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It’s an odd combination when you think about it…a carnival and Southern Gospel Music. It’s like serving black-eyed peas with a Porterhouse. You could do it, but why? Still it happens summer after summer somewhere across the country and has for many years. Is it because gospel singers are relatively inexpensive compared to mainstream artists? Probably. But I’m sure there are other reasons, too. I just haven’t thought of them yet.

I’ve attended lots of outdoor gospel concerts over the years promoted by various organizations, some better than others. I’ve sung at fairs and festivals on make-shift stages and truckbeds. I’ve seen the Thrasher Brothers perform in the middle of a race track so far from their audience that they appeared to be little more than “action figures”. I saw James Blackwood sing “I’ll Meet you in the Morning” and jump five feet off a truckbed into ankle deep mud while working the crowd at the Coles County Fair.

There are a few things about outdoor summer concerts that are consistent. It’s always hot. The sound is never great. The crowd is rarely attentive. Then after dark there is the mosquito loose in your shorts and the ceremonial swallowing of the June bug.

If I close my eyes, I can transport myself back to the seventies. I’m at “Six Flags Over St. Louis” with my sister, Sheryl. It’s a horrifically hot July day and we’ve paid our way through the gate. We’re hoofing it through the park. We ignore the red-haired kid hawking cotton candy and the guy on stilts dressed like Uncle Sam, and although a cool, grape Sno-Cone is tempting, there’s no time. We’re on a mission. We have to make it to the main stage and find a bleacher seat for soon The Oak Ridge Boys will be appearing.

The Oaks take the stage and begin to sing. When I think about it now, it’s pretty amazing. Here they are singing gospel to a crowd that is definitely a duke’s mixture…people from all walks of life…everything from Catholic nuns to the tattooed roller derby crowd and everything in between.

A little girl is crying because her helium balloon has just floated off into the stratosphere. A little boy whines because the chocolate layer of his triple scoop ice cream cone has just tumbled off the top. In the background you can hear the calliope music from the carousel and the shrieks and screams as the Screaming Eagle plunges from its dizzying heights.

About the time Duane Allen reaches his featured verse, the train rumbles around behind the stage and the engineer thinks it would be a good time to blow the deafening whistle. People wave from the train and the crowd in the stands obligingly wave back. Just about the time the train clacks on down the track, the song ends. There’s a momentary silence that’s broken with another child’s demand…”I gotta go potty NOW”. The crowd giggles. The Oaks begin another song.

As if the noise wasn’t enough distraction, there was a strange mingling of aromas in the air. There were hotdogs roasting somewhere as well as hamburgers and fries. There was pizza and nachos with jalapenos. There was hot buttered popcorn and some kind of sugary cinnamon concoction. Mix with that the smell of too many people spending too many hours in the sun, stale booze, cigarette smoke and sometimes a faint whiff of someone smoking some “funny” stuff.

I can’t imagine how they kept their concentration to perform amidst all the hubbub, but they somehow got through it. They stood behind a metal barricade to shake a few hands and sign a few autographs and then, after a quick change, they headed to the Screaming Eagle like everyone else…everyone but me, that is.

I was always amazed at the people of all ages who could ride that spooky roller coaster and not be totally, one hundred percent, terrified. I watched as they hung almost suspended upside down as the coaster chugged up the steep incline and heard their screams as they plummeted down the other side. And what amazed me most was that many of them had their arms in the air!! I would have been holding on for dear life, praying all the way that I wouldn’t lose my purse …. or my lunch.

Of course at some point someone shamed me into riding the Screaming Eagle and I did it…once. (To me a roller coaster is like a colonoscopy…something you probably should do, but won’t sign up for again.)

Sorry. I was chasing a mental rabbit there. It may sound like I’m somewhat down on outdoor concerts. On the contrary, for all the discomfort they afford they really can be a lot of fun. Sometimes you just have to set your mind to enjoy it. You have to ignore all the distractions and all the things that bug you and just stay focused on the reason you’re there…to hear great gospel music.

It’s kind of like life. There are all kinds of things going on around us while we’re trying to live a Christian life. There’s the noise and the enticements of this world vying for our attention, constantly offering us some “tasty morsel” of sin. There are the merry-go-round situations in our life where we just feel as though we’re going in circles, getting nowhere fast. And then there are the times we climb high only to plunge to the depths. How do we handle that situation? I’d say the best way is like those people on the roller coaster…arms in the air, surrendered, praising the Lord, until we coast safely to the finish. We may be a little wobbly when we arrive, but, oh, what a ride!!

Find a great outdoor concert and enjoy!

Happy Summer,

Janice Crow

Reader Comments

Janice,

You forgot to mention car shows, funnel cakes and extremely loud Christian youth bands on the stage next to you. Thank you for covering the alto part for us at one of these strangly American events last weekend. Now, if only we could get someone to dance at these events.

Kevin
The Redemptions

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