Justice and Mercy Reviewed

Tuesday night I made the voyage to Warehouse Live for a night of entertainment. It was day two of the Justice and Mercy tour featuring Texas' own Flyleaf. As a known flyleaf apologist those of you that know me knew I had to be there. The night started off well with LA's Resident Hero. I as has become a pattern lately was a couple songs late for the opening act but the 5 songs I did hear were good. They were able to get the crowd into the show and still appear to have fun doing so which is fun to see. They still seem a little green in terms of overall stage show but they will get better and being good friends with Flyleaf will give them a publicity boost. As a side note for those of you who have the Flyleaf, Ryan from Resident Hero guest appears on "So I Thought" and one other song.

Second up was Dallas' Fair to Midland. These guys put out interesting music which may take some getting used to for the unfamiliar. Guitars and keyboards mix with samples to construct a multilayered musical experience. Frontman Darroh Sudderth often bounces around the stage frantically almost as if on the verge of a psychotic episode which could be alarming to some. Darroh has an amazing vocal range which allows most of the music to work and build to crowds energy after the initial shock has worn off. Songs of note were "Walls of Jericho", "Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes", and "Dance of the Manatee."

Tennessee-based Christian rock group Skillet was next up. Playing mostly songs from their new album Comatose, they started with a very energetic version of "Whspers in the Dark", a driving rock song which had the crowd responding. Throughout the set, Skillet made use of a smoke machine and steam fountains to produce solid effects and a quality stage show. Other quality songs included "Better than Drugs", "Rebirthing" and the radio single "The Older I Get".

Finally, Texas' own Flyleaf took the stage beginning with "Red Sam." The band showed a tremendous amount of energy as their stage show improves each time I see them. Members of the crowd around me were as usual impressed with Lacey's voice and her stage presence, but the fan reaction was due to the full bands efforts. The setlist included four new songs, two of which I don't know titles for. "Justice and Mercy" and "Much Like Falling" were outstanding and were thankfully included in the Music as a Weapon charity EP. The entire self-titled debut was played with the exception of "Perfect." The performances of "Fully Alive" and "There For You" had strong crowd reaction/involvement. "So I Thought" was an outstanding song and featured a guest appearance from Ryan of Resident Hero. The "closer" of the set was a solid rendition of "I'm So Sick" . A three-song encore followed ending with the usual crowd-assisted rendition of "Cassie."

Having seen them 5 times I didn't stick for the Paris Green after show performance though I am a fan and do recommend them for anyone in Houston.

Thanks for reading as always.