Ichthus

Day 2

12:00 a.m. – Wow. Skillet just put on one of the top 5 shows I’ve ever seen, and that’s not an exaggeration. Complete with pyrotechnics, lights and raising platforms, Skillet’s show will be really, really tough to top tomorrow night. Unless the directors were thinking to have a slammin rock concert Friday night and a sincere worship session Saturday, with Israel Houghton and Delirious? finishing off the festival. A really different lineup this year for Ichthus — a focus on the local worship bands instead of the Passion guys, and a much more ministry-driven purpose in scheduling. I’ll have to talk to Jeff James about that. Today I saw Alabaster Box, Grits, Rookie (one of the local bands I profiled), the Southland worship team, Kutless and Skillet. Not a bad day…not bad at all…

Photos to come

3:35 p.m. – I’m sitting back in my office going through photos from the festival that I will post shortly. Today I saw Alabaster Box and Grits, the latter of which I sat down with and interviewed. You can see the transcript of that on the home page. The weather is fantastic — the clouds are blocking the hot June sun, and the rain is holding off. It looks like it will stay this way the rest of the night, meaning Kutless will finally get to perform this year after having last year’s show canceled because of the Friday night storms. I spoke with a couple of those guys today, and they said they will make up for last year’s with a killer show tonight. If you are thinking of coming out to the festival at some point this weekend, tonight’s bill will be a solid one, with Kutless at 7:45 and Skillet at 9. Skillet may be the most polished rock band at the festival, and they have a wonderful show:

Day 1 Wrap

Funny how they move the thing to June to avoid the rain, huh?

Yes, Ichthus is still Ichthus, and at this point, we expect nothing less. I caught Disciple, Hawk Nelson and Family Force 5 on the Main Stage, and all three shows brought about what fans hope to see from the groups. Disciple brought the headbanging, Hawk brought the melodies and Family Force 5 brought the party. FF5 came decked out in football pads and gold shoes, with backup dance Xanadu dressed in his referee outfit.

Music aside, I had one of the most interesting interviews I’ve been a part of. John Park and Larry Minner are two of the original five Asbury Seminary students who started Ichthus in 1970, and they hadn’t seen each other since that first festival. They both made it back to Wilmore for the 40th anniversary and told their stories, fuzzy as the details were, about how they came up with the festival. I’l l publish that story later this weekend.

The rain was fairly light for the Ichthus, and it didn’t ruin any shows. The radar looks pretty favorable today, and the weather is nice and cool for the thousands of people that are packing themselves together to see the shows. Today I’m going to be getting some pictures from around the campground, and then I’ll be back to shoot a couple of shows before wrapping up Day 2.

I can’t promise that I won’t have any more Internet trouble, so make sure to check out my Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates and news.

Day 1

12:10 p.m. – I went out to the grounds early this morning, and there are definitely fewer people at this year’s festival than there were the last few. Obviously, Ichthus is not one of the top priorities in families’ budgets this year, so ticket sales are taking a hit. I’ll have more on that story after the festival. I’ll be heading out to catch Remedy Drive at 3:25 today, so that will be my first live update from the festival. The rain has cooled everything down out there — it feels wonderful. Hopefully the rain holds off — forecasts show scattered thunderstorms around the area this weekend — but it’s Ichthus, so ya know…

Hey while you’re at it, check out this story on three bands you need to go say hello too this weekend.