Lifest. Many concerts. Much music.
Endless memories, all packed into 5 days.
Day 1: Beginning.
This was day one. Opening day of Lifest. The grounds opened to campers at noon and I knew I had to be there early in order to set up my camp and be able to get a good spot for Skillet! I was experienced with Lifest so I knew I would have to wait for long hours in the hot baking sun and I was 100% okay with that. So, after I got all my stuff in my tent, I threw a bottle of water in my bag, grabbed my "Craziest Panhead" sign and took off for the main stage where in about 7 hours, there would be Skillet epicness. Skillet was not scheduled to play until 9:30 p.m. and I got to my front row spot at approximately 2:10 in the afternoon. No one else was there (very few people had even set up lawn chairs yet) so I settled down for a long wait. After a couple of hours, people started showing up around me and I stood up and watched Kutless. Then, this group of girls snuck in next to me and they made friends with me and ended up telling me about the Skillet meet & greet. They were even kind enough to get their friends to save our spots so we could go to the meet & greet and come back to our front row location.
After Kutless was our keynote speaker of the day and then it was time for Skillet. Even though I knew the intro, the energy pouring through me when it began was nothing compared to my first Skillet show...it was SO MUCH more. I had my sign and I was READY to rock out!! In my mind I kept reliving the meet & greet from earlier that day: seeing John's tattoo up close and the way John (and the other band members of course) were genuinely greeting and talking to each person...if they were tired of it you would never have known.
The concert:
"Whispers in the Dark" has always been a very powerful song for me and as a concert opener it was especially perfect ♥
My heart was pumping and racing and though I was pinned against the barrier, I gave my all at that concert. I sang and screamed louder, I jumped higher and I head banged with more intention as the setlist continued.
"The Last Night's" opening caught me by surprise because I hadn't bothered finding out the setlist beforehand. Unlike the last show I went to, I cried during the song. Headbanging+crying=unforgetable. Well, by the time the song got to the bridge, I was just singing along again but when they hit the end, "I won't let you say goodbye and I'll be your reason why...the last night away from me, away from me." I was so emotional I couldn't even sing.
The next song I really remember was "Those Nights" because of the crowd cam. I knew it was coming as soon as I heard the song's intro, so I got my sign ready (no easy task, the crowd was insane) and waited. Before I knew it, John had the camera out and was recording. He started with stage left and steadily worked his way over to where I stood. I proudly held up my sign and was surprised by what happened next: John paused the camera on me (so I was definitely visible) and then we winked at me..from stage!! I was so shocked I didn't know how to react.
The rest of the show passed without incident. The crowd got less moshy and the pyro got better. The "Monster" growl was epic and "Hero" was just as amazing as always.
After the concert ended, I walked back to my tent in a daze, compltely skipping the Disciple show and lay down on my sleeping bag and penned into my journal:
"In that one instant, it no longer mattered about the scars I have or the hurts I've felt...people DO care whether I live or die and I will forever cherish this night." -7/8/09
God was starting to radically change my heart, and I had no clue.
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