March 20, 1999 - Chicago, IL.
1999 © Mike Melcher

This is my review of the Supernatural Experience that stopped at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, IL on March 20, 1999. We, my friends Andy, Dan, Dave, Erika from Wausau, WI, and my brother and I from Arlington Hts., IL got to the Pavillion around 5:30. We parked stratigically by DC Talk's buses so we could get the opportunity to meet them after the concert. There we proceeded to each paint a letter on our chest spelling out "DC TALK". Dan was the "D", I was the "C", Andy was the "T", Erika who duct taped her letter on her shirt was the "A", Brad, who did the same was the "L", and Dave was the "K". We also had four big posters that read "JUMP HERE". We concluded and noticed that a door was open towards the back of the building, so we entered there instead of the regular enterance. We checked out the merchandise, which was really cool by the way, as soon as we got in there, because I guess we weren't supposed to be in there yet. Anyway, we got to our seats, which facing the stage, was on the left, in row 4, seats 15-20. The Pavillion was sold out, but wasn't obvious until DC Talk finally made their appearance. The W's and Jennifer Knapp kicked off the concert, but I won't get into that for the sake of time. As you can see this is very long. This being my first DC Talk concert, I didn't know what to expect, but I knew that it was going to be amazing and I was pumped. DC Talk definitely didn't let me down, it was better than amazing, it was unbelievable. From beginning to end it was great. The stage was great, it had a great big projection screen with tons of lights where they showed all the visuals. On both sides of the stage were several speakers, and at the center of the stage was the bands equipment from left to right, the drums, the dj's turntable, etc. and then an awesome electronic board where they did lighting and stuff. The cool thing about it was that it had their tv logo that reflected nicely when the light hit it right. I have some sweet pictures that shows what I mean. Down the center of the stage was a catwalk that went out into the center of the Pavillion and ended with another little stage where they did their slower sets. The main stage setup was pretty much the same setup that they used at the Dove Awards if you were able to see that. It was pretty cool. DC Talk was then about to begin. The lights went out and a cool opening presentation began. A voice started out saying, "This may all be happening right now," and then was a cool drumming part where you could hear in the background the opening piece on the Supernatural cd, where they wisper "Supernatural". Then that ended and it quickly started into "Dive". Everyone thought that they were going to be coming from back stage, but all of a sudden Kevin starts singing, and we find out that they started out on the little stage at the center of the Pavillion. They then proceeded up the catwalk and onto the main stage. That's when my friends and I took off our shirts. It was awesome. They saw us right away and we were going nuts. The people in the three rows in front of us were just standing there. That was probably the only thing that I disliked about the concert. The people in the front three rows don't even deserve to be there, they weren't fans. If you are a fan, you get pumped and excited, they were a bunch of duds. Anyway, Sugar Bear was the best he had his camo pants and gas mask just like at the Dove Awards. After "Dive" they did a cool rock and roll part where they all sang some cool "Ohh, Ohh's" then there was a sweet bass part which went into "Jesus is Still Alright". During this song they stopped and did some more "Oo's" and Kevin said something about how Jesus is Still Alright for the new millenium. It was pretty cool, because it was different. Then Toby did his rap. Next they went into "Hello, Goodbye" by the Beatles which was followed by "It's Killing Me". They pointed us out several times during this one, it was really good. They stopped before the last chorus for a couple seconds while a voice was talking about what a turntable was, and then after a few more seconds of silence, they broke out into the last chorus. After "It's Killing Me", Michael, says that he know's it's going to be a great concert, because he's already sweating and he never sweats. Then he asks if it's alright that they go for a few hours, because they don't get to Chicago very often. Like we were going to say no. Then he introduces himself, his "brother Toby", and his "little buddy K Max." Then he says "and we are and always will be DC Talk." That was awesome. It was really cool to hear that. Next Toby says how he likes 8 thousand in Chicago a little better than 1 thousand in Iowa. Of course. Toby then continues and give his little talk before "Colored People". While they sang "Colored People" they also had the video on the screen behind them. Then they did a little blurb after that where they sang "All we have said is give peace a chance." That was pretty cool. Next was "Consume Me" which was excellent, of course. "My Friend" was next, and it was sweet. Kevin ended the song by saying "Hasta La vista Baby". Then they did "Since I Met You" with Kevin starting his cool solo. We held up our posters during this song, and they loved it. Kevin wanted to jump but he said that he couldn't. Then Kevin came back with a bottle of water and he parted the people in front of us so he could throw the water at us. We were soaked, but it was so cool. He also threw the bottle, and my brother captured it. Then during Kevin's other solo part, he did it, "Frank Sinatra style" as he called it. That was so cool. I love his voice. Then after the song was over Michael asked if we were having a good time, and then dedicated the next song to Chicago. He talked about boyfriends and girlfriends which lead right into "Godsend". After they did a part of "Godsend" they did "Just Between You and Me", with the video playing behind them. After the song was over we yelled, "What's in the box?" We actually did find out after the concert, but I'll get to that later. Toby then came out and read from the book, "The Message" which is a modern translation of the Holy Bible. Soon after he finished they did "What if I stumble" and started their slower set. They moved out onto the little stage, and continued with several songs, including, "Into Jesus", "My Will", "Psalm 40", "My Deliverer" and "Awesome God". "Into Jesus" was cool because they had everyone sing with them, and they even changed the words. One time they had us sing "I'm a believer" which then went into "I'm a believer in God". It was pretty cool. I've also heard "My Deliverer", but only a few times and I really liked it. After "Awesome God" they went back stage while the dj did some cool older stuff. He did some clips from "Heavenbound", "Nu Thang", and "That Kinda Girl". He did a good job. I have a picture which shows just him up at his dj stand with all the lights on him. Next the guys came back out and they led off the second part of the concert with a part of "Wanna Be Loved", that went into "That's the Way". After that they did "Boogie Nights", and "Le Freak" or "Freak Out". Toby then introduced the band members, and each one of them did some cool 80's stuff. One of the new band members I guess did some Nirvana stuff. I didn't know what it was, but it was cool anyway. One other guitar player did some cool 60's stuff, he had some sweet metalic pants and an awesome guitar. You may have seen him also at the Dove Awards. There they finished off with "Rollar Coaster of Love". Then Toby kicked off some old DC Talk stuff with "Heavenbound", and the rap on the "Jesus Freak" remix that goes "I'm a freak indeed, but not the type that sneaks, peak into my past and my rhymes seam greak......". After this they jumped right into "Day by Day" which is one of my favs. It was awesome. During this song, Sugar Bear was standing right in front of us on stage, and we all flexed and he flexed back. That was sweet. Also at the end of "Day by Day" Toby pointed out Dan and I with his two fingers and motioned for us to go up on stage. Dan and I looked at each other and we were like, "Did you see that?" Obviously we thought he was joking so we thought nothing more of it other than he pointed us out. The next song that they did was "In the Light" which was pretty neat because Toby brought out his son, Truett. Towards the end of the song a security guard came over to Andy and said that we had to go with him. We were so scared. We thought that he was going to kick us out because we were going crazy. Anyway, the security guard pulled Andy, Dan and I off toward the side of the stage where immediately Erika, Brad and Dave followed because they knew that we were going to do something cool. Dan and I were so pumped because we knew that we were going to go on stage. Andy looked like he was in total shock. The guy said that he wanted the D, C, and the T. Erika, Brad and Dave, who were the A, L, K, respectively, wanted to go up also, but he said just the D, C, and the T. I understood that he only wanted a few up there or else there wouldn't have been enough room on stage, but I felt bad for them, because they were part of our group. We then gave our cameras to the others and the four of us huddled together backstage. He then told us that Toby was going to wave us up there during the last chorus of "Supernatural" which was the next song. There we can go out there and do whatever, but don't do anything dumb. Easier said than done. Anyway, it happened, I can't believe it, but it did. Toby waved us out there and we were going crazy. We probably looked like idiots, but we didn't care because we were on stage with DC Talk. It was so sweet. I had to have been 4 feet off the ground. We body slammed each other several times and the six of us were going crazy. Our friends were frantically taking pictures, which you can see at "Decent Christians". After the song was over the six of us walked off stage and we thanked them and the guards for letting us share the stage with them. While we were going back to our seats we were so pumped. Everyone was giving us high fives for being up there. It was unbelievable. After that I don't really remember much, because I was still in shock, but they then started the encore with "Red Letters" which was good, and then finished the concert off with "Jesus Freak". Right before the last chorus they stopped for a good minute and froze like statues, which was awesome. Everyone was going nuts. Then they broke out and finished the song, or so you thought. They finally did finish it by repeating "Jesus is the Way" a few times. Sugar Bear took off his guitar and Toby played it with his feet. After "Jesus Freak" everyone left except Toby who gave his testimony. It's the story about him going to a "basketball camp", which really turned out being a bible camp. He was excellent. Then the concert finally ended, and everyone left except for us, of course. We went towards our car and picked up some things to get autographed. I had this huge stand that I got at the Christian Bookstore. Anyway, we went over by the buses and stood in the freezing cold with our shirts off for about an hour waiting for them to come out. Finally they came out, and Michael said, "You guys are out of control". It was sweet we got it all on video tape. Then they signed all of our stuff, and I told Michael that God was really using them, and he said, "Ahh, thanks man." It was cool because it was really sincere. We also asked Michael what was in the box, and he told us, but like my friend said, we can't reveal what the box holds.