Let the fun begin . . .

Thursday night started off with all of the groups on stage singing “I’ll Fly Away” and “He Set Me Free”. Bob Brumley sang the classic “I’m Bound For That City”, then the first group was introduced and started singing.

The Legendary Kingsmen

The first group on stage was the legendary Kingsmen Quartet. They had the crowd clapping on their first song “Traveling Home” and kept the energy going with “Sound From The Other Side”. Everyone recognized their next song “When I Wake Up To Sleep No More,” a Kingsmen classic. Bryan gave a quick introduction of each member, then Cody played his piano solo, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” for which he received a standing ovation! Bryan went on to give him a hard time saying, “Now the test of a true quartet piano player is four vocals and a piano . . . .” to which they sang “When They Call My Name” for Cody’s “test” – and from the way the crowd responded, I’d say he passed!!! Phil’s solo, “Gospel Road“, was next. Then they sang their song that was voted in the top five for song of the year by the Singing News Fans – “When God Ran.” They closed their first set with another well known Kingsmen favorite, Stand Up. They had the audience say the “stand up” with them – and the song had everyone in the Civic Center on their feet.

Next on stage was Jeff and Sheri Easter. They opened their set with “Life Is Great And Getting’ Better”. This was the first time I had the chance to see them since Morgan started singing with them, so that was a treat. They sang their well known song “Over And Over”, then Sheri talked about her battle with breast cancer and did a song she wrote for one of her friends. Jeff sang “Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me” and had Morgan take the second verse. Then they ended their set with Morgan’s solo, a song called “Time For Me To Fly”.

The third group on stage was The Lesters. They sang an old Gold City song some of you might remember from their “Standing In The Gap” project called “Surely Goodness And Mercy”. They had their little granddaughter come out on stage and sing a song they introduced as “That’s The Truth”. Since I’m not familiar with their music it was hard for me to guess the song title’s for what they sang, they did more than this, but I can’t tell you what the songs were called! So no offence to the Lester fans out there!

Tim Lovelace

Tim Lovelace was our comedy act for the night. He had everyone laughing at his jokes and acts. He sang the song he wrote called “Don’t Sit In My Pew”. He was wearing a yellow shirt, an orange jacket, and orange checkered plaid pants! When a lady went to the front of the stage to get a picture of him, he raised up one leg and pointed to his pants making a silly face. (You would have just had to have been there!) He had the projector put some pictures of “home” on the viewing screens. They were so funny I don’t think I could possibly explain them! He played a song on the piano and harmonica. Then he tried to get the audience to sing I’ll Fly Away backwards with him, making it Away Fly I’ll!!!!! He put on a great performance!

The Whisnants

The Whisnants were the next ones on the line up for the evening. They started with a song called “Even In The Valley”. Then they sang their radio single “Be Not Afraid”. Once again, I had the disadvantage of not being familiar with the group and not knowing their songs. They sang with a lot of passion and were very enjoyable.

The Booth Brothers

The last group for the evening was the Booth Brothers. They kicked off their time with “Love Is In The Room” (I think.) Then Michael sang “Look For Me At Jesus Feet“. Eric Olis from the Whisnants played piano for the Booth Brothers on this set, and Michael had his share of picking on him. I was amazed how Eric could concentrate on playing every time Michael would go over to the grand and hit a random key or two!!! The next songs on their list was “I’m Feelin’ Fine”, “He Came To Me” and “He Saw It All”. Then they closed their set with the Imperials classic song “Sail On”. On their last song they had Brandon Reese (of the Kingsmen) come up and play drums for them.

The Kingsmen

The Kingsmen came up for round two, singing their new radio single, “The Word“ followed by “Meet Me At The Table”. Harold received a standing ovation for the classic “Scars In The Hands Of Jesus”. And their last song, “Beautiful Home” also received a standing ovation. The audience was really into the Kingsmen! They received the most standing ovations from the crowd that night.

I didn’t stay to hear the rest of the groups get up for their second sets, I needed some time to stretch my legs after a couple of hours of sitting!!! I did get to see Michael Booth sing his current radio song on one of the screens in the concession area while I was eating my “midnight snack”!!! The Kingsmen seemed to be the best received group of the evening, with several standing ovations from this crowd. The only other group the crowd responded to was the Booth Brothers. We didn’t get out and back to our hotel until midnight – it was a great evening!!!