Saturday was my busiest day, I had an interview with Falling Up, and a lot of great bands to see perform and overall Saturday had a very enjoyable line up!
Air 1 Stage
1:00 PM: In the morning there were various acts, all of which I didn’t see enough to review. I did hear a lot and most of the main stage bands sounded pretty good. Starting off the afternoon activities on the Air 1 stage was Transistor Radio. This is one of my favorite independent/small label bands. The put together a rocking set, but it was a lot like the set I saw three years ago.
2:00 PM: Next on the Air 1 Stage was The Finalist, they were pretty good, but lacked originality. So overall I really didn’t see anything special out of them, don’t get me wrong either, a lot of independent/small label bands are like this, they start out as people pleasers then move on to more original stuff once they’ve put together a fan base.
3:00 PM:Paul Wright came on sporting a Mohawk; this was my first time to see Paul Wright in over a year! He started out with his “Microphone Check.” Paul played a lot of his good songs from both his debut and sophomore releases, as well has his concert free styling. Overall it was a good show from Mr. Wright.
4:00 PM: Next up on the main stage was Essential Records artist Krystal Meyers. With only three weeks ‘til her sophomore effort, Dying for a Heart, Krystal played some of her new rocking tunes including, The Situation, Collide & The Beauty of Grace. Comparing her set at Joshua Fest to Creation Fest, Krystal had a bigger crowd, better set list, better sound system and sound guy and overall just a way better performance.
5:30 PM: Dizmas came and rocked the stage at 5:30. They put on a great set playing mostly old with a few new songs, very entertaining and fun set. The band ended on a great note with Redemption, Passion & Glory, and silly string! This is a must see band if they’re in a city near you!
7:00 PM: After Dizmas was Falling Up, one of my all time favorite bands, before their set I got the chance to interview Jessy Ribordy (lead vocals) about Exit Lights, a new album after the remix and other cool things! After that I went down into the photo pit and rocked out taking lots of pictures (that’ll be featured on our Falling Up fan site) they put on a pretty typical set, but included their new song “Islander.” This was the first time I’d heard them play it live.
8:30 PM: Canadian pop-punk rockers Hawk Nelson was due up next. Through out the sets during the course of the day the main stage had been having power issues, and Hawk Nelson got the worst of it. They had about a 10 minute delay, while trying to figure out what was going on the guys just messed around with various beach balls that had wound up on stage. After that they played some of their most popular songs, both new and old, not a bad set, even with the delay.
10:00 PM: Because of the delay Pillar got a little less time than hoped for, in Quincy, CA they have strict sound curfews, so all bands on out side stages have to be done by 11 PM. Like Skillet, Pillar played a lot of their new songs from their upcoming release, The Reckoning. I was very pleased with the bands energy and enjoyed the show greatly. Just to not they preformed better at Joshua Fest than Creation.
Effect Radio Stage
9:15 PM: The only band I saw enough of on the Effect Radio Stage to review was Spoken. They performance was really good! I’ve seen Spoken once before on the Little Green Tour with Falling Up, Mourning September and Subseven. Since that tour the band has improved greatly when it comes to live performance. Ending out their set was one of my favorite songs called “Promise.”
Renegade stage
12:00 PM: One band I caught enough of to review is an independent band by the name of Memphis Belle. These guys were really cool! Playing that classic Rock ‘n’ Roll sound Memphis Belle rocked the house! They even had quite the mosh pit going on near the front.
11:00 PM: After the Air 1 Stage was over Up At Night Records showcased a set of four artists on the Renegade indoor stage, one of which was one of my favorite artists Rick Mugrage. Rick played a lot of songs off his new album, Through the Photograph, including most of my favorites, Rick has quite the fan base at Joshua Fest, I was surprised to see the amount of people I saw singing along, overall a great show! Rick is perfect for anyone who likes acoustic rock / pop!
Article by Jeremy Koering
