Where do we go from here?

Went to see Subseven, Falling Up, Project 86, and Pillar tonight at Lancaster Mennonite School. Great show... I forgot how good Project is... I mean.. at Purple Door they had the whole crowd slinging mud on stage and may never get invited back... but they are a talented hard core band that doesn't scream much. The bass player makes the band... very powerfully driven music. The lead singer came out with his face painted like a skeleton for Halloween and talked about how Halloween came out of a Christian holiday where Christmas and Easter evolved from secular holidays. I get the feeling he likes to mess with Christian theology a lot. I appreciate that... but a few things he had to say were a bit off I think. He was talking about how they play shows at bars in order to get put out with other really good bands... to go play at other summer music festivals... and that he wanted the Christians to come to see them to help them get booked elsewhere strangely he was addressing this to a crowd of mostly high school kids). Sorta on track... but he's missing the reason why he wants the band to play at Ozzfest or any of the other festivals. All the Christian bands that have stepped out into the "secular" music scene have been well recieved, and they don't have to rely upon a Christian fan base to make it... but they all originate from a reason to not only entertain the youth group kids, but play for kids that don't do the church or God thing. Still a good band either way.

I didn't get to hear much of Subseven or Falling Up... but both were pretty hard. Both also involved some amazing stunts on behalf of the musicians... a lot of running, stepping onto the guitarists leg, and doing a flip during the middle of their lyrics. Pretty sweet show. Musically they were good. However, the sound guys weren't mixing blanaces to well as the lead singers were all muffled. I could balance it better!

Pillar was good. They have an amazing drummer with a huge trap set... I think the guy went through over a dozen sticks because he either lost his grip or threw them at the crowd. The guitars were good, and the lead singer - well... I've concluded that his voice was more nasal than the other 3 1/2 times I've seen the band (1/2 = the start of their set @ Purple Door that got shut down due to the torrential downpour and lighting all about). I think he usually has some effects usually on his channel that weren't included tonight.

The crowd was definitely moving tonight... the security guy had to stop the show twice for safety concerns. While observing all this.. I began to think about the fact that the teenage years really are a huge transition. In the teenage years we look(ed) for a sense of independance - from doing what the parents require, from the rigid schedule of school, from the kids we grow up with. Yet as the independance is expressed, we also have an innate desire to be part of something bigger. We seek acceptance. We want to be a part of a larger group doing something... whether it is a sports team or other organized team... or to feel that the hype of a RAWK show partly lays on your own shoulders... we want to be a part of something beyond ourselves. This can be great, or it can be very destructive, depending on the path we choose. My high school years resulted in wanting to help my close friends... sometimes in heroic efforts to talk them out of suicidal thoughts, to stay up forever late camping at Creation 96 at Hershey pushing water off the tarp covering tents to save camp, or doing the youth group thing... I wanted to be involved, to matter to more than just my parents, and to take an active role in something. It's an amazing force, a great desire, and a huge part of feeling like an adult. For some like me... the sense that "we're all in this together" never really goes away.

I took a bunch of pictures at the show... I'll upload them tomorrow or Monday.