[Yesspaz]

Just got back from OneFest in Memphis (one of those gargantuan Christian music festivals). Incredible. The spiritual aspect I'll comment on elsewhere, for this is not the forum, but the music...

I saw Iona for the first time (don't let the fact that their a Christian bands scare you off). Sweet! They began with a 6 minute instrumental with intricate guitar work, Irish bagpipes, flute, keyboards, drums, and bass. After which, the lead vocalist, a woman, says in her Irish accent and best Southern drawl, "Hi, Ya'll," much to the delight of the crowd. Southerners usually hate it when non-Southerners say stupid things like that when they play the South, but because they came across the ocean for this, it was great!

The bass player frequently used some sort of metallic object to strike the strings. Weird. It was like a metallic funk finger. After three songs of "normal" length, the lead singer said, and I paraphrase, "This is our last big show for quite a while so I hope you're enjoying it. We're heading back to Ireland tomorrow, because I'm gonna be havin' a baby (pronounced beh-bay in that Irish accent)." Cheers. "Well, some of you who are familiar with out music know that some of our songs can tend to be a little drawn out. This next one is a 13 minute epic piece." Very nice. They followed that with a keyboard/flute instrumental. Then I had to run across Shelby Farms to make the start of the Stavesacre set at Hilltop Two, so I didn't see the erst of the set, but what I saw was incredible - the only out and out prog rock band at OneFest.

For those who care about such things, Stavesacre was one of the two highlights of the Fest for me (they've been compared to Tool on more than one occasion, altough they are not as dark as Tool). I was right in front of the stage acting like a fool for 75 minutes, singing every word. Intense. The Choir was my other highlight, as they unleashed their ethereal alt/prog (bless 'em). I also throughly enjoyed Jacobstone (Radiohead, U2), Cush, 238, Project 86, P.O.D., Ransom Tree, lots of hardcore, participated in a Drum Circle with my drummer friend Tony Abercrombie of Ransom Tree, and saw what has to be the weirdest band ever - Psalters. Percussion galore, loops, cello, violin, percussive rhythm oriented acoustic guitar, and a dj. Not the scratch kind - the loops and weird effects Chemical Bros. kind. Whack, but fun. Oh, and hanging out with five of my best friends for four days with those wonderful all access passes to get into trailers to get free water and all that. Man, being on the cerw of a band at a music fest rocks. I'll shut up now. Yesspaz out.