Nashville Concert

Nashville was my first Libera concert, and some of you asked for a review, so here we go. :)  It was hard to take notes during the concert because I was so excited. I just wanted to sit there and drink it all in, but I did take notes every once in a while.


First we went to church on Sunday morning. Libera sang in all three services. They did a GREAT job. When we first walked in the back of the church, they were practicing before the first service. I couldn't believe they were really all standing there!


As far as the program itself, the opening of the program was AWESOME. I was sitting in the third row on the middle aisle, so Stefan walked right past me! I thought the transition from “Adoramus” to “Libera” was really cool and clever. On “Time” I was a little sad because Josh had backup singers for most of it, and Jakob got Josh’s solo at one point. But Ben is still hitting the high notes it sounds like! And I could still hear Josh’s distinct voice above the others. “Far Away” was also a weird one for me, because I’m so used to hearing Tom sing it, so to have Ralph and Kavana sing it was new to me, but they did a great job! Kavana makes the high parts look effortless! The “salvas” in “Salva Me” were sung by Stefan, who once again, made it look so easy! Alex had the solo in “Agnus Dei” and he did a great job! Stefan was GREAT on “Exsultate” although, once again, I’m used to hearing Ben sing the solo.


After the intermission was “Mysterium” which was a great way to start up again. Stefan and Ralph have such clear voices! And there was another cool transition from “Mysterium” to “Gloria!” I thought that Ralph did a great job in “The Fountain.”  “How Can I Keep From Singing” was done in church that morning, but with the extra orchestration and the lighting it was WAY cooler. :)  “When A Knight Won His Spurs” was relatively new to me actually. I had heard it before, but not often like the others. Ralph did a great job. I loved it! “Love and Mercy” is a personal favorite, and the solo was sung by Mini James who apparently only did the last “mercy and love” by himself in St. Louis. This time he sang it all by himself. He sounded Awesome! Stefan did a great job on “Deep Peace.” “Stay with me” was another weird one, because that’s an old favorite of mine back from the days when it was sung by Tom and Ed, but Daniel, Ralph, Ben and Matthew up on the high part did very well. “Going Home” was probably the most bittersweet of all of the songs for me, because it was the first song I ever heard Libera sing, and it was sung by Josh, Tom, and Ben when they were little. The whole time Sammy, Jakob, and Daniel were singing it, Josh had this far-away look in his eyes, and I could still see that little tiny Josh saying, “Hullo, my name is Josh! And we are Libera!” :)  “How Shall I Sing that Majesty” was a great way to end, I think. Stefan and Jakob sounded wonderful. That song always makes my mom cry, and it definitely gave me goosebumps!


I think that the live concert was better than the CDs in more ways than one. The lighting, for one, set a whole atmosphere that really captured the mood of each song. And, as I was joking with some other 1st timers, it’s so weird to see them in 3-D! :)  They move and you’re like, “Hey! They’re…not flat!” lol.


The speeches were great. Freddie did the first speech, and he was so cute and well spoken. Kavana did the 2nd speech, and he’s so great! Conducting the notes to form the first line of “Libera.” He’s such a ham. The bigger the laugh, the better he likes it! :)  Ben had the third speech, and he’s SO ANIMATED and SO FUNNY as he talked about their trip ALL the way from Asia to Europe. He then thanked everyone for coming from as far away as Canada, France, Japan, and even…he was supposed to say “Bucksnort” which is apparently a town near Nashville, but he kept mispronouncing it. He said it like ten times before he got it right! I think at one point he said “Bucksnot!” It was SO FUNNY! I don’t think I would ever get bored watching him! 4th speech was Freddie. “It’s me, Freddie again!” So cute! Josh had the fifth speech, and he talked about his voice changing slowly and about singing the harmony parts. It was a very nice speech, and he’s always been very eloquent. At the end he did hit his head on the microphone. He joked at the Meet and Greet that he’s getting a little too tall. :)  The last speech was Cassius, and he did a great job of signing out with a big thumbs up! It was a great finishing speech.


A few other things that I noticed were that 1- Josh is DEFINITELY taller than Jonathan is. They even had Josh in the middle on one of the songs, and Jonathan and Liam to his right and his left. We talked to him about it at the Meet and Greet, and he says Jonathan doesn’t like to admit it, but Josh IS taller. :)  2- Daniel is extremely smiley when he sings, which I love about him. It’s how Josh always was, and I think that’s why we all fell in love with him. (Well, ok, that and his AMAZING voice) 3- Josh seems to be the leader of the staging. He’s always the first to move after a song is done. He remembers where everyone is supposed to go, and whispers to them if they get it wrong. And finally 4- the hoods crack me up! There are always technical difficulties that can come from the hoods, and there weren’t any huge ones in Nashville, but there are always those little ones who get completely lost in the hoods, and there are always those who’s hair is in total disarray after taking them off. There was one point when they all lined up and took their hoods off, middle to outsides. (Biggest to smallest) The older boys took theirs off very slowly and as you progressed down the line it got faster and faster until by the end, Mini James and Freddie just whipped them off. :)


The meet and greet was AMAZING! I’m so glad I got to go. It was nice to be able to talk to the boys and joke around with them. They are all very funny, very nice, and very cute! I got some really nice pictures of them, which I will be posting soon. I’m so glad I was able to come to this concert! Hope to see some of you in Atlanta!


God Bless!


Lexi