By Marisa Dawson

When Sidewalk Prophets frontman Dave Frey described the band’s acoustic tour before arriving in Omaha, he said it wasn’t really a concert.

“It’s really just everybody hanging out,” he told us in an exclusive interview ahead of the show.

Last weekend at Community Bible Church in Omaha, that’s exactly what it felt like.

Instead of relying on elaborate production, flashing lights or a full-band spectacle, Frey transformed the evening into something much more personal. Between songs, he shared stories from his own life, reflected on the experiences that inspired the band’s music, and invited the audience into conversations that felt genuine and unfiltered. One moment had the crowd laughing at his humor, while the next brought the room to quiet reflection before erupting into a singalong.

Throughout the evening, Frey’s heart for sharing Christ’s love remained at the center of every story.

Before the concert, Frey said honesty has always been one of the band’s defining values.

“I think just being real, just being honest,” he said. “Just be real about what I’ve been walking through.”

That authenticity was evident all night.

Frey spoke openly about his family, sharing stories about meeting his wife and the birth of his son. One of the night’s most memorable moments came as he recalled singing Michael Jackson in the delivery room after doctors unexpectedly requested it during his son’s birth, drawing laughter throughout the venue before transitioning into the deeper meaning behind the experience.

Ahead of the concert, Frey had explained why that story continues to resonate with him.

“One of the nurses, after my son was born… said, ‘Isn’t it amazing that God gave us His only Son so that we could know what love is like?’ And that right there… I had to turn it into a song.”

Those deeply personal moments were balanced by plenty of humor. Frey frequently joked with the audience, making the intimate venue feel less like a performance and more like an evening spent with an old friend. Audience members eagerly joined him throughout the night, singing along to beloved songs that spanned decades and responding enthusiastically whenever invited to participate.

The setlist blended longtime favorites with newer material, opening with Live Like That before moving through songs including Prodigal, Save My Life, Show Me How to Love, Come to the Table, The Humble Kind, More Than That and the band’s signature hit, You Love Me Anyway.

The evening also featured heartfelt covers of Coldplay’s Fix You, Chris Tomlin’s How Great Is Our God woven together with How Great Thou Art, the Beatles’ Let It Be, and a moving encore performance of It Is Well With My Soul. During First Love, the audience rose to its feet, clapping and dancing together, while the worship medleys transformed the room into a congregation singing with one voice.

For Frey, creating those moments of connection has always been the goal.

“I think sitting in the audience, just getting to hear some of the stories behind the songs,” he said before the concert of the moment he would most want to experience as an audience member. “It really just made me feel like, man, I’m invested now because I kind of know their hearts a little more.”

That sense of connection stretched across generations. Families filled the audience, with young children, parents and grandparents singing many of the same songs together.

Reflecting on that before arriving in Omaha, Frey said seeing multiple generations worship together never gets old.

“I see grandparents and their grandkids all at our shows,” he said. “It really is such a blessing to see that, to know that hopefully our songs can resonate with a 5-year-old or a 95-year-old.”

Even after more than two decades as a band, Frey said those shared experiences continue to shape both his life and his songwriting.

“Having kids gives you a new perspective,” he said. “There’s so many things in life where… God never intended for everything to be perfect. He just wants you to go and try to do your best and serve Him, even when things seem like they’re falling apart around you.”

Those themes echoed throughout Saturday night’s performance, as stories of joy, grief, family and faith intertwined with songs that have become meaningful to listeners for more than 20 years.

Perhaps no song captured that message more fittingly than Smile. Introducing the song, Frey reflected on James 1:2, a Scripture he has often called one of his favorites, reminding the audience that joy can exist even in life’s trials, a theme woven throughout both his stories and the music.

By the time the encore concluded with The Words I Would Say, the audience had experienced far more than a concert. They had laughed together, worshipped together and, just as Frey had promised before arriving in Omaha, spent an evening feeling less like spectators and more like part of Sidewalk Prophets’ “Great Big Family.”