When we first arrived they were playing clips from "It's a Wonderful Life" (which is one of my favorite shows). Then Paul got up and introduced his opening act, a 16-year-old girl named Ellie Duke. She is an amazing singer/songwriter, and she played guitar and performed some of her original tunes. Apparently Paul is helping her produce an album that will be released in January.
After she finished her songs, Paul took the stage and played "Joy to the World"
Then he played a song I didn't recognize, and when I asked him what it was after the concert he couldn't remember what he had played :) I really liked the background pictures he projected during the concert (this was one of my favorites):
As the concert progressed Paul really seemed to warm up to the audience and was extremely personable. I made jokes, interacted with the audience, challenged each of us to make a difference for someone else this season, and told about a trip his parents and siblings took one Christmas to Mexico to give gifts and supplies to orphanages. He also talked about his heart transplant and mentioned that his donor was a man from Mexico.
Paul played a song he wrote called "Dave's Farewell," then showed a cute video of his young daughter and a friend discussing Christmas, then he played Away in a Manger (for some reason whenever I write the name of that song it comes out "Away in a Manager" and I always have to correct it :) ) Then he played a song called "Diamonds for Stones," followed by, "Life and Death." After that he played "Still, Still, Still" and then played "Letting Go" while projecting video scenes from a cartoon version of the story "The Little Match Girl." I have never read this story, but the scenes and music were quite affecting and at some point I will look it up.
Then Paul invited a kid from the audience whose name was Luke to join him on stage. Luke played "Deck the Halls" and everyone applauded quite loudly (I was pretty impressed that he was willing to play in front of so many people). Paul then asked him to select 3 random notes from which he would improvise a song. Luke chose C, D and E. When I heard that I started laughing and honestly wondered how a good song could be created out of such simple notes, but then I sat back amazed while Paul turned it into an amazing piece of music:
Paul then played a hilarious series of scenes from some of his favorite Christmas movies: Elf, Rudolph, A Christmas Story, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Then he played a medley consisting of the songs "The First Noel," "Redeemer," "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," and "Heavenly Father Loves Me." He then played "Gracie's Theme" (I love that song), and then played another medley to scenes from the movie "The Nativity Story" (which is one of my favorite movies). The songs in this medley were: "What Child is This," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "I Believe in Christ." Then Ellie joined him on vocals and guitar while he played "Silent Night," and he played two encores: "Sacred Nature" and "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." He asked the audience what songs they wanted to hear, and a girl in front of my requested that he play, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." She was learning the song herself and had brought her sheet music with her. She was able to follow along at first, but then Paul started playing it differently than the recorded version and she shut her book when she realized it wasn't the same arrangement.
After the concert my daughter and I talked briefly with Paul and I took this picture:
It was a fantastic night and I'm so glad I was able to attend this concert! There's something about live music that inspires me to live better, to be better, and to continue improving my music skills and share my talents with others.
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