As I said in the Friday post, Nate and I still had shopping to do, so we hit the merch tents as soon as we got there. I had stopped at the ATM since almost everything is cash at Cornerstone. I got a few more t-shirts, CDs and bumper stickers as well as a book. N picked up an old Disciple CD. Even though he thought a lot of the t-shirts were cool, I think he's still a bit shy about "Living out Loud" - I get that, I would have been the same way at 14. After shopping, we ate what may have been the biggest funnel cake we have ever seen. At least a couple pounds - from a place that deep fries their hot dogs and bacon, too. Obviously we were not counting calories on this trip.
The one non-Hard Core band at the Main Stage was Family Force 5 so we headed up to see them after the funnel cake - we needed the walk. I'm not sure how to categorize them - they have 80's feel with break dancing, but sound current, too. The show they put on is amazing, though - high energy, weird costumes, dancers. If you get a chance to see these guys, go for it, it's a wild show. Nate and I watched this set from the hill and the sound was great - the natural amphitheater works. We stayed up at the Main Stage for some dinner since we though the next band was Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. I know nothing about this band other than that they have gotten good reviews in CCM and have possibly the best band name, ever. Unfortunately, they were a no show and were replaced by August Burns Red, a hard core, slightly screamo group. The set was OK and unintentionally funny - the guitars and bass have the whole rocker stance and synchronized head banging thing going on. We decided to pass on Emery and Norma Jean and come back for Underoath.
Since we had a little time before Hundred Year Storm, we caught about half of a set by The Myriad, an alt rock band out of Seattle. We had heard them on Revolution on Sirius and they even better live. Great sound and very tight vocals and music. Exceptional for being in a tent in a corn field. (An aside here to boo Sirius for dropping Revolution, their Christian Rock station. Maybe they don't have Sirius, but 15,000 people at Cornerstone can't be an anomaly. Now I get my Christian rock online at ChristianRockRadio.com.)
Hundred Year Storm was another "must see" for Nate and me. I'll do a whole post on this, but their song "Yesterday We Had It All" really ministered to me after Mom's death. They didn't do that song (odd since it is their single, but this was also their second set on the Festival) but still were amazing. This is another band that is hard to categorize. They called themselves indie rock, but they also had hints of "art" bands like Renaissance from the 80's. The stage show featured TV's showing videos backing their songs. Turns out the CD also has voice overs behind the music of newscasts, etc. Very eclectic stuff, including instrumentals. They closed with a moving song called "Arms" that featured a harpist and closed with the line "Fall into the arms of Jesus" repeated over and over. Great stuff.We headed up to the Main Stage to close out the Festival with Underoath and it was packed! The hill was completely covered and the floor of the amphitheater was full, too. We found a spot at the top of the hill where we could see the stage. Underoath was loud and was rocking the place, but about 3 songs in, Nate looked at me and said "I really don't like this" which I had to agree with. I guess we found our "rock limit" - POD, Disciple, Demon Hunter - yes, Underoath and hard core screamo - no. We decided we actually like being able to understand the lyrics.
No encore bands on Saturday, but since we left Underoath early, there were a few bands still playing. We though about more hard rock at the Underground stage, but chose Sleeping at Last at the same stage we saw Hundred Year Storm. They are a 3 man alt band and it was a nice finish to the week. As we headed back to the hotel, we listened to the Hundred Year Storm CD and talked about the week. N didn't even play his DS.
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