Show Recap: Heavenfest 2010

Heavenfest had a new home this year, probably due in small part to my blog post last year that got me an email from some of the organizers and a little heated discussion. But in the end I was right, the traffic situation last year was terrible, and herding everyone through the same entrance was also a terrible idea. The organizers took note and moved Heavenfest to Longmont on a bigger piece of land, closer to the freeway, and used multiple entrances. This is only the third year Heavenfest has been around so there’s definitely a learning curve, but I can’t help and think that they should be looking at the other successful music festivals that have been around for years like Cornerstone, Sonshine (29 years), Warped Tour, and many more.

This year went really well, I only had a few issues that I’ll get out of the way first. The doors opened at 10a and Tahoe and I left my place about 11a and made it to the parking lot right about 1130a. We bypassed the huge line of cars waiting to get into the 1^st parking lot and drove effortlessly into the second lot, no line at all. Heavenfest probably should have posted signs to let people know about the second lot and avoided a ton of that traffic. After parking we got in line, a long line. This wouldn’t be the last line we got in. I figured that it was 30 minutes before the bands started playing and I was very intent on seeing the opening band for the Heavy Music Stage, Hundredth, one of my favorites. Apparently a 30-minute cushion wasn’t nearly enough time to get through the ridiculous entrance line. Everyone in the line was eventually split into two lines, one for people who needed to buy tickets, and one for people who already had tickets via Will Call or Email confirmation. We needed Will Call so we got in that line, along with hundreds of other people. There were only about 5 computers being used to check-in people, and I know these are run by volunteers, but you’re gonna need more than 5 computers when you expect 30,000+ people to be arriving at roughly the same time.

At the beginning of the line you have a bag search. You were allowed to bring a lot of different items, which was cool, especially water. But on the walk up to the line it was hot and I opened my water, Tahoe did not open his. I was forced to dump out my 95% full large water at the beginning of the line, why? This isn’t the TSA, I’m not flying around, one sniff and you know it’s not Vodka. Very lame, especially at an event so intent on raising awareness for things like clean water in third-world countries, and here I am along with a bunch of other people, pouring out perfectly clean water onto the ground. So then we stand in line in direct sunlight, 90 degrees, no water, for about an hour. Obviously we missed Hundredth and the beginning of the next band In The Midst of Lions.

Not wanting to miss any more bands we took the half-mile walk to the HM Stage right during In The Midst of Lions set. The first couple of bands had a tight schedule, 30 minutes each including setup/sound check. So the fact that ITMOL was halfway through their set meant that we were in line until about 1245p, nonsense. Also, because of the tight schedule bands weren’t doing full sound checks, only making sure their instruments were on and then the sound guy would adjust everything during the first song. Most bands only played 5 songs in 20 minutes so it was a little rough. The other interesting and slightly lame thing at the HM Stage was that there was a barrier right down the middle of the crowd. Basically the sound guy, back about 20 yards, had his own fenced off path going directly to the stage. This was probably so he could get there quickly and fix things. However it made for an awkward crowd dynamic where a majority of the crowd was on one side (the side closest to the rest of the festival). That side had a ton of kids, but the other side was really empty, you could walk right up to the stage for almost any band. Never seen that before, it was weird and there didn’t really seem to be a need for it, maybe to protect the cables running from the soundboard to the stage.

My last complaint was the lack of shade. It was freaking hot and there was no shade anywhere. Not really sure what could have been done about that but it was tough, for everyone.

After ITMOL it was The Great Commission, a “heavy worship” band. They were pretty good, really inciting the crowd with stuff like “when people tell you that this music isn’t worship music, or that it sounds evil, you tell them that God doesn’t hear our guitars or what’s coming out of our amps, He hears what is coming out of our hearts.” Kids were eating that stuff up, and for the most part he made some good points. They ended their set with a cover of Hillsong United which was pretty cool.

After The Great Commission it was one of my other favorite bands I The Breather. They had a lot of problems with their equipment and the guitar player had to switch guitars mid-song. Only maybe the last two songs were full-strength, High Rise and a new song. They had a lot of energy but the crowd just wasn’t into it due to the sound problems.

After I The Breather we decided to get lunch and miss The Crimson Armada. This is where we encountered more lines and made a painfully dumb decision. Tahoe and I stood in the water line (there was free water if you had a water bottle, one of the best things about Heavenfest, a great idea and it worked pretty well). The line took about 20 minutes until we got to fill up our bottles, then we decided to get lunch. We opted for the pizza, which was awesome, huge pieces, I’m talking over and inch thick and probably 6” X 6” and for only $6. Great deal, except the 30-minute line. So if Tahoe and I would have split up, one went for water and the other for food, we would have saved ourselves 30 minutes. But our consolation was getting to catch the entire Petra set from the main stage! Haha, it was pretty entertaining, I thought it was pretty cool.

We ate our food and watched The Color Morale and Sheridan (from Denver). Both bands were pretty good but there was just so much new material for us, neither of us are really listeners of most of the bands on the lineup. After these guys we traveled around to the different merch tables and tents. We didn’t find anything of interest so we finally decided to just stay at the HM Stage. We caught the whole set for A Plea for Purging which I have to admit I really enjoyed. I’ve seen them live probably 5-6 times now and was never interested before but they were good this time, maybe I’m a fan now?

Next up was Blessed by a Broken Heart, and this is where the madness started. The band had some issues getting started; they have some tracks and electric drums so there was a little more stuff to prepare. Once they finally got going you could tell something wasn’t right. BBABH have had some serious troubles on this current tour they’re on (Scream the Prayer Tour) from car troubles, to equipment trouble, to personal issues that one band member had to fly home for. All that and the fact that they don’t have a huge following to begin with. The crowd just wasn’t into it and it was a small crowd to start with since the Supertones were playing on the Rock Stage at the same time. This will probably be the end BBABH, and you could tell they’ve seen the writing on the wall.

Near the end of the set the singer instructed all of the “big people” to gather at the side of the stage. Halfway through “Carry On” the singer climbed up the stack of speakers, grabbed a hold of the tie-downs that were supporting the roof of the stage and climbed all the way up to the top of the roof, with his microphone. From there he said he was going to jump, it was probably 25’ feet high. He sang the rest of the verse and then flipped onto the crowd. It was impressive I must admit, but pretty dangerous. After that song they went into their closer which is a mashup of hip-hop and pop songs, with hardcore drums/guitars. The Great Commission guitarists joined the band on stage, which made the song chaotic and silly. Near the end of the song the singer invited the crowd onto the stage, which meant fans had to climb over the barrier, bypass security and climb up the stage. It was a terrible idea and very disrespectful to the festival as chaos ensued. Quickly the power was cut and things were breaking. Police and backup security showed up and the crowd was dispersed. Things were broken and we were informed that the stage would be down for probably an hour.

Usually that means that the bands just get delayed, but Heavenfest has specific plans at 9p, The Sacred Assembly on the main stage while the other stages are shutdown. This meant that between 6p and 9p the sets from For Today, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Sleeping Giant, and the headliners The Devil Wears Prada would all have to be shortened as to finish by 9p. This was pretty lame since these were obviously the biggest bands of the day and the ones that most fans came to see.

Fortunately during this time we found some shade from which we could still watch the stage, and hang out with my other buddy Jordan and his family. So we chilled for For Today and Maylene, both played like 30-minute sets plus sound check/breakdown. Mattie from For Today couldn’t resist the chance to preach which ate up another 5-10 minutes even though Chad, the MC of the stage (from Come & Live) tried to get him off the stage. The Devil Wears Prada were going to get their full set no matter what, since they were the headliners, so that meant that Sleeping Giant got pinched into about 20 minutes. They were great though, Sleeping Giant, Tommy really knows how to talk to a crowd and connect with people. He apologized to the security guards for the lack of respect/honor shown by BBABH and really spoke with genuine care. They played 5 songs; “Blame it on the Holy Rollers”, “No One Leaves This Room Sick”, “Pale Horse” and “Gang Signs” were the ones I remember. Tommy couldn’t do his testimony / “Whoremonger” because of time restraints.

Last up was The Devil Wears Prada and they were great as usual. Their setup is solid, no real soundchecks so you don’t even see the band until they’re on stage playing “Danger:Wildman”. Despite the heat they were relentless with Mike roaming back and forth across the stage. They played most of the their typical live set including “Assistant to the Reginal Manager”, “Hey John…”, “Reptar…” “Sassafras” and “HTmL Roolz”. They also played at least one really old song since this is technically part of their Back to the Roots Tour. Also from their upcoming Zombies EP they played “Outnumbered”. Since their set was cut short we didn’t get the normal encore including “Louder Than Thunder”, they just played “Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over.” It was a little sketchy near the end of the set since it was so dark at the stage, there were no lights on the crowd so the pits were pretty dangerous, but we survived.

All in all this was probably my 2^nd best Heavenfest experience, the initial Heavenfest was so much fun so that will be tough to beat. A few tweaks here and there and I’m sure next year will be even better than this year, but who can top Petra?

Show Recap: Sonshine Festival @ Wilmar, MN

Alan and I camped out at the Sonshine Festival in Wilmar, Minnesota. 3 days of Christian bands spread out on 3 different stages, but we were there mainly for the metal stage. there were so many bands that i'm just going to give short recaps and fly through the bands that we actually saw.

Thursday night was essentially the Scream the Prayer Tour lineup, featuring For Today, Sleeping Giant, Oh Sleeper, Gwen Stacy, The Chariot, and Haste the Day. For Today and Sleeping Giant are what you might call "militant Christian" metal, in your face, tough-guy hardcore. Both bands didn't bring their A-game and were somewhat disappointing.

Gwen Stacy was the first good band we saw. They only played 5 songs but they bring it, fun choruses to sing along with, and quite the following for an early-in-the-evening band. After Gwen Stacy was Oh Sleeper, a favorite of Alan's and mine. They were on-fire! They had replaced their stolen guitar and were able to play 2 new songs, Son of the Morning and The Finisher, both were awesome. The crowd was totally into the set and Oh Sleeper responded, playing better than they did on Tuesday night in Denver, and they were having fun inciting chaos in the crowd.

After their last song, Vices Like Vipers, which was crazy, Micah the lead singer, said that we had one last chance to rock out, and organized the crowd for the "Wall of Death". Basically this is like the parting of the Red Sea, i've done this a few times, most notably at Sick of it All shows, in little venues where people don't have much room. but by the time to two sides of the crowd had split, there was easily 20 yards between us and them. As the front line people began to back out Alan and I found ourselves facing the front line full of teenagers with no feeling of pain. the song kicked in and both sides ran at each other (think Braveheart) and Bam!, bodies everywhere. i spent the next 30 seconds saving lives and enjoying my extra adrenaline-induced strength that allowed me to throw teenagers everywhere and saves the people who landed on the ground.

Wall of Death at a Sick of it All show (excuse the language):

after recovering from that we took a break, skipped Sleeping Giant, the Showdown and Agraceful. We went over to the main stage to check out Family Force 5, which lasted about 10 seconds before we decided that they were lame and went back to the metal stage to see The Chariot. They were great again, apparently their van had broken down and they just barely made it, but they were awesome. After that was Flatfoot 56 and they were terrible, and i hate them.

The headliners for Thursday were Haste the Day. Once again they were on their game, and once again the momentum slowed down when Stephen picked up a guitar and played the 2 slow songs. But it was cool because they played an encore, American Love, and all was forgiven. their new drummer, Giuseppe from Once Nothing (check out the link!), might be the best drummer i've ever seen, he's ridiculous, and he did a drum solo before the encore that was epic.

On Friday we got up early, 10a, and headed over to the hip-hop stage to catch Big Al. he was pretty good i guess. Christian rap is weird to me, but whatever. Then we went over to the main stage to get ready for Glorious Unseen. This is where i ran into one of Kassie's friends, Angela and got to talk to her. On the stage was Tal & Acacia, 2 girls who were quite impressive. Tal (or Acacia?) plays guitar and both girls sing. they were from England i'm guessing (wrong, they're from Nashville, thanks Alan!) and their style was a little quirky and both Alan and I liked it, but not enough to grab a pink cd!

Up next was the Glorious Unseen, one of our favorite bands, and they were awesome. They played Tonite the Stars Speak, Forever Holy, and some new songs of their upcoming EP. I wish they could of played longer than 30 minutes, they only got through 5 songs i think. But David Crowder was on the side stage obviously enjoying them too.

After that we scampered back to the metal stage to check out some bands we'd never heard of. For All Those Sleeping were pretty bad, the Midnight Suit, who are now called The Suit, were awesome. they were a blend of punk/hardcore and some heavy breakdowns. they really impressed, and were full of fun energy, playing a cover of Lady Gaga's Just Dance that went over really well (hear it on their myspace), totally checking these dudes out!

up next was local metal band Your Memorial, which Alan liked but i wasn't too into, they're straight-forward metal. Hands followed them and they were pretty good despite having a guitar player as their lead singer which usually takes a little off the intensity and crowd-participation. they were really tight and had a good crowd following, i'd check'em out.

after that we went and took a nap, skipping A Plea For Purging and Impending Doom. We woke up and headed to the main stage for an awesome time of worship with David Crowder. They are so good live, great humor, great set, and just overall a really moving time. David Crowder busted out the usual key-tar, and then a Guitar Hero guitar that had been modified by drummer Bwhack. good times.

After that we headed back to the metal stage for what was probably the best band of the weekend; August Burns Red! man, i have just been getting into these guys so i only knew a few of the songs, but it didn't matter. people were climbing the walls just to get a view, easily the biggest crowd we saw. we fought our way to the pits and hardcore danced for what seemed like an hour. They played an encore even though they weren't headlining, man they were good.

After that was the headliners, Norma Jean, a band that always brings the energy (and apparently fans like David Crowder, he was in the pit with the rest of us kids). They rocked out about 3 songs before something on the drums broke, which happens at every Norma Jean show. After that was fixed, lead singer Cory Brandan instructed the crowd to pick up anything plastic off the ground and when the song kicks in, to throw the trash in the air, and keep throwing it. the crowd followed instruction and we were all doused with water and whatever else was in the trash for the next 60 seconds. After that they played the hits, ending with a quasi-encore. pretty good set.

Both of us had to leave the next morning, so we missed out on War of Ages, As I Lay Dying, Austrian Death Machine, and Living Sacrifice. it was a bummer, but we'll have more chances!

good times!

Show Recep: Scream the Prayer Tour @ Cervantes

It was a pretty good night, the Christian B-Team rolled through Denver and put on a pretty good show. Apparently Denver was held in high-regard according to a few of the bands, who had nothing but bad things to say about the previous tour stop, Salt Lake City, Utah. I don't know if it was the presence of the Mormon youth that ruined the night, or if SLC's scene-kids are bigger in number, and more annoying than most stops (because most stops have annoying scene-kids). i do know that SLC is to blame for stealing one of Oh Sleeper's guitars, therefore forcing the band to change their set list on the fly and sticking to old songs, so thats lame on the part of SLC.

but it was good for Denver.

This show was at Cervantes in downtown Denver, and the doors opened at 3p. I'd done my research and found out that the show usually didn't start for about an hour, and since Tahoe and I are old-dudes, we didn't want to stand around for 6 hours so we decided to go a little late. Unfortunately i wanted to see Corpus Christi who was the opener, but i had no desire to see the following handful of bands; Agraceful, A Plea For Purging, and For Today. So we left for the show around 430p, and just to get the timing perfect we drove all the way to the venue only to realize that Tahoe had forgotten his ticket, so we drove back to Lakewood, then back to the venue again! i think this was maybe divine intervention because as we strolled into the venue, the show was in-between bands, probably just after For Today and getting ready for Gwen Stacy. It's rare to get to a show and have the first band you see actually be a legit band, usually you have to sit through some crap first, but Gwen Stacy might have had the most energetic crowd of the whole night.

Gwen Stacy was really good. I think they only played 5 songs but that's alright. The crowd was very supportive and two separate circle-pits broke out. there was a surprisingly high number of "hardcore kids" doing ridiculous hardcore/scene dances that i thought were reserved for more angry/violent bands but i was wrong, and so was the Staff dude standing next to me. As kids were flailing around karate kicking the air i had to step in and actually protect the 6' security dude, i guess he had no idea what he was getting into. anyway, Gwen Stacy, solid, they played a short set that included The Fear In Your Eyes, If We Live Right We Can't Die Wrong, Gone Fishing, Path To Certainty, and the closer was Gun Held To the Head. great set!

I was thinking that the show had a pretty high standard to reach now, set by Gwen Stacy, and some of the bands delivered. Next up was Oh Sleeper which was probably the band i was most excited to see. They have a new album coming out in August called Son Of The Morning and i had been listening to the one released song, Son Of The Morning, which they had been playing on the tour. As they started their set you could tell instantly that the crowd wasn't as excited and lacked some energy. Despite that i got up front and sang along with the tunes, I Will Welcome the Reaping and Charlatan's Host. I had read that the band was playing 3 songs off the new record so i found it odd that they played I Will Welcome the Reaping, Charlatan's Host, and Building the Nations right off the bat, knowing that they would close with Vices Like Vipers. Micah, the singer, started talking about how good it was to be in Denver, and that they didn't have a good time in Salt Lake. Apparently they had a guitar stolen and for some reason, that meant that they couldn't play any new songs! what a bummer! Now i really don't like SLC! but they made up for by playing The Siren's Song which is my favorite Oh Sleeper song. These guys are pretty tight and the new drummer appeared to be pretty comfy switching up the set on a days notice, thankfully! Then they closed with Vices Like Vipers which everyone at the show knew the words to so it went off well.

Next up was Project86, the O.G.'s of metalcore/hardcore. I'd never seen these guys live, or heard one of their songs. They got really popular back when POD and No Innocent Victim were cool and i just never checked them out. Well they put on a pretty good show for being old dudes, and the crowd was really into them. I don't know their songs but i heard him say that they played Two Glass Eyes, some song about Ichabod, and the closer was Spy Hunter. good energy and crowd participation!

The Sleeping Giant was up. probably the most controversial band on the tour, and a holdover from last years tour. Sleeping Giant is sort of like Madball/First Blood/War of Ages feel, militant Christian hardcore. i say they were controversial because their music is lacking any real creativity and their message/lyrics are blatant and in your face. I know this rubs some people the wrong way, i didn't mind the message, but i did mind the boring sound, it all sounded like one long song. As they chugged through No One Leaves This Room Sick ("if your church isn't showing you the healing of the sick, they're not showing you the full Christ") and Blame It On The Holy Rollers it seemed that the crowd was really getting into the set. the played about 4 songs, and one message about Christ and then the most powerful moment of the night came. The lead singer basically gave his 5 minute testimony. Now i'm not the biggest fan of testimonies, nor do i like lead singers that preach from the stage, but as the singer got through the first minute of his testimony the whole place was dead-silent. i'm not joking, i just kept thinking that "wow, no one is talking to anyone else!". it was awesome. the testimony was powerful, and if there were non-believers there (doubtful but possible) then they couldn't deny the message that was spoken. That lead into Whoremonger, which is the song that accompanies the testimony

It's easy to stand there and be critical of Sleeping Giant, i felt like a Pharisee in the back of the room laughing as they shouted "Don't You Judge Me!!" and stomped their feet. But the band knows their identity, and they're not afraid to proclaim Christ as the Saviour. After Whoremonger they closed with a song of worship, Oh Praise Him. This lasted about 10 minutes and was pretty cool, the whole place was singing along while one-by-one band members set down their instruments and walked off the stage. i was impressed, it was pretty cool.

Up next was a big contrast; The Chariot. These guys could probably take credit for all of the scene dancing / craziness that happens at these shows. i was expecting chaos and i pretty much got it. You could say that The Chariot is more about experience than about the actual music, they used all kinds of lights on the stage that were pointed at the crowd, they all had their own drum to beat on, at one point christian hardcore legend Josh Scogin was swinging a garage light around like a lasso! Anyway, i'm not the biggest fan of the band, but their stage presence was awesome. i couldn't even tell you what songs they performed, i didn't recognize any of them except Daggers and Dead Policeman which they closed with. pretty good!

Last up was the headliner, Haste the Day, one of my favorite bands! I've seen them a few times and they're always good. unfortunately every time i've seen them the sound quality has been poor or too quiet, but last night they were plenty loud. Before the show i had read a rumor that Brennan, one of the last of 2 original members left in the band, had quit. Haste the Day has changed singers, writers, guitar players, and last Christmas their longtime drummer moved on. All that was left was an original guitar player and bass player, so the news that Brennan, the guitarist, had quit was disheartening. Haste picked up the guitarist from A Plea For Purging to fill in for the rest of the tour. Either way HTD played well, but their set list left some holes for sure. First off, Stephen the lead singer, picked up a guitar about halfway through the set and lead the band in Porcelain and An Adult Tree. the songs are good but Tahoe and I both concluded that they didn't add much to the show, especially at the sacrifice of such great songs like American Love and Resolve. They played the rest of the classics though; Walk On, Blue 42, Pressure the Hinges, Mad Man, 68, White Collar, and then closed with When Everything Falls. I had read that they were doing encores but apparently Denver wasn't loud enough so we didn't get one.

On a side note, for all of you stage-diver / crowd-walker / crowd-surfers; you can't jump off the stage when the crowd is only like 5-6 people deep. many people landed hard on the floor because the crowd wasn't compact enough, and it was full of girls and 14yr old boys that are about as strong as the girls. near the end of HTD's set anger was starting to set in with some of the crowd and a few fights broke out. i really don't get this, especially at a "Christian" show where the lyrics/songs have no anger or violence at all! some people should get a clue, especially that dude that i punched in the junk when he jumped on me.

good times. Shirts that i saw kids wearing:

"Mount and Do Me" (in the Mountain Dew logo)
"Oprah didn't die for your sins"
"Double-Pedal Jesus Metal"
"Drug Free For Christ"
"Stay Brutal"
"The View From Here" seriously, i saw a TVFH shirt...i was wearing it!

Haste the Day Pictures:

Sleeping Giant performing Oh Praise Him:

The Chariot performing with lead singer from A Plea For Purging: