newsboys' Christian songs rock

REVIEW: Concert

This time, they didn't come onto the stage on motorcycles.

Nor did they arrive via friendly Martian spacecraft, as they did on one tour, and they left the spacesuits from that tour at home.

But what newsboys (they officially lower-case the band name now) did bring with them to Lancaster County on Friday night was an energy-filled, powerful and wide-ranging show.

The band has always been fun-loving and stunt-loving, even as it has turned out some of the best contemporary Christian music of the past 20 years. Playing before 2,350 at a sold-out LCBC (known until recently as Lancaster County Bible Church, now Lives Changed By Christ), the four-man outfit offered a catchy, traditional rock sound you'd expect at the most popular summer stadium show, along with moving, powerful testimonies that reminded you this is a Christian rock group you're hearing.

Clad all in black, singer Peter Furler, drummer Duncan Phillips, guitarist Jody Davis and drummer Jeff Frankenstein hit the crowd with their best shots right away … the catchy, funk-filled "Wherever We Go," the lesser-known but still excellent and driving "The Mission," the well-known hit "Something Beautiful."

But they were just warming up. After the somber-then-powerful worship-music staple "Blessed Be Your Name," they did their huge hit "He Reigns" with a harder-edged guitar sound than on the studio version, and offered a moving version of the uplifting and encouraging "Stay Strong."

When it came time to do their megahits "Shine" and "Breakfast," two of the best-known Christian contemporary songs ever, Furler could have stepped away from the microphone if he'd wanted to, because the whole crowd, on both the lower level and upper deck of the sprawling church, knew all the words.

For a band that started more than 20 years ago, newsboys still pack an amazing level of energy into a show.

Kristen Greenwood of Lancaster and her 11-year-old son, David, had seen the band before, in Hershey during the "Go!" tour. As impressed as they were by the concert, Greenwood said, "It was even cooler to watch my son completely captivated" by the band's message to go reach the hurting around the world.

Also performing during Friday's three-hour show were two openings acts, hard-rock band Bread of Stone and VOTA, once known as Casting Pearls.

Both were good in the short time they had, but of the two, VOTA played a longer set and was perhaps more polished. The band changed its name to avoid confusion with the well-known Christian band Casting Crowns.

E-mail: doconnor@lnpnews.com

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