Uprise Festival 2011

Me with Jonny, Ryan and Jordan from Kiros, a photo by pictureit17 on Flickr.

Uprise Festival 2011 was a lot of fun (if you can't tell from this photo). I took a lot of photos and haven't had the time even look through all of them yet, let alone post the good ones to Flickr. The concert was September 17 so hopefully I'll have a little more time this weekend to go through more of the photos. But anyway, Uprise was a lot of fun and the Wired Stage was pretty cool because you could go right up to the stage (which is pretty much level with the ground). It didn't start that way because people would hang back until the band would ask them to come closer to the stage... I didn't make it to the Rockstar Stage but I think it may have been like the mini version of the Main Stage. Uprise was set up more like Creation this year with the main Stage facing a hill where people set up their tarps, canopies and chairs. Unlike last year Uprise was pretty cold most of the day (I wore my hoodie most of the day) and one of the band on the main stage (I forget who they were) said something like "You people are lucky, in the south we have to pay for air condition, you guys get it for free."
I have to admit, although Creation was an awesome experience (even though I was only there one day) I prefer Uprise it's a lot smaller and you don't have to walk miles to get anywhere. so... It's a really fun day filled with good music, lots of fun, and overpriced food and coffee...

Creation East

Soul Glow in the Bubble, a photo by pictureit17 on Flickr.

I attended Creation East on Wednesday June 29. It was a pretty neat experience (except for the walking all over creation to get anywhere). I was the 2nd person behind the fence for Lecrae and Family Force 5. My friends and I left the no-mosh pit and joined the rest of or group on the hill/tarp area for Newsboys; it was awesome seeing all those people (yes it was my first time at Creation and it was just for the day). Check Flickr for more photos.

Via Flickr:
creation 290 copy

The Essay I Wrote About Winter Jam

Winter Jam 2011 was a concert I attended on January 28. I enjoyed it because all the bands preformed well, and attending with my best friend, Maddie made it even more memorable. Beginning with the Pre-Jam show, to screaming more high-pitched-girly than I knew I could during Red’s set, until leaving the Bryce Jordan center after the concert, it was more than worth the $10.

The Pre-Jam lineup consisted of: Chris Sligh, Chris August, and Sidewalk Prophets.

The bands featured at Winter Jam were RED, Newsong, Francesca Battistelli, David Crowder Band, KJ-52, Sanctus Real, and Newsboys. My favorites from the night are the following bands.

The hard rock foursome knows as RED. Their set was highly entertaining, especially the pyrotechnics. The songs they performed were, an opening song, Death of Me, Faceless, Not Alone, and last but not least, Breathe Into Me. During RED’s set Michael Barnes (lead vocals) did his usual running around, jumping onto risers, and head-banging. Anthony Armstrong (lead guitar, backing vocals) is never still, whether he is jumping on or off a riser, doing awesome guitar swings, or just rocking out. Randy Armstrong (bass guitar, backing vocals) rocks out, but not as hard as his brother. I wish Joe Rickard would have had a drum solo because those are fun to watch. Had RED done a full set I would have lost my voice. Four songs were not enough!

KJ-52 (pronounced five-two), was the only artist of the hip-hop genre at Winter Jam. I had been looking forward to his set. I was disappointed when he only did a couple remixes; this barely counts because they were considerably shorter than the original versions of the songs. Although KJ performed songs during other band set up/tear down, I expected him to have more time onstage.

Sanctus Real was really cool to see because they were only at select shows on the Winter Jam tour. They performed their songs well and were enjoyable to watch.

Newsboys, in my opinion were the best choice to close the night because they appealed to the most people. They did an excellent live show complete with flying guitarist Jody Davis and keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein over the audience on a movable platform with a crane arm. They did not exclude lead singer Michael Tait from the above, but his platform rose straight up. Newsboys’ drummer, Duncan Phillips who Michael Tait introduced as “the boy we call the beast” had a similar set up, his drum set was on a platform that rose above the stage, tilted and spun around. Duncan was really entertaining to watch, he twirled his drum sticks frequently, and had amusing facial expressions, especially the one I refer to as “Duncan’s Rawk Face”. My night did not end with Newsboys’ last song.

As soon as Newsboys finished their last song Maddie and I made our way to RED’s signing table. I wanted to get my poster signed and she really wanted to get a picture with Joe. We were hanging out near the signing table when I spotted RED. I first recognized Joe, then the twins, then Michael (giddy girly squealing was involved at this point). Upon seeing the band Maddie and I quickly made our way to the signing line, which was growing by the second. Shortly after we secured a decent spot in the signing line, a few people in front of us left. I noticed this empty space of opportunity however, Maddie did not. She appeared dazed and was staring off into space, so I pushed her into it. Upon realization of the event that took place, Maddie then thanked me for being “pushy”; no longer dazed she was excited at the prospect of getting her picture taken with Joe. When the band signed my poster I was mentally envying Joe’s leather jacket, in reality I said “hi” to Joe, and he said hi to me; whereas Maddie had a mini conversation with him. When Maddie and I found ourselves standing at the end of the signing table, we realized two things, one RED’s lead singer is really short; in the words of my 5’3” friend, “He’s legit shorter than me!” two, that there was no hope of either of us getting a photo with any of RED’s band members. Disappointed, and slightly annoyed, we made our way to KJ’s merchandise table, where people were getting their pictures taken with KJ. Maddie bought a KJ scarf she wanted before we headed outside to meet with our group.

The variety of music and overall good performances of the bands featured at Winter Jam made it an awesome concert to attend.

first post

So... here is my blog. I'm still new to it and will (hopefully) post some better stuff in the future.