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Audio Adrenaline, Raze, Fono, Riley Armstrong
2/17/00, Philadelphia, PA. The Electric Factory.
Some people only see a band once. And if it's an off performance, it will stick
in the minds after that and leave no impression. However, some bands are consistently
good, and for Audio Adrenaline, this rings true. I've seen Audio A at least nine times
and have never been disappointed (except for my seating arrangement :) ). And this show
was the best of them all. New artist Riley Armstrong opened the night
with a few of his songs with acoustic rock with a beat. Fono followed,
with a shockingly good performance as they rocked the venue. They opened up with "Collide"
and also played a couple other songs including "Alcatraz." Raze took the stage next with a
jaw-dropping performance. The foursome, including their new member Todd (who replaced J.D.),
were accompanied by 2 dancers and delivered each song with full energy and dances that they
choreographed themselves. Although not much of a Raze fan, their set was stunning
as they performed such hits as "In the Name," "Lead Me," "Always and Forever," and "Arms Around
the World." After an intermission (where I got to help shoot some t-shirts into the crowd),
Audio Adrenaline hit the stage with "Mighty Good Leader," followed by "Free Ride," "I'm Not
the King," and the Doors cover "Let My Love Open the Door." The band put on a tight rock
performance that surpassed their previous 8 shows I saw them do. And this time around,
the band integrated a video screen backdrop which featured music video footage and various
other scenes to go along with the music. Lead singer Mark Stuart, donning a sleeveless
black shirt, strapped on his acoustic to perfom "Some Kind of Zombie" to the anxious crowd.
Following "Zombie," Stuart informs the audience that they were going play some "old school"
Audio Adrenaline before throwing out the tasty treat, which AA is probably best known for,
"Big House." Mark got down from the stage and walked in front of the crowd behind a rail
that held them back. Stuart rejoined his musical team as they presented the title cut from
their latest recording, "Underdog." Following the song, the band left bassist Will McGinnis
alone on stage as he presented a short message from the scriptures about Christians being underdogs.
Then the band rejoined will to present one of the slower songs off the new album, "This Day," a
song about devoting each new day to the Lord every morning. Mark then told the crowd about a
car his family used to have during his childhood as they began to play "Chevette" from their
Some Kind of Zombie album. The worshipful tune about asking God to use you, "Hands and
Feet" followed before the band took stools for an acoustic set. They performed "Never Gonna Be
as Big as Jesus" and then asked the crowd if anyone owned their very first album before telling
them to throw it away. The band then played a song off the first project (may have been "What You
Need"-- I missed it), before they were all sitting there with mini-keyboards in their laps. Mark
then announced that they were going to play classic Christian hits and let drummer Ben Cissel pick
a song. They then did a silly rendition of Amy Grant's "Baby Baby" including motions. Stuart added
to the silliness of the moment by ad-libbing or inserting "something something" for words he didn't
know. Then they took request from the crowd and after hearing countless screams for the title, guitarits
Tylert Burkum began tapping out the guitar chords for dc Talk's "Jesus Freak" with Mark and Ben
joining in. They then sang the Newsboys "Shine" after joking about other Australian artists and
Ben singing the chorus to Rebecca St. James' "God." After their little set of mayhem, the band
picked up their instruments once again. Tyler began playing the opening bars of Aerosmith's
"Walk This Way" before the band performed one of my all-time favorites, "We're a Band." Half-way
through Mark introduced the band and then pulled 4 fans out of the crowd to join them on stage to
jump around with them (myself included :) ) before completing the song. Once the fans left the stage,
Audio closed out the set with another personal favorite, the appropriate "It's Over," a song about leaving
an AA concert and taking the message with you. With the song's end, the lights went out and the
screamed for more. But every AA fan knows they must come back. Besides, they hadn't sung "Get Down"
yet! Audio A re-entered the stage performing their latest hit, "Get Down" complete with the concept
video showing in the background. But to close out the concert experience of the new millennium,
they ended the night in a worshipful mode with "It is Well." Donnie from Raze came out on stage to
sing the female accompaniment that Jennifer Knapp provided in the original recording on Underdog.
The show ended with hearts in the right place-- centered on God, our creator. So in closing, if
you get a chance to see The Underdog Tour this year, it is highly recommended it and I wouldn't miss it.
Underdog Tour Photo Gallery
click on an image for a bigger size
AudioAdrenaline
Raze
Riley Armstrong
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