Cornerstone 2003: Liz’s Diary, July 5

Today’s concerts included Pedro the Lion, Questions In Dialect, and Joy Electric.

Sorry if I kind of slack off on Saturday, but it was the last day, and so it was just kind of awkward because I knew I was leaving that night at midnight. I caught the band Anathallo at the New Band Stage, and they were really great. They’re one of the bands on Selah Records. They’re an 8-piece band — four of the guys play horns, and when they’re not playing horns, they’re playing percussive things, like metal pipes.

One thing I liked about them is that they were very worshipful, and I liked what their singer had to say about various things. It was nice to hear worshipful music that was original and talented, as opposed to most of the crap being played in most churches these days.

Other July 5th Shows

Pedro the Lion (Main Stage) — Pedro the Lion is one of my favorite bands, and so it’s always a pleasure to see them. They played a really great show, even with the computer-bass player. Dave Bazan always has Question & Answer time between songs, and even at the main stage it was no different. Also, he shared some political information before they played the last song, a new one called “Backwoods Nation.” At the end of “Backwoods Nation,” they broke out into Radiohead’s “2+2=5” (Hail to the Thief) singing the lines “you have not been paying attention.”

Questions In Dialect (Some small tent between the Encore 2 stage and the Impromptu stage) — Unwed Sailor had a flyer for this show on their table, and Nic Tse highly recommended that I go see this band. Since I think Nic has great taste in music, I decided to check it out. I was not disappointed. This was by far one of the best shows I saw all week.

The music was instrumental, and while they played, they had a digital projector and screen set up playing film clips of time-lapse cloud formations, or of a man running. Okay, so it’s pretty difficult to explain, but it was a cool thing to experience. It was very cinematic music, and just gave me that satisfied feeling, even though it was kind of a bittersweet moment because I knew I’d have to leave Cornerstone in just a few hours.

Joy Electric (Rock For Life Stage, acoustic set) — I actually didn’t see much of this, but the little I did, I enjoyed. It’s nice to see Ronnie Martin play the acoustic guitar, though it’s a little strange hearing “Sugar Rush” on nothing but the guitar.

After Joy Electric, it was back to the campsite to finish packing, and to leave Cornerstone. So sad. =(

A few goodbyes, and Melissa and I were on our way back to Omaha. We had to drive through some rain, and not to mention it was at night, so we had to switch driving about every hour or so. But we made it back safely, though I think I almost fell asleep a few times. I dropped Melissa off at the airport around 7 a.m., and got home and went straight to sleep. Cornerstone was over.

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