Inside Out Soul Festival
Wow, what a weekend! Things didn't go quite as planned, but it was still a wicked fun time. Thursday was hot and sunny. We were pretty well organized and made it up there right about when we had hoped to. We got a spot by the river on the mountain side (not the highway side) this time. We missed out nice corner spot, but it was still a decent location. Plus, it meant a lot less walking for the weekend! So without shade and in the hot sun, we set up our tents and such. It was then we discovered that we didn't have enough room in the girls' tent for everyone. So Cassie volunteered to sleep on an army cot in our shade tent/in the front seat of the jeep for the weekend. That night I got to see Downhere (an okay band), Skillet (who has some wicked good new songs), and Audio Adrenaline (always a good show and their new CD is better than the last couple ones). That night we all squished into our tents. We fell asleep to the gentle sound of the river and woke up to the gentle sound of rain. Unfortunately, the rain stayed and Friday was cold and wet. I'm so glad I grabbed my hoodie last-minute! Despite the rain and pools of water in the corners of out tents, we made the best of the day. We spent a lot of time in the shade tent talking, burning stuff, and making new friends via the walkie talkies. Jay Chanoine (our friend who looks like Jack Osborne) joined us for most of the weekend and definitely added to the craziness. First I checked out Jason Upton (whom everyone but me liked. He was okay, just a little weird). I also checked out all the merchandise tents and saw part of Seventh Day Slumber. We tried to see Philmore, but for some reason the schedule was all messed up and they weren't there. Friday night was the Jars of Clay concert, which was good. Although I almost wish that I had gone to the John Reuben show since Jars was the same as what I saw at Grove except shorter. Almost. Saturday looked more optimistic weather-wise, but the rain didn't completely go away. I checked out King Pin Wrecking Crew, which is a good band, and Philmore, which was pretty decent as well. Of course the big show of the day was Five Iron Frenzy. There was lots of frenzied fun to be had and it was great to hear their last concert in NH. "Pootermobile" was definitely my favorite song that they played. Saturday night was Pillar, which had a good sized mosh pit going on. They were of course good, but I left early to go check out Eklezia, Mercury Switch, and Good for Life (3 smaller but very good bands). It was in one of the ski lodges-turned cafe, so the whole place was hot and smelled of pechulli and hippies. After Eklezia I started feeling headachy (prolly because I really hadn't had much to drink that day). So I went to sit on one of the picnic tables in the next room. Good thing too! The gay bandits (a bunch of guys w/ no shirts and pink bandanas around their necks) decided to start a violent mosh pit before Mercury Switch even came on. Poor Jamie & Cassie got caught in the middle of it. They felt violated enough to leave. So Jay, Justin, Jamie, Cassie, Dani and I were all just relaxing on a picnic bench when one of those gay guys decided to jump out into our area and just mosh around with himself (it looked like screwed up kung foo). Jay made fun of him (of course) and they almost got in a fight. Dani told about how she tried to tell a band member they ran into that they were a wicked good band. Apparently he just looked at her all serious and said, "no. God is a good band." That happened to someone else earlier when they had yelled out during a concert or something "God rocks!" and the person in front of them turned around and said, "no, God IS the rock." People need to lighten up a bit. Saturday night I slept much better and we woke up to hints of sunshine. Sunday was the first day that was actually warm enough to make bathing in the river not so painful. It really is a fun experience and I'm so proud of Dani for embracing the whole camping experience thing and having fun with it...even cold river baths. The sun finally came out Sunday, much to our delight. We were finally able to dry out some of our mildewy stuff and warm up for a bit. We spent the morning getting odds & ends packed for the return trip. I got to see some of my favorite bands Sunday. I caught the end of Brave Saint Saturn and Superchic[k] put on an amazing show (as usual). We got to the stage extra early for Relient K and got awesome spots right up front and center. Unfortunately, as soon as they came out, people decided to start this crazy mosh pit and were getting really violent. I actually got knocked to the ground, but thanks to my awesome friends, I was saved from certain doom. After that, Renee, Dani & I decided to back up in the crowd to avoid complete bruising and pain. So although I missed their first two songs, Relienk K had an awesome show. Renee and I hung out for a while (yay for sister bonding time). Then we found out that there were huge thunderstorms headed our way (by this time it had gotten cloudy again). When the group heard how bad the downpours were and knew how well our tents had held up to the previous rain, we decided it was in our best interest to pack up and head out Sunday night instead of waiting till Monday morning. So Renee, Danielle and I went to Toby Mac while some of the others packed the site. It was a great concert and a nice finish to an awesome weekend. The rain held off till about 30 seconds after the concert ended (thanks God!) and we left right after that. After a traditional Dunkin Dounuts stop, we headed back to our homes and warm beds. All in all it was a great weekend. The usual "drama" was pretty minimal in our group and I saw some friends from college, high school and other random connections, which is always fun. Plus, where else can you go to see some awesome rock shows and worship God with thousands of other Christians?