Reflecting Nehemiah... my life at Calvin College

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Copeland at the Intersection

“Nice boys executing skillful, emotional performances of well-crafted, melodic rock songs.”

that’s how copeland describes them on their purevolume site. and that’s pretty much how they performed at the intersection a couple of days ago. daniel, jeff and i went to their show, where they headlined while daphne loves derby, silver, and the hush sound opened. it was my first time seeing a concert in grand rapids off-campus, and the change of environment was definitely nice. the venue was the intersection, one of the major stages in the area, and the concert hall wasn’t very full. there were perhaps 6 rows of people standing in front of the stage, with various people scattered throughout the tables and sofas.

silver: some members work at hope college

copeland’s music isn’t exactly moshing/slamdancing music, it’s more mellow and emotional, so it was nice standing at the front soaking in the music. all 3 of us are pretty big copeland fans, so we sang along (or tried to) and after the show, we met the band. the cool part about the intersection was how the band members would mingle with the crowd after the show and meet everyone. it’s a nice personal touch, and i got my in motion cd signed by all members of the band. i also chatted with the drummer about his drumkit; mostly technical things like what snare he used, the skins, and what kinda cymbals. i’m still trying to figure out a good live setup for my drumkit.

the hush sound: 2 lead vocals (female and male)

one of the neat things about the copeland show was the members in the band. the guitarist’s younger brother was touring with the band, so we got to see both brothers on stage. i can kinda imagine how he got to tour with the band: he’s always looked up to his older brother, and so he would practice and practice the guitar parts, hoping one day to finally tour with his brother’s band. finally he got good enough, and his brother invited him to tour with them. that must’ve been the happiest day of his life.

copeland, with us in the front row

we also met a bunch of other calvin people at the show. i think we met some girls from bennink, and also some guys from vanderwerp. that was neat seeing other calvin people around town; there are quite a few college students around town, either at movie theatres, malls, or concerts. the city isn’t exactly huge, and there aren’t too many places college students go to. luckily, there’s still enough to entertain college students like us. i can’t wait to go see switchfoot at hope college on november 1!