Petra: Once Upon A Time
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Petra Farewell tour
October 4th, 2005
W274
Franklin, Tennessee
A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...
It all seems so remote to me now. 36 hours ago I was with a bunch of Pethead friends in Franklin, Tennessee, getting ready to leave the concert venue, asking John Schlitt where we could go to get some food at midnight. 48 hours before that, I was at home trying to get some sleep before the long drive from Tulsa to Tennessee. Now I'm back home in Tulsa thinking about the whole experience... and I'm just thankful that we found a way to travel all that distance on less than two weeks' notice and be a part of something so special. It almost feels like a dream. It's a night neither I nor my wife Cathy will ever forget.Sign up... QUICK!
"RSVP form for Oct. 4th Show is Online NOW!" it said on The Petra Zone, which is the premiere Internet message board for Petra fans. We had known for almost two weeks that a live CD/DVD was going to be recorded in Franklin on October 4, and we knew that admission was going to be restricted to a small number of folks (it was a small venue). We also knew that Inpop Records was working on a signup form to be posted on the Internet. But when we saw those words on the screen... or when we received the announcement from Inpop or the John Schlitt newsletter or friends or wherever... I knew every Pethead within shooting distance of Tennessee would be on the Web signing up. I clicked on the link as soon as I saw it, then I called my wife Cathy so she could register, and typed in my signup information while I was getting the news to her. Then I sent an email to Elo, a friend of everyone's from the Zone, whom I knew had already bought a plane ticket from Mexico (!) before we knew the admissions were to be limited (turns out, six other people emailed her as well!) Then I posted the news on about six or seven Yahoo! Groups for Petra fans, and sat back and waited for the email confirmation from Inpop. All of the admission armbands were spoken for by that evening (I think the form had gone up just after noon). We were so excited... we were GOING TO FRANKLIN!Pilgrimage
The trip from Tulsa to the Nashville area is about ten hours by car. We did the touristy thing on the way there, stopping in Memphis to breathe the air Elvis breathed and to see the gates of Graceland, so the trip took us nearly twelve hours. We listened to Petra's most famous classic CDs on the way... Beyond Belief, More Power To Ya, This Means War!, Jekyll & Hyde, and lots of other great stuff, and wondered about the show. How many songs were they going to play? Would there be seats, or standing? Would we have to be really quiet, or would we be allowed to SCREAM??? It was so exciting to know we were among a VERY select few who would be admitted (Inpop had announced that maximum capacity would be 500 people). We also knew some of our dearest Pethead friends would be there, and we couldn't WAIT to get to Franklin and see if we could get in touch with some of them! When we finally got to our hotel after dark Monday evening, we were totally bushed. I had wanted to go swimming while I had access to a hotel pool, but I was too pooped. I was so exhausted I didn't even watch the end of Monday Night Football!13 Hours to Rock & Roll
I think I woke up at 6am the day of the performance. We had some time to kill, and we did some fun stuff in Franklin and Nashville, but always with an eye on the clock. We could pick up our armbands as early as 2pm, and we wanted to BE there at 2! Around 1:30 we met up with Sue D. and some other friends from The Petra Zone and we went on down to the venue, W274, also known as "The W," to get our stuff. There was already a huge clot of Petheads there when we arrived, but before we even had a chance to get our armbands, we were invited inside to a trendy little room with a wall of guitar amps on one side and an air hockey table on the other side, and told that if we liked, we could talk about our history with Petra on camera for the DVD! My wife Cathy and I asked if we could go together, since the whole reason we met in the first place was because we were Petra fans, and apparently our story was so compelling that we and another couple were asked to be interviewed for Way-FM's Total Axxess radio show. By that time it was getting dangerously close to showtime, so we picked up our red armbands and went back to the hotel to change clothes. We were told by Inpop's radio representative that since we agreed to be interviewed by Way-FM, he would come get the four of us and let us in slightly before everyone else. SAH-WEET!!Hurry Up And Wait
We were supposed to meet Sue and company at 6:45 to go to wait at the door to get in at 7, so we rushed back to the hotel, changed clothes, and called them. "Don't worry... we have someone saving us a place in line," Sue said. We hurried anyway, but even so the folks we were going to meet had already left their hotel when we went back there... so we jumped back into the car and flew back to The W. I think there were maybe three parking spots left when we got there, way in the back next to the dumpster! The line was humongous, but sure enough, some buddies of ours had saved us a place right at the door. Even so, we didn't get in until I think nearly 7:30... I think the band was getting a few loose ends tied up before letting the fans in. But it was great fun chatting with other Petheads out there... we made some dear friends that we had only known online, but whom we will NEVER forget. It's kind of funny to have to introduce yourself by your Petra Zone screen name, but that's what we all did. Fortunately mine is actually "Michael," so that short-circuited things in my case! We had a great time visiting outside, and to me the friendship and cameraderie was one of the best parts of the whole experience. Petra fans, I'll tell you. They are the CREAM of the crop. Nobody complained about standing outside for extra time (well... not in a grumpy temper, anyway!), nobody got angry, everybody was friendly. I would do it again in a minute, even if there were no Petra concert afterward!FINALLY!
Finally, they let us in. Actually, the Inpop rep came and got the four of us who had been on Way-FM and brought us in, past all of the gold records on the wall, past all the guitars and pictures of rock stars, and into the concert area. I must have gasped in awe when I saw the setup! The room was mostly dark, the smoke machines were running, the light cans were shooting beams of colored light down onto the stage, and there was the kick bass drum with the word PETRA painted on the drum head. AWESOME! And there was Greg Bailey's cello that we had been hearing about for weeks! And there were KEYBOARDS on the stage! (Petra hadn't had a keyboard player on the payroll since just before Jekyll & Hyde came out.) And... there was John Lawry's "Key-tar"! We just knew it was going to be the concert to end all concerts. We knew that Lawry was going to be playing during a few songs, and we knew former lead singer Greg X. Volz was going to make an appearance. The Petheads were freaking out! The excitement was electric!Someone came out and asked us to give them some random crowd noise... 30 seconds of golf claps, 30 seconds of regular applause, and 30 seconds of bash the guitar into the amp, kick over the drum kit, moshing, crowd surfing, ROCK AND ROLL cheering. I think the technical people were shocked at what we gave them! I know I was... this crowd was L-O-U-D! And the enthusiasm was to remain there from then on, straight through the performace to the very last note. But it wasn't quite time for the band to play yet... first John Styll of CCM Magazine came up to the stage to say a few words. He commented on blowing up his stereo speakers in 1974 playing Petra's debut record when he was in college, fun stuff like that. Also, they asked our permission to play a song twice if they didn't get it 100% exactly right the first time. The fans were like, are you CRAZY? YES, PLAY IT TWICE! PLAY IT A DOZEN TIMES! We made it clear with our handclaps that we would gladly listen to Petra play the same song more than once! Then all of the non-Petra folks left the stage, and it was time for the MAIN EVENT!
Loud And ROCKIN!
It's impossible to describe the vibe that was there that night. The music was loud and spot-on... I imagine that most of the people there didn't even notice some of the glitches that they repeated songs to correct. Yes, John forgot the words a few times. Even though they were projected on a screen on the wall right in front of him! But hey... if he didn't, it wouldn't be John, now would it? And he said that himself at one point! The performances were amazing. That Paul Simmons... you've heard of a drum machine? If any human being could be called a Drumming Machine, it would be him! At one point during an impromptu drum solo, he actually lost both of his drum sticks... and KEPT DRUMMING BARE-HANDED! He's quite a showman... my favorite move was when they played "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High" and he made a cross with his sticks when John sang the word "cross," just about every time, without ever missing a single beat. Greg Bailey was his usual smiling self, happily laying down a solid bottom for the mix and the background vocals to make the music sound great. Bob Hartman proved something to me as he played... I'm fairly certain that the sound doesn't come out of the amps or the round hole in the guitar, as most people believe; I'm pretty sure that the sound comes directly out of Bob's mouth. It was open about three quarters of an inch the entire time! My favorite blooper moment came at the end of "It Is Finished"... Bob had actually managed to break his bottom guitar string. He looked at John and showed him the guitar, and John was like, "Bob NEVER breaks a guitar string!" and Bob looked out at the crowd, held his fist in the air, smiled, and with his little voice he said, "ROCK AND ROLL!!!" It was hysterical! Bob was awesome on guitar, and of course John was just wailing. He was also sweating like a buffalo... it was pretty warm in there, and I think just about everybody in the place was probably a little sticky. But we didn't care... we were having FUN! I would have never expected to be able to actually hear the crowd sing over such a loud show in such a small room, but you could hear us singing during almost every song. And when a line came up like, "THIS MEANS WAR!" or "BEYOOOND BELIEF! BEYOOOND BELIEF!" or "IT IS FI-NISHED!" we were amazingly loud. And that was a big part of the fun... it seemed like everyone in the place knew the words to every song. It was almost like the whole world was made up of Petheads. It was truly incredible!Clearly, the band felt it too. Bob and John both mentioned that it was like a family reunion... like everyone there was family. I know John especially probably recognized just about all of the people who were right up against the stage. And the fact that it wasn't really a concert where they were trying to be impressive to us, but something where they played the music and we loved it already and didn't mind if it wasn't always perfect the first time... I think that made them really feel like they were among friends. I know I felt like I was among friends myself, standing there next to the stage, staring almost into John's kneecaps, singing at the top of my lungs! Oh, by the way... John, if you're reading this... I really DID try to sing on key, I really did! I think I did OK most of the time...
The ballad medley was just priceless. Greg X. Volz came out, and the whole band sat down in front, Bob with an acoustic, Greg Bailey with his cello (and a piece of sheet music about four feet long!), and Paul Simmons with just a bongo (before they played he said quietly to Greg B., "give me a D" and the crowd was like, "DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"). Greg Volz sat next to John Schlitt, and began to sing "Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows." I think the crowd was in awe for about the first three or four songs... so enraptured that we forgot to clap between selections. Greg X. sang a verse and chorus from four classic Petra songs, then John Schlitt took the lead for "No Doubt," and then Greg X. sang "The Coloring Song" and John wrapped it up with "Love." The two of them even sang some backup vocals for each other! They went through the medley twice, and it was just as excellent the second time. Then Bob got a burr in his saddle and started playing a quick country rhythm, and John launched into "I Am A C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N!" We sang it faster and faster... and Greg X. Volz obviously had never heard that song before, because he had the most puzzled look on his whole face the whole time we sang "And I have C-H-R-I-S-T in my H-E-A-R-T and I will L-I-V-E E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y!" We sang it faster and faster, and I don't think Greg ever was able to quite make it out. It was SO much fun! If that song doesn't get on the DVD it will be an injustice!
A highlight of the evening for me came directly afterward. While the band members got back behind their regular instruments, Bob announced that John Lawry was there to play on a few songs! In the ensuing chaos, John Schlitt discreetly left the stage (what a classy guy) and left Greg Volz there to shine on "Grave Robber." I think I had tears in my eyes... with Lawry's organ pads and Greg's vocals, it was like being at the taping of Petra's other live album, 1986's Captured in Time & Space. Not only that, but by this time I was in full-on "Oh yeah, NOW I remember what this song is about!" mode, and I could barely contain myself as I thought about Jesus coming back to bring the dead back to life and take us away with Him to a new life. And in a sense, the whole concert experience was like a small taste of what Heaven might be like... being together with people who you maybe don't know yet, but who already love you and are your friends as soon as you meet. Singing praises to God. And just experiencing joy.
After Grave Robber John Lawry got his chance to shine. His keyboard solos were really terrific... although the first time around, his synth refused to cooperate and give him the patch he needed! The poor guy must have felt like his pants were around his ankles, standing in front of a couple hundred people trying to play a rock guitar sound when his synth wanted to play some kind of three-story tall piano patch. Finally he got the machine whipped into shape, and treated us not only to a searing pseudo-guitar solo on his keytar, but also to the most famous keyboard solo of all time, "Jesus Loves You!" I'll tell ya, when we heard "Je-je-je, Je-je-je..." the place came unglued. And the section where he was synthing and Paul Simmons was drumming was superb.
I don't know if they had intended to play "He Came, He Saw, He Conquered" in the set; it seemed like it might have been a little bit of an afterthought. But after taking a minute or two to acknowledge some of the people in the crowd who had meant a lot to Petra (former managers Mark Hollingsworth and Paul Jackson, and former Compassion International spokesman Devlin Donaldson), they tore into it like it was the only song they were going to get to play. It would have been a terrific end for the night, and usually I believe it IS the end of the night, but not THAT night! "Let's give the guys a 20-minute break," the producer, who happened to be former Petra member Jim Cooper, told us, "and then we're going to play a few songs again to make sure we have a perfect take of everything." Some people went home, I think, but the majority of the crowd was still there 20 minutes later when Petra came back and played almost the entire show a second time! And THIS time we were ready... I think we were more rowdy, more noisy, more excited on the second take than on the first. Lawry's synth worked this time. John forgot the words a time or two (one time he looked at Bob and said, "Did you play the wrong chord there? I thought I heard the wrong chord, and it messed me up!" hehe, RIGHT, John, like we believe THAT!!), but his performance was top notch. The second time through was just as mindblowing as the first time. At the end John was visibly tired, and so was I. When I sat town I felt like I had eight-pound boots at the end of each leg. It was AWESOME!
Afterglow: The Best Part
There was so much about the evening that was special. It was an honor to be part of a night that was visibly special to the guys in the band. Paul Simmons was talking to a group of us long after the show was over, and he told us that he was up there playing, and there was Greg X. Volz singing right in front of him, and there was John Lawry off to the side, and he thought to himself, WOW! I'm playing in PETRA!! Especially moving was the visible effect the whole night had on John and Bob. We could tell that the reception that night really made them feel loved and appreciated. Inpop planned this as a night to honor Petra, and they succeeded in getting together some incredibly rowdy fans who are also incredibly loving people. But to me, one of the MOST special things was what happened afterward... especially maybe an hour or two afterward, when people were still milling around waiting for their chance to share a moment with Bob or John or Greg or Paul (or Greg or John!) At some point, the conversations seemed to start to change from fans talking to their heroes, to people talking to people they care about and respect. The fans changed from co-fans to family members. Maybe I have a vivid imagination... maybe it's just because I mellow out a lot when it gets late... but there was a real sense of the Holy Spirit's presence there. I know John was moved by it, and I believe it meant a great deal to Bob as well; the other performers couldn't have helped but experience it. It was something that many people never get to feel in this lifetime. In a world where people shoot each other on the highway, where people must sometimes be suspicious of others for their own safety, where most people don't even know the people who live next door... we were among family members. "All in the family of God," as the song says. Not one of my all-time favorite Petra songs, but it sure fit this situation. And unexpectedly enough, some of the very MOST fascinating people I met were not the band members, but the other Petheads! I already mentioned Eloisa, who we call "Elo" and who came all the way from Mexico, and who is far sweeter of a person than you can even tell from her posts on the Petra Zone... then there was Bridget, who goes by "calicowriter" on the Zone, who had an old Head East tour program with her and who happily acted as Sue and Elo's chauffer the whole time... Raymond and Musica, who run The Right Place Internet Christian radio station, and who drove all the way from California to Tennessee to attend the show (they were the other couple who got interviewed for Way-FM; we spent some time sitting and chatting with them at Waffle House at 1 am when a group of us went out for some food afterward)... Enosh Fee and Jon Holtz, members of Some Strange Way, who have actually played as John's backing band a number of times in his solo shows (I'll never forget Enosh's smooth disco dancing moves before the taping, and the not-quite-as-smooth way he bashed his brains into a coat rack at Waffle House afterward!)... Susannah and her mother D' Anne, who are so sweet and friendly that you would almost believe they were angels and not regular people like the rest of us. I even finally got to shake hands with Josh Renaud of Petra Rocks My World! And that's just the smallest sample of the people we fellowshipped with, some briefly and some at length. "Koinonia" is the word the Bible uses to describe fellowship among believers, and if there is any strength and meaning to that word, that is what we had. Truly, it WAS like Heaven. In Heaven we won't have aching feet afterward, and we won't have sore necks the next day from headbanging, and we won't have stiff backs from driving for ten hours (or two days!), but we will have koinonia. It's going to be amazing.This morning in the elevator on the way up to my office on the third floor, something occurred to me. I didn't feel like the same person who had ridden that same elevator six short days before. Something had happened in me, and I felt like I had somehow changed... like now I am a bigger person than I was then, not on the outside, but on the inside. Like my spirit is standing tall. Like I've had the honor of being a small part of something extremely special, and now life is different. It's oddly like people feel after having a Salvation experience, although I have been a Christian walking with the Lord for all of my life. I've been to a number of Petra concerts before, in various situations... the cold of a hockey rink, the heat of a Kansas summer, the damp of a thunderstorm-soaked Branson amphitheater, and yes, the hype of a huge, packed coliseum... but the act of connecting on a special level both with band members and with other Petheads... no, wait. It's not because they are Petheads. The act of connecting with other BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST, both in the band and not, was a profound experience, not unlike the experience people have when they go on trips with missions teams. I think that because I knew I was among friends, and nobody was going to think anything negative about me if I just cut loose and enjoyed myself, I opened myself up to the Lord in a way I've never quite done in a Petra concert before. I experienced a level of worship that night, because of that openness and lack of prideful inhibitions, that has left me feeling closer to God now than I have maybe in a long while. It's a lesson I need to remember always—how it felt to be with a crowd of Believers who were giving themselves over to worship that way. We were all together in one place, as it says in Acts chapter 2, and suddenly a mighty sound came from Heaven, and the Holy Spirit rested on each one of us. It was an unforgettable, priceless three days. The memory is a treasure that, I expect, will last for a lifetime and beyond.
Send an email to Michael Jones
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