CONCERT REVIEW
Wayne Watson/Silverwind
Calvary Temple
Bellingham, Washington
CCM Magazine, April, 1984

Silverwind has a presence like its name - a shimmer, a buoyant, indefatigable energy. Perhaps that drew concert-goers to a red-carpeted Assembly of God church some 90 miles north of Seattle. The concert was tremendously oversold - with chairs hastily unfolded in the foyer, sanctuary doors propped open, people squeezing into pews - offering tribute to the performers' popularity. Wayne Watson took the stage first and played "Celebrate" from his new Man in the Middle. "We can either get bummed out because it's so hot," he drawled, scanning the aisles jammed with people, "or sit back and praise the Lord." Opting for the second attitude, he confidently launched into "Man in the Middle." The song gives the perspective of the good thief on Golgotha, the day before he enters Paradise. Rich, piercing vocals, underlying rock rhythm reminiscent of Randy Stonehill, poured from Watson's stage. "It gets common to love Christ," Wayne ruefully confessed, clearly striking a chord with his audience. "I've known Him so long, it often gets cold." He paused wistfully, then brightened, drawing the huge crowd in, sharing a secret. "But think back to when Christ first put His hand on you, the difference it made in your life at that point." He began finger-picking another Watson classic about an old violin, the old-timer who makes it sing, and the worth of a soul renewed by "The Touch of the Master's Hand." "The Sacrifice" took us all the way from Genesis and Adam's expulsion from the Garden, down through the centuries to Easter. "I'm a father of two boys myself," Watson beamed, personalizing his tale with down-home Texas candor. "God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve, and then his own Boy to cover us in holiness." Thick with mythical radiance, rich in history, dense with meaning, Wayne's songs filled in the content largely lacking in those of the next performers, Silverwind.

The popular trio began with "Taking the Narrow Street," in the shiny, European sound likened to Abba. Georgian Banov, a native of Bulgaria, spoke for Silverwind. "This reminds me of the underground church in Bulgaria," he cajoled, "no windows, packed with people, hot. But now we're not afraid police will come, and we thank God for escape from the Iron Curtain and the freedom tonight;" Banov stated his goal for the evening: "to erase every kind of difference," inviting the diverse audience to raise hands or not, shout or not, and so forth. The next song, "I Am in Love," began with a quote from martyred missionary Jim Elliot: "He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." People jumped while others clapped with relish. It was a concert for the childlike, while the trio modulated between the sweet and sublime, occasionally slipping into the profound. Children from various churches joined in songs from Silverwind's second album. The highlight was "Elya," about a young Russian believer imprisoned for teaching Sunday school. Shown that evening was a smuggled film clip of Elya's return from prison. In it Elya tearfully hugs her mother, as the steam train that took her to prison and back huffs in the distance. The kids intoning her name throughout the film completed a fitting tribute. Gearing up for a world tour, Silverwind has put its upcoming album on the back burner, but previewed some new material anyway. "Aiming for the Heart" had zip, rhythm, full-pitched sailing vocals, and more synthesizer for an '80s feel. "We can stand with our brothers and sisters," Banov declared."  In Bulgaria this costs jobs, friends, even life. Here we have buddies to lift us up in prayer." And then the altar call that distinguishes Christian concerts happened. Many remade that celestial connection, promised both peace and joy and a baptism of hardship and suffering. For whatever deeper reason, many stood, buoyed by the strains of "I Surrender All." Gord Wilson

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