This was one of the two days of that I liked everyone on the Fringe, so I thought I would stay there all day, but with a few surprises I ended up being wrong. At Creation they only give you a schedule for a couple of the many events going on, for instance, they’ll tell you everyone who’s going to be on the Fringe and Main stages, but they don’t include the Acoustic Café stage or who exactly will be at the seminars.
I found myself scrambling about each stage; it was also very hot which made it even worse. Like I said I had planned to stay on the Fringe all day, but noticing Bethany Dillon and Vicky Beeching were going to be on the Acoustic Café I couldn’t let the chance slip, the reason why I like the acoustic café is because of it’s small atmosphere, the main reason is because they don’t announce who’s playing on the stage and there were big name acts playing (who I didn’t really care for) at the same time. So unless you saw the time posted at the stage, you won’t hear about it.
In addition to the Acoustic Café stage, there were interviews and worship team/leader seminars at the HearItFirst.com tent and WorshipTogether.com tent. So when I found out all the confirmed schedules my plans changed on a regular basis.
Hillsong United provided a good set of worship. It is good to be able to wake up in the morning and start the day focused on worshiping our savior, and Hillsong did a great job. They played a good mix of original worship songs along with the songs we all know and love and overall provided some good worship.
Greg Stier provided a powerful message on sharing the gospel. He encouraged everyone in how to share your faith and be real. Challenging the typical idea that evangelism is only for particular Christians, Greg showed us that everyone is called to share their faith and God has given us chances and situations to share with those around us that are dying to hear about His love.
After Greg spoke we were treated to some more awesome songs by Hillside. Overall their original songs are quite good, but they may only appeal to people interested in the worship genre.
Pop-Punk-Rock band Stellar Kart started the Fringe off, playing lots of great songs including a lot of new ones from their sophomore release, We Can’t Stand Sitting Down, which release two days prior. Very entertaining, a must see for fans of their genre!
It was my first chance at seeing Essential artist Krystal Meyers play live, I had low expectations, but in the end I was very pleased. She plays/sings her music different live which kind of was interesting. I thought she did a good job, but as we neared the end of her set, I headed over to go see the end of KJ-52 on the main stage, I think this was a good choice. As I was walking down KJ had just started “Gimmie Dat Mt. Dew.” And like most artists he had his gimmicks to get the crowd to go crazy. I was surprised to see the crowd that had gathered to see him perform; this may have had something to do with Krystal Meyers on the Fringe. Overall both of these artists had great sets at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
Day of Fire was great! It was my first time seeing them and boy do they know how to rock. The entire band was going crazy from start to finish; the band played a lot of their best songs. I highly recommend Day of Fire to those who want to see a great show!
While Joseph Rohas of Seventh Day Slumber was speaking on the Fringe Bethany Dillon was doing an acoustic set at the Spirit 105 Acoustic Café stage. This was an awesome mini set of about 6 songs, and a question & answer. Bethany played songs that were requested by the audience, including her now famed rap titled “Traffic.” She also played a new song from her upcoming release in ’07.
After the Bethany Dillon acoustic set, I headed up to the WorshipTogether.com Tent to watch and learn how to play songs from artists like Starfield, Vicky Beeching and a few others. It was a cool little seminar. I also stopped by the HearItFirst.com Tent to watch a live interview with Vicky Beeching, where out of no where Bethany Dillon shows up and asked questions. During the interview Seventh Day Slumber was playing on the Fringe stage. I saw the end of their set, and from I saw and heard I could tell they are all really talented and put on a great show!
Right after Seventh Day Slumber Vicky Beeching was playing a worship set on the Acoustic Café stage. It was really cool, there were only about 25-40 people, including yet again, Bethany Dillon. Vicky did some of her own songs and some familiar songs like Blessed Be You Name. At the end Vicky did a short Question and Answer and her comes Bethany again. There were a lot of inside jokes going about, overall just a really good time. To get back at Bethany, Vicky started playing one of Beth’s songs in the middle of her hit “Yesterday, Today and Forever.”
I missed a lot of Hawk Nelson, because I was watching Vicky Beeching, but I was ok with it. Hawk Nelson had a huge crowd! And it was only going to get bigger with Pillar up next. Pillar requested to be on the Fringe this year and boy did they rock out! They had a great set and played a couple of new songs off their CD coming out October, 3rd entitled, The Reckoning. Pillar ran a little late so I missed Lincoln Brewster and one of my favorite speakers is Ron Luce.
I’m not a big fan of gospel music, but American Idol contestant George Huff has good enough tunes to get even those of us who don’t like the genre to get up and go wild. George was entertaining, but lacked originality.
Kutless was Thursday’s second big act. They rocked out with a lot of their new songs as well as some of their hits from their debut and sophomore albums. They put on a great show; I thought it was better than when I saw them on the Hearts of the Innocent Tour.
Sadly this year is the year Audio Adrenaline is saying Adios. I was very pleased with Audio A’s performance! Mark Stuart gave it his all; he was struggling after a couple songs, but was determined to put on a great last Creation show. If Audio A is coming to a city near you, you must go! The band is saying farewell due to Mark’s ever increasing vocal problems. After the guys’ set the Creation staff came out and prayed for the guys. It was a very emotional show for the band and we’re all sad to see them say Goodbye.
Thursday was by far my busiest and probably my favorite day. I enjoyed every show I saw and really enjoyed the messages! It was tough saying goodbye to Audio Adrenaline, especially since they aren’t scheduled to do a show in the Northwest that I can go to.
Article by Jeremy Koering
