Planetshakers’ Legacy concert at Suntec Convention Centre last Sunday (Jan 21) hit all the right notes—musically and spiritually.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RED SPADE ENTERTAINMENT
When Planetshakers first announced late last year that their Legacy concert would be coming to Singapore, it created a bit of buzz. Legacy, the title of the Melbourne church’s latest two-part album, was released in September 2017. The album was recorded live at Planetshakers’ 20th Anniversary Conference in Melbourne, Manila and Kuala Lumpur. In Planetshakers’ signature style, most of the songs on the album are classic earworm material. Hence, when the Legacy tour was announced, my first thoughts were whether most of the songs performed would be from that eponymous album.
8.15pm – showtime. The auditorium was nearly filled and the lights dimmed. From the shadows, an imposing figure walked from the right side of the stage to the center. When the lights came on, we saw that it was Josh Ham – the band’s star bassist – and he was holding a conductor’s baton. He proceeded to “conduct” the huge LED screen. The perfectly timed first act stirred the audience with its loud thumping beats. After 10 minutes, the auditorium went dark again.
When the lights came back on, the entire band was on stage with lead vocalist Joth Hunt leading the first song “Endless Praise”. The atmosphere was electrifying and everything you would expect from a Planetshakers concert. The next two songs “Come Right Now” and “Alive Again” were also familiar tunes that got the crowd roaring and jumping. It also helped that the band had its own dancers, which added to the upbeat atmosphere.
When it came to the fourth song, Joth brought Ham forward for a solo and engaged in a bit of playful sparring with the audience as they challenged the crowd to pitch along to his bass. It was a moment to remember because it showcased Ham’s much talked-about bass guitar prowess. From a bass solo to a drum solo, and then seguing to “Nothing Is Impossible”, Planetshakers was giving as good as it got.
The BPM (beats per minute) finally went below 100 when Pastor Samantha Evans, a lead singer and wife of Planetshakers’ senior pastor Russell Evans shared a testimony about an AIDS victim who wasn’t a believer but was miraculously healed of the disease as she kept praying and confessing along with the song “Nothing Is Impossible”. Evans continued to encourage the crowd by saying that “a testimony is not just telling a story about your encounter with God, but it’s prophesying that God can do it again.”
We were led into worship. As “All On The Altar” and “I Came For You” resounded through the auditorium, there was a tangible presence of God. The band went offstage for a quick 10-minute break as the drummer and youth pastor, Andy Harrison, shared his message that being constantly around Christians and doing “Christian things” does not guarantee an encounter with God, nor does it mean that you know God.
The band returned and Ham took centre stage again, only this time, he was deejaying on the decks. The band came up and concluded the night with four praise songs.
Concertgoer Toh Fan Lei, 20, shared: “It was unlike any other concert I’ve attended because I wasn’t just part of the audience, but I was a worshipper seeking an encounter with God. It was an unforgettable experience because the presence of God was strong; it saturated the entire hall from beginning to end.”
With just 10 praise and two worship songs, Planetshakers certainly fulfilled their legacy: they shook the whole place up.
Bernard Loh is the program producer of CityRadio.
Read our exclusive interview with Sam Evans, Joth Hunt and Andy Harrison here.
