Gungor

The original plan was to go to a Clara C concert over at Lestat’s cafe but that changed around 3:30pm. Got a message from a friend asking if I’d like to go check out David Crowder Band (DCB), Gungor, and John Mark Macmillan.

I’ve long been a member of the “why go to a concert when the CD is better?”camp. Not sure why I still decided to check DCB out live but in retrospect I’m really glad I did. This was the last tour for the band before they’ll release their 7th and final album. Many of their songs are sung in congregations across the nation, including hits like “How He Loves“, “O Praise Him“, “No One Like You”. The amazing part is that the whole feel of the concert did feel like a gathering of old friends.

Crowder has such an accomplished stage presence and the band’s banter was so effortless and cohesive. I expected them to share a little more about themselves but I guess they figured everyone in the audience already knew their back story and so they cut out the small talk and blasted through a flurry of songs. It wasn’t until the encore that they began sharing a little bit of their history.

A few students out of Waco, Texas attending Baylor were leading worship around the area. It was a small conversation with a fresh seminary student by the name of Louie Giglio that encouraged them to form a band and record a CD. That EP would find its way towards a youth ministry worker in San Diego and the ministry worker later invited them out to SD to play. It was their first gig outside of Texas and the beginning of a journey that would last over one and half a decades. Amazing stuff.

David Crowder Band with Gungor and John Mark Macmillan

Meeting Gungor’s Kevin Olusola. Also on Pentatonix from the Sing Off! (photo stolen from A. Kong)