When we first arrived on site, we made our way to the merchandise tents. In one particular area, there was a "meet and greet" setup, with many of the bands participating. Below are some of the photos I got:
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| Me with Randy Stonehill (CCM legend) |
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| Me with Phil Keaggy (guitar wizard) |
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| Me with Bob Hartman (founder of Petra) |
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| Me with Bob Hardy (vocalist for Servant) |
While waiting to meet Phil Keaggy, my wife got dizzy from the heat and had to go find some shade. I caught up with her after meeting Phil, and helped her get some ice and cold water (it was hard keeping any water cold in 100+ degree heat index weather). After she spent a few minutes at the first aid trailer, she was back to her normal self.
We worked our way over to mainstage around 3pm, only to find Classic Petra was still working on their sound check. This pushed the schedule back almost an hour. I later found out that the stage managers ended up asking each band to cut at least one song from their set, to help recoup the lost time.
Servant kicked things off around 4pm. The lineup of the band features all but 2 original members (they had a new lead guitar and drummer). While many of us expected a set featuring material from their early releases, we were treated to material mostly from their later career. Opening with "Power" from the "Swimming In A Human Ocean" release, and continuing with much from "Light Maneuvers" ("War Dance" and "Poolside Logic" for example). They had a rough start with sound issues, but after about 3 songs things started to settle down and they got into a groove. Considering they had not performed in almost 20 years, it went better than expected.
Next up was Barry McGuire. Unfortunately my pictures of Barry are mostly shadows, due to the sun setting behind the stage. Barry is an old "hippie" era guy, who had hung out with just about everybody (Mamas and the Papas, Frank Zappa, etc). Barry just came out with an acoustic guitar. He kept our attention with his stories of the past and his catchy songs. A fun set and a great testimony.
Next we had Daniel Amos. Again, my pictures are shadows. Daniel Amos started up with a few cuts from their "Doppelganger" release, and settled into some older material. This band has been playing music since the mid 70s, and continue to maintain a solid alternative/folk sound. Lead vocalist Terry Taylor sounded a little weak, but the rumor mill was saying he was quite tired.
Next up was Randy Stonehill. Randy is always a treat on stage. Energetic and funny. Randy came out with just his acoustic guitar (typical for him), and played tunes from all across his career. Actually he played more newer stuff, but still included some late 70s/early 80s material. Randy sounded fantastic, and showed you don't need a full band to be completely entertaining.
Next was E Band. I had not heard of this band before the festival, but the story goes that this was Greg Volz band before he joined Petra. E Band had originally written the song "Coloring Song", which eventually became Petra's first hit in around 1979. These guys had not played together in almost 40 years. I had low expectations. Oddly enough, the band sounded great on just about every song EXCEPT "Coloring Song". Their bass player had a hard time with that song, and it showed. But, the rest of their set was better than expected, and the material was almost progressive - certainly late 60s/early 70s hippie jam stuff. Not too bad.
Next was Resurrection Band. Like Petra, Servant, and DeGarmo & Key, Resurrection Band were constantly touring in the late 70s/early 80s. In fact, Resurrection Band members are part of the organization that founded Cornerstone Festival in 1984. The band features the lineup from their later career, but still has a majority of the group that founded the band in the mid 70s. Playing a mix of material from throughout their career, vocalist Wendi Kaiser and husband/guitarist/vocalist Glenn Kaiser still sound great. They did cut their set short, out of a desire to leave more time for Phil Keaggy and Classic Petra. Considering Resurrection Band has been doing a few reunion shows over the past couple years, most of us had already heard much of the material recently. There was also a story that the band had done an extended rehearsal in one of the other tents on Wednesday night, and many on the grounds had seen that.
Next up was Phil Keaggy, but he chose to bring his Glass Harp bandmates. So, this actually became a Glass Harp set. Although Phil is certainly a master on guitar and has a long solo catalog, Glass Harp was his first successful band and was popular back in the late 60s/early 70s. The band has done their fair share of reunion shows over the years, but it sounded like many at the fest had not seen an actual Glass Harp set. The band is just a trio (bass/vocals, guitar/vocals, drums), and played an hour set of jam based gospel rock. Some blues, some improv, and some great melodies. I liked it, but my wife wasn't that into it.
The final act for the night was Classic Petra. This is the lineup of the band that was around in the 1983-1985 timeframe (or so). Bob Hartman, Greg Volz, Mark Kelly, Louie Weaver, and John Lawry. Having reunited over the last couple years, that band has already been recreating their 1984 stage setup around the world (most recently in Australia). They have a new DVD featuring a concert from last year, as well as a documentary. For Cornerstone, they used the festival's own main stage and backline gear. Although not as tight as I had hoped, they did seem to be having fun and enjoying some of the updated arrangements. However, there was a problem getting the song "Clean" started. Greg Volz told the audience it was what he called "a trainwreck". It appeared that Bob Hartman was off by a couple frets, putting him in a different key for the song. Keyboardist John Lawry had to stop the song, and Mark Kelly, John, and Bob Hartman had a quick huddle to work it out. Once they were ready to resume, Greg said they had to now start the song over just to show us they could play it correctly - all went well. Overall, I liked their set, but it did lack the "polish" they probably have with their own gear.
Overall, the "Jesus Rally" day was a fun return to the days of early Christian rock bands. The music was a bit dated and didn't have the same punch of a P.O.D. or Anberlin, but I also remembered many of these classic songs from my high school days. I do think I learned more scripture and bible stories from Petra, Servant, and Randy Stonehill, as opposed to what I hear from more recent bands.
We did come back on Friday for some music, and caught sets from Brian "Head" Welch (previously from the band Korn), and P.O.D. While both these bands had much heavier music, their desire to reach out to the lost and hurting seemed just as passionate as the "Jesus Rally" bands from Thursday. Even though the musical styles were different, the message of Christ was the same. That was very cool. Here's a couple pictures of Brian "Head" Welch and P.O.D. Enjoy
Oh, and as an added bonus, my wife got to meet the fairly known character actor Doug Jones. Doug was doing a meet & greet and Q&A session at the movie tent. Doug may be best known as 'Abe Sapien' from the "Hellboy" movies, as well as the "Silver Surfer" from the "Fantastic Four" movie. He has been in a ton of stuff over his 25 years in film. He also was sharing some of his Christian perspective on working in Hollywood, which Michelle enjoyed quite a bit. Here is a picture with her and Doug:
Final note: On the way out Friday night, we caught a couple songs from harpist Timbre. This was some very nice ambient/new age type solo harp music, that sounded great. She has a couple CDs and does some singing, as well as added instrumentation. If you are looking for something soft and almost classical in style, check her out.
Doug Jones, we've had him on our podcasts a few times! He's a very nice dude. He wrote the intro to a friend of mine's comic book. A down to earth cool cat.
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