Mabee Center rocks during recent dc Talk solo tour
By Chris Tudor

Eight thousand screaming fans. Complete darkness. Suddenly, a single spotlight shines down upon an unlikely candidate: guitarist Pete Stewart. He plays an amazing rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" and brings everyone's patriotism to the forefront of their minds. He lets the notes fade away and the crowd goes wild.

Now, you might be wondering…where am I? Well, the next people seen might give you a clue. Toby McKeehan, Kevin Max and Michael Tait are making their way onto the stage. Yes, you are at a dc Talk concert.

The whole audience is going crazy as the band plunges into the song "Mind's Eye." A few songs later the band plays some of their older tunes like "Jesus is Just Alright With Me.." Then come the familiar bass tones of "Supernatural," which gets the whole audience up and jumping.

As a backdrop with the well-known mannequin on the cover of Tait's album is revealed, the crowd gets very excited. Tait, along with his guitarist Pete Stewart, formerly of the band Grammatrain, gives an exhilarating performance, playing such tunes as "Loss for Words," "Bonded" and a SWEET rendition of "Spy" which gets everybody's adrenaline pumping to the max. After his solo act, the DJ spins for the crowd and people are throwing up cheers as he mixes some old dc Talk songs that should only be played in the privacy of your room as comedic entertainment.

Max then appears on stage to introduce his old buddy, Toby Mac. The crowd erupts as McKeehan's backdrop is revealed and he starts to yell in the microphone from back stage, "Where my freaks at?"

Then he performs the song "Where My Freaks At." The rap group Grits and a woman named Nirva join McKeehan throughout the entire set. Their high energy dancing and moshing on stage give the set amazingly high momentum. Then Max's familiar voice chimes in with "Alas My Love" to begin dc Talk's always-awesome acoustic set. As only dc Talk can do, they wrap up the set with "Thy Word" and bring every person in the audience into complete worship.

After the 20-minute intermission comes Max and his solo group. He performs the familiar chorus "Alleluia" and his hit single "Existence" followed by a crowd-pleasing rendition of "We are the Champions."

After their last set of the evening, the band sings "Happy Birthday" to an old college buddy in the audience. During this, Max starts talking to someone in the front of the arena who is holding a sign that reads, "Can I Meet U?" Kevin takes the sign and starts going around to different banners, mingling with the crowd, having a blast, before returning the sign to the lucky fan who will tell that story forever.

Then comes the all-important band introductions where each band member gets to do a little solo. They conclude with their concert-opener, "Mind's Eye," giving the crowd a big thanks.

The lights all go down and the crowd just goes nuts. Anyone who has been to a dc Talk concert since they released the song "Jesus Freak" knows you can't go to a dc Talk concert and not hear that song, which has gone double platinum.

With a twist to the expected program, McKeehan comes out and gives a great talk about how we sometimes stumble and then the group performs "What if I Stumble." They transition into one of the most popular Christian songs ever written. "Jesus Freak" has the crowd going wild as the band rocks hard and Tait, Max and McKeehan sing as loudly as they can.

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