Summer Concerts

Here are a few of the concerts going on this summer in the general area. I will try to continue to update it as I find more shows. If you aren't really sure of which ones to go to, I would without a doubt recommend going to a festival. As you may have noticed from my previous blogs, the Sonshine Music Festival was amazing. You get exposed to so many different bands: really popular groups, groups just breaking into the business, and even ones that don't even have labels. Half the fun is camping out, too. Most of my stories and random, crazy memories are from around the campsite.

Guster- May 1 @ Stevens Point, WI
Amos Lee- May 3 @ Fargo, ND & May 5 @ Northfield, MN
Mae- June 11 @ Minneapolis, MN & June 12 & 13 @ Chicago, IL
Bebo Norman- July 8 @ Detroit Lakes, MN
Tobymac- July 11 @ Appleton, WI
Michael Buble- July 23 & 24 @ Chicago, IL
Hawk Nelson- July 24 @ Appleton, WI

Some of the artists listed above are also playing at the following music festivals. You can check out all of the shows playing at these festivals by clicking on them. There are too many artists to list!
Lifest- July 11-15
Sonshine- July 12-14

I've Changed My Ways

I never thought that I would be recommending this next artist. I think my music taste is kind of changing. I still enjoy all of the same music, but I am opening up to some new stuff. A lot of the music that I enjoy isn't dancing music and..well.. sometimes it's good to shake it a little. Wow, I just wrote a lot of stuff justifying why I like this artist. I'm a dork...I know. The artist that I have recently become a fan of is Tobymac. He has really fun, upbeat music that you can definitely dance to. I have listened to his Portable Sounds CD so many times since I bought it. It is a good CD to jam out to in the car.

Last summer Toby was the final act at the Sonshine Music Festival. I had so much fun at his show! I didn't know any of his songs and barely knew who he was and I still had an amazing time. I am proud to say that I crowd surfed for the first time at that show. It was so sweet! The energy level was through the roof throughout the entire show. He is a sweet performer surrounded by amazing artists to back him up.

Pardon My Absence

Sorry guys, I have been a massive slacker for multiple months and I have no excuse. Over spring break I went home to visit the family for a few days. Going home means at least seven hours of driving one way... let's just say I had a lot of quality time with my CDs. On the way back, I bought the new Anberlin CD called Cities. Fabulous! Anberlin is a Christian Indie Rock or Alternative Pop/Rock style group. Pretty sure I listened to the CD 3 times during the drive. Rarely have I found a CD that starts off so intense. Their lyrics are awesome, too. You can tell that they are speaking from experience and that if some of the lyrics sound directed at a person, really they could be talking about the issues they have with themselves. Here are a few that stuck out to me:

"You're sick, sick as all the
Secrets that you deny
Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide"

"laughter took the place of everything we knew we were not"

"Tommy, you left behind
something that will mean everything right before you die.
What if you gained the whole world?"

Usually when I buy a CD I hate it the first time I listen to it, then I listen to it again and I sort of like it, then I listen to it again and I love it. Well, when I first listened to this CD I was kind of weirded out by the fact that I loved it right away. I'm not complaining or anything... it was just weird.