Just got back from Creationfest 2005, which I spent with my roommate Megs and her family.
Megs
Me and Megs; photo by Ben
It was great to be at Creation and not have to be out in the heat and the dirt and everything, to have a nice cool farmhouse to sit and read in, and a real bed and even TV and Internet access. Quite cushy.
They said Wednesday night was the largest opening night they ever had: 85,000. I'd say it could probably be attributed to the fact that Switchfoot, which has become popular in the secular world, played the last concert Wednesday night.
Thursday evening
I stepped out of the car Wednesday night, and who should I see stepping out of the next car but Greta from my dance class? How bizarre! I saw my youth group Thursday and a couple guys from Ship HS the next two nights.
The first two nights, Meg's brother Ben came with us. He's great! Ben's like the kid brother I never had. Funny guy. Esther, Meg's sister came Friday night and Ben and their friend Jer came Saturday.
Ben
Esther and me
Thursday night
Meg's area is gorgeous. And they have dogs and cats and horses. I got to ride a horse for the first time Friday morning! I rode Sweetpea for about ten minutes. It was very cool.
Meg's valley
Yours truly on horseback; photo courtesy of Megs
So yeah, Creation was insanely crowded this year. We had an awful time finding places to put our lawn chairs. And dusty! Man! Absolute clouds rising up from everywhere. People's tarps were so coated in it that when people walked across them, they kicked it up. And the big group in front of the stage, whenever they jumped to the music they stirred up a huge cloud of dust. We were down front for the Kutless concert, which kicked off Saturday night. It was cool. (Well, hot really, but you know what I mean. :)
Friday evening
The only concert I didn't like was Michael W. Smith, which is funny, because I like his music. But Megan and I agreed he didn't seem at all sincere. We weren't terribly wild about Greg Laurie (speaker) either. But we both liked Buster Soaries (who is so charismatic, he makes you want to preach a sermon yourself!) and Bob Lenz (who was funny, and sincere, and very hard-hitting). I really liked Ron Luce, but Megs and Ben didn't. I thought he was a very powerful speaker. But then, I have a bit of a soft spot for him, anyway. I'm pretty sure he was the guy at ATF (Acquire the Fire) that preached on how you can't just live off of mountain-top experiences, which inspired me to really commit to Christ back in like, tenth or eleventh grade.
What's Creation without permanent marker tattoos?
We saw Relient K, Switchfoot, part of Caedmon's Call, TobyMac, Michael W. Smith, Superchic[k], Jeremy Camp, Casting Crowns, Newsboys, the candlelighting, Kutless, Joy Williams, Audio Adrenaline and Mercy Me. Most of them were pretty awesome. I'm currently listening to a Casting Crowns CD Megs burned for me--it's great. Newsboys was probably my favorite. Everybody was hyped up, partly because it's Newsboys, and partly because they were filming a DVD during their concert (which Megs is gonna buy; I can't wait to see it! Cause I can say I was there! :). So anyway, they got three songs in, and the band left the stage and the announcer came on, and he's like, We're having an electrical problem: one of the transformers is smoking. So we have to replace it; it'll probably be 30 to 45 minutes. We thought at first he was joking, but he wasn't. But the energy stayed up the whole time!
Esther, Fri night
The candlelighting was cool, as usual, but where we were, we really couldn't see that many people, so it didn't have quite the same effect. But there were probably about 120,000 people there, so... I can tell you, it's much brighter with everyone holding a candle than it is with just the electric stage lights on.
Fri night
Candlelighting
Audio A always gets the crowd involved. This time, the lead singer pulled a kid up on the platform with him when he was out in the crowd and let him sing the chorus. Then they pulled a bunch of people on stage, and had two of them sing the chorus. The one girl was obviously so excited she almost couldn't breathe. Mercy Me closed it all up. You know, I thought it was really awesome that a big guy like that can be so popular. I mean, I don't think that would happen in secular music. The other really awesome thing about Creation concerts is that the crowd can be screaming their heads off, and then the band starts to pray, and the whole place goes entirely silent. It's great.
Saturday evening
Meg's family is great. I played in the pool with Josiah and Ben Saturday, which is probably why I'm burned now. We had a great time. I hadn't been swimming for like, at least a year if not more. I got to be really fond of their dachsund, Woody. He's adorable. Mercy kept playing vetrinarian with Jonah--poor, long-suffering dog! I've seen her pick the poor thing up by his collar.
So yeah, it was great!
180 degrees, Saturday evening
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