I Met A Newsboy (And Other Fun Stories and Photos)

This is a bit of a long and complicated story, so I'll try my best to simplify it a little bit. Last night there was a concert in Southern Oregon that featured Disciple, Kutless, a speaker named Bob Lenz, and the Newsboys. My sister Courtney happens to know one of the guys that does booking and merchandise for Bob Lenz (his name is John), and he told her that if the concert wasn't too far away from where we live, that he'd leave her free tickets for her and a friend. At this point, Justin was still out of town, so my parents agreed to babysit Lizzy so that Courtney and I could go.

Earlier in the day, John called and asked if Court and I could pick him and Bob up at the airport along with all their gear and then drive them to the venue. We said sure, and so we did. When we arrived at the venue, we helped carry in all of Bob's stuff through the back band entrance, when the drummer for the Newsboys came over to say hi. It was kind of fun to say that we met a rock-star...but I have to say that I was pretty surprised at how short he was--he was like chest high on me! We helped schlep stuff in and said hello to all the security people as we did.

Then Court and I went and had dinner at Subway (THEY HAVE THE ORCHARD CHICKEN SANDWICH AGAIN!!!!), and headed back to the concert. She and I ended up helping at the merch table for Bob, which was a ton of fun.

I brought my dslr camera with me, but figured that they probably wouldn't let me bring it in or would ask me not to take photos since I didn't have a press pass, but figured it was worth a shot anyway on the off-chance I had the opportunity to practice concert photography. So, as Kutless was playing, I decided to try and see if I could get closer to the stage to take some photos. I'm not sure if it was the "fancy" camera, or the fact that security recognized me, but no one stopped me as I got closer to the stage.

I always enjoy hearing Kutless play--Strong Tower is one of my favorite songs, and their set is a cool mix of concert and worship. Also, three of their band members are from Southern Oregon, so it's cool to see the "local" guys make it big. Anyway, I snapped a couple of shots, and then headed back to the booth because I knew that it was almost time for Bob to speak.

If you're not familiar with Bob Lenz, you should be. He's an awesome speaker, and he has a great book out called Grace: For Those Who Think they Don't Measure Up. Last night, Bob was also partnering with Compassion International, which is an incredible organization. I would LOVE to do one of their blogger trips someday. 

{Another fun tidbit? Bob's doing Insanity, and John told me that he's lost 70 pounds doing it!}

Anyway, after Bob, the Newsboys came on stage. I'll be honest--I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy their concert. See, they have a new lead singer. I've seen them live with their old singer, and just wasn't sure that anyone could like up to Peter Furler. That said, their new lead singer (Michael Tait) won me over with an a capella version of Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Also, they came out singing Usher's Hey-Oh, which was kind of hilarious. 

I decided that since no one stopped me before, I should see if I could get even CLOSER to the stage to take some photos of the Newsboys.

Oh, hi Jeff Frankenstein. I don't mind if I do stand two feet away from you to take your photo.

I was right up in front of the stage and no one said a word. I can only assume that they thought I was supposed to be there. I've kind of decided that I was.

Concert photography is REALLY tricky. Especially since I was going at it with nothing more than my Nifty Fifty lens. I had a lot of fun experimenting though!

After about two songs, I headed back to the table with Courtney. It was so fun getting to spend the evening with her!

We had a great few of the hydraulics that the Newsboys use from the table.

We had been telling Court how the drummer not only goes up in the air, but then starts spinning upside down. However, his hydraulics were broken, so she didn't get to see the upside-down drumming this time.

But it was still pretty amazing!