Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 July 2005 09:35:42
Yesterday I went to the Grassrootz festival.
As a festie, it was v.small indeed. Only a couple of thousand people & as an evangelical Christian event it was v.straight in terms of dress and behaviour. So for me, in some ways it was a bit of a culture shock as two v.different lives collided. Before anybody says about Greenbelt, that is v.different and I has much more of a normal festie feel to it. This was kind of like Spring Harvest after hours in a field.
However, it was a v. pleasant day which I quite enjoyed. Highlights have to be:
[Dweeb] who are cheese rock. They were a new band who played both a rock and an accoustic set during the day and, for anybody who can remember, had the comic edge of Fat and Frantic but with a modern sound and image. They also had the ability to bring the crowd with them on their wierd and wonderful journey through an extremely strong stage presence.
Gareth Davies-Jones who was an extremely strong singer, song writer. He had a v. listenable voice and lyrics which were quite powerful, in places.
Then finally there were Y Friday . Now as a group I think their music is v.good and I would argue that they have a stronger sound than Delirious (who I rate when they do their communal worship set, but I think aren't so good with the secular performance based stuff). I think they have v.powerful lyrics which really are committed to global justice , really good t-shirt designs (particulalry for Revolution) and wonderful visuals during their stage shows.
However, (& you can just feel the but coming), I do worry about the way they manipulate the audience in the way they seek to evangelise during their sets, particularly as the audience were mainly impressionable teenagers. Now I'm not saying they are not genuine, I believe they are. I just think the way they package God (Jesus) as part of the show comes under the banner of selling Jesus in a high pressured way, rather than in a relational way, where knowledge grows and people are able to make an informed decision about the faith (or aspects of faith) they are buying into.
So whilst I enjoyed their set alot & enjoyed the moshing, when ickle people had decided they had had enough of the front, there was something that made me v.uneasy about it at the same time.
Still, overall, a v.good day was had by all.