can I have another weekend to recooperate?

Today is Sunday... oh how I wish it were Friday so I could have another weekend to rest. Matthew and I have been at Sonshine Music Festival since last Thursday. He ran sound for one of the 5 stages... and I was his faithful assistant (aka supplier of food and beverages, sunscreen applier, etc). It was great to be able to enjoy so many live bands! I haven't heard the final count, but last year there were about 23,000 people and they estimated that this year would pass that.

Main Stage

The weather didn't quite cooperate with all of the festival plans. Thursday evening a HUGE storm came through leaving everyone looking like drowned rats, tents flooded and collapsed, and quite a bit of damage to the main stage where Kutless, Jeremy Camp, and Newsboys were scheduled to play. The massive canopy over the top filled with rain then collapsed from the weight, ruining sound equipment, a brand new custom set of drums, and crashing down a 20 foot high lighting tower. The power of this storm was incredible! The bands never had a chance to play that night (obviously) but thankfully they were able to get everything cleaned up and ready to go for Friday. Friday and Saturday we didn't get anymore rain, but had scorching temperatures between 95 and 100+. It was (and still is) HOT. The storm or heat didn't seem to discourage too many people, though. I was so thankful to be able to drive home each day to take a cold shower... plus Matthew and I were blessed to be able to sleep in a borrowed RV with A/C! Thank you Jon and Kelli!!!

Matthew bought himself a new set of Risen drums at the festival. They are quite nice looking with a fuzzy, maroon paisley wrap. They are a custom set that Risen made just for the festival (they make custom sets for each of the 5 stages every year) and Matthew was able to buy them for about half price. I was really impressed with the guys that operate Risen. They were all at the festival and reminded me a lot of the OC Choppers, how they make custom bikes then take them to shows and treat them like their babies. They were so excited that Matthew was the one taking this set home (this set was their favorite) that each of them welcomed us to the Risen family.

One of the neat aspect to Sonshine this weekend were the backstage passes we got because Matthew worked for the festival. Rather than pushing through crowds to get a closer look at the bands, we just walked through the gates backstage and were able to stand right up next to the stage. We had a chance to chat with a few artists (or rather Matthew did) like David Crowder and Third Day's Mac Powell. I'm more of a people watcher than an in your face kind of person. I really enjoyed going backstage and climbing up into one of the sound trucks where we had a great view of the show and could look out over the massive crowd. It's amazing watching a sea of people worship God. Amazing.

Oh, and we got free meal tickets too! You gotta love free food.