I got the chance to go to the Go Tour at The Pavilion (at the Oregon State Fairgrounds) in Salem, Oregon. Warm-up act, pop-punk rockers Stellar Kart, got the crowd really going after 3 songs. Stellar Kart played a short 20 minute set to and made it clear they were there to spread the name of Jesus and to warm up the crowd for Kutless and Newsboys.
Stellar Kart played songs from both their debut and latest release We Can’t Stand Sitting Down. Playing songs like “Activate”, “Me and Jesus”, “Procrastinating”, their fifteen second track “Tree Climber” and more! The band did a great job of getting crowd participation! A great choice for a warm-up act for the Newsboys!
Next was a homecoming for the Oregon native rock ‘n’ rollers, Kutless. John Micah Sumrall came out with an acoustic guitar to start the set off with “Strong Tower”, only to have the band join in shortly after. Kutless played a decent set full of worship songs from their Strong Tower record, a long with a couple tracks from their last studio release Hearts of the Innocent including the self titled track, “Somewhere in the Sky”, “Shut Me Out” and more. Kutless ended with a few more worship songs, and then had Paul Colman come out and shared about the Global Tribe.
After a brief intermission it was the Newsboys’ turn, which of course is why most everyone was there. “Shine” is the song that they choose to start off the night, and quickly I realized the Newsboys brought along awesome production (e.g. lights, stage set-up, live video feeds, etc.) on the tour! One of the coolest things about the whole set up was the live video feeds. They had numerous cameras set up around the stage that were projected on six screens. The videos would change between different effects, sometimes creating a live music video feel. The lights were incredible, to say the least, illumining the entire venue with hundreds of lights! Another cool part about the set-up was the stage. They had a long narrow walk-way that went a good 100 feet into the crowd. One of things the Newsboys are best at is playing the songs similar to how they sound on the records. Combining this with the amazing production you get quite the show! The ‘boys also played mostly newer songs, but hit a couple of classics like “Breakfast” and as mentioned before “Shine” along with a little review of some their old classics like “Entertaining Angels”, “I’m Not Ashamed” and “Million Pieces”. Peter Furler also talked a lot about certain songs, and intertwined these little speeches/stories into the songs.
Some other songs they played include: “Blessed Be Your Name”, “Go”, “I Am Free”, “Something Beautiful”, “The Mission”, “Wherever We Go”, “Your Love is Better than Life” and More! Creating quite the set list! In the end, the Go Tour was quite the event! Be sure and catch the Newsboys, Kutless, and Stellar Kart when they’re in your area!
Article by Jeremy Koering
