Singing oh, happiness
‘Tour de Compadres’ concludes with multi-act concert at Vines Center
Parents, high school students visiting for College for a Weekend, Liberty University students and community members alike gathered in the Vines Center Saturday, Nov. 12 to see Christian rock band NEEDTOBREATHE and its notable opening acts for the final night of the Tour de Compadres.
JAMMIN’ — NEEDTOBREATHE guitarist Bo Rinehart (left) joined Mat Kearney (right), Welshly Arms and Parachute at the Vines Center Nov. 12 for the final show of their tour. Photo credit: Michela Diddle
For opening acts Welshly Arms, Parachute and Mat Kearney, this was their first time at Liberty University. Liberty’s Vines Center was the Tour de Compadres’ final destination on a journey of 53 venues.
“This is the last show ever of this tour,” Kearney said. “We’re going out (with) a bang. We’ve been practicing and practicing for this right here. We’ve never played a better show than this one.”
During their set, Kearney and his band covered songs from popular groups such as Twenty One Pilots and U2. Charlottesville-based group Parachute also covered popular artists including The Chainsmokers, in addition to their set of original material.
The tour came in the wake of NEEDTOBREATHE’s sixth studio album release.
“We put this record out called ‘Hard Love’ a few months ago,” Bear Rinehart, NEEDTOBREATHE frontman said. “We are absolutely in the best place we’ve ever been as a band.”
NEEDTOBREATHE performed multiple songs from their newest album, including “Money & Fame,” “Happiness” and “Great Night.”
Rinehart shared his gratitude with the audience for being another concert in the tour that made his childhood dream a reality after years of hard work and struggle in the early days of the band.
“I had a dream since I was a kid of playing some huge arena that’s absolutely packed,” Rinehart said. “We think we’ve played almost 2,000 shows as a band — and most of them were in really ratty clothes and places where people were sweating on us and all that. As weird and crazy as that time was, we kind of miss it.”
HARD LOVE — The audience packed the Vines Center for the last leg of the Tour de Compadres, selling out the venue. Photo credit: Michela Diddle
NEEDTOBREATHE was joined on stage by members of Cleveland-based Welshly Arms for additional instrumentation and backing vocals for their nearly 20-song set list.
Combined with songs from the opening acts, the full concert set list consisted of nearly 40 songs.
After three months on the road and 53 cities, NEEDTOBREATHE and the rest of the compadres can finally put a cap on the tour.
“On behalf of the band — and all the rest of the bands, to be honest with you — we just think that it is absolutely stupid that we get to do this every night for a living,” Rinehart said. “After tonight, I’m going home to sleep for like three weeks.”
Fraticelli is a feature reporter.