New record. New single. New tour. New haircuts... "or lack thereof," jokes Dan Haseltine, himself sporting a stylish new 'do and trendy rocker clothes. Jars of Clay are back with a new look and a new tour, coming soon to a city near you, along with fellow acoustic rockers Jennifer Knapp and Shaun Groves. With just a keyboard, guitar, and mic, Shaun manages to hold the attention of the youthful crowd through his short but strong set. Jennifer Knapp immediately follows, more a co-headliner than opening act, with three records under her belt. Armed with her guitar, the petite alto sounds as amazing onstage as off, and her presence live has greatly improved since her first big tour (dc talk's "Supernatural Experience"). She chooses to concentrate on songs from her newest album The Way I Am, weaving in a few of the best from Lay It Down, such as the title track and "A Little More." Fans of Kansas will be disappointed not to recognize any of their favorites, although she does perform "Trinity" and a re-worked acoustic rendition of "Undo Me." Jen truly shines on the rockier tracks such as "By and By" and "Charity" which open her set, and "The Way I Am," her last song. Both these and the slower ballads are greatly enhanced by the addition to her band of an electric violinist. It's really too bad he didn't hang around for Jars' set, since much of their work also sounds better with strings.
Dan, Steve, Charlie, and Matt can finally call themselves veterans of this performing thing, as they've improved by leaps and bounds since the early days when they had little experience playing live. Their set opens with an interlude from "Silence," as Steve plays DJ with two turntables and a microphone. As it always should be, their first full song is the first track off their newest album - "Disappear" on The Eleventh Hour. While some bands choose to break down the order of songs according to tempo, like with the popular midway acoustic set, Jars go against the grain. A couple fast songs, followed by a couple ballads, back to fast, and then the cycle repeats itself. Not only does it cause some people in the audience to resemble jack-in-the-boxes, but it also puts some space between crowd favorites "Unforgetful You," "Flood," and "Revolution." The set list succeeds in highlighting the best tunes from all four albums with the notable exception of "Fade to Grey," sorely missing from the mix. While it did show in spots that this was the first show of the tour, Dan and Steve's friendly banter keeps the audience attentive between songs. Fun surprises include Dan on his own drum kit, bits and pieces of classic rock songs, and some well-placed video footage. A nice treat is the performance of "The Widowing Field," which the guys wrote for the We Were Soldiers soundtrack, accompanied by flashes from the movie in the background. As always, the night seems to end too soon, and it's suddenly time for the encore. The band returns to play "The Edge of Water" and then, the best of the best, "Worlds Apart." This song is so incredibly powerful live, starting out with just Dan's soft voice and Steve's acoustic strumming, and then reaching a crescendo at the bridge with the full band. The end tapers off into a chorus of hallelujahs, and everyone is reminded of the purpose behind the music -- Jesus.
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