Review of Matthew West’s concert in Cheyenne, WY, April 25, 2014
By Karen Cotton, editor of Life is as Sweet as Cotton Candy
karencottonwriter@gmail.com
It’s safe to say that Matthew West is a master storyteller and musician after seeing him in concert last night in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA.
The Christian musician and pastor’s son, had a sold out audience at Cheyenne Hills Church captivated with his acoustic show on his birthday.
The four-time Grammy nominee is on tour promoting his latest album “Into the Light.”
During the first part of his show he talked about his first concert, at Barnes and Noble, when he was an independent artist.
West said he was so excited, even though the only audience members were his parents. The book store manager even got his name wrong on the poster “Mark West.” His payment — a complimentary bag of coffee and a 20 dollar bill that his father had put in the tip jar to attract more tippers. Those were his humble beginnings.
Now he is best known for his songs that are huge hits on contemporary Christian radio; “Strong Enough,” “The Motions,” “My Own Little World,” “More,” and “You Are Everything.”
Recently his song “Hello My Name is …” spent 17 weeks at #1 on the National Christian Artist Chart, according to the updates page on his website, http://www.matthewwest.com .
“Do Something,” is his current hit single and is found at the number ten spot on KLOVE radio’s Top Songs list.
Some of his songs are written from personal experiences like “My Own Little World,” yet since 2010 they have been based on true stories of his fans from all over the world.
He laughed when he talked about his call for submissions of stories on Twitter and Facebook for his 2010 album, “The Story of Your Life” and he thought nobody would respond. But, on a more serious, note he was in for a much different outcome —more than 10,000 stories flooded his inbox. So, many that those stories also inspired his latest album’s songs, “Into the Light.”
Throughout his show West showed videos of the people behind the stories that inspired his latest albums’ songs. A drug addict, Jordan, who recovered at Teen Challenge, a woman, Renee Napier, who lost her child in a car accident, a young woman from Colorado, Andrea, who created an orphanage in Uganda, and more. Check out the show to get the whole scoop, or if you can’t make it to his show read about the stories here, http://matthewwest.com/the-stories/
He also has a link on his website where you can submit your own story to him. http://matthewwest.com/yourstory/
West had this to say about his last two albums from his press release, “On every level it has been the single most fulfilling thing that I’ve had a chance to be a part of in my career,” West says. “It’s just the added element of emotion that I feel by having a chance to be a part of this person’s story and to share their story with an audience. Something really special is taking place and I’m along for the ride for as long as it needs to go. As long as those stories come in, I think I’m going to keep making these kinds of records.”
Before intermission West was presented with a birthday surprise — balloons, two cakes, a banner, cards from his fans at the concert and a loud “Happy Birthday” chorus from the audience.
http://youtu.be/r03ff9Urejc
Throughout the concert, West’s band member, David “Chili” Childress, joined him on stage playing various instruments and singing background vocals.
Mid-concert West showed a video of Haiti, a place where he and his band have visited. Haiti is also where 70 percent of the citizens are unemployed, and it’s where West and his family sponsors a child.
The child lives in a shack and sleeps on boards that are on cinder blocks with rags on top of them for bedding. The program is called Compassion International. Audience members were able to choose a child that they could sponsor in order to provide healthier lives and education for impoverished children.
Compassion International, West said at the show, is one of the sponsors he always dreamed of working with if he ever became famous as a musician.
He learned about the program when he went to concerts in his youth, Toby Mac, DC Talk and Steven Curtis Chapman.
His wife and two daughters went through the audience and handed out the packets. Many of the audience members became sponsors.
Not only did West’s show in Cheyenne wind up with successful sponsors for children all over the world, some of the proceeds of his April 25th show went toward the Boys and Girls Club of Cheyenne.
West had a special guest at his show, Taylor Gibson, 23, who joined him on stage. She has Down-syndrome and inspired a song, “The Last One,” on West’s “The History” CD. Taylor and her parents, Jeff and Bonnie, who were also at the concert, are from the Kansas City and they drove all of the way to Cheyenne to see him.
“I was running sound in Kansas City and I took Taylor with me,” Jeff said. “The concert was with a kid that was coming in from Nashville to perform and wasn’t signed with any record label.”
That was 12-13 years ago when West and the Gibsons met.
“Taylor talked to him and they started to kid around and the kid turned out to be Matthew,” Jeff said.
Bonnie added this, “He is a remarkable man and the most genuine person I’ve ever met.”
The Gibson’s son now lives in Nashville and when they visit their son they also visit Matthew West regularly.
Bill Wixted, 25 had this to say about West and his concert, “I like his personality. He is very engaging to the crowd. He is a very good singer – his voice and music. I didn’t know his music coming in, now I like all of them (his songs).”
Wixted’s friends that were seated next to him, Joe and Jenn Grenier, 29, also commented on West’s performance.
Joe said, “I knew all of the songs, but I didn’t know they were Matthew West’s. They’re cool songs. I hear him all of the time on KLove and WayFM.”
Jenn added, “Matthew West’s songs are super uplifting stories. They are encouraging stories. He is personable and relates to everyone. There’s a story with every song and that makes faith more real.”
The main message of West’s concert is people are given labels of some kind, which is where the premise for “Hello My Name Is,” came from.
Those labels are filled in by other people, but God’s vision for all of his children of the world is much different. Everyone is a child of the one true king and they are loved by Him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuJWQzjfU3o
See him tonight in Gillette, Wyoming https://www.facebook.com/events/487226864737957/
KLOVE http://www.klove.com
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