Spirit West Coast. Words can't describe how much I enjoyed spending the day there. But, this being a blog, I'm obviously trying to do just that.
I got there at about 2, just in time to see a band called the Sonflowerz, of whom the two original members have been staying at my house for the weekend, play. The other band members are currently staying at the Anderberg's, and because of this, they decided to grant David and I with guest passes to the event for free. That's right, I was on the LIST! They were actually really good, and it was cool seeing people I know personally on a huge stage like that with hundreds of people watching.
Second up was Run Kid Run, a band that I enjoy listening to from time to time. They played a lot of stuff from their new album, which is the one I own, so I knew a majority of the songs fortunately. The highlight of this particular show was the show within the show. A mosh pit of sorts started up, but then turned into some sort of freakout area that involved ridicous stunts and a man-sized inflatable pirate. And since there were no beach balls, said pirate ended up being a substitute halfway through.
Third up was NeedtoBreathe, who I ended up seeing twice today.
Fourth was Relient K!! The show was a blast, but the crowd was a bust. Everyone just stood there and wondered what they were playing (Which included a song about The Office followed by the intro from the show, and the always popular "Five Dollar Footlong" song). Unbelievably however, they played Deathbed as their finale! It was the 15 minutes well spent. At the end of the song though, when Jon Foreman sings in the CD, Jon actually ran up on stage, but ended up not singing his part.
After a long break, the fifth band, and I'd have to say the best band by far to play today, was Family Force 5. The show was like nothing else. The showmanship and energy radiating from the band and stage were only seconded by the energy and craziness of the crowd. I ended up front center jumping, moshing, headbanging, and fist pumping my way into deafening oblivion. It was an amazing show, and was a huge amount of fun to participate in.
Lastly, but definitely not the least, was an acoustic session with the Sonflowerz and NeedtoBreathe. It was an intimate, close, almost jam-session atmosphere, and I just sat on the floor in front of the stage and soaked it in. NeedtoBreathe definitely shone here. They were good on stage, but when they were in a room acoustic, they really blew us away.
Music aside, I caught up with my old C28 family all at once, spent the entire day with my mom, practical brother, and good friend Denise, whom I have not seen for too long. I listened to a very insipring sermon given by a man born without any arms or legs whatsoever, and had a really touching conversation with a security guard that thought I was an artist playing at the event. God really has really been winding me down recently. And I'm thankful for it. He truely does know exactly what it is that I need.
So thank you God for this astounding day. All glory be to You.
I just saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I have to say, I was more than impressed. If anything, the way I felt about this movie should have been the way I felt about the first one. It had more "HOLY CRAP, did that just really happen!?!" moments than I can count, and had the entire theater vocally cheering on Optimus Prime and his gang on several occasions. The failure of the original was gone. Yes, Shia LaBeouf talks his freaking head off more than necessary, no, the main heroine still can't act and is there for nothing more than makeout sessions, slow-mo running scenes, and modelling jeans. And there were most definitely more nauseating vertigo-inducing zoomed-in 360 degree shots than I care to remember. But when you see Decepticons and Autobots literally beating themselves to death, you forget about the fact that its all smoke and mirrors. The first movie really lacked the epic battles and scale that this movie amply provided. However, inappropriate jokes abound along with cheese-laden comic relief. I audibly groaned more than once. But even the lengthy dialog sections of the feature couldn't break it. Again, the astonishing action sequences hold the movie together from beginning to end. I really recommend seeing this one while its still in theaters. I can strongly say that this film was much more than everything I had hoped the first one would be (and was more than disappointed when it wasn't).
