Soul Fest 2005

Quote of the Day #1: “He was going off like a frog in a sock.” — Paul Colman, who was the emcee on the Soul Fest main stage, on more than one occasion said this to describe some of the better performers

Quote of the Day #2: “Substitution!” — Stephen Mason, guitarist and singer for Jars of Clay, after an air horn was sounded off in the audience, prompting Dan Haseltine to run off stage and for Paul Colman to take his place

Quote of the Day #3: “After that altar call a minute ago I would have thought all the Yankee fans would have left.” — Dan Haseltine, lead singer of Jars of Clay, who was referring to an altar call that had asked its receivers to go to a nearby tent, after getting a mixed reaction when stating that their tour drummer was a diehard Red Sox fan

Quote of the Day #4: “I was hanging out with people who… well, who looked like you.” — Matthew Paul Turner, author of The Christian Culture Survival Guide and former editor of CCM Magazine, pointing to me because of my long hair as he described the type of people he spent time with when he went to college

Soul Fest was, once again, amazing. My top five performances breaks down something like this (1-5): Jars of Clay, Paul Colman, tobyMac, Sanctus Real, and Chris Tomlin. The biggest surprise here is Chris Tomlin since I have a beef with people who perform worship songs. But Chris Tomlin and his band were not performing; it was like we were all at church and he was just leading worship. I was extremely impressed with the way he went about things. I’m probably a little biased when it comes to Sanctus Real, who is slowly becoming my second favorite band. They have a new bassist. He’s very geek chic. When it comes to tobyMac he makes the list because he’s an incredible performer. You can’t not have fun at one of his shows, even if you don’t like rap or hip hop.

Paul Colman is my hero. He really is. He has so much fun when he’s performing and he seems so down to earth. Just like last year he interacted with his audience, whether that audience was a small group on the mountain top or if it was a thousand or so when he was playing on the main stage. He didn’t have a backup band this year, it was just him and his guitar. During his shows he stressed how “every trip is a mission trip” and how there’s no such thing as a “ministry opportunity” because life is a ministry opportunity. He’s passionate about World Vision, something I am seriously thinking about getting involved with (I need to look at my finances and see if I should do it alone or go in on a kid with someone else). He’s Australian, which should be enough for anyone to like him. His newest album is incredible. I told myself when I went to Soul Fest that I wasn’t going to spend a ton of money like I usually do. His CD was the only one I let myself buy. If you find yourself with an extra $10 (which is how much it seems to cost everywhere) do yourself a favor and buy “Let It Go”. You won’t be disappointed. I’m probably going to add the first track, Gloria, to the Nav worship team’s repertoire.

I have to mention this about Paulie Pops (his own nickname) and then I’ll shut up and move on. While playing on the main stage he introduced his audience to the idea of the “chord of recognition”. What is that? Well he played the first few notes of Eric Clapton’s Layla to demonstrate. People started to cheer. He really hadn’t done anything yet, but because people recognized the song they began to cheer immediately. I started to think about that a lot. It gave me an idea for a poem, possibly a song, so I’ll be sure to get back to you on that.

Now on to the main event: Jars of Clay. So Paul Colman was my favorite performance last year and Jars were number two. I think maybe they heard me, because they brought their A game to Soul Fest this year. They actually gave two performances: one on the main stage and an encore performance for 250 people immediately following that. The encore performance cost an extra $20, but all the money was going to Blood:water Mission, so no need to gripe there. This was the fourth time I’ve seen them live (the last two years at Soul Fest and this March in Tallahassee) and this was by far not only their best show of the bunch but they seemed to be having more fun on this particular night then I can remember in the past. (That being said, one of my fondest memories on Jars live was last year at Soul Fest when it started to rain right when they started to play Flood. Dan Haseltine was grinning from ear to ear as he was singing.) The regular show was really just a longer version, or rather the regular-length version, of the show I saw in March that was shortened due to the venue change. They did play some unexpected songs, like the original version of Liquid complete with the opening ‘yeah’ harmony.

But what made this night special was the encore. They played things I thought I’d never hear live like the Coffee Song, He, Boy on a String, Five Candles, and Only Alive. There’s a fun story behind Only Alive. Sam, one of my sister’s friends who I came up with and camped with, requested that song. The band explained that they’d never played that song live, but that just made the audience want to hear them play it more. When they hit the second verse they couldn’t remember the words. They leaned over to Sam and my sister Alison but they drew a blank. I wasn’t sitting with them so I couldn’t help them out. They stopped the song, played another song, and then went back to Only Alive when one of their aids got the lyrics off the internet. They forgot the lyrics to a few songs during the encore since they were playing stuff they never play anymore. They played Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which they played two years ago at Soul Fest. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t knock it; it’s a great arrangement. During the performance Matt Odmark got a call on his cell phone, which evidently he keeps on and in his pocket while he performs, from his wife. He had told her they would be done by 1 AM, and at that point it was around 1:10 AM. So she said hi to all of us and all the girls thought it was really cute. Jars would have played all night, so they say, but they had a “concert emergency” (whatever that is) in Little Rock the next day. They raised $5000 from the encore performance alone and have promised to put Soul Fest 2005 on the well they plan to build in Africa.

So what about the rest of Soul Fest? This was the O.C. Supertones’ last live appearance in New England before their breakup this coming October. They were once again good, but my love for ska has all but died and with their breakup it will probably be gone forever. Audio Adrenaline was good, but they put on basically the same show they put on last year. I have the same complaint about Rebecca St James and Jeremy Camp. Third Day was good but not as good as last year. Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman were their usual boring selves (I’m sorry, but they just aren’t that good live). The David Crowder Band began their performance with a rousing rendition of the Chicken Dance, so they get a thumbs up from me. Kutless and Skillet were both really good, playing mostly their performance songs and steering clear of their worship material. I think I like Building 429 more now simply because I understand their name (it comes from Ephesians 4:29). Superchic[k] actually wasn’t that bad, much as I hate to admit it. I did not get to see Ginny Owens, Pillar, John Reuben, or Grits because they conflicted with other performances. I like Gunstock as a location much better than Loon Mountain. I think five days is a bit long though; I liked it better when it was only four.

One last thing: Sam and my sister Alison have made it into the official Soul Fest picture gallery. If you click here you’ll see a picture of tobyMac. To his right, about knee-high, you’ll see a girl in the audience with her tongue out. That’s Sam. To her right is a girl in a gray shirt. That’s Alison. I’m somewhere much farther to the right, but whatever. Okay, that’s all I’ve got on Soul Fest 2005. Once again it was incredible and I can’t wait until next year.

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