You may have seen the chatter on twitter and facebook…. But it rained a lot on Friday. (We are so thankful for what looks like a nice Saturday). In getting around the SoulFest, you had two choices: 1) walk around a normal pace and get extremely muddy, or 2) attempt to hop from spot to spot without sinking into mud. Because I foolishly wore my better sneakers, I attempted strategy #2 for a good part of the day, but finally found no way out of the Inside Out Stage other than to dredge through thick mud piles. My good sneakers are now the “cut the grass” sneakers.
Some highlights from the day:
Despite the rain, the show must go on, and that was the case throughout the afternoon. Alabaster Box got it started and they helped to solidify their “up and coming” status with the SoulFest crowd as they rocked the Revival Stage. Next up: Thousand Foot Krutch, a band whose reputation for creating a great upbeat, driving rock sound continues to expand. We even heard some new tracks from their forthcoming album due in September. After TFK, I headed for cover and attempted to dry off for a while.
The Inside Out Stage offered some pretty amazing “hard core” acts, including Blue Duck Record acts, Wolves Among Sleep and Auburn. I’m not familiar with a lot of the bands that were playing at the Inside Out stage, with the exception of Norma Jean. I made it a priority to head over there to catch their performance. It turned out to be a great decision as they take the idea of ‘musical chaos’ and do it with excellence. Though melodic qualities are rare in hard core music, Norma Jean offers a few hooks that the casual listener can grab on to.
Back over at the Revival Stage, Natalie Grand and Casting Crowns headlined the night. Though I only caught portions of their performances, the buzz around the SoulFest was that it was an incredible night.
