Chelten - a church of hope

As a casual Christian concert goer, instrumentalist, and youth leader, I must say Shane & Shane’s concert is among my favorites! I knew very little about Shane & Shane coming to this concert; what I did know is they are known to do a lot of covers of songs from other Christian artists and creating songs drawn from the Bible. As stated on their website bio, they have been doing music ministry for over a decade and define their ministry through “discipleship and community”. This made the experience enjoyable because there were several songs familiar to the Christian community that I could sing along with such as: O Praise the Name, Waymaker, and O Come Let Us Adore Him. You do not need to be a Shane & and Shane fan to go to their concert! The idea of this made me excited to attend the concert and to sweeten the deal further, the price of the tickets were only 20 dollars when ordered online! This was a great price for me, who is also a frugal college student, so it is very affordable for a group of people to go together, as I did. The location of the venue was Chelten- A church of hope. It is a large sized church located in Upper Dublin Township. Despite arriving late to the concert, there was still ample parking. I met up with my friends on the church balcony. A lot of people would consider these seats to be the worst seats because they are the furthest seats away from the stage, however the view was great. My view was not impeded in any way, even as others stood up, as you can observe from these pictures I took. The concert as a whole was lovely. I expected the music to be loud and lights to flash, as concerts typically do. The mood was rich and soothing, the drums were not loud or overpowering, the acoustics from Shane’s guitar and their voices melded perfectly. While the lights and presentation could have been a little more elaborate, it did not take away from the energy of the concert. Other concerts I had gone to, like Hillsong United at Madison Square Gardens, I found to get too loud or flashy at times due to being so upscale; this concert did not have these problems. Thin-bearded Shane, Shane Barnard, talked quite a bit in the concert. I would say it was 60 percent playing and singing and 40 percent talking when Shane & Shane were on stage. I did not mind this because Shane had jokes that made me chuckle and he told of the band’s origins and inspirations to their songs, which I enjoyed. He told a great Christian narrative of how Christians do not need to be in a constant state of wanting because God can provide (based from Psalm 23). He even included a Bible story I never heard before where “the angel of the Lord” (Jesus) came down from heaven and slayed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who were attacking Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35). In the closing moments of the concert, Chelten’s worship leader handed out some gifts for selected individuals to take home. The gifts included tee shirts, albums, and books to assist worship leaders. Unfortunately, the balcony was neglected from these gifts, as they often are. Despite that, a great experience to have on a Friday night with your Christian friends or youth group. The concert lasted 2 hours and for those willing to pay extra, they had the opportunity to meet, greet, and receive pictures and autographs with the Shanes. I highly recommend going to at least one Shane & Shane concert.