Updates From the European Homecoming Tour
October 24
After Thursday evening’s concert in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the artists enjoyed a much-needed day of rest on Friday. Most spent the day sightseeing, shopping around City Centre and resting, then they met for dinner at a wonderful local restaurant for fish-n-chips.
Buddy Greene and Gordon Mote rode a giant Ferris Wheel in City Centre that offered wonderful views of the city and even of the hills beyond the city. Kevin Williams and Greg Ritchie visited a beautiful old church where they spent a few moments enjoying the quiet and admiring the incredible architecture.
After singing Saturday night in Glasgow, Scotland, the group headed to London for the last concert of the European Tour. Then Monday morning at 4:45 a.m. the group will meet in the hotel lobby to start their long journey home!
Buddy Greene and Gordon Mote rode a giant Ferris Wheel in City Centre that offered wonderful views of the city and even of the hills beyond the city. Kevin Williams and Greg Ritchie visited a beautiful old church where they spent a few moments enjoying the quiet and admiring the incredible architecture.
After singing Saturday night in Glasgow, Scotland, the group headed to London for the last concert of the European Tour. Then Monday morning at 4:45 a.m. the group will meet in the hotel lobby to start their long journey home!
Pictured below is one particularly exciting discovery Wes Hampton made today…
October 22
After the Homecoming concert in Hungary, Mark Lowry stated:
“Just finished the concert in Hungary for THE MOST EXCITED crowd I’ve EVER been in front of. I don’t have words that can describe it.”
Mark has posted more updates, including photos and videos, here.
October 20
On Tuesday we received a wonderful call from backstage in Sweden where Buddy Greene, Gordon Mote and Kevin Williams updated us on the progress of the European Homecoming Tour. The consensus is… Europe has been AMAZING, the crowds have been incredible, everyone is tired and missing home, yet the warmth of the people is helping to energize them every night.
Kevin Williams seems to have already picked up a European accent, which sounded like a blend of Swedish, German and Dutch. That, or he is suffering from sleep deprivation. (Probably the latter!) Buddy is even more homesick than he was the last time we spoke with him but was so excited and honored to be there. Gordon had lost his hairbrush somewhere between Copenhagen and Sweden, so hopefully someone helped him out so he didn’t have bad hair for the wonderful Swedish audience that was already starting to gather when we spoke.
The October 19 concert in Copenhagen seems to have been the most surprising concert of the trip for several reasons. It was exciting to hear them explain their experience there! It was the first-ever gospel concert in the Copenhagen venue, and people who were familiar with Copenhagen couldn’t believe anyone would attempt to bring a gospel concert there. And not only did people come… it was sold out! Another pleasant surprise was the incredible venue. The venue was designed for the symphony, so it was built for sound and, since seating was in the round, the crowd surrounded the stage on all sides up to about 60 feet high in a bowl-shaped set-up. From the moment the artists stepped onto the stage until the last note was sung, the crowd last night was unbelievable! It was a much-needed experience that reminded the artists once again that God is doing something very unique through this time in Europe.
They specifically asked all of us to pray for strength and energy throughout the coming week. So please keep holding them up in your prayers! Thanks to all of our European friends who have been so kind… you have blessed our family of artists more than you know!
We are beginning to receive photos from concerts that took place earlier in the tour, so we will do our best to get those photos posted in the coming days! Thanks for staying in touch.
October 19
October 15-17
On the morning of October 15, the artists met at 10:00 a.m. to leave Athens and travel to East Berlin, Germany. While in Berlin, some visited the East Berlin Wall downtown, including Ernie Haase, who posted a video of the area on his blog here.
The European Tour has turned out incredible audiences who have overwhelmed the
Homecoming group with their love and support. The artists’ schedules have been intense and tiring, but Ernie reports that last night offered the chance for really great night’s sleep! That’s a great help in keeping everyone healthy and in great voice!
On October 17th, Janet Paschal posted (via Twitter) the following photo of Oslo from her hotel room window. The evening concert in Oslo promises to be an exciting one, as the Homecoming Friends have many enthusiastic Norwegians awaiting this concert.
October 14
The next concert will be in Berlin, Germany on Friday night, October 16th.
Also, thanks to Lynda Randle, who captured these photos in Greece, including the Athens Amphitheatre and the Acropolis!
Mark Lowry met up with the Gaither Vocal Band in Greece and has been reporting (via Twitter) that, after a delicious lunch (which included salmon with the heads still attached) the artists took a guided tour of Corinth before the second Homecoming concert in Athens. He also sent the photo below of the poster promoting the Athens concert.
Wes Hampton reports (via Twitter): “Had a fun day today at Corinth. Laughed a LOT. Had lunch outside at a place just feet away from the shore of the Mediterranean Sea… gorgeous!”
October 13
Here are more great photos sent by Wes Hampton on October 13 via Twitter!
Wes Hampton has an updated blog post highlighting the Homecoming Tour’s visit to Athens, Greece, plus some incredible photos! Here’s one sightseeing photo (above) and you can visit Wes’s Blog here for his update and more photos! Mark Lowry now joins the tour in Greece after fulfilling solo engagements in the U.S. to which he had committed before the European Tour had been scheduled.
October 12
New photo of the October 11th concert in Switzerland, taken by concert attendee Alexandra Niederhauser. Thanks, Alexandra, for capturing this image of the concert’s finale!
October 11
Photos from Rotterdam and Frankfurt sent by Lynda Randle:
Feedback received from the October 10 concert in Rotterdam:
A concert attendee by the name of Martha attended the Homecoming concert in Rotterdam on October 11th and reported about the evening on www.gaithercommunity.com. Here is an excerpt edited from her report:
...At 6.45 the videos at the screens stopped and we heard some “beautyfull” guitar-playing from Kevin (I must have his CD) and he welcomed us and welcome we felt.
I cannot tell what I loved the most. I love them all: Janet, with her very touching song, “It Won’t Rain Always,” Lynda (I listen to her songs very often and I saw her singing live for the first time), Gloria had a very touching speech, Ernie Haase and Signature Sound,(I saw Ernie singing like I never thought he would do, like Elvis Presley), you were great, guys! Buddy singing songs and playing his harmonica, you were great again Buddy! Kevin and Buddy even said some in Dutch (I think they must have practice a while)... Buddy even said “Bach” in Dutch… that is difficult! Gordon, I enjoyed your piano playing and your songs very much. And last but not least the Gaither Vocal Band… We missed Mark, but we called his name together (he must have heard it) and very surprising, we saw him singing while the band was singing a song and it was just if he was there. Thanks to the technicians!
After the break they all came at stage and each of them did their perfomances and we also enjoyed the hymns (and sang together) and the different styles. Thank you Bill and Gloria who made all this possible. We are so very blessed…”
Another attendee, known as Auke, reports that the Power of Love – as in The Love of God – seemed to be the theme of the night. The message of the music gave him and a family member who attended with him some much-needed perspective. He express his gratitude for the night, stating, “Thank you Bill & Gloria for a wonderful night.”
Photos from Rotterdam and Frankfurt sent by Lynda Randle:
Feedback received from the October 10 concert in Rotterdam:
A concert attendee by the name of Martha attended the Homecoming concert in Rotterdam on October 11th and reported about the evening on www.gaithercommunity.com. Here is an excerpt edited from her report:
...At 6.45 the videos at the screens stopped and we heard some “beautyfull” guitar-playing from Kevin (I must have his CD) and he welcomed us and welcome we felt.
I cannot tell what I loved the most. I love them all: Janet, with her very touching song, “It Won’t Rain Always,” Lynda (I listen to her songs very often and I saw her singing live for the first time), Gloria had a very touching speech, Ernie Haase and Signature Sound,(I saw Ernie singing like I never thought he would do, like Elvis Presley), you were great, guys! Buddy singing songs and playing his harmonica, you were great again Buddy! Kevin and Buddy even said some in Dutch (I think they must have practice a while)... Buddy even said “Bach” in Dutch… that is difficult! Gordon, I enjoyed your piano playing and your songs very much. And last but not least the Gaither Vocal Band… We missed Mark, but we called his name together (he must have heard it) and very surprising, we saw him singing while the band was singing a song and it was just if he was there. Thanks to the technicians!
After the break they all came at stage and each of them did their perfomances and we also enjoyed the hymns (and sang together) and the different styles. Thank you Bill and Gloria who made all this possible. We are so very blessed…”
Another attendee, known as Auke, reports that the Power of Love – as in The Love of God – seemed to be the theme of the night. The message of the music gave him and a family member who attended with him some much-needed perspective. He express his gratitude for the night, stating, “Thank you Bill & Gloria for a wonderful night.”
October 10
Last night’s concert in Frankfurt, Germany, reportedly went incredibly! The artists were up late last night after the concert greeting folks and getting ready for an early Saturday morning. They left the hotel at 8:00 a.m. for a five-and-a-half hour bus ride to Rotterdam and, after arriving at the hotel in Rotterdam, learned that it was the wrong hotel. But they eventually got settled at the correct hotel, hoping to get a little rest before tonight’s concert in the Netherlands. Thanks for all the prayers for safety, health and lots of energy as their schedule is non-stop during the next three weeks!
October 9
Friday morning, Wes Hampton blogged here and let us know how he spent his day in Frankfurt. Read Wes’s blog here…
Lynda Randle called at 5:20 p.m.
Frankfurt time (11:30 a.m. Eastern Time) from backstage. She told us
about a meal she enjoyed last night that resembled “green egss &
ham” and though we can’t pronounce the name of the dish, she has shared
the following photos from their dinner last night. The first photo is
of the city of Frankfurt, the second is the restaurant where Bill and
Gloria ate Thursday evening with a group of the Homecoming artists. The
third is a photo of her “green eggs & ham”!
Bill [Gaither] walked by during the call
and told us to say “hello” to everyone! Buddy Greene also joined the
conversation and sent out greetings to all of you, but he was a little
homesick for his wife. I think we even saw a little tear—or did he have
something in his eye? Either way, they had to go so Buddy could call
Vicky. They will update us after the first concert at their earliest
opportunity!
Gloria blogged from Europe! Read her blog post updating us on her first day, bringing us up to a few minutes after the concert started...Read Gloria's blog here.
October 8
Wes Hampton took this photo and sent it out via Twitter…
