Yes indeed.  Last week was an amazing week.  I haven't gone to a concert (that was not a show featuring local bands) since October of '04 when Third Day, tobyMac and Day Of Fire came to Eastern Michigan University.  That all changed last week, in a big way.  I got my first festival experience at Alive Festival in Canal Fulton, Ohio.



I've been trying to get to one of these festivals for years.  This year, things just fell into place.  I went down to Ohio by myself, but I did not spend the week alone.  On the contrary, I spent the week with a spectacular group of people (Apparently we are all gangstas now, and I'm a hitman...guess that's what late nights and random people get you, eh?).



And I also spent the week with a spectacular group of artists and bands.  And I think I should tell you all about those bands that I got to see.



First, I will start with the negative aspects of the week.  First, the weather was a problem.  Saturday gave me some massive sunburn.  It doesn't hurt, but yeah...  However, the bigger problem was the rain on Thursday night, which rained out part of the concerts.  In fact, the group of people I was with...we ended up missing the entire main stage that night.  No David Crowder Band, no tobyMac, no Sanctus Real.  Three of the bands that I really wanted to see (Thursday was, in fact, the biggest day of the week for me when I entered the week, and I missed half of it).



So that was one disappointment (Or, I guess, that would actually be four disappointments...throw Day of Fire into the mix, whose Beach Stage show was cancelled on Thursday because of the rain).  There were others throughout the week, and these were from bands I actually saw.  They were, however, expected disappointments.  For example, Wednesday night's main stage was, for the most part, a joke.  Rebecca St. James was boring, both as a speaker and as a singer.  Matt Redman...not a bad show, but I just have difficulty getting into his worship songs.  Kutless was...well, Kutless.  And yes, that is a problem.  MercyMe was also disappointing, and it probably didn't help that we left early.  But that's moreso because of their style of music than because of their actual stage talents.



Saturday also had an expected disappointment, in the form of Hawk Nelson.  Now, do not misinterpret what I'm saying here.  Hawk Nelson was a crowd favorite, and they tried to put on a good live show.  Tried is the key word.  Too hard needs to be added to the phrase, however.  These Canadians just tried too hard to impress the crowd with their antics.  Their musical talents and lyrical abilities simply don't impress me enough to make their show any good.



However, most of the week was pretty solid.  As expected, Chris Tomlin put on an excellent worship set Friday night (And he wasn't even the worship band, which gave him a longer set).  Thousand Foot Krutch did some awesome things on Saturday night.  And Relient K rocked the house as Friday's headliner.   And honestly, any band who is going to do an 80's set (Songs included In Love With The 80s (Pink Tux To The Prom), Danger Zone, Take My Breath Away and The Top Gun Theme Song) and, more importantly, do it well...they deserve some props.  Their show was superb, as expected.  They did all the songs that were expected and then some.  And, for those wondering, my thoughts on Relient K's show when I first started this blog last year stand.  When they have a short set, they have to cut out extended portions of songs, such as the slow portions of Be My Escape and I So Hate Consequences.  When you give them plenty of time to do a show, they pull that stuff out, like they did at Alive.



Anberlin impressed as well.  I expected a good show from them, and I was not disappointed.  It was my first time getting to see them live (After about four or five tries this year), and it was well worth it.  I hope to be in the pit next year when they return so that I can even more thoroughly enjoy the show.



And there were many bands and artists that exceeded my expectations.  Seventh Day Slumber was the first band to pull it off on Wednesday afternoon.  The show itself was, well, run-of-the-mill.  Not spectacular, but nothing to scoff at (Their music is solid, so it certainly helps).  However, it was the altar call led by SDS's lead singer that took the show higher.  His testimony was amazing.  They even skipped the last song (Presumably Oceans From The Rain) because the testimony just kept going, and the altar call kept extending.  It was a very touching moment.



Thursday brought some great surprises too.  Bradley Hathaway.   I'm not going to lie.  I had some preconceived notions about this guy.  Just based on his looks, I pegged him as your everyday pop singer the likes of a boy band.  On the contrary, he now had me getting his book/CD special ordered when I returned home, because he was just that good.  Poetry.  That's what he did.  And good poetry.  Great poetry, in fact.  The right mixture of humor, offensiveness and serious thoughts.  It was truly impressive.  and Manly Man and The Hug Poem have become two of my favorite tracks to play the past few days since coming home.



Likewise on Thursday, Project 86 went above and beyond my expectations.  And believe me, though this was my first time seeing them, my expectations were extremely high.  Somehow, they managed to outdo those expectations.  They started the show in extreme heat.  By the end, it was torrential downpour (Plus a little hail).  Yet, for those of us who stayed the whole time, in our completely soaked clothing from head to toe, it was absolutely worth it.  And I do say that for everyone who ended up in the crowd jumping around (I don't think my friends enjoyed the show quite as much as I did...but they were sitting in the back, so, you know...).



The Afters also impressed me, at least mildly.  Their show on Friday was better than expected.  I do find myself enjoying a couple of their songs now.  That being said, I still can't stand their hit, Beautiful Love.  It just bores me.



Saturday brought the most surprises of the week.  Five different bands who exceeded my expectations (Assuming I even had expectations for them).  First off was Manafest.  I didn't expect too much.  But he did well, and put himself over the top with his freestyle section.  Trident, brown shirts, cell phones, and anything else people could find to hold up...he used them all in his freestyle.



Right after Manafest came The Fold.  And it was a solid show put forth by the band members.  They have pretty solid music, and that really managed to shine through in the show.  Family Force 5 was next, and they drew the biggest crowd of the week that wasn't at the main stage.  And after seeing the show, there is no doubt why.  These guys simply put on a great live show.  I mean, it is to expected if you've heard their music.  But really, it was just spectacular and beyond description.  When you have a roadie who is so involved in your show that he is on stage with you for most of the show...you know it's high energy stuff.



Right after FF5, one of the Artist Ovation winners made an appearance.  Mile Seven played to a crowd of no more than 30 (A crowd they claimed as "one tenth" the size of Family Force 5, saying the people needed to be just as loud as that last crowd...really, it was less than one tenth of FF5's size, but that's beside the point).  But they were good.  They did some truly solid music, and it was easy to see why they were one of the bands that won a spot on stage during the week.



Saturday's biggest surprise for me (And really, the biggest surprise of the wek), however, was Audio Adrenaline's final Alive performance.  I had very low expectations of this show.  I haven't liked their music since Underdog in 1998, and with Mark's vocals just going to trash, it was hard to imagine an enjoyable show.  Yet it became a truly great event.  They stuck to most of the older stuff, which made it possible for me to enjoy the show at all.  And yes, Mark's vocals were shot.  They made up for it with a lot of crowd participation and use of Tyler's vocals throughout the night.  And they did some of my favorite tracks that I was not expecting to hear, such as Chevette and We're A Band.  It truly was an impressive performance.



My overall thoughts on the week are as follows: There are more than a few main stagers that I would like to see not come back next year.  There are a lot of Beach Stage acts that I would like to see main stage it next year.  And there are some artists that should get to headline next year (Can you imagine a Family Force 5 headlining set?  Or, even better, an Anberlin or Project 86 headlining set?).



The five best shows of the week were as follows:



(Honorable mentions to Bradley Hathaway and Seventh Day Slumber)



#5: Audio Adrenaline.  The farewell-to-Alive show was a once-in-a-lifetime, and I truly am happy to say that I got to see it.  And I really never thought I would say that.



#4: Relient K.  You cannot deny how awesome the live show is that these guys put on.



#3: Anberlin.  Their short set was a very sad thought.  They definitely deserve more time next year to pull out some older stuff (And, by that time next year, stuff from the new CD).



#2: Family Force 5.  Their high-energy attitude towards music gets people going in a very big way.



#1: Project 86, undoubtedly.  As great as all these other shows were, this one simply blew them all out of the water.



So there you have it.  The Alive Festival recap.  If you get the opportunity, go next year for the 20th anniversary spectacle.  If this year's any indication, it's going to be well worth it.