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read between the lines
planet shaker-ed  i am just so stoked i got to take a photo of one of them that i have to write now.planet shakers (new south wales division) performed at a school hall near my house earlier tonight. unbelievable on all counts. i'm not really a fan of theirs (if you call counting a fan as someone who knows all their songs and would die to meet them), but i never dreamed any band that big would come and perform near my place, since i don't live in town or anywhere that's a popular hangout spot. the concert, which was titled nights of fire, should have been more aptly called "mini-night of fire" or "up close and personal (read: small gathering) with planet shakers" or something like that. because turnout was...the worst i have seen in all their concerts i've been to. i think mainly it had to do with poor publicity (flyers were scarce and given out late), bad timing (saturday would've been better) and wrong venue (schools being schools here, the condition at the toilets was putrifyingly lacking in cleanliness). i was actually planning to ponteng (malay for 'play truant') halfway through since i ended up having to go alone. not that going alone isn't cool, in fact in the past it's been almost a normal custom for me to attend concerts alone, since well...if i'm going to get emotional i might as well do it in 'private' (as in, in a string of unfamiliar faces). but this time i was just put off...because as usually happens, everytime i try to bring people along that really need to hear the call, something genuinely crops up at the last minute and they have to cancel plans. i believe spiritual warfare would be another term for this strange (or not so strange) happening. furthermore what with the disappointing turnout and your juniors' mothers coming up to greet you everywhere you turn, erm, it just wasn't my cup of tea. the wisest thing to do was stay since the hall was fairly empty and open-spaced, meaning it would be very easy to spot someone sneaking off from the back, which is where the mothers sit. so i stayed.  and gradually i just forgot the small audience, the unbrought friend, the hawk-like aunties at the back and the fact that this band was not made up of the usual older members i was more accustomed to seeing at their concerts. as songs will be songs and experienced bands will be experienced at performing or 'delivering the goods', some songs did reach out to me. and i did have those moments in time where god was saying something only meant for my ears to hear during the songs. one of the songs that really spoke out was pick it up, though i don't think most of the kids (yes, the turnout consisted mostly of their desired  target audience: secondary schoolgoers) were serious about it. or maybe it's just me, but personally i couldn't see myself jumping up and down while making a commitment to 'take up my cross every day' or 'stand for my generation' if i really meant it.it was also a joy to meet up with some of my juniors whom i had lost touch with that needed to hear the call and that did come to the concert and were blessed by it. and praise god that many responded to the altar call for new christians and backsliders, including my brother. and i finally got the chance to get their autographs, though i can't tell whose is whose. it's not like there weren't earlier chances, but previous times there was always something that stopped me. i also got a shot of one very hot guy called nathan who played the electric guitar really well (when ps did their usual band intro thing his riffs were really "up there"). since i was using a palm for a camera, lighting and focus was out of my control and what you see below a slightly darker and blurrier version of what he looks like. but if you saw him in person you'd think he's very good-looking too. hehe. 
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