Friday 15 October 2010

A pop rock concert ... in a church?!

Last night, I went to a music concert ... in a church.  It was an odd experience.  When I was growing up, my family were not involved in any religious activities whatsoever.  My only religious experience was attending a Quaker school, where we had weekly 'meetings' in the meeting house, the Quaker version of a church.  The first time I sat through a 'real' church service was when I began teaching.  At my last school in Melbourne, I really enjoyed the weekly chapel services - the messages were fun and appropriate for kids and the singing was beautiful.  Given my limited contact with churches, it's fair to say I don't really have much connection with the church.  Which is why I found it odd that I felt slightly uncomfortable when listening to pop rock music in a church.  In some ways it felt very 'ungodly' because churches are normally such quiet and peaceful places but once I got over the initial 'oh-my-goodness-I'm-listening-to-a-rock-band-in-a-church' thought, it was actually kind of cool.  The first act was Hannah Georgas from Vancouver.  I had listened to her CD which I thought was great but the live performance was just okay, not fabulous.  The main  act was Royal Wood, a smartly dressed guy who played the piano beautifully as well as singing and performing a few songs on the guitar.  I hadn't heard his music before but I loved it.  The band were also super cool - they all wore suits and looked just like a group of professional guys having a jam session after work.  A pop rock concert in a church?  Just an ordinary night out in Calgary.

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