In Concert: Gastonia, North Carolina
Vortexx
Summer 1986
Page 3
Steve Taylor shook many people with the release of his first ep, I Want to be a Clone. New wave was the sound, satire was the show, and commitment was the message.
Taylor's next two releases, Meltdown and On The Fritz, solidified his position as a Christian commentator as well as establishing him as a concert favorite.
Now Steve is on the Limelight tour. Recorded live before an audience of 20,000 at the Greenbelt festival in England this year, Limelight gives you a small idea of what Taylor's stage show is like.
One had to wonder how Steve would react before a much smaller audience of four to five hundred. The answer came swiftly in Gastonia, North Carolina as Some Band took the stage to the theme song from the "Perry Mason" show. They launched into a fast-paced rendition of "I Want to be a Clone" while Steve bounced (literally) onto the stage and immediately took over as the visual showcase of the evening. Can he ever move!
"Guilty by Association," "On the Fritz," and "You Don't Owe Me Nothing" followed in quick succession. Taylor then set the mood for the evening when he related how Jesus Christ was not only sent to be our Savior, but also our Lord. Surprisingly, his talking was just the opposite of his singing--he whispered his words between songs. This added a very emotional and subdued contrast to the show.
Taylor's contempt for the prejudiced press was evident in "Meet the Press," a song relating how a "Christian can't get equal time--unless he's a looney committing a crime." "Sin for a Season" followed, leading into "Over My Dead Body."
Never have I seen such a moving rendition of a song before. From the quiet introduction, telling how Polish youth Grzegroz Przemyk was beaten to death by secret police, to the final chord, you could see pain and compassion on Taylor's face.
Steve spit out the final verses of the song with a vengeance: "After the Nazis we were baited by the Russian Bear / our 'liberators' wanted Poland for a thoroughfare / rise up my brothers, don't despair the Iron Curtain's rod / someday we'll draw the string assisted by the hand of God. I took the final beating from the blunt end of a Russian gun / you made a memory--the memory will multiply / you may kill the body, but the spirit...it will never die."
A fitting tribute to our oppressed brothers throughout the world.
"To Forgive," Taylor's most positive song, was met with great enthusiasm and added a nice change of pace and attitude at this point. From here on, Steve's satirical side took over.
"Drive, He Said" was way too subdued. Still, it does drive home (no pun intended) the point that all areas of our lives--even the trunks--are to be opened by God.
Taylor came out in his janitor outfit for "Meltdown." After another change of clothes, he appeared as Mrs. Aryan, the protagonist of "Lifeboat."
A change into his "Fritz" suit and "This Disco (used to be a Cute Cathedral)" took off. What a powerful message about complacency and "country club Christians."
"Whatever Happened to Sin" closed the concert with a very pointed question. I don't know how anyone could have left without thinking about their relationship to God.
Lastly, "Some Band" really deserves their name--they really are SOME BAND!
