Tomorrow Saturday, October 4th at 8 o’ clock p.m. the newly opened Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex will house multi-award winning Christian rock group, Tenth Avenue North. With ticket pre-sales approaching 2,000 this concert is the largest, on-campus music event in Houghton College history. Tenth Avenue North with featured opening act, Matt Maher, are currently on the road with the From Islands to Cathedrals tour promoting their newly released EP, Islands, and full length album, Cathedrals, which is scheduled to be released November 10th.
Lead singer, Mike Donehey, explained that the show is unlike anything they have ever done before. Houghton College is the second stop in the tour making our campus among the first audiences to see this new, live show which Professor Kevin Jackson, director of creative arts: sound and recording, described as “a gem” and “the biggest show that has ever been brought in.”
The concept of the From Islands to Cathedrals tour is to walk the audience through the entire story of Tenth Avenue North and their music. “Starting real stripped down we will add band members and instruments building bigger and bigger as the story is told,” explained Donehey. Tenth Ave.’s four albums are linear and inform each other in meaningful, philosophical ways. The first album is a call to the Gospel. The next two albums encourage Christians to engage their struggles honestly and courageously and to help each other through life. In Islands, which is a companion of the upcoming full length album, Cathedrals, Tenth Avenue North discusses the ways Christians isolate themselves from community; the last track of the EP, “Just Getting By” speaks about living in an increasingly digitally influenced world. The focus of the music then shifts from isolation to the goodness and importance of being in community with one another. Donehey explained, “Once we become a community we become a place of sanctuary. We no longer have to wait for a sacred space or vocation. We make our vocations sacred. We make every place we walk into sacred because the Spirit of God walks with us wherever we go.” Tenth Avenue North has a distinctly Christ-centered, authentic, uplifting approach to music that a lot of people really enjoy.
The band’s main hope for the spiritual effect of their show is that the audience would get a better understanding of who Jesus is. They hold to the belief that change doesn’t come by trying harder or doing better, but that it comes from getting a clearer picture of Jesus. Their music is conversational, personal, and honest. Donehey shared about songwriting saying, “Our context is to try to put what is eternal and timeless into words people can understand. And mostly I’m trying to put things into words that I can understand.” He then quoted Psalm 49 saying, “I listen to wisdom so through the music of the lyre I will solve my riddles.” He then explained, “In other words David said- ‘I write songs to unriddle my heart.’ And that’s kinda why I write songs as well.”
While the campus has waited expectantly for this great performance there has been a flood of activity behind the scenes among Houghton College students and faculty working to make the concert possible. Months of planning and detailing involving many offices has lead up to this Saturday’s performance. However, tomorrow the band itself will mainly be supported by Houghton College’s student audio tech team. Professor Jackson who oversees the team said, “Our job as a college and as a tech team is to make the band’s job as easy as possible- that is, to able to minister that night. We are able to do the work of Christ by helping bands like Tenth Avenue North be better musicianaries. I can’t be successful in my job unless the team comes through and the team always comes through.” Concerts like this Saturday’s are not only a chance for the campus to experience meaningful worship, but also an opportunity for many in the student body to serve alongside a successful worship band to achieve a high goal.
Houghton has got a lot of very exciting homecoming events planned this weekend. Make sure you don’t miss out on this one even if you don’t recognize the band name; with their constant stream of Christian radio hits Tenth Avenue North is that band you didn’t know you knew. Many who saw them at Kingdom Bound this summer were familiar with only a few of their songs and had a great time due to the energizing jive of the music and the spiritual uplift.
Tickets are available at the welcome desk to students for $12 or through the Houghton website for $15 general admission seats. They will also be available at the door for $20. Doors open at 7p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.
Works Cited
Jackson, Kevin. Personal interview. 24 Sept. 2014.
Donehey, Mike. “Cathedrals Available Nov. 6th.” <i>RSS</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. <http://www.tenthavenuenorth.com/>.
Donehey, Mike. Phone interview. 26 Sept. 2014.