Our final report is from Halmstad by Rickard
Karlsson. A BIG THANK YOU to Rickard for all his hard
work with the videos and reports!
John and Ådahl arrived in Halmstad at 2 pm, and
between 4-6 pm I had a very nice talk/interview with
John at the hotel.
I picked up John before the rehearsal at 8 pm. He
recognize the concert place, where he had played many
times before with Petra and II Guys. The sound at the
rehearsal was great, so also was John's voice.
After praying it was time for the concert
in front of maybe 1500 people.
Ådahl did great on stage, and you could feel the Holy
Spirit's presence.
John had the same setlist as the day before, plus "He
Came, He Saw, He Conquered."
The crowd enjoyed the show, with a lot of jumping and
singing. Great(!!) sound tonight! Perfect live mixing
sound. As so many times earlier in Sweden, after the
show the audience started singing "God Gave Rock'n'roll
To You." ... A great concert and a perfect finish of a
fantastic and very blessed tour!
Set
List in Sweden:
Save Me
Gravity
No Doubt
God Is Too Big
Wake The Dead (Only in Torp)
Only Men
The Grafting
Beyond Belief
Trading My Sorrows
Just Reach Out
He Came, He Saw, He Conquored (Only in Gullbranna)
Jekyll & Hyde (Ralingsas and Gullbranna)
Day 9 was a free day, so we have no report. However,
we do have a video blog from John on Day 10 prior to the
concert in Ralingsas, Sweden, and a short report from
Rickard.
When I met John he wasn't feeling very well. He
slept too much on his day off, he said.
The concert was a new conference/"festival", and in an
old church. The sound was not very good but the show was
great, the audience was great and they really enjoyed
the concert. But I still say the concert on Wednesday at
Torp was the best show with John I've ever seen!
Behind the stage, the band, Ådahl and John had a good
time together and it looked like John connected with the
Ådahl brothers.
Both Frank and Simon joked around all
the time (you'll see).
I filmed a lot of funny but also serious stuff before
and after the concert, and I did a short interview with
two young girls who were big fans of John.
Best songs of the evening: Save Me and The Grafting. I'm
waiting for pictures from the promoter Ulf.
Rickard
------------------------------------------------
Day 8 - June 17 - Sweden
Day 7 was spent traveling and spending many hours in
airports between Romania, Hungary and Sweden, so we have
no report. Today, Day 8, John and Band have arrived in
Orebro, Sweden for their first Swedish concert at Torp
Fest.
Our reporter this time is Jannice, fiance of
Rickard Karlsson, of Halmstad, Sweden. Rickard is a
long-time Petra fan and videographer extraordinaire who
will be documenting the Swedish legs of the tour,
creating a long-form video for possible release.
After a six hour long roadtrip, Rickard and myself
finally arrived at Torp. Now the preparations began!
Rickard was all over the place and I could tell he was
very excited :-)
Since the band arrived at 5 am that morning, they were
very tired and stayed at the hotel for as long as they
could. They arrived just in time for the sound check. I
stood in the background and saw John and Rickard discuss
the film for a while. After that John and his band did
their soundcheck, and I was blown away by John's voice.
I live with a big PetHead, so I've heard most of their
songs and have seen a lot of concert footage, etc; and
I've noticed that in the last couple of years John's
voice sometimes sounded a bit "worn out." But I tell you
what, in my opinion, he now sings better than ever! ;-)
At 10 pm the concert kicked off with Ådahl. They were
very good! I was impressed by the band and by Frank's
amazing soul voice.
At 11:05 pm John entered the stage in front of 1000-1500
Swedes. He had a great opening number, and then he
introduced every song with a story and a message. When
he sang No Doubt, it almost brought me to tears. Once
again I have to give credit to the band; they were
awesome and they helped John to do his very best.
Other songs I enjoyed very much were Only Men, Beyond
Belief and Just Reach Out. When they did Wake The Dead,
a little girl started to dance like crazy in front of
the stage, to John's delight!
John is very charming and also funny, so we (the
audience) had a GREAT time! :-)
I took some pictures during the concert, that I'll
attach to you in the next email.
Dear
John fans from all over the world, here you have the
news from day 3 of what is happening with John and his
band on tour in Romania. You already know who I am but I
would like to mention for the last time our promoting
team who has the following members: Filip Faragau, Sebi
Capota, David Gheorghita, Raul Gadalean, Nelu Hurducas
and Emi Puschita.
As you may imagine the night before was a small
appetizer for what was to come in the main evening. John
and the band were excited about the reaction of the
crowd at the small hotel concert, which has boosted our
confidence for the next show.
Before the show, the guys took a walk in downtown Cluj,
a very nice area with old buildings a lot of churches.
The promoting team was under big pressure as the setup
of the sound system was delayed due to some bureaucracy
matters, but John the the guys from the band were very
supporting in that matter - which was a true relief for
us.
The show started one hour late, but this did not destroy
the crowd's appetite for the show, which was meant to be
an evening for encouraging and enjoying a good time in
the presence of the Lord. So no wonder the evening
started with the lecture of Psalm 23!
The opening band, Aer Curat (Clean Air), received a warm
welcome and they played four songs. Then, another small
break for some small settings for John's band, and the
boys from the band entered the stage but without John.
At this point, the host of the show (presenter) together
with John had been a setting up the audience for a
practical joke (farce) with the purpose of heating up
the crowds.
The joke went like this:
John was hidden off stage with a wireless microphone,
and the host introduced John, and very short and
abruptly asked the crowds to give him a warm welcome.
They welcomed John in a very good way and even that
could have been already enough. Anyway, John did not
show up and the host said, "it seems we have a problem,
we cannot not find John." The crowd already figured out
we were up to something so they started to smile.
Then the host went to Simon Adahl, one of the
guitarists, and asked if he saw John. Simon said he did
not see him; maybe he was at the hotel or elsewhere?
Then the host asked Anders, the bass guitar player, if
he saw John. Anders said: "John who?"
They joked about the name, adding also John Wayne or
Travolta, but the point is that nobody saw John.
Then the host pretended he was calling John on the
cellular:
Host: "Hi John, where are you?"
John: "Hi, I am in a shopping mall, enjoying my
Startbucks coffee!"
Host: "It is not possible, you have a concert tonight!"
John: "No, I do not, I had one last night!"
Host: "But you have one tonight too, I have 800 people
waiting for you here."
John: "I do not believe you."
Host: "Do you want to hear them?"
John: "Yes!"
Host (to the crowds): "Let's make some noise to convince
John we are here!"
(the crowds went very loud, clapping, screaming, etc)
Host: "Did you hear that, John?"
John: "No, I did not, it seems to be a kind of a
recording..."
Host (to the crowds): "Let's go even louder!"
(the crowd went nuts, encouraged by the host)
Host: "Did you hear something John?"
John: "Yes, I did!"
Host: "Do you want me to send you a helicopter to bring
you here?"
John: "Yes, do so."
At this point the sound of the helicopter was heard and
John shows up on the stage, welcomed by a really loud
crowd of 800 people, and the show began...
The songs played were:
Save
Me (Unfit for Swine)
Gravity (The Grafting)
No Doubt (No Doubt - Petra)
God Is Too Big (Unfit for Swine)
Show Me The Way (Shake)
The Grafting (The Grafting)
Wake The Dead (Shake)
Only Men (The Grafting)
Beyond Belief (Beyond Belief - Petra)
Light On (The Grafting)
Face of God (The Grafting)
Just Reach Out (Wake Up Call - Petra)
Trading My Sorrows (Vertical Expressions - II Guys from
Petra)
Lord Reign (Vertical Expressions - II Guys from Petra)
He Came, He Saw, He Conquered (This Means War - Petra)
Encore Jekyll and Hyde
Blessed Be Your Name (Vertical Expressions - II Guys
from Petra)
Needless to say that when Beyond Belief was performed
the reaction was like the one we had in the previous
night, but multiplied by a lot of people!
Despite the fact the the entire hall had seats, most of
the people were not using them at all on the whole
concert, except when John asked the audience to sit. The
longest period when the chairs were used was during
John's testimony, which touched a lot of hearts.
One
of the highlights of the evening was after the first
encore when the band showed up on the stage again. At
this point the host asked that the wives of the men in
the promoting team to come up on the stage, and each
woman received the Romanian flag which was put as a huge
scarf on the shoulder of each player (including the
sound guy). The audience was very happy and John and the
guys really touched. Then the host lead all the audience
in a prayer with all the people repeating the words of
the prayer like a human echo. The prayer was a big Thank
You to the Lord for having John here, for the good
things Lord has done into our lives through Petra and
John's music.
The concert ended with Blessed Be Your Name with the
crowds still clapping a long time after John and the
band left the stage.
After 10 minutes John went outside of his room and had a
45 minute session with autographs and pictures, so no
one who wanted these was disappointed.
The promoting team received a lot of calls the next day
after the concert and all the people were delighted
after such a special night.
I
am sending you the report from Day 5 in Romania, the
14th of June.
Dear John Fans from all over the world: Here you have
the news from day 2 in Romania of what is happening with
the John and Adahl tour. You already know who I am but I
would like to mention once again our promoting team who
has the followowing members: Filip Faragau, Sebi Capota,
David Gheorghita, Raul Gadalean, Nelu Hurducas and Emi
Puschita.
The boys had a well deserved sleep so they started the
day in very good shape and ready for the rehearsal which
took place in a production hall, so the environment look
very industrial and the guys liked that.
We were amazed by the chemistry between John and Adahl's
band and their desire to serve the audience by
performing a very high quality show. The band rehearsed
for almost six hours and John around five hours, all
knowing that tonight they will put on a show.
When they arrived in Cluj, Adahl was not too prepared
for an unplugged experience but the guys took the
challenge and made all the adjustments on the way, and
boy, they delivered!!
Talking about tonight's show, it was meant to be a
special concept with an audience of no more than 120
people in the hotel’s restaurant - therefore the guys
were very close to the audience. Needless to say, that
in the intermission all the people enjoyed free food,
drinks and the chance to talk to the artists.
The evening began with the song Gravity, and it did not
take more than two seconds for the crowd to get
connected with John. After that, John and the band were
invited to leave the stage as we made them a very
interesting surprise, consisting of a string quartet who
played the following songs:
No Doubt, Meet With Me and Carry On.
Telling that John was touched is a big understatement,
as he was really melting under the emotional wave that
hit him. The quartet actually prepared for the wedding
of Emi which will take place two weeks from now, but he
asked the group to prepare in advance for this evening
and they did it in a big way.
John continued with No Doubt, Save Me and The Grafting,
then Simon Adahl played a special song dedicated to
Romania, a song which resonated with the hearts of the
audience.
The
intermission took its stake from the show, and you bet
the artists were surrounded by the people from the
audience. After the intermission Simon Adahl and band
played another song in punk style and the crowd enjoyed
it too.
John was back on the stage when the first strains of
Beyond Belief were heard. All of a sudden the crowd
jumped up like they were driven by some invisible spring
set on chairs! It seems like the crowd talked before the
concert to sing this song together, so they will spare
John the singing the chorus, and they did! John was
overwhelmed by the reaction to that song, joking that
this is is supposed to be an unplugged event for
sophisticated people so everybody should sit!
The show ended with Just Reach Out and God is Too Big,
and then time was made for some questions from the
audience.
Considering that not even one word was translated from
English to Romanian as everybody understood English, the
artists felt at ease when talked to the public,
especially John who shared with us a lot of funny but in
the meantime important stuff from life.
Again, stayed tuned for the main event tomorrow night,
when at least 500 people are confirmed based on the
tickets sales.
John's arrival in Romania is told by Calin Valean, part of
the team of promoters in Cluj.
Dear
John Fans from all over the world: here you have the
first news from the John Schlitt and Adahl tour in
Romania. My name is Calin Valean and I am also reporting
on behalf of our promoting team who has the followowing
members: Filip Faragau, Sebi Capota, David Gheorghita,
Raul Gadalean, Nelu Hurducas and Emi Puschita.
Our team is basically made of Petra fans, and we were
praying and hoping for this moment many, many years ago.
Our thoughts are that may God use this event to
challenge the hearts of people who do not know Him and
strengthen the spirits of His followers.
It seems that today was meant to be a day of thrills for
John and the guys as they were about to miss the plane
in Germany, and they had to wait a bit longer in
Timisoara airport due to a unfortunate communication
error.
Our two drivers picked John and Adahl guys from the
Timisoara airport and brought them safe to Cluj after a
5 hour trip. They arrived here at 7 p.m. and it was a
real relief for us to see John and Adahl so supportive,
even after such a long and exhausting day. A big thank
you also for our drivers who had to drive about 10 hours
without having the benefits of highways.
Just as a fact, Cluj is located in the heart of
Transylvania, a historical region of Romania, famous for
a character whose name is not worth mentioning here.
We had the dinner together and made some general
planning for the next day; when the rehearsal will take
place in the morning and during the evening when there
will be an intimate concert in a very nice restaurant,
with an audience of no more than 100 people.
John
was very happy with the performance of the band and he
confessed he is very confident for the next
performances. As you may imagine, even preparing for a
small concert it takes a lot of preparation, but we are
happy that with the God`s help we managed to it pretty
well.
However, the main event will take place Monday evening,
and as our fellows in Germany we are expecting 1000
people. But until Monday evening stay tuned to John’s
website to receive fresh news.
On the way to the airport to catch a plane for Romania...
courtesy of Artur Kruger of Bielefeld, Germany.
On the way to the airport I missed the right exit from highway
and drove too far. Nobody realized it except for me. And my heart
went like: how can I cover this mistake so nobody would see? Besides
we were in a bad hurry to get the plane.
So I took a later exit and tried to find a way and give the band the
feeling that I know what I am doing. But faced with the fact that
they might miss their flight, I had to confess that I made a
mistake.
So I asked the band to pray because we are not on the right way and
time is short. I had to apologize that I missed the sign that I
believed was the false one because of the foolish pride in me.
But the band members went into prayer and the Lord showed a
different way to the airport, which took us not very long. We got
there in time, I think, because nobody called me on my cellphone.
Hopefully the brothers are on their way to Romania.
I learned a lot about what the family of God is supposed to be like:
to carry the burden of one another. And they did.
I am deeply
impressed by these men of God. No word of accusation but instead
words of encouragement and blessing.
I miss you guys. We miss you. Dwelling with you was a piece of
glory. Take blessings with you around the world, wherever you will
serve!!!
Artur
------------------------------------------------
Day 3 - June 12 - Germany
Reporting on the first concert held in Bielefeld
is Artur Kruger.
Report of Friday night, the Day of Fire!
We are just overwhelmed by the grace and love and
creativity of our heavenly Father. He did not do what we
believed he would, but HE did better like HE always
does!
In fact, when I searched myself and the reason I prayed
for so many people to attend it was for the money to pay
all our debts for this evening, and that's not the right
and pure attitude for a concert where the LORD is
supposed to dwell.
So, to be honest, the Father pulled less people than
what I prayed for.
When I realized this my heart was disappointed, but the
members of the band took me aside at that moment and
prayed for me that I may find fresh water in the desert
I was in. And so Jesus answered that prayer. He led us
into HIS presence, into attitudes of praise, and in His
name we were taken to proclaim the victory of the cross.
HE came, HE saw, HE conquered death and hell!!!
We talked to lots of people after the concert and there
were many hearts touched by the loving hand of God.
Please keep in prayer for those! And please pray that
the LORD goes with the band and pours out even more
blessings on them and the audiences in Romania and
Sweden!
Dear brothers and sisters who support this ministry, the
prayer is our Secret Weapon, remember? So use it
together with us to bring a annihilating defeat to the
kingdom of hell.
Artur
---------
Below is a report from Karin Juneau, a long-time German Petra fan
who attended the concert in Bielefeld.
As an old PETRA fan I was more than excited to finally see John
in concert again!
We traveled to Bielefeld by car, and got there early enough to catch
places in the front row as soon as the doors opened up.
First the German band "Urija" played, and they really sounded good,
but I was to anxious to see John so it was hard to give them the
proper attention.
Then John and his band appeared on stage and it was like a dream
that came true!
When he opened with "No Doubt" I had tears in my eyes. It was so
perfect!
The band was great and John was INCREDIBLE!!!
"Wake The Dead," "Keep Your Light On," and "Jekyll & Hyde" were just
some of the fantastic songs that kept me dancing. And "Beyond
Belief" and "He Came, He Saw, He Concered" found everybody singing!
When John sang my favorite song "Only Men," I was almost in tears
again.
It was a fantastic concert!! John was amazing ....as always!!!! I
loved it!!!
We love you John!!! We love your music and your ministry!!!! Come
back to Germany soon !!!!!!!
Today's report is again from promoter
Artur Kruger, who held a special worship service tonight
in Bielefeld, Germany. John participated by sharing his
testimony and adding a bit of vocals to the night's
music.
Friday's concert is being held at the University of
Bielefeld; there had been some issues as to what area
the rehearsal was going to be held in.
It's apparent from the blog below that the Lord took
care of the problem!
We (as the concert organizers) met today with a pastor
of a local church to pray for the day, especially for
the worship and testimony evening with John.
We felt the presence of the Holy Spirit during the
meeting. We prayed that the lecture room, which we will
use tomorrow as part of the venue for the concert, would
be empty the whole day. There was a long lecture planned
in the room from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but that would bring
us and the band big trouble for practicing and building
up for the night.
So we prayed that the professor would change to another
room in the university and when we ended the prayer we
checked the emails - guess what! The professor said he
would go to another room. Isn't God good and sovereign?
YES, He always is!!!
The evening came and we prayed that Jesus would have his
way. John's testimony was powerfull and we prayed that
people's hearts would get changed.
John sang the chorus to "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High"
together with the assembly, which we all really
appreciated. It is good to know that we will sing this
or a similar song together in eternity! We hope that
many of the people that will come tomorrow night to the
concert will be there in heaven too.
Please pray with us for a 1000 concert listeners
tomorrow. That's what we asked from the Lord.
Brothers and sisters all over the world: fight with us
for a tremendous spiritual victory tomorrow!!!
Artur
------------------------------------------------
Day 1 - June 10 - Germany
Our report today is from promoter Artur Kruger, who met
John at the airport in Frankfurt and made all the
arrangements for the next few days.
The airplane from Detroit to Frankfurt, Germany, where
John was in, landed about 15 minutes earlier than it
should have. So everything went more properly than we
hoped. John was very tired after that trip, but we had a
very nice time to talk anyway.
When we arrived in Bielefeld, the hotel room was not
empty or clean yet, so we decided that John could have a
little nap at my parents house. So he did. Afterwards we
drove to the hotel again and John got his well deserved
place to rest.
In the evening we met again to talk some things over
about the concert. It was a great pleasure to feel unity
in the spirit. We prayed that Jesus might have his way
with the concert and everything. Finally we prayed that
the venue will be empty the whole day so we can build up
the backline for rehearsal in this room, which will
guarantee a more effective band practice. Please unite
with us in prayer for this aim!
Best regards,
Artur
------------------------------------------------
JOHN SCHLITT AND ADAHL -- EUROPEAN TOUR 2009 BEGINS!
After months of planning and hard work, the tour with
John Schlitt and Adahl kicks off in Bielefeld, Germany
on Friday, June 12, followed by two dates in Romania and
three in Sweden!
John is flying to Frankfurt this week, and we will be
updating you with news of the tour - complete with
photos, videos and blogs!
So keep checking back on JohnWSchlitt.com for daily
updates... let the tour begin!
