Review of Alive Festival 2007

This weekend, my wife and I attended the Alive Festival in Canal Fulton, OH. Overall, the festival was a great success. It was well-attended, well-run and had a tremendous lineup of established and new Christian artists of all types. There was a great mix of Christians young and old including youth groups, young-adults and families of all generations. I really left the week spiritually renewed and excited about God in Christ Jesus.

The week got started for us on Wednesday night with David Crowder Band, who played a great mix of their originals and worship songs. The night had a good crowd for a Wednesday night, but the free space gave you plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy the show. The events were MC'd by John Reuben, who did a great job as the week's guide but was even more impressive in his two performances. The rest of the week had higher attendance with a complete packed house on Friday and Saturday nights.

There were two real musical highlights of the week. First, Toby Mac brought the house with portable sounds on Thursday night. At 31, I was up jumping and dancing with the kids for this show. He played old favorites like Jesus Freak but was just as impressive with his new album and Boomin'. The whole amphitheater was packed and moving from start to finish. The second was unquestionably the Newsboys. Their close to the week could not have been a better ending. The entire performance was tremendous, no doubt helped by a inspired opening by Chris Tomlin who played "Indescribable" as there was a beautiful sunset. But what was most impressive from the Newsboys was lead singer Peter Furler's Gospel message. Clearly the focus of their act was an opportunity to spread the faith in Christ, this can be said of most of the acts at Alive. But Furler's message was super-clear and amazingly delivered.

Clay's Park Resort made a great venue offering a freshwater lake, volleyball courts, mini-golf and a couple of water slides among other amenities. The event staff kept the johns pretty clean and the venue in great shape all week. God provided tremendous weather with just one twenty minute rainstorm. So we had a tremendous time and recommend the festival to anyone that can make it next year. They will be having a 2008 Alive Festival, which will be the 21st after this years 20th anniversary celebration.

Not to be outdone by the top musical artists, the event also offered tons of other spiritual performances including the speakers and causes. Food for the Hungry aided by Crystal Miller sponsored 230+ children in Sololo Kenya at $28/month. That's up to $77,280 raised for a great cause. David Nasser was also a great choice for a speaker who told his story of conversion from a Muslim family. Some of the other acts that we really enjoyed were Family Force 5, Skellar Kart, Group 1 Crew, and John Reuben (an artist you just have to see live, his CD sounds totally different) Comedian Brad Stine and Juggler Jesse Joyner both had great acts with a clear Gospel message.

There were a few negatives at the event. Despite rules to the contrary, the crowd setup blankets, tarps, and lawn chairs early in the afternoon for the show and left them all day to hold spots. This resulted in big open areas not used during some shows and even in the large shows certain groups took up way more space than needed while others were forced to watch from the outskirts with bad views. I thought it showed a lack of courtesy. The teens were overall well behaved and there for a good time, but there was some evidence of tasteless pranks and misbehaving. But nothing too bad, so that is to be expected at a out-reach event. Finally the main stage sound crew had a rough week with a couple of acts with troubles and extremely long and stressful sound checks. But these few negatives were very minor compared to the great fun, fellowship, and worship.

My wife and I will probably make it back for Alive Festival again someday, but we are expecting our first child in December so 2008 will be a tough year for us to go camping and concerting. But if you are thinking about going and you come across this post, I say definitely check it out.