Steven Curtis Chapman’s highly anticipated “Live Out Loud Tour” has proven that the 2002 spring touring season is stronger than ever, not only in the sheer numbers, but in the emotional responses flooding in daily from across the U.S. Thousands of fans have already seen this very special concert event, which offers the concertgoer not only great music but an experience many are saying they will never forget.
The tour’s first weekend, which kicked off February 20th in Minneapolis, sold out three of its four dates. The second weekend hit another sellout crowd in Jacksonville, Florida and a near capacity crowd in Lakeland’s Carpenter’s Home Church. The upcoming Atlanta date (March 29th) sold out in six days. According to concert promoters and Chapman?s booking firm Creative Artists Agency, the “Live Out Loud Tour” is the #1 attended tour of the season in the Christian market. The average nightly paid attendance is over 4,000 people, with some markets reporting more than 7,000 paid.
The concert tour itself is like no other. As expected, Chapman performs selections from his numerous #1 hits and crowd favorites, but the show also takes a different turn, exploring many unique factors such as a segment focused on adoption. The “When Love Takes You In” music video is shown on a 19×33 foot video screen behind Chapman as he performs the song from a keyboard. This touching video features Shaohannah, the adopted daughter of the Chapman’s and is followed with an opportunity for fans to respond to the need presented by tour sponsor Bethany Christian Services (bethany).
The second half also features a very unique segment based on Chapman?s recent visit to Ecuador and his songs inspired by the Elisabeth Elliot book “Through Gates Of Splendor.” The video screen is used this time to tell the compelling story of the outreach of five committed missionaries to the Auca Indians tribe in Ecuador in 1955. Through multi-media and never before seen film footage that will be part of the soon to be released documentary “Beyond The Gates” (beyondthegatesthemovie), the audience follows the story of these five men and their families from Ecuador in the 50’s from the tragedy of their murders on through today and how God is at work even now. Two very special guests, Steve Saint and Mincaye, appear on stage with Chapman and share with the audience their story of love and redemption. Saint is the son of one of the five missionaries that was killed almost 50 years ago by the deadly Auca tribe. Mincaye, one of the tribe’s members who killed Saint?s father and who is now a Christian, has befriended Saint and together they share with the tour audience their story and Saint’s continuing work with the tribe through his organization I-TEC (I-TECusa). Both Saint and Mincaye are present at most of the concert dates throughout the spring.
People are being moved by this very special concert event, not only fans, but those who work within the radio and music industry alike. Below are just a few of the numerous letters that come in daily to radio stations, management, the fan club and the message board located on Chapman?s official website, stevencurtischapman.
