Date: 02 November 1996
To: RichMailList
Subject: [RichMailList 91]: Mobile, AL 10/26 review

Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 18:18:02
From: David McLaughlin
Subject: Rich Mullins in Mobile

Greetings, all!

I, too, attended a Rich Mullins concert this past Saturday evening, in
Mobile, AL, as I was home from school for the weekend. This was the first
time I had seen Rich in person, and I must say that it exceeded all of my
expectations!

The concert itself was free and sponsored by the Archdiocese of Mobile. It
was held in Cathedral Square, a small park in downtown Mobile. Since it was
outside, people brought blankets and folding chairs to sit on. I was
fortunate enough to get a seat right at the front of the park, scarcely
eight feet from the stage. The evening was simply marvelous: the weather
was warm and clear, with a nearly full moon. It was just Rich and Mitch,
and the program itself sounds identical to the descriptions mentioned
recently for his Gainesville concert, right down to the story he told about
the Irish and the sea. I must agree that we all thought that a very odd
story when he first told it at the beginning of the concert, but it tied in
wonderfully to his "sermon" at the end!

They started off with a couple of rousing crowd waker-uppers, complete with
different parts for the different sections of the audience. Rich commented
at first that since his teaching job was uncertain, he decided to skip the
concert tonight and just have music class! After these songs, he launched
it several of his traditional pieces on the guitar. He and Mitch played a
Bach duet as well as a new song from his upcoming musical, with the vocals
sung by Mitch. Rich played several pieces on the hammered dulcimer, but the
majority of his performance was just he and his piano-- which I thoroughly
enjoyed. He is an EXCELLENT pianist and I love his style: very casual, but
powerful. It was fun to listen to many songs on the piano that I was used
to hearing on the dulcimer or played by the Ragamuffin band.

Rich also learned a new song that night -- apparently he had been invited
to a youth rally that afternoon, and they had taught him the song "Pharaoh,
Pharaoh [let your people go]" sung to the tune of "Louie, Louie." He had
great fun with this, inviting a bunch of the kids up on stage to teach
everybody the words and motions and even to play it first on the guitar. It
was a great tribute to Rich to see him humbly stepping behind the mass of
10-15 kids, grinning, and just following their lead on the motions.

Rich ended his performance with the story already related about how Jesus
would recognize each of us after we washed up on "the other shore" by the
sweater that he has clothed us with. Rich remarked that he "hoped to see us
there" and finished with a rousing rendition of "Sometimes by Step" on the
piano. As he began to finish, he led it fade to accapello, and the entire
crowd sang the chorus. Rich quietly got up and walked off stage while the
audience finished singing. Truly an excellent ending!

He came back for an encore, after much cheering, and quietly sat down to
the piano. As he was sitting, the crowd grew very quiet, and my sister
shouted "The Color Green!" (my favorite song) He grinned towards the
audience and said, "I think I can remember that..." and launched into a
fiery piano-accompanied performance of that song. After that we sang "from
the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky..." (I don't remember the
name) and then he tried to pick out "Pharaoh, Pharaoh," bringing up all the
youth once again to the stage. It took him a couple of minutes, but they
finally got together and concluded the two hour concert with an active
rendition of that fun piece.

Overall, the evening was an excellent worship experience. Having never
heard Rich in concert before, I was overwhelmed. His humility was truly
evident: he was constantly laughing at his mistakes and seemed extremely
comfortable. The concert was very intimate -- it was as if he were just
playing for a group of friends. Mitch also sang a couple of his own songs,
and they show great promise. I particularly liked the "lemonade" song
mentioned in a previous post!

I would definitely going to see Rich play if you ever get a chance. He is a 
truly excellent musician whom God has blessed with an astounding ministry.
:) Our God IS an Awesome God!

David McLaughlin
david.s.mclaughlin@vanderbilt.edu