Maverick City Music

EPCOT’s Garden Rocks Concert Series, Walt Disney World, FL – May 11-12, 2025

Editor’s Note:

As you’ll read in this review, my family and I had to leave Sunday night’s Maverick City Music show during EPCOT’s Garden Rocks series after the first performance was rained out just two songs in. Thankfully, our good friend—and incredibly kind 12-year-old—Ella stayed behind and offered to write a review for us.

Very little was changed in her original writing—mainly style, grammar, and spelling corrections—because we wanted to preserve the heart of her words. What you’re about to read is the genuine experience of a thoughtful and joyful young fan, and we’re honored to share her voice here.

We’ll be sharing more about Ella and her mission of kindness later this month as part of our Mental Health Awareness Series on Kingdom Builder.

—Mike Laxton
#KingdomBuilder

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Rain came, wind blew, but nothing was gonna stop me from getting to my Mavericks lol. What a fun, exciting weekend to come down to Orlando and go to EPCOT—and not only get interviewed about my kindness and anti-bullying bracelets, but to get to go and see not one, but five Maverick City Music shows… well, 4 1/4. Even though we waited in line for many, many hours for the first Maverick show in a lot of hot weather, it didn’t matter. I would have waited a long time to see them—and so did a lot of people. People were even standing in the rain and lightning to wait in line. We were with good friends and met some really nice people in line, and I would pretty much do anything to go to a Maverick show, including flying all the way down to Florida.

Unfortunately, as soon as the show started, the rain really did come—and lightning too—and they had to cancel the show. I almost started to cry, and the line was soooo long for the next show—all the way into Germany—that there was no way we were going to get into that one. We were soaked, tired, and hungry, and it was not good. Luckily, our friend in the band, who has been super kind to me and my family, made it so I didn’t have to wait in line again for the next two shows.

So let me tell you about the music. Naomi Raine, as always, ate. What that means in preteen language is she did really good. She sang lots of songs, but Jireh was, of course, the best one! Her voice is very amazing, and she makes it look like it’s so easy. It is also always so much fun to watch Brunes Charles play the guitar—he is always dancing his heart out and being cra cra. There was a new (to us, I guess) lead guy singer named Dante Bowe, who I have never seen before, who was the Chandler doppelgänger—and he was really, really, really good. He had energy that was kind of crazy.

One of my most favorite people to see and watch is Sam Simon on keys. It was also really fun to see some of our other favorite Mavericks, and I felt especially blessed to hear Mara Justine sing Standstill, which is a song that means a lot to me. I hope one day I get to be a Maverick like Mara. We also really like Kadidia Christel, and we have seen her at a bunch of Maverick shows before—and she sang a solo and killed it. I was happy I got to give her a bracelet and hope I can get a picture with her someday. Nick Day and Singer4Jesus (Genavieve Linkowski), who we also follow on Instagram, were also there, and both were awesome. I don’t know if people pay attention to all the guys like the drummer and all the other band members, but I do—and they were all awesome! I have watched a lot of shows from their stage perspective when they sometimes go Live, and it is kind of amazing to see how it all works back there.

Each show opened up with I Thank God, led by none other than Noah from the JWLKRS—and he’s the best. This is a really good song too, and I highly recommend it. This is like the signature opening song for a Maverick show, I feel like. I got to say hi to Noah and his sister—who, by the way, is very kind and pretty—and give them some bracelets and crosses. Other songs that were sung on night one were Million Little Miracles, Standstill, Jireh, In the Room, and a few others like Fight My Battles and Fear is Not My Future. Each show was about 30 minutes, so I didn’t have a ton of time. Not one person was sitting down during the show, I don’t think. When they were singing In the Room, everybody was singing along with them.

On night two, the weather was a lot better, and we were able to make it to two out of the three shows. It was a little bit different, and Naomi did an amazing ministry specifically to kids and sang The Story I’ll Tell, which inspires me to tell my story. She sang over and over, “How will they know if you don’t tell them?”

There were a ton of great backup singers, and I think one of the funnest parts about going to a Maverick show is everybody on stage is always having such a good time. You can tell these guys care about each other. There is no doubt that they love God and are here to spread His love and message. And they do it with energy that everybody feels. My mom and I cry and then feel good a few minutes later. Their music always makes me feel closer to God, and I listen to it a lot. When they played In the Room, which is one of the best songs ever, you could feel God’s presence. I always feel the Holy Spirit at a Maverick show.

Mike was supposed to be doing this review, but he and his family had to go home after the first rainout. We are glad we got to at least worship one song with them. Thank you so much to Mike for getting us tickets to Disney, and I hope everybody likes our interview about the bracelets. I was very nervous and I didn’t get to say everything I wanted to say, so I just wanna let everybody know that kindness is better, and God is good—even in the times that you don’t think He’s there for you, He really is. He has a plan. I never planned to give out all these bracelets, but God kind of made it happen. I get to give kindness and joy to a lot of people, and also remind them to stand up for others and that bullying is really serious and bad and can have really bad after effects. I don’t think people realize how bad bullying can be and how much it can hurt somebody—and even somebody’s family—and that can last for a really long time.

When I started giving out my bracelets, I never expected for people to be so kind to me. The Mavericks have been especially kind to me and supported me. I listen to their music all the time because it helps me and my family, but it’s also fun. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and my family, especially Maverick City Music. My friend there, Sam, wears my bracelet every day—and sometimes when things get really hard and we see a post with him and that bracelet, it gives me hope too and makes me feel good and special.

While I was in Orlando, I got to have my very first real interview in my life. It was a little scary, and I hope you guys will watch it.

So now my only question is: When is Maverick going back to Disney so we can go again? Or the bigger question is: When is the next tour? ’Cause I can hardly wait.

Thank you for reading this.
🧡🤍🩵
Ella
Just Be Kind

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P.S. from the Editor:
We hope you enjoyed this heartfelt review from Ella! Be sure to follow her on Instagram at @justbekindbraceletsbyella to support her mission of spreading kindness.

—Mike Laxton

More is coming soon as Ella shares her story publicly—and on camera—for the very first time. We’ll do our best to post it here once it’s ready, but until then, enjoy some special moments from the event below!