Pulse Fest 2007

Today I spent all day at the World Pulse Festival, an annual Christian music festival held on the grounds of a contemporary Christian radio station in South Bend. The festival typically occurs on a Saturday when I work so I have not been able to attend for years. However, this year I didn't have to work so I was finally able to make a return trip.

The Festival has grown immensely from when I last attended. When I went about 10 years ago, the groups were The Imperials, Phillips, Craig & Dean, and Billy Crockett. Yeah, not too exciting. This year, the lineup was Kristal Myers, Superchic(k), Sanctus Real, Desperation Band, Kutless, Third Day, and Michael W. Smith. Yeah, they've "slightly" improved the lineup. Attendance has also skyrocketed. There had to be thousands there today and for good reason. The festival is free (parking costs, but that's it).

But this year there was an added bonus. My niece Paula and her husband Tom, and my nephew Benjamin came over from Ohio with their youth group to attend the festival. They came up on Friday night and stayed at our church as we hosted a "Pre-Pulse Festival" party along with a church from Michigan. That was a lot of fun and it was great to see my nephew and niece interacting with their youth (they are great leaders).

After serving everyone breakfast this morning, we headed out to the festival about 90 minutes before it was scheduled to begin. People had been camping out since about 2:00 a.m. so we knew we wouldn't get front row seats. That's okay, even being pretty far back you could still see well and there was a jumbotron screen which also helped. Typically this time of year it is very hot. But today, it was 78 degrees, which was absolutely perfect.

The first artist was Kristal Myers, who someone commented looks like Paris Hilton . . .and she does. Her music? Boring! Let's move on. Next group was Superchic(k) which consists of two sisters singing lead and their band. They weren't bad but I wasn't all that crazy about their music. So, the festival didn't really begin for me until the next group, Sanctus Real. I had just seen them earlier in the year in Fort Wayne. I enjoyed them then and enjoyed them again today.

I had never heard of the Desperation Band so I figured I'd go check out the merchandise tents during their set. But I stuck around anyway, and this is one of the great things about seeing a big lineup of bands which contain ones you've never heard of . . .you may discover one of those bands is actually quite good. That's how it was with Desperation Band, which is the worship band from New Life Church in Colorado Springs (Ted Haggard's former church). They started out with "I am Free," a song they had written and had been performing on their own, but it only became more widely known when the Newsboys included it on their newest CD. Desperation Band not only had a good sound, but they looked like they were having a lot of fun out there (something lots of bands don't seem to get). The set was extremely short, only about 4 songs. I'll be checking out their CD's now.

Next up was Kutless, and they were loud and crazy and full of energy. I'm not a huge fan of their music, but they are a very good live band and they were my favorite act of the day. Benjamin took most of his youth group closer to the stage so they could get some "moshing" going. He said it was moderately successful although some older folks with earplugs gave them some dirty looks (what they were doing that close to the stage anyway, I have no idea).

Third Day is a band I have always been continuously disappointed at when it comes to their CD's. A few good songs here and there but they never seem to let loose in the studio. Live, however, is a different story. They were doing some major rockin' and Mac Powell is a great lead singer. On tape, I think they can be pretty dull, but in person, they are probably one of the better bands out there.

Finishing out the day was Michael W. Smith. Basically, his set was pretty yawn-inducing, save for a couple songs here and there. It started raining and about half the crowd (including us) were headed to the exits during his set. I first saw Michael W. Smith in 1985 as the opening act for Petra. Needless to say, he was a far different live performer back then. His "Big Picture" tour of 1986 still, for me, ranks as the best Christian concert ever. Youth today can't believe it when I say one of the loudest, most rockin' and jammin' concerts I ever went to was a Michael W. Smith concert. Today, he's gone all profound and "worship moment" on us, so it's kind of impossible to imagine him in any other context than up there singing praise and worship songs.

It was a great day and Paula and Benjamin said their youth had a wonderful time. We hope to make this an annual tradition and have them back next year.