Quote of the Day #1: “Talk amongst yourselves for a minute folks.” — Mac Powell, lead singer of Third Day, as he takes a break from his set to have a little snack
Quote of the Day #2: “You can believe in soap and still be dirty.” — David Nasser, one of the speakers at Soul Fest, on needing to not only believe in Jesus but let Him work in you
Quote of the Day #3:”I was on the ground saying, ‘I love Him, I love Him.’ My [Iranian] dad walks in and says ‘Oh no, my son is the gay.’” — David Nasser, on the night of his conversion (and yes, the grammatical error is the correct quote)
Quote of the Day #4: “This woman told me that I couldn’t sing this song. She told me it wasn’t a Christian song and this is a Christian festival. I told her I looked through it and didn’t find anything vulgar about it, but she insisted that I couldn’t play it. So I said alright, but before we parted I asked her one last thing. ‘What kind of car do you drive?’ She said, ‘A Honda.’ I said, ‘Well I don’t mean to alarm you but that’s not a Christian company.” — Paul Colman, on his right to sing a traditional Australian song
So how was Soul Fest? I thought you’d never ask! 
The best performance was given by (drum roll) Paul Colman. I saw him last year with the Paul Colman Trio (the Trio broke up this past February) but I think I wasn’t as impressed just because of all the other great shows last year (Jars of Clay, Five Iron Frenzy, Toby Mac). But this year he was far and away the best. I have never been more impressed by a live show than by the two shows he gave. The first was in a small cafe for about 150 people. Just him and his guitar. The second was on the main stage for a few thousand (I was front row, which is where I was for almost all the headliners). This guy is the coolest ever. First of all, he’s Australian, so he trumps almost everyone from the beginning (the same can be said of Newsboys and Rebecca St James). He’s an incredible singer, and the songs that he’s written are beautiful. But the thing that sets him apart is how he relates with the rest of the audience. He talks to them, no matter how many he’s playing for. He’s got one song called Run that he’s got hand motions for. He played it at both shows, and during both shows when he saw someone who wasn’t doing the motions he called them out. He encouraged them and eventually had his whole audience doing it. He was also the MC for the main stage during the evening, and when there was time to kill he would lead a sing along. Not of his songs though. He taught us how to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Australian. What does that mean? Well, it goes a little something like this.
Twinkle, twinkle little sta
Ow I wonda what you ah
Up above the woyld so ‘igh
Like a doimond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little sta
Ow I wonda what you ah
Jars of Clay did perform as well. Before they went on I got their autographs. They were only signing for half an hour, and I had to wait in line for about an hour before that, but I’m a Jarhead so it was a requirement. I was a foot away from them all. 
I’m such a dork. Anyway, I have to admit that they did better last year, but it wasn’t their fault. Their performance got cut short because of lightning. But let me tell you: it was worth it. It had been threatening to rain all day. It started to pour during their show… right as they started to play Flood! No lie! It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Last year it was raining during Flood too, but the fact that it started to rain as Dan sang the words “Rain, rain on my face” is something I will always remember. A lot of the time when they play their old songs it looks as though the band isn’t having much fun. They all had big smiles on their faces for this one. It was by far the best moment on Soul Fest 2004 for me. The day after they played they left for Africa to work more on their Bloodwater mission, so be praying for them.
So what about the bands that closed each night? Steven Curtis Chapman is a lot better guitarist than I thought he was. And I thought it was funny how he kept mentioning how his daughter is going to college soon but how he really didn’t want to talk about it. He also just adopted another kid (that makes six for him, three of which he’s adopted).
Audio Adrenaline was amazing yet again. I don’t know if they know how to put on a bad show. The best part was the cow bell solo.
Newsboys were also cut short because of the lightning, but they still put on a pretty good show. Their last song was Breakfast, but because they were being kicked off stage (they can only play to a certain time at night because of certain zoning laws) the lead singer told the crowd to sing the chorus because “they can’t kick you off.” So we sang the chorus another 6 times, which is impressive for such a large crowd.
Third Day closed up the whole weekend. They were filming for their next DVD, so I want to make one thing public now so if it makes the final cut you can say “I know that guy!” Mac brought up the fact that Nomar had been traded (a fact that a lot of the crowd was unaware of, being away from TV and all). Then he mentioned that Nomar and the lead guitarist both went to Georgia Tech. Now remember that everyone is being pretty quiet because we’re listening to them talk. So when Mac says that they both went to Tech, I yell out “Sting ‘em!” as loud as I possibly can. The lead guitarist does a little hand acknowledgment in my general direction. I have to say it was almost a reflex. I did that all the time to Joel Helms. Anyway, I’m on record. Two more things about the Third Day show. First, Mac took a camcorder from someone in the first row and started to film the band and the crowd from the stage. That fan’s got some gold now. Second, Mac had been sick the week leading up to the show, so he said he was still pretty weak. He was actually a little shaky too. So he asked the crowd if they had anything to eat. Suddenly all this food gets thrown on stage. Kettle corn, M&Ms, Reese’s (his personal favorite), fruit and fruit bars. It was crazy.
There were lots of other good performances, far too many to list. Camping out wasn’t that bad either. My tent stayed dry, but the one the girls stayed in got soaked. That’s why we went home Sunday night instead of Monday morning. But all in all it was a great experience. Next year Soul Fest is moving to a larger location and will be for 5 days instead of four. I just hope I’m able to go.
