Starfield show at Central Heights Church in Abbotsford, BC on Friday night.

I checked a couple of articles online and this was the basic story – there were between 1,000 and 1,200 kids at the show and at some point in the evening kids were jumping near the front of the church and some of them caused the floor to cave in. People fell through the hole to the basement below and then some lights and sound equipment fell in on the crowd, injuring about 40 people.

I quickly called my friend Nathan who is out on the tour and he was able to give some more details – Starfield had just started their second song and all of a sudden a 20′x20′ section of the floor just broke open and kids fell through. Nathan said that the Starfield guys did a great job of encouraging everyone to get out of the building and that everyone was pretty shaken up.

This is the hole right in front of the stage. On the left-hand side of the picture you can see the light truss that fell in towards the crowd. Wow!

Because the light & PA gear belonged to the tour and not the church the building was locked down and the police were bringing in some forensics teams to find out what happened. The show on Saturday night was cancelled but it looks like the rest of the tour is ready to go as planned.

Praise God that nobody was killed – from the sounds of things this was a pretty brutal accident and people were surprised that the injuries were not more serious. Pray for the people who were injured as well as the bands and crew on this tour – something like this has got to play with your head in pretty big ways!

A quick message from Starfield -

As you may have heard by now, there was a serious accident at our concert last night, and many young people were injured. At this moment, we are consumed with concern and compassion for those who were injured, especially for those who were described to be in serious condition. Our hearts are with them. We ask that you join us in prayer for them. As a less important side note, none of the members of our tour were injured in the accident. The band would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of encouragement and support that we are receiving.

Here’s a news report from CBC -

UPDATE from Mike Jenkinson -

Here’s a TV report about the concert. Footage of the floor collapsing appears about 45 seconds into the clip.

Toronto loves Hillsong United

Feb 27th, 2008 | asides, canada, concerts, worship | 5 Comments

The music and message of Hillsong United has pretty much swept around the globe but it is my understanding that southern Ontario is kind of like “Australia North” for these guys – to say that they are popular here is an understatement. At a time when NOBODY comes up on here on tours because they can’t sell tickets (Newsboys, Jars of Clay, Third Day, etc etc regularly have shows booked, promoted and then cancelled) the guys from Hillsong United are able to fill 3,000 seat venues twice in one night. It is a pretty amazing thing.

Last summer there were somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 people gathered for a Hillsong United concert. (The debate of concert vs. worship experience will be a never-ending one but I think it was promoted as a concert so I have no problem calling it that.) Those are huge numbers in any market but these guys have really struck a chord with students here and they are not missing the opportunity.

Later this summer Hillsong United will be running their youth conference in Toronto. The Facebook group is already alive and kicking! I’m excited that this is happening close to us – not because United is my favourite band or that I love a ton of their songs but I think that this will have a positive impact on the church culture and arts culture in our region. Hillsong will be able to gather thousands of students from Canada and parts of the US who will come together to worship (God, hopefully!) and who will be inspired to return home as worshippers.

« Older Posts |