Family Force 5
This is a followup to my earlier post about the Toby Mac / Portable Sounds concert. Unfortunately it is not as much about Toby Mac as it is about one of the opening acts, Family Force 5.
If you don’t want to hear loud music, didn’t know that “crunk” was a word, or don’t want to hear about mullets and the dirty south, then don’t follow this link to the band’s website. Otherwise go enjoy, and rock on.
There was lots of other good music at the concert – let’s be clear on that. It was fun, and when I got to help someone sponsor a World Vision child that was perhaps the most exciting moment of the night (and the whole reason Sara and I got to attend for free). Of course Toby Mac put on an awesome show, let there be no doubt about that. I’ll probably write more later and put up some pictures on that, but it was definitely fun.
The most amazing part of the concert, though, came early on. While we were getting set up at the volunteer station, some of the kids kept raving about something called “Family Force 5“. “Sounds like Gaither Vocal Band or something” I thought to myself. But these kids were nuts over the act, so Sara and I figured we’d try to catch the show and see what the big deal was.
Sure enough, when FF5 blasted onto the stage, it quickly became clear we were in for a treat. At first I couldn’t tell if the music was any good (it was too loud and distorted, and we were in the back of the seating area) – but it did not matter. The group had the most insanely amazing amount of energy I have ever seen on stage. They were loud, fast, and fun. Pretty soon they broke into a chorus with a great hook, and I decided I had a new favorite band. The sound is different than anything I’ve heard in a while – part Grits, part Kutless, part country and part deep funk. They had a guy up on stage doing nothing but dancing (and helping move things around when necessary) as far as we could tell.
One of the funnest songs was when the lead singer broke out these HUGE silver fist / gloves that he wore over his hands. These things were bigger than his head, and they added a whole new level of energy to the song. In the short set FF5 did, I became convinced that this group is headed straight for the top of the charts – perhaps their only problem is that Christian radio doesn’t play “hard” music barely ever, but in this age of increasing radio-irrelevance the internet could do all that FF5 need to shoot their popularity through the roof.
I’ll try to get a picture or two of those gloves up soon, but in the meantime go check out the FF5 website. It is a treat in itself, and quite fun. Make sure to look for the rocket ships. 
