Jamming Out

Hi, guest blogger Gabby here. 

We got to go to Winter Jam this last Thursday! The evening started with Dad taking Caelan and me to Raising Cane's for dinner. It tasted really good, and we were soon off to the concert venue. As we pulled up, there was a school bus, and two big vans that unloaded kids in front of us. There were so many people waiting in line! Thankfully, our youth group leader had gotten into line early, so we were only a few yards from the doors. 


There were a lot of people that we knew there from youth group, choir, our previous church, karate...It was kind of crazy! When we got inside the building, we followed our youth group leader to our seats, greeting friends as we passed. We weren't too far from the stage, and we had a great view.



The show started with the pre-jam party, which had four bands who were brand new and just getting introduced to the world. Two of the bands were really good, and the others were ok in my opinion. Dad and I left in the middle of one of the pre-jam bands anyway; I wanted a t-shirt as a souvenir. (It's really cool, btw:) 

Finally, the real show started. Jordan Feliz was the first artist, and he was really good! We knew all of his songs since our radio station plays them all the time. (This is the second guest blogger Caelan. Jordan Feliz looked like he just got off the Pirates of the Caribbean movies set. Pretty cool!) The next artist was...drumroll please...HOLLYN!! (Can you guess who we were excited to see?) 

Caelan and I love Hollyn. She was on American Idol a few seasons ago, and sang with Toby Mac for a while. She is really good, and there was definitely some cheering from our side of the room. :)

There were a lot of artists; Newsong, KB (Guest blogger C again! This dude is a rapper and danced the most out of everyone. It amazes me what some people can do with their voices!) Kari Jobe, Building 429 (one of my new favorites), and two guest speakers; Nick Hall and John Crist. Let me tell you, John Crist is HILARIOUS! He was homeschooled when he was a kid, and he made a bunch of jokes about being educated. He said homeschooling, "Was the goodest thing that ever happened to me." Hehe.



The last band to play was Skillet. Everyone there loved Skillet. They are a rock and roll band, and the drum player is a girl along with one of their guitar players. The band is crazy; the lead singer came in lowered from the ceiling, the drums were on a rotating platform that also went up and down, the drum player is the backup singer while still playing drums, the lead singer had a machine attached to his arms that shot smoke. It was super cool, but extremely loud.

The lead singer of Skillet is a really cool person. There was a girl near the front who had a sign along the lines of, "Winter Jam today, cancer treatment Friday." The lead singer took her sign, and sang on stage holding it. He dedicated a song to her, and had everyone clap for her.

Also in between two of his songs, he took a few minutes to tell his own testimony. That guy can preach! We think he understands that the only way some of the kids will ever hear the gospel is through his music. He didn't hold back; he just spoke to the kids and teenagers who needed to hear some good news. It was really neat.

When the concert began, it was seven o'clock. When it ended, it was 11:30ish, which is way later than Caelan and I have ever stayed up doing something. We didn't go to bed until midnight, because it was so quiet in the house; seriously, the silence hurt our ears! (GB C. It was so loud that you could hear the reverberations through the microphones of the people singing.) 

Winter Jam was super fun; I can't wait to go again next year...right Mom and Dad? ;)

I (the usual blogger) will add this--Buck was a total rock star for this event. He was up for work at 3 a.m., arrived home at 3 p.m., took the girls to dinner without even taking a nap, and then jammed at the concert until nearly midnight. After all the smoke, lights, and sound, he didn't wind down until 1 a.m., slept for five-ish hours, and then was awake again. Wowza! We'd planned ahead though, and that following day was his day off, so several naps ensued throughout the time off. But still! He texted me this photo of his in-line beverage. He was not *allowed* coffee the next day to give his body a chance to de-caffeinate :)