Note: Mark and his family are friends of Phil's and he has graciously shared the evening with us. Thanks, Mark! (Click on a photo for larger image and explanation).

From:
Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 11:18:08 -0600

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Hello all,

Phil came to town this past Saturday (2/5/2000.) He landed at about 130pm in St. Louis, and on his way over to the Illinois side of the river, he and his road manager Brian, the host of the concert Diane Dietz, friends Tony and Jenny from Chicago (I think), and the driver stopped at Applebee's for late lunch. I heard that they had a great time and that the food was fine.

Meanwhile, the situation at my house was bad -- son Oliver developed a relapse of the stomach flu, wife Debbie was totally sick with it, and son Spencer was acting puny! I spent my morning cleaning upmesses!! Bllaaeeeechhh!

I communicated this to Phil and the host of the concert and told them that I'd do my best to meet them at the venue for sound check.

Spencer perked up at about 3pm and decided he'd like to try to come with me to the sound check. That made me very happy. Debbie and Oliver were also feeling a little more stable. Aftermaking sure that Debbie felt that she could handle herself and Oliver without my assistance, Spencer and I met up with Phil at about 5pm at the concert venue, (Eden United Church of Christ in Edwardsville Illinois.)

Phil was in super spirits and we had a great visit before, during and after sound check (and, Spencer enjoyed chowing down on all the great eats that the church provided for Phil!! Man, those folks at Eden Church did a great job of hosting PK. They deserve applause!!) -- time sure flew by.

(Oh, btw, Phil did a "kickin'" version of "Be on the Out, What you are Inside" from Underground during sound check! It's been a long time since I had heard that one! He also did an awesome rendition of "Abstract" from MTPB as well as snippets from "The Apprentice." Mind blowing stuff.)

After the "Check," we all had a great time telling stories and catching up on each other's business. Phil was in one of his wonderful, silly moods and was sneaking around the church, signing concert posters with notes like "Hello from Mars - your friend and mine, Phil Keaggy."

Spencer had found a Play Room nearby Phil's dressing room and split his time between us "old folks" and the cooool toys.

To our surprise, my wife Debbie and youngest son Oliver showed up right before the concert! I was really happy to see them, and so was Phil.

The house band of the church (called Eden) opened with a few numbers. They are a praise band and really got the audience in a good place to receive Phil.

Downstairs, we could hear the band from the dressing room and Phil decided he'd like to go up and see them perform. When we walked into the sanctuary from a side door, we realized that the place was absolutely packed -- with additional folks standing along all the walls of the place.

(Thank goodness the fire chief didn't happen to stop by!)

The house only seats about 550, but I'm sure there were well over 600 people in attendance.

Phil comes up to bat.

Debbie and the boys were back in the Play Room again, so I ran to retrieve them for the show ... and we tried to sneak through the sanctuary to take our seats with our friends and family.

(Of course, "sneaking" anywhere with two little boys is like trying to cat burgle while wearing tap shoes.)

Phil stops his intro and says, "Oh, there's little Oliver ... and Spencer ... and Debbie and Mark, too ... God bless the Bacus's." Debbie was mortified -- she's not a "lover of the spotlight." But, the boys and I got a kick out of it and I had Spencer respond by saying "And, God bless Phil Keaggy!"

That got some laughs.

Show starts. Here's the rundown:

Act 1

Salvation Army Band
Shades of Green
Carry Me Back (from the new, upcoming release "Inseparable" OR "Little Orphan Album" [as Phil referred to it])
Everywhere I Look
Blessed Are (from Inseparable -- a song about the Beatitudes)
Legacy (the "Millenium Version" according to Phil ... then he put together a layered version of the theme from "2001 Space Odyssey" which reallly cracked up the audience! He finally settled into Legacy and it was right on ... awesome.)
Beneath the Blood Stained Lintel
New Instrumental Stuff that I hadn't heard before
True Believers (with tremendous feeling and power)

intermission

(Before continuing the play-by-play, I want to mention that I've never seen such lop-sided two act PK concert before! Not that I'm complaining, mind you! But, he did nine wonderful songs in act one ... followed by 18 excellent songs in the latter half. Act one = about 45 minutes, while act two was almost an hour and a half! Concert started at 7pm and he played until about 10:20 pm.)

Act 2

Love Devine
Paka (with lyrics -- will be on Inseparable)
Headlines (from Insep. hey, I detected strains from "Abstract - MTPB" in this concert version that I don't hear on the Inseparable version. That was too cooool.)
Hold Me Jesus (heart rending, indeed)
Maker of the Universe (also touching -- I heard sniffles from around the audience after it)
Painter's Dream from MTPB (Absolutely mind blowing to realize that the prevailing theme of the song is actually a backward loop! He pointed down to Spencer after the song and said, "That was for you, Spencer."
John the Revelator (kick-butt, extended version with lots of JamMan magic!)

[at this point, my boys (having noticed that Phil forgot to bring his water bottle back on stage for act 2, ran down to the dressing room and fetched him another fresh bottle of water. Spencer was too shy to go up on stage to give it to him, but not Oliver. He's shameless. Phil was very happy to receive it and made some biblical reference to children and cups of cool water -- then he paused and took a loonnng drink.]

Look Deep Inside (he prefaced the song by saying that this song was for Debbie and me in memory of our wedding. This blows my mind that he would remember that we used this intro to Look Deep .... as our wedding processional. That was so many years ago -- a life time -- Phil still had hair and a mustache back then. ;-) A further coincidence is that the musicians who played that instrumental version of Look Deep ... at our wedding so long ago were actually sitting right behind us at this PK concert! So they were surprised, too.)

Real Life (on Inseparable)
Love Broke Through
Let Everything Else Go
Tennessee Morning

(Even though we were in the front row and things were pretty loud for young ears, our boys were lulled to sleep by these sweet, beautiful songs)

Inseparable (from "Little Orphan Album" or Insep)
Motor of Love (or as Phil and I now refer to it [after an audience member at another local concert misunderstood the lyrics] -- ODOR OF LOVE! Doesn't that crack you up? I love it.)

Noodling around for a while

Nothing but the Blood
Pilgrim's Flight
Castle's Call

More, massive amounts of noodling around

goodnight.

Encore was,
Little Star (from Inseparable -- it's my fave, I think. The message is so special: That no matter what you're going through or where you are in your life, or how doubtful you are of your place in the world ... God wants you just where you are, little star.)

End noodling and a final goodnight!

Phil had exhausted himself. So had my family. Debbie was looking very ill again, and the boys were both zonked out in the front pew.

I went down to the dressing room to retrieve our coats and toys and Phil was resting in a recliner. But, he was very happy with the concert and was in a great mood. He felt that he had been in a real groove and that the enormous reception from the jam-packed house of concert-goers and the fellowship with friends had really "moved" him.

He was really unable to come back out and visit with fans and was bothered a little bit about some pain in his back and left leg, which he explained is a condition that has been developing from all the righthand side foot pedals. During concerts, he spends a lot of time supporting/balancing his body's weight on his left leg so that his right foot is free to switch pedals. Don't worry though -- he says that he knows some exercises which relieves the pain.

So, I made my farewells and extended Debbie's and the boys' as well. It was a wonderful evening.

I know I'm leaving out many subtleties, though ...

I heard one guy say that he felt that the evening at the concert had been annointed.

I heard many people say that they were as moved by what PK had to say between songs [about his faith and about God's relationship with us] as they were by his astounding music.

I'm glad of that. I'm glad that it was that sort of night, where Phil could stop between songs and talk. I'm glad he was in a funny mood.

I've seen some postings at the K-list recently about how Phil has flubbed a more than a few times during his concerts ... or has forgotton lyrics. There was none of that this night. Well, just a few guitar flubs. The only significant one was at the beginning of "Look Deep Inside." He forgot to retune a string after a bit of guitar craziness at the end of "John the Rev." Anyway, he starts this beautiful, mellow song and hits a weird, sour note. Kidding around, I said "Beautiful." when he hit that clunker note ... he stopped and said "I know, I know. It's so humbling. It's like when you really think you're dressed up and looking sharp ... and then someone let's you know that you've got something on your nose ... or, near it." (Pointing underneath his own nose!)

The room fell apart with laughter!

We were all also amused and appreciative of Phil's comments about keeping the guitar tuned. He had stopped to retune and, motioning to the tuning keys, he said, "I'm convinced that in Heaven, guitars won't have these!" That was a very sweet thought.

Along the same line, he had been drumming and banging percussively on his guitar and stopped and pointed to Oliver and said "Earlier downstairs, Mark caught his son Oliver running a little toy truck over the top of my Olson and he was pretty concerned .... but, I told him, 'Hey, that thing is sixteen years old and I've been beating on it all that time. If I haven't broken it yet, what are the chances that he will? He's probably seen me banging on it and knows that it's OK.'"

Well, I've taken up far too much cyber space with these concert notes. Of course, all concert reviews are a point-of-view thing. It depends where you were sitting (or standing) in the house. I don't think I'm wrong in saying, though, that it was a wonderful concert and a marvelous night. Eden Church did a top-notch job of hosting ... it's one of those occasions where I can truly say that the student has become the master. As hosts, they went way beyond anything I could have ever accomplished!!

Take care all, and -- go see Phil in concert!

Mark Bacus

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Mark Bacus
Assistant to the Provost
and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
mbacus@siue.edu
PH. 618-650-3635
FAX 618-650-3633

Page Last Updated: September 29, 2001