Concert Review: Relevant Worship

Published: Friday, March 12, 2010

Updated: Friday, March 12, 2010 10:03

Heather Hahn

Friday night, March 5, Relevant Worship entered our community and led a pleasant worship experience. Houghton's very own Dreaming Outloud got the night started right, opening the show with their smooth and melodic sounds, catchy beats, and pleasant vocals. Alternating between popular worship songs and some of their own original compositions, the band created a soothing but groovy atmosphere.

The band members had great onstage chemistry and audience interaction, complete with beautifully harmonized vocals during the popular worship song "Here I am to Worship" and a cute synchronized jump. The band stepped outside of the box a bit when vocalist/bassist Steven Jay Woods whipped out an uncommon instrument: the mandolin. Overall, Dreaming Outloud definitely proved to be both entertaining and meaningful. They closed their set with a cover of the soulful song "Washed by the Water" by popular band NeedToBreathe, ending it with an a cappella chorus that had the whole audience on their feet clapping and singing along.

Patmos Vision took the stage after Dreaming Outloud and rocked out with their fabulously coordinated wardrobe. The seven-piece band displayed all-star talent on every instrument. Despite many obstacles, including lead singer Hannah Prentice getting sick before the show, as well as numerous technological difficulties during the show, the band still delivered a stellar performance. They played a variety of covers of popular rock songs by both distinctly Christian and secular bands, which included Kutless, Evanescence, and The Fray. The most impressive part of their performance came when guitarist/vocalist Jedidiah Boswell passionately sang the Foo Fighter's song "Home." He began accompanied only by Greg Mather on piano and Emily Dunn on violin before the rest of the band gradually came into the song as its intensity increased, carving out a beautiful, holy space for all in the chapel. The song flowed seamlessly into "Never Alone" by Barlow Girl during which Hannah's intense vocal talent burst forth. The song started gently and built in intensity until it climaxed with an epic drum solo by Dan Larson. When asked what he thought the band would do next, bassist Ryan Blum stated the band's intent to "learn some new material," and that they hope to play at Houghtonpalooza. A fun fact about the band: rhythm guitarist Graeme Little is 6'5".

Before any of the bands took the stage, I sat down for a chat with Relevant Worship. When asked what prompted the kind of music Relevant Worship makes, vocalist Christopher Hoisington simply said "everything." He went on to say "My prayer to God has been that He would allow me to see him in everything, even in the things that are not Christian" and that in doing so he would be able to "take phrases and ways to say things that aren't so Christianese that you've hear a hundred times before." I suppose that is what makes this band "relevant." He expressed his desire for the band to be part of the "new worship leaders that go out of the box" and "stretch the way worship is written."

In general I have two big problems with worship music: the uncreative generic-ness of the music and the theological shallowness of the lyrics. Hoisington echoed this sentiment: "We look at worship sometimes as a watered down version of real music, when it's not." After the interview I was left with high hopes that the band would deliver a refreshingly new and different sound.

Despite all this, Relevant Worship showed me nothing that caused them to stand out from any other standard worship band I have listened to. Musically they were proficient but not astounding, and lyrically they sang generic, theologically thin praise choruses. An exception to this was found in the song "Yahweh" and in their closing song, which were both robustly theological. Another nice gem in the performance was the particularly nice renditions of the old hymns "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" and "There is Power in the Blood."

One thing I cannot be critical of, however, is their authenticity. Hoisington said during the interview that people aren't looking for people to respect artistically anymore; they are looking for people they can believe in, and it was very clear that these guys were just that. And because of their hearts of authenticity, they were able to create for everyone a special and holy time of beautiful worship. This, according to Hoisington, is the definition of worship. "Worship is getting everybody in one accord and singing the song." Certainly, this is exactly what happened last Friday night; genuine worship happened.