During the Southern Gospel Picnic at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, fans had the delightful opportunity to see Legacy Five sing with their new bass singer, Matt Fouch, in Echo Hollow.  Among the thousands of people who were swarming the amphitheater, this lone blogger found herself a front row seat on the right side of the stage.  Was that not providence?  I was so excited to be at the first concert with Matt singing bass.  Opportunities like that don’t roll around every day, and I was more than happy to be a part of this one!  It was a beautiful day to have an outdoor sing too!  No rain!  🙂

A full house for L5!

The sun shone high in the sky and a cool breeze wafted by as Legacy Five began their set with A Wonderful Life.  The word “wonderful” matched the day we were having at the park.  Perfect temperature.Perfect weather.  A perfect crowd!  It was a beautiful day for L5 to stand under the canopy on the stage curved like a half-moon and sing the Gospel in song.  Their second song of the evening was God Cares For Me, Feeling Fine came back to back.  Scott Fowler asked the crowd to wave at him if they were feeling fine too.  Arms swayed back and forth in response.  Fowler introduced L5’s tenor, Gus, and made sure the audience knew that he was originally from California.  “It’s hard to find a guy from California who tucks in his shirt,” explained Fowler.  Gus added, “I don’t do it when I wear my California flip-flops.”  LOL  The Cathedrals had an album called Symphony Of Praise, and on that recording Danny Funderburk sang a Dottie Rambo song.  Scott said that he never thought anyone would sing that song except Danny, but then Gus joined L5, and as Fowler heard his voice night after night – he knew that Gus was the only other tenor who could sing it.  So Gus stepped forward and sang that song…For What Earthly Reason.  Before the second verse he inquired of the crowd, “How many here tonight are thankful for the gift of salvation?”  Another classic from the Cathedrals came next.  “Hey, you know what?” Scott exclaimed, “You have New Born Feeling there? (and glancing at the crowd added) They’re gonna’ love this!”  Trey punched the button and they went into that old, smooth quartet song.  “Alright,” Scott said, waving Matt over to where he was.  “A lot of you saw him singing in the Red Gold ‘whatever it was’…yesterday was his last day with the old group and tonight is his first night with the new group!”  He turned to his new bass singer and said, “Matt, these people love you.  They loved you with Soul’d Out and they’re going to love you with us.”  Then Matt stood in the center of the stage and sang I’ve Been Changed.  “Are ya’ll thankful that Jesus has changed you tonight?” Matt asked before the second verse.  By the end of the song, everyone was standing in ovation.  Matt mouthed “thank you” to the crowd as the following song kicked off, Thankful For The Change.  Howie was to be introduced next, and as Fowler began, “Well, this ‘in right here…” he noticed a couple walking up the stairs.  Not letting such an opportunity pass, Scott spontaneously called out, “Ah, he’s already run two folks off already.  We won’t let him sing!  Come back!…Oh, now I’ve embarrassed them.”  Howie jumped right in, “If you’re getting a funnel cake, bring me one!”  LOL  Finally, Scott introduced Howie, who came and sang Destination Known.  When that song ended, Fowler walked over to Trey and leaned on the grand piano, “Ready?” he asked.  “The baby of the group,” he teased, “now turn around cause’ the folks behind you up on the hill haven’t seen your face yet.”  Without skipping a beat Howie interjected, “And they paid extra for those seats!”  Scott thought that was funny and walked over to shake Howie’s hand, “That was good brother.”  Trey, L5’s pianist played a solo…a Classical one much to his bosses dismay.  But as it modulated into Leaning On The Everlasting Arms, the stage lights pulsed in rhythm with the beat.  Another standing O!  No L5 concert would be complete without Howie giving Trey a hard time about that musical piece, and so he did.  I Found Grace, one of their popular up-beat songs signaled intermission was upon us.

Legacy Five...

Ten to twenty minutes passed before the guys came back up on stage and took their mics in hand.  As the track for Strike Up The Band kicked off, Scott turned to the right and said, “Matt, I don’t remember if this is one I sent you or not.”  Howie added a comment that now wasn’t the time to realize that!  Teasing Howie, Scott told Matt to do the opposite of whatever Howie does.  Another oldie followed – Life Will Be Sweeter Someday.  When they reached the turn around that featured a bluesy piano solo, Howie called out, “That ain’t no Sonata right there folks!”  But when they executed a perfect vocal performance on the next part of the song, the audience sat clueless as to what they just heard.  Gus wasn’t convinced that they heard the “great fall” they did together; after all, it was the first time they’ve done it with Matt!  Gus sighed, “Give ‘em what they want…I think he should play it again.”  So Scott leaned against the piano and looked at Trey, “Don’t mind if I stare at you?”  Once again, Trey played the turn around and the guys sang the part with the “fall” in it and the audience applauded that time!  Before the next song began, Scott and Trey were whispering to each other and it took a moment until the track played.  With a mischievous grin, Fowler explained, “There’s a reason he didn’t want to do this one.”  The song was I’m Almost There, and as L5 fans now know, Trey sings the second verse.  Afterwards, Howie teased Trey, “It’s like the zoo.  What is the longest line at the zoo?  The monkeys!”  The audience, however, didn’t see the humor in that and sided with the pianist saying, “Awe.” Commenting on their response, Fowler said, “And the crowd turns ugly.”  But that didn’t stop Howie from getting his punch line in there, “Please don’t feed the piano players.”  LOL  Going from silly to serious, Scott shared the story of Patty and Hana, which introduced Ask Me Why.  Everyone stood for this powerful ballad and the guys encored it acapella.  The evening ended with the spine-tingling We Shall See Jesus – Matt did an excellent job on the verses!

Conclusion:  This was such a fun concert!  Everything was perfect!  Even though I knew, as did everyone else, that it was Matt’s first night – you couldn’t tell it from watching him interact with the group.  Everything just clicked!  I loved Glenn with L5, but as we all know, favorites come and go in Gospel Music.  Glenn spent 12 years with Legacy Five – that is something that I admire, respect and am thankful for.  He will be missed!  But at the same time, I’m very excited about Matt joining L5!  He is a perfect fit!  The concert itself was a hoot!  They told some different jokes and were just happy and spontaneous.  Out of all the things I enjoy most about SGM, my favorite part is when I go to sings and see the artists just bursting with joy and loving what they do – there is nothing quite like it!