Rock and Worship Road Report Week #1.

First weekend success! After taking a month or so off to finish up our new record and be with our families it has been a great feeling to get back out on the road. This past weekend we started the first run of the Rock and Worship Roadshow which is an awesome tour hosted by our friends in MercyMe.

This tour provides a lot of firsts for us. Our set during the show marks the first time that we've gotten to play as lights down (and not part of the pre-show). Really for us this means that we get to have cool video and cool lights while we perform! It's a ton of fun for sure :)

Another first is taking out our newly acquired tour bus. This tour lasts about 26 dates and we have the priviledge of having LaCrae and his crew ride on the bus with us. It was a great feeling for us to have space, safety, and community as we traveled accross the country during the first weekend of the tour. One thing is for certain- the fellowship of being on the road with such amazing people is gonna be great.

First date of the tour was Biloxi, MS (a new place for us) and it was awesome! The venue was right on the beach so when we woke up on the bus in the morning and walked outside we could smell the ocean. The crowd was awesome and we're excited to get back to MS some time soon.

Our second stop was in a little place called Huntsville, AL. This is the closest that this tour will come to our current residence of Nashville, TN. Shaun's wife and newborn child made the drive to spend the day with us. When the time came for doors to open in Huntsville there were still 1000+ people who could not get in to the venue. First sellout of the tour which is awesome but that also means that a lot of people didn't get to come in. We always try to show our appreciation to fans so right after we finished our set we hurried to the main doors and played acoustically for people who were waiting to get in the show. It's such a great feeling to just sing with people outside under the stars. It was a great day!

Third stop was in Indinapolis which is pretty close to Dave's hometown Terre Haute and also the home of this years Superbowl. Needless to say it was a crazy day. Lots of friends and family visiting the new tour bus -and a packed house! Over 12,000 people came to the show that night! Such an honor to be a part!

Last stop of the weekend was in St.Paul/Minneapolis, MN- we haven't gotten to play in MN a ton but this was an awesome venue! The venue was specifically made so that the town could get it's professional hockey team back. I spent some time talking to an older security guard who said that during hockey games he gets to guard the penalty box- he's been doing that for 11 years...sounds like a blast detaining all of those rowdy hocky players! MN is a great state and this was an awesome night- the last night of the first weekend of a tour is typically where all of the technical things for our set get worked out...so now we're getting more comfortable on stage and looking forward to the next 1.5 months on the tour.

I have attached some photos from the weekend below- hope you enjoy!

PS we were gifted something like 15 lb of gummy bears this weekend- keep it coming folks! :)

Up next- Chicago, Ypsilanti, and Madison!

For those who missed the memo- you can get our new single "Live Like That" - right here http://itun.es/iSj3hB

Til Next Time,

Ben (@swpbenjamin)