PULSE FEST 2013
On Saturday, August 10, my friends Johanna, Deborah, Nathan, Kaylee, and Kennedi and I packed our shoulder bags, lathered on our sunscreen, and took a trip to the World Pulse Festival in South Bend.
Performing was Tricia Brock, Natalie Grant, Jason Castro, Audio Adrenaline, Switchfoot, and The City Harmonic; all of which I had heard of and none of which I had met.
When we arrived, we set up our lawn chairs, as you do when you're in a crowd of hundreds of people, and took a little walk around. We casually caught sight of Jason Castro at his merchandise table [which, ironically, was worked only by people with dreadlocks]; the start of a slightly eventful day.
While contemplating where to buy food, we were greeted by my friend Emily who somehow managed to find us in the sea of people. We then proceeded to buy and consume pizza that lasted all of us a good five hours. They were big pieces of pizza.
We entered a few drawings for prizes, spun a wheel that had about 8,482,479,128,200 "sorry"s on it and 1/10 that amount of wins, and accepted an abundance of free frisbees. Johanna managed to win a backpack, so she was crowned our "thing carrier" for the day.
After waiting in line for 700 hours, we finally managed to meet Jason Castro. Kaylee and I got a picture with him and he signed my tee shirt. He has a pretty cool autograph, might I add.
We walked around in the sun for what felt like forever before deciding to return to our beloved lawn chairs where we watched Natalie Grant and The City Harmonic. Personally, I was more blown away by TCH than Miss Grant, but I think that was more because Elias Dummer decided to start whipping his hair while playing piano. It's very hard to ignore a hair-whipping performer.
For what must have been forever, we sat in the scorching hot sun waiting for Audio Adrenaline, then decided that we wanted to go up to the front as close to the stage as we could.
I liked it much better in the back. There was a really tall guy in front of me who kept scooting backwards and I was too afraid to ask him not to step on me.
After a few songs, we decided to leave the front and go over to join the queue that was already forming to meet Audio A. After another incredibly long wait, we met the crew that makes up Audio Adrenaline, and to make matters even more incredible, I got a high five from the bass guitarist.
Switchfoot was the last to perform, and sadly, we weren't able to meet them either as we had to leave. But someday [I hope] I'll get the chance to personally inquire as to where in the world Jon Foreman gets all his energy. I mean, jumping up onto a drum and standing on the gate that separates the crowd from the stage usually indicates some level of excitement.
I will now insert pictures of what is now the coolest tee shirt I own, complete with signatures:
I can honestly say that was the best concert I've ever been to. I had previously been to Pulse Fest once, but that was way back when I was a baby and I remember none of it so it doesn't count. But in all seriousness, I am very grateful to have been able to spend the day with my best friends and to meet some of the coolest Christian artists out there. Check that off my bucket list. Maybe next time I'll have the guts to ask for a hug... Maybe.
"Change your thoughts and you change your world." -Norman Vincent Peale
~JK