Fusion Fest 2010

I had a blast at the Fusion Fest 2010 yesterday! Fusion was a concert with bands Revive, Chris and Conrad, and Big Daddy Weave.

My brother and I arrived at Fusion about 4:00pm, two hours before the concert was supposed to start. I wanted to get there in plenty of time because my favorite band, Revive was going to be playing first, and naturally I wanted a good spot, right up front. I was also curious about some of the local bands that were going to be playing.

I figured that since it was two hours before the show, we might walk around some, checking out some of the venders, and maybe hitting the merch tables before they got busy. We wandered over to the main stage, since that where the K-love radio tent was. I realized as soon as we got close that Revive was doing their soundcheck! So we spread out our blanket and sat down to watch. Of course, I didn’t stay seated for long. I got up close to the base of the stage and started taking pictures of Revive. At that point it hit me-I was standing about 5 feet from Revive! It was like a dream or something, only way better.

Several times during their soundcheck, I saw them smile at me. And at one point when Dave was trying out his microphone, he spotted me and waved. I was quite proud that I was able to wave back, because I was stunned that he seemed to recognize me!

About halfway through the soundcheck, my brother and I walked over to the K-love tent. I had wanted to meet JD Chandler, who is my favorite DJ on K-love. So I was able to say hi and get a picture with him!

After that, we went to sit back down and watch the rest of Revive’s soundcheck. Only I would think that sitting through a soundcheck would be almost as fascinating and cool as the actual concert! LOL When they finished their soundcheck, Rich came around to the front of the stage and waved at me.
“Hi Hannah!”
My jaw nearly hit the grass!
I quickly ran over there to him and said hi back. That was when AJ walked up. He took one look at me and was like, “HEY! I know you! You’re on Facebook!”
And then Dave comes up, gives me a high five and said, “Hey, what’s up, dude?”
I said I was doing great, and then Rich told me they were all heading off to go pray before the show, and that they’d see me later. So I said bye, and went to sit back down again. My head was spinning-I had no idea they would recognize me! I guess I made some sort of impression or something, haha.

My brother and I then started to listen to a local band RITK that was playing on a side stage. The music was fine-it wasn’t totally horrible-but there are only a few bands I will listen to that rap/sing in their songs. The main issue I had with the band was that they chose to sing a TobyMac song, Made To Love. Now I love that song, but only if Toby himself is singing it. I’m sorry, but there are just some songs that should not be sung by anyone other than the person who originally recorded it. Made To Love is one of those songs.

After RITK was through with their set, a guy by the name of Austin Simmons came up on the main stage to sing. I hadn’t heard of him before either, but he was good! It was just himself with a guitar, no band. After his set was finished, my brother went and bought one of Austin’s EPs.

Finally, it was time for Revive! Rich, Mike, Dave, and AJ all took their places and proceeded to rock! Thankfully I had snagged a spot to stand right up front, so I got a ton of amazing pictures.
Revive got a full hour to play, which made my day :) They played all new songs, except for one at the end, Chorus of the Saints, which is the title track and single off their current album. And let me just say, if you haven’t pre-ordered their new CD yet-you should! I heard all but 3 songs off of this CD, and they were amazing! Here’s the link if you want to go order it. How’s that for a plug? LOL
I think one of my favorite songs I heard Revive sing was a song called Love Found Me. I remember hearing this one when I watched them play at the WinterJam concert that was streamed online, but their set went by in such a blur I didn’t remember it until I heard it last night. And it is definitely a song you can “boogie” to, as Dave put it! I’ve had the tune going through my head all day, though all the words I know are “I found Love, and Love found me.”

It was also really cool because Rich grinned and nodded at me twice! I was so close to getting a picture of him looking at me, but he started looking away just as I took the picture.
All too soon, Revive’s hour set was up :) So my brother and I headed over to the merch tables to see what was available to buy.

I didn’t buy too much, but I knew I wanted to buy some from the Chris and Conrad and Revive tables. I got a poster and a Love Revolution bracelet from Chris and Conrad’s table, and a poster and 5 different pins from Revive’s table. Revive’s wives are all so sweet! The one who I bought merch from was Pip, Dave’s wife.

I was glad I bought the Revive poster when I did, because Rich, AJ, and Mike came up to do a bit of signing before they ate dinner. I didn’t see Dave…I guess he snuck back to where the food was. LOL The first one I got to talk to was Rich. He said hey and started signing my two Revive CDs and my new poster. Our conversation went something like this:
Rich: Hey Hannah! How's it going?
Me: Good! You sounded awesome tonight!Rich: You excited about the new CD?
Me: Uh huh! I can’t wait!
Rich: So…what do you think of AJ?
Me: I think he’s a really cool guy!
Rich: Yeah, he is. Well, see you soon, Hannah!
Me: Okay, thanks!

He wrote “thanks for your support, Hannah” on my poster when he signed it, and he put Hebrews 4:16 on my Chorus of the Saints CD when he signed that.
After Rich, I went over to AJ. One word can describe AJ perfectly-hyper! He is all over the place! LOL But he’s a super cool guy. He’s become less the “new guy”, and just become part of Revive. AJ just fits in so well :) Anyhow, as he signed my stuff, I told him I thought he played great, and that he was great for Revive.

Finally I went over to Mike. There wasn’t much conversation (he’s a very quite kind of person), we mostly said hi, and that was it.

My brother and I hung out for a few minutes at the merch tables for a few minutes, just to see if Dave would show up, but Chris and Conrad started playing, so we went back down to the stage since I wanted to see them too.
Chris and Conrad were great! I was kinda sad though, because they only had a 30 minute set. I got some great pictures of them too. I found it interesting that there wasn’t a band with them. I suppose they had a track playing, since Chris was playing guitar and Conrad was singing and playing keyboard, and I was hearing drums and various other instruments. But that didn’t take away from their music at all!

After they finished their set, we headed up towards the merch tables again, hoping to see Chris and Conrad come out briefly for some signings. They didn’t though, so they were probably waiting for the M&G stuff that would take place after the concert was over.

Mom and Dad called and said they would be coming soon and would try to find us when they got there, so we headed back down for some Big Daddy Weave.

Now, admittedly, Big Daddy Weave was not the main reason why I went to Fusion. I went because of Revive, and Chris and Conrad. Big Daddy Weave being there was a bonus. :)

I’m not really familiar with Big Daddy Weave’s music, but I know that they are a pretty cool band that has been a very influential presence in music. They actually helped jumpstart Chris and Conrad’s music ministry, to which I am very thankful!

I wasn’t able to get as close to the stage with Big Daddy Weave, since there were more people crammed in at the foot of the stage, but I was still able to get a few good pictures. Part of the way into listening to Big Daddy Weave, my brother and I saw my dad trying to find us, so we followed him back to my mom and we all sat down together.

My mom asked me if I had done everything I wanted to do, since we were going to have to leave before Big Daddy Weave finished playing. I told her I hadn’t met Chris and Conrad yet, and that I still wanted a group picture with all of Revive, or at least get to see Dave. So my brother and I went on over to the merch tables again.

I asked the people at Chris and Conrad table if it was possible they would be coming by sometime before the end of the concert. They said they weren’t sure, so I figured we could hang out for a few minutes to see if they came around.

Then I went to the Revive merch table where Nicki, Rich’s wife was sitting. I asked her if it was possible to see Revive, and explained I couldn’t stay for M&G. She said it would be kind of tricky to get all of them together, since they were all scattered at the moment, and then she asked if there was a specific one I still hadn’t seen yet. I told her I hadn’t seen Dave yet, and she said she would try to track him down for me.

So as I waited for her to come back, I watched Mike toss a football around with a couple of other people.

It didn’t take very long for Dave to come out. He spotted me immediately and came over. He remembered my name from earlier too! I told him thanks for coming out to see me, and then he started signing my stuff, and I told him that I was the girl who had sent them a Chorus of the Saints graphic I had made last year. His eyes lit up, and he was like “Wow, I hadn’t made that connection! Cool!” He then asked if I wanted a picture with him (who would pass that up? Haha), so my brother took one for me.

So after I got to see Dave, my brother and I went back over to where our parents were sitting. A few minutes went by, and Dave actually walked right by where we were sitting and waved to me!

Shortly after that, we all got up and left. I was so happy. I still am! I had gotten to see all of Revive (though not all at once-that’ll have to happen next time!), and I had plenty of pictures and memories. Thanks to Faithwalk for hosting such an amazing event-I can’t wait until next year!