I went to this big, outside, 3 day, Christian music festival called the Inside Out Soul Festival up at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire in the summer of 1999. The following is an email that I sent to my friends when I came back to tell them about the concert. I figured I’d just stick it on my website. I thought it may make for some interesting reading.I'm going to try and find some pictures of it to put on here. I didn't take any, but maybe some of my friends did. If you are interested, I think you can check out some pictures at www.newsoundconcertsinc.com.
Well, I made it back from my mini 3 day/long weekend/mini vacation at the Inside Out Christian Music Festival up at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. I figured I'd give you a little debriefing.
THE BIG PICTURE….. Overall I had a BLAST !!!! The music and weather were mostly great. The weather was VERY HOT, though! The fellowship was great! It was just great to step out of the rat race for a bit!! I took some rides on the ski lift and admired GOD'S beautiful creation.
THE PITFALLS….. and there were a few. I went last year and everything seemed to go great. The people at Loon loved everyone because they were well behaved and picked up after themselves. There were a ton of young kids there. I would say between 13 and 20 or so. This year, I noticed allot of disrespect and arrogance in the way they were SOME people were behaving. I had a different sense this year than I did last. I saw a bunch of things that were very uncool. Bad language, dropping water balloons on people, throwing mud at people and just being "wise guys" were some issues. There were some heavier bands here this year. I think some are bands that also get played in the secular arenas so I don't know if everyone was really even a professing Christian. The WORST thing I heard was from my friend who was working security. He told me that a girl came in on Sunday night and told them that she had been raped in the parking lot. The police came and she was also taken to the hospital to be checked out. It's sad to think that the local papers could get the story and use it to put a black smear on CHRIST'S name and His TRUE people because of the few that have to ruin everything for the rest of us!!!
THE DETAILS ….FRIDAY…. I got up NH on Friday morning at about 9 AM or so. I stopped at the motel cabins and then met my friends at the Sunnyvale Diner for breakfast. My friend Pete's reputation precedes him, and it was funny watching him banter with the waitress. Ever seen Flo from Mel's Diner on the TV show "Alice" ?? Shortly after breakfast, we went up to Loon Mountain to get a good spot to perch and watch the concert, and we did! We had a bunch of these black, foldable chairs that people bought at Costco, and we set them up on this ridge right in front of the stage and pretty much dead center. There was allot of mud in front of us and behind us so nobody really sat around us to crowd us. It was soooo hot ! The of the day was probably Michael W Smith. I was interested in seeing him, but didn't know what to expect. Well actually, after seeing him on the videos and CID covers, and not hearing TOO much of his music, I had the preconceived notion that he was this "full of himself' PRETTY BOY that attracted mostly young girls becauseof his looks and not his music. : was wrong. I really liked his music andhe seems very down to earth and I could sense his sensitive spirit. The disappointment of the day for me was DC TALK. I really like their music, but I have never seen them before in concert. I got the sense that they were pretty "full of themselves" and not very spiritually sensitive. Although, I can sense it in their music. This is pretty much only MY FIRST IMPRESSION, though. I also liked this band P.O.D. (Payable On Death). They are a VERY heavy band, both musically, lyrically, and spiritually. (Although, you can't really make out the lyrics. You need the words on the CD. I've read them, and they are pretty good in MY opinion.) The only thing is, that they are SCARY looking !! (Maybe I'm getting OLD !!) The have tattoos all over themselves, face piercings, and funky hairdos. In a sense, I think it's GOOD because I believe they are reaching a certain group of people, but I don't know if parents or many other people take them seriously. Anyway, I STILL like 'em !!!
SATURDAY….. For, me, the highlights were "Five Iron Frenzy" and "The W’s". I like their music, and I thought they were cool to watch. The made me want to "shake ma' booty" !!! The BIGGEST highlight was after the concert!!!! They did a special live album recording over at another stage. (There were 3 different stages, by the way.) It was in a building you had to pay 2 bucks to get into, and there was a huge line. The place filled up, and we didn't go in. They opened the windows in back of the stage, and a bunch of people were hanging around outside the window listening. It was really great !! It was nice out and everyone inside looked like they were soooo hot !!! We could hear perfectly !! I spent awhile out there hanging out and dancing with friends !!!! "Jars of Clay" played last. They were REALLY good too!!!!!!!
SUNDAY…… I woke up and sat on the porch with some friends, and one of them said "what happened to your neck ?!?!!" I said "I dunno, WHY?" I put my hand back there, and it was COVERED in blood !!! I went and cleaned it up and had my friends look and said there were two little holes there. I don't know what the heck happened! I THINK it was some over zealous, gluttonous mosquito that gorged herself (everyone knows it's the FEMALE mosquitoes that treally STICK it to ya!!! Hmmmmm ..... gets ya thinking, EH !?!?!) on my neck for breakfast till she EXPLODED !!!!! I had a HUGE bump there by the end of the day. Anyway, the concert started with "Junegroove". They were a cool local band. Shortly there after, it started to POUR RAIN !!!! At first it was refreshing because it was soooo hot, but it cooled of very quickly. Many people ran for cover, or packed up and left. I sat there in FAITH with my SUNGLASSES on CLAMING that GOD would BIND THE SKY!!!! Well, I sat, and sat, and sat. It would start to clear up, then the skies would open up again. There was some thunder and lightning, so they shut off all the electricity and stopped the concert. Everything was REALLY wet!! Kids got bored and started sliding down the mountain and playing in all the mud. THAT'S when the mud slinging started. I think it got a bit out of hand, not EVERYONE wanted to get muddy. The REDEEMING thing was that while the electricity was off, the band that was supposed to play performed acoustic worship songs. That was really nice until the mud slinging started. After about an hour or so, the skies cleared, the sun came out and the concert started again. Then, l took some rides on the skylift. What a great view from the top. Well, all the people that left would've been bummin' if they knew what they missed. (***NOTE*** If anyone is reading this who may or MAY NOT have been there, and left before the end of the concert, THIS IS NOT A DIG. Let's just say, it's THOSE who PERSEVERE till the end that receive the blessing!! The rest of the day was gorgeous, and the concert was great !!!! I would have to say that the BIG highlights of the whole weekend were seeing "The Supertones" and "The Newsboys"!! They were soooo cool !!! Everyone was dancing and jumping around and having a blast!!! The Supertones were so fun and energetic!!! Newsboys had this cool drum stand with 2 drumsets screwed down to it. During one of the songs, the lead singer got onto the other drumset and the drum stage lifted up in the air and started spinning AND TILTING and they did a drum solo!!!!! (Ummmm .... well,l guess it would be a drum DUO ????) They were really cool !!! I saw the Newsboys last year, and they were just as good if not BETTA' !!!!!
MONDAY…. Ok, woke up and packed and went back to the Sunnyvale Diner. The food was really good, but the ENTERTAINMENT was VEEEERRRYYY funny!!!!! You remember my friend Pete I mentioned earlier???? We ate, stopped back at the motel, and then went to this pretty cool 18 hole mini golf place. It started to rain about halfway through our game and continued for the rest of the day, but we did finished our game. So then our fearless leader of the weekend had this idea to stop at these outlet stores "ON THE WAY HOME". 'Because of my sensitivity, I won't use my friend Peter Webb's real- name to protect his identity from any embarrassment from anyone who would be so low as to do something like that to him!!!) So I said, "Sure, I'll go". I think this was around Noon or so. Well, we went to these outlet stores for a couple of hours or so, and then we all left, following our leader to get home. After all, it WAS his family's motel and he has been going up there for YEARS, SURELY he knew his way. (***NOTE*** It took me 1 1/2 hours to get up there on Friday morning.) Well, we ended up having a long, really nice, long, scenic, long, relaxing and long ride home. It wasn't BAD, I just saw more of scenic New Hampshire and Maine than any one person should try to SEE in one afternoon. I got home around 7:30 PM. (Yes, it is STILL Monday. Did you do the math to figure out how long of a drive it was??) I bought this CD at the concert that I REALLY looooooved at the beginning of the trip. Well, I am sooooooo sick of listening to it now, I almost tossed it out the window. I DID get to see some nice parts of Maine and NH that I have never seen before,though. THANKS PETE!!!
CONCLUSION….. Well, that's about it. Do you feel like you LIVED it with me !?!?!?! Overall, I had a great time !! I can’t wait to go again in 2000 !! I heard that it is going to be 4 days and 4 stages next year. I’m really looking forward to It!! WOOO HOOOO !!!!!
