Petra Says Goodbye

Sunday night my friend Josh and I went to a concert.  It was Petra, and it was their stop in the Phoenix area on their farewell tour.  Yes, as of the end of the year Petra will be no more.  After 33 years Petra is ending their long and great career.  The first Christian band I ever heard was Petra.  My friend Aaron had their “Beyond Belief” album that was back in 1991.  I was hooked on Christian music from then on.

Then in 1997 Josh and I went to a Petra concert.  It was my first concert without my parents.  That was also a lot of fun.  Because of that concert, Josh and I went to Spirit West Coast in 1998, where I was introduced to a lot more Christian bands.

The concert on Sunday was a lot of fun.  We were able to hear a large array of Petra’s music.  It brought back a lot of great memories from hanging out with friends, and times when I needed an uplifting song.  The band right before Petra was Farewell June.  They had an interesting sound.  The lead singer played guitar, harmonica, and fiddle.  I think they may be an up-and-coming band.  The concert had about 750 people at it, and most of them were older people and their children.  It is true that some of them are getting old.  When they came out on stage, I made the comment, “Man, they look old,” referring to  John Schlitt.  Josh replied, “It’s like watching our parents on stage.”  They all could still rock, and it was a great time.

Petra has always been a great band.  People nowadays think that Petra is just an old 80’s band.  Yes, they were at their best in mid 80’s to the early 90’s, but their music has had one big consistency since they started in the 70’s.  They have always kept God at the center of all their songs.  Some bands have songs that are “fun” and don’t mention God or relate to God at all, but Petra has never done this to my knowledge.  Rock and roll has remained a hit with them, and their latest album “Jekyll and Hyde” was a return to their height, it is a rock album.