LIVE REVIEW: CAIN, CALEB & JOHN, JON REDDICK - THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM - NASHVILLE

As ever there is little time wasted between plane landing and#TEAMw21 attending a show and tonight our rendezvous was at the Ryman Auditorium. A semi-circular venue with wooden pew seating, where you are taken to your seat and informed of the running times by a team who wear their pride on their sleeves.

The last time we saw Cain – they were The Cains and we even ended up giving them a ride back to where they were staying. No such fears tonight though with three huge buses outside the venue. one with the faces of Cain sprayed all over it. Their music has also taken a change in direction, no more homemade stomp pedals keeping a back beat to “Smoke On The Hill”, this is a slick production, with a huge drum riser and a full band. They are currently on the “Live In Colour” tour and each night Madison requests that the audience turn up wearing a particular colour – tonight’s shade is orange, and the Ryman is awash in orange hats, t-shirts, trainers and any other accessory that can be found. The audience is a wide demographic, with all ages covered, including a lot of young people.

It is a mixed show to say the least which starts with all the performers coming out to Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration”. A definite ice breaker and with the stage covered in dry ice, this had the look of a full on, rock show. One difference is the lyrics to each song are displayed on the screen, this undoubtedly helps the audience to find their voices from the start. There will be a frankly bizarre “Family Feud (Fortunes) section, as well as time given to Worldvision to raise money for families in Africa and another section for let’s say spiritual welfare. The old adage that the “Devil has all the best tunes” may have to be revisited as all of tonight’s tunes with the lyrics changed would seamlessly fit into any performance at C2C, Caleb & John could easily have been Florida Georgia Line, Jon Reddick’s soulful sound would be welcome anywhere, while Cain we know can mix it across any genre.

 First up were Caleb and John, their song “Call Me Crazy”, a passionate song sung over a rich organ sound, which incorporated a Harmonica solo, a wild keyboard solo and some big finishing notes would enliven any crowd. The keyboard was swiftly packed away and soon both Caleb and John were playing guitars on “Somebody Like Me” fronting a most powerful sound. Now at this stage we were just enjoying the tunes as tunes not particular reading the lyrics, however for “He’s Not Finished”, a fast paced, singalong, to which many were singing along, the messages were coming through loud and clear.

What could be more on brand at the moment than jumping off stage to play your guitar among the crowd and that duly happened next! Their short but powerful set would close with “Hallelujah” with the word split into two distinct halves emphasised by heavy guitar chords and drums.

There would be a seamless handover to Jon Reddick, who would sometimes be found at his keyboard and other times would making a Breland style dance across the stage. He had the whole crowd standing for “I Believe” which would have many of the crowd rapturously waving the hands in the air as they sang. Once more the tunes could easily be found nestling on any top country soul album however here, they were overtly the vehicle for passing on the Christian message. There was no doubting the stirring nature of “You Are The Way” or “I Am” both rousing anthems. Jon would play “How Great Thou Art” with just himself at the piano and half of the audience acting as a choir. He certainly was able to rouse a response from the crowd, whether it was “I Surrender” or “I Don’t Fight Alone” or “I Choose You”. A final galvanising tune that would get the crowd singing at the top of the lungs and burst into spontaneous clapping, was “No Fear” it would close out the musical first half of the show.

For those who never got to see Cain in the UK in their previous incarnation, they are a sibling trio, Logan, Taylor and Madison. Now it is undoubtedly Logan, effectively  the Quarterback marshalling things, an almost permanent blur whizzing around the stage. They arrive to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and massive cheers and immediately launch into "Yes He Did", a soulful country offering that showed the sibling harmonies to great effect and saw the crowd sing out with all their hearts. The song would temporarily be put on hold while Logan turned into inspirational preacher mode before dropping back into the song.

Immediately there was funky bass line that led into a new song "Hands Up" which Taylor opened the vocals for. It would see Cain even add in a little synchronised dancing routine. At times it was possible to hear the songs in another context, none stranger maybe than when spontaneous clapping segued into the power guitar chords of The Who's "Baba O'Reilly" before becoming "I Couldn't Love You Anymore". Whatever context you heard it in, this was a fine song and a splendid performance - the audience raising roof when vocal duties were handed over to them. An almost ethereal tribal Logan vocal accompanied by dramatic drumming, then set the scene for "Lazarus". At this stage the audience were all but deafening in their singing of what was an undeniably stirring tune.

A fast drum beat, and spontaneous clapping would take us into "My Victory's Coming" which would see all three siblings jumping in the air on another stirring sound powered by the band raising their volume to match the sheer excitement being generated at the front of the stage where the crowd were being whipped into a frenzy.

The spiritual nature of "Jesus Lifted Me" and it's message brought undoubted joy to the Ryman and Cain were joined by Brooke Ligertwood on keyboards. This was without doubt the slick qualities and aesthetics of a rock show transferred to another genre. For "The Commission" it would open to just Taylor and an acoustic guitar, before Logan joined for the second verse. Without the bravado of the band the Ryman audience picked up the sound as they became a powerful choir. Keeping the rock show theme going "We Were Made For Heaven" was a fast rocker and saw the crowd go even wilder as streamers fell from the ceiling. Another unlikely culture mash up came with The Beatles "Come Together", the tune remained however after opening verse the lyrics altered into "Trouble Trouble".

The band would then leave the stage, as they took things back to where they began, singing hymns on stage with their Dad. An a capella version of "Because He Lives" saw true unison between band and audience. Logan would give a little speech before the hymn "Holy" which would end with the audience apoplectic with joy, many with their hands in the air. Jon Reddick would then return for "God Turn It Around" which would start as just him on piano before then becoming a conduit to allow the rest of the band to come back to the stage.

Cain would then return for the final section "I Made It" with a chant that fit into any Brad Paisley song before closing out the evening with "I'm So Blessed" the ultimate easy joyful singalong, further enhanced by a call and response section splitting the crowd in half.

It was without doubt a most uplifting and entertaining evening, one that left you well aware that both band and audience for three hours of so had the most joyous of times.