(that's press people talk for eavesdropping) that they were waiting for the rest of the band to arrive at Cornerstone. I put 2 and 2 together and figured out that it wasn't going to be an acoustic set after all, so I went and told all our Kansas City people when the show would be starting. It actually started about ten, but I don't think anyone was too upset, because My Little Dog China got up there and blew everyone away. They are one of the best live bands I've ever seen. There were some controversial moments. I'm sure a lot of Christians freak out over some of their lyrics (with no good reason) and Kevin's stage presence. He gets completely into it, and the passion with which he performs just makes everything so powerful. Watching My Little Dog China is much more than a concert. It's just purely an emotional experience. Their music is just pure passion and emotion. I'm never disappointed by watching them. I just wish people would stop ignorantly judging them.
Midnight Saturday. There was the choice of either Six Feet Deep, Adam Again, or Rez unplugged. Mike and I chose Adam Again. Tony chose Six Feet Deep. I think I made the right choice. Oh, man!! The funky sounds of Adam Again. Being that I only had two of their five or more albums, I didn't know a lot of the songs, but that didn't matter. Adam Again is just incredible. They play together so well that they can just play off of each other. They can ad lib or do impromptu changes. If Gene Eugene wants the music to drop a bit, he just says so and the band brings it down a tiny bit. I was just so impressed. 

Man, we got a late start Sunday!! Tony Link and I had to leave about 8:00 Sunday evening to get back to Kansas City, so we had to pack all our stuff into his little compact car before we even left for the festival. We ended up getting there at about 2:05 in the afternoon, a little later than I wanted to get there. But we got there in time to catch most of the show I wanted to see. It was a new band called Grammatrain. So Tony and I hurried over to the Indoor Stage(tent) only to be blown away.
Grammatrain was great!! They're a three-piece band from none other than Seattle. Guess what kind of music they play. Yup, but they have carved their own niche in the grunge music scene. They've been compared to Soundgarden meets Tool. Okay, it's not the best comparison, but I could see the Tool comparison. It's all because of the bass playing. But they did bear a small comparison to Soundgarden. One of the songs they played reminded us of "Outshined."  We even started to sing the lyrics to "Outshined" just to be obnoxious. But really, these guys don't sound as much like Soundgarden as you might think. They've definitely got the Seattle sound and I was really impressed with their slant on it. Another interesting note is that they did a cover of Larry Norman's "Six-O'Clock News" that would have made Larry Norman proud, I think. Kinda makes Johnny Q. Public look even worse, doesn't it? Anyway, enough dogging J.Q.P. 
After  Grammatrain, I  planned to spend a while just hanging out, walking around, and trying to get addresses from people I met during the fest. I only managed to get one. Anyway, I ended up wandering over to the 7-Ball Magazine tent because

I heard a very familiar-sounding band. It was Don't Know. I had been wanting to see them the whole fest, but I hadn't seen them on any schedule, so I was really glad to be in the right place at the right time. Well, I wasn't disappointed. Don't Know describes themselves as Geek-core. That describes them perfectly. Everything they do is comical and nerdy. They're really funky with about a million time changes in every song. They had a few guys that aren't really in the band hanging out on the stage dressed like real geeks and dancing around. They also had someone in some really weird costume. I think it was supposed to be a flame (fire, not fag), but I wasn't quite sure. Anyway, it was a total blast.
I finally got to wander around as planned for a while before I made it over to the Focused/MXPX show.   I wasn't really interested in watching Focused because they were going to be in Kansas City the Friday after Cornerstone, so I deliberately took my time and arrived for the last couple of songs. It was pretty good, I thought. Anyway, when they left the stage, I made my way up near the front for the MXPX show. I wanted to get some pictures of the show, so I wanted to be pretty close. I didn't get as close as I wanted to, but I raised my camera over the crowd a few times and snapped a few, hoping the camera was aimed right. I just hope the pictures turn out. Anyway, I could see the guys from the chest up, so you can see I didn't have the greatest view. The show was pretty cool and MXPX were fun.
Unfortunately, after MXPX ended, it was time for me to head back and we had to set out for home. So I said goodbyes to a few people I had met at the fest and "see ya back in K.C.'s to all the Kansas City people who were there. Then Tony and I got into the car and left. After a six hour drive we arrived back at my house and unloaded my stuff. As much as I enjoyed the festival, I was glad to be back home. I still wish I could have stayed to see Poor Old Lu play at midnight, but they we would have ended up not leaving until probably 2:00 a.m. We were wiped out as it was leaving earlier.
Highlights of the festival were definitely The Crucified's last show, Adam Again's show, Circle of Dust's show, and last but certainly not least, the surprise show that My Little Dog China played. And as always, one of the best things about Cornerstone is meeting all kinds of new people and having good fellowship with people I've met at past Cornerstone festivals. I would hate to miss a year of Cornerstone. I did once, and I don't recommend it.
Well, this is Al Newberry signing off. That's my whole impression of this year's Cornerstone festival. It wasn't the greatest year as far as scheduled bands, but that's not what keeps me going year after year. I go for the experience of meeting interesting people and having fellowship with Christians from all across America and beyond.

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