The Newsboy have been together as a band for some 20 years, so it’s really saying something to feel like “on every level, this was our strongest tour to date.”
That’s what the band’s keyboard player Jeff Frankenstein is saying after this past spring’s last leg of the “GO” tour.
And the band, now known as simply “newsboys,” is capturing all of its rock-the-house-down fervor, catchy, appealing sound, and its always-worshipful approach, on a new live CD.
In less than three weeks, on Sept. 30, the CD and DVD “newsboys live: Houston We Are Go,” will be released.
It’s hard to describe the cross-section of music the band is able to perform well, from catchy stadium rock to serene worship songs … and even disco, as I remember from seeing them in a dome in a parking lot in Hershey eight years ago during the band’s “Love, Liberty, Disco” tour.
The band has been around long enough for its first major hit, “Shine,” now to be played on oldies’ shows, but this always-exciting, always-challenging group has never stood still.
As Frankenstein says, the band’s fan base “is so diverse, from 3 to 93, (with) different ethnic, economic, denominational and religious backgrounds.”
 The new CD will feature both new hits (the singalong “I Am Free,” the gotta-dance-to-it, catchy drum-and-guitar-led “Wherever We Go” and the moving “Something Beautiful”) and the classics, like “Shine,” the who-can-ever-forget-it “Breakfast,” and the worship standard “He Reigns.”
Personally, I’ve seen them four times, including the time in the bubble, and can personally testify that they offer maybe the best show in Christian music.
I’ll always remember their cheerfully extravagant entrance once in Hersheypark Arena, during their “Take Me to Your Leader” tour, when they all emerged on stage like Martians in space suits. And then they rocked the old barn for two hours.
But my favorite newsboys’ moment came before a concert 11 years ago.
Having a chance to meet them backstage (they asked a bunch of us adult youth-leader types to pray with them), you could see so clearly the sincerity on the faces of singer Peter Furler, bass guy/singer Phil Joel, Frankenstein and the others.
That was even more impressive than their music success … five gold albums, more than 6 million in sales, and more than 20 number-one Christian radio hits.