I stumbled upon them three years ago now, in 2016. They were playing at a huge church down in Woodstock. I didn't even know who they were, but I remember finding a pretty good deal on tickets, and it seemed like a fun thing to do. Abby and I went, along with a bunch of other ladies including Alyson, Tara, and Emily & some of her girls. Lauren Daigle opened, how cool is that?! But of course, three years ago, we didn't know to be impressed. I loved her then, and I'd really love to see her again sometime. We were hooked from that very first concert.
Abby and I took the whole family the next year to see them in Gwinnett at the Infinite Energy Center. That was Ryan and Chloe's first concert! Abby sang every word, and Chloe slept through most of it, hehe. They played with Casting Crowns, and they sang a sneak peak of their brand-new song Joy - which of course would go on to be a huge hit and one of our favorite songs!
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| first concert for these two :) |
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| loved watching Abby watch the concert! |
The next year, 2018, Coleson and I made a weekend of it and saw them at the Ryman in Nashville. The more intimate setting [vs the arena in Gwinnett] was amazing!!!! And while they had an opening act [really, really weird group], it was "their" concert, and they sang a ton of songs and it was just about perfect! Side note - we didn't care for Nashville itself, but really enjoyed Franklin.
This year, For King and Country came to Atlanta again, this time at the Fabulous Fox. As great as it was to make a date weekend out of the concert last year, I was excited to take Abby again this time. I love watching her watch concerts. She gets so into them! I took her to Sam Hunt a couple of years ago, and that night also tops the list of best nights ever. She knew every word and danced & sang along to all the songs and everyone around us loved her - I'm sure it helped a lot that she was maybe seven and cute as can be, hehe :) So I bought three tickets way back in the spring, hoping it would work out, and fortunately the awesome Esterlings were able to watch Ryan and Chloe for us.
Unfortunately Atlanta traffic is AWFUL, and it took us forever to get downtown on a Thursday night. By the time we detoured around an accident on the connector, took an unwanted tour of Georgia Tech, and finally found the parking garage, we had a lot less time then we'd hoped for. We ate dinner at Mary Mac's - southern, comfort food is how I was trying to explain it to Abby. I loved that she tried everything! She's a good one to take out to dinner. I felt rushed, but otherwise it was an enjoyable experience. I'd definitely keep it on the list, and I'd like to go again when we can linger longer and finish our food. Although the portions are crazy huge, so even if we'd had all evening, I'm sure I couldn't have eaten it all anyways!
The concert itself was just about perfect. The Fox is a great venue, and it was fun to see it through Abby's first time eyes. Oh - hilarious - my country girl thought that everything downtown looked like "prison." All the bars on windows and even gated & locked entryways to the apartments. The cars were in "prison" too [parking garages]. And where was the grass to play in?? Why do people live here?? But, she loved every bit of the Fox, which is very dark and closed in :) It was really great that the whole concert was For King and Country's. No shared act or opening act or anything. They played every song on the new album and lots of older favorites. The first couple of concerts, I left wanting more. And while I still hated for it to end, at least I felt like they played everything, and they played for almost two hours - you can't ask for much more then that!
I put a little thought into our seats since I figured Joel and Luke would come into the audience at least once. And they did, but we missed Joel by two rows! We were in the balcony, pretty much straight on, five rows back, GREAT seats!! And the cell phone lights were goose-bump worthy for sure. And just watching Abby sing along at the top of her lungs. confetti cannons! And an encore!! I really don't think it was planned or scripted. They came back out and made genuine-sounding conversation for a few minutes before singing a pretty much a capella version of Hold On To Me. That was cool!!! Speaking of genuine, I think that's why I love them so much. They're brothers and pretty much the whole family is involved in the 'business.' And they are story-tellers. I love when they talk in between songs and tell family stories and banter. And they're performers too, running around crazy on that stage. In fact at one point, Joel is standing on a piano with cymbals, and I remember telling Abby, he's gonna jump, and sure enough he LEAPT up and off that piano while crashing the cymbals. And they're not afraid to tell you that the opening song was indeed a little off because Joel had initially forgotten to bring his microphone on stage and he sings first, and Luke didn't know Joel's verse! And Joel stands on top of that stage at the highest point he can get, reciting scripture during Proof of Your Love.
The next day was really kind of odd - I would start grinning like a fool remembering the fun we had had. And then I'd be so crazy sad it was over! I'm already excited for next year!! 😍🙂
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| joy. |
The guy in the white jacket [our right of the cello] was in serious danger of stealing the show!! He played EVERYthing. My favorite of course was the trombone, but also all sorts of drums and every type of stringed instrument including cello. you name it, he rocked out on it at some point during the evening.
I love this girl's joy and passion and enthusiasm for pretty much everything in life, but esp of course for her music and her soccer :)
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