Festival Review

by Michael Bajaras

For the past four years, Cornerstone festival has been an integral part of my summer. The years have passed and my overall taste for music and art in general has evolved, yet my love for the festival has stayed constant. I have to humbly admit that I, foolishly, almost began writing this piece with a rant of what I though was wrong with Cornerstone what problems I experienced. After re-reading, I decided to scrap that part, not because it wouldn’t be beneficial or would come off as pessimistic, but because it didn’t meld with the overall felling and attitude of Cornerstone. Cornerstone is one of the few places that I’ve ever seen so many diverse people meet and celebrate under a common interest; that interest being the love, grace, and mission of Jesus Christ. Others might disagree with me, but so be it. The overall commonality I sense and experience every year at Cornerstone is both spiritually refreshing and inspiring. With all that being said, the great weather, great people and great performances made this Cornerstone a personally gratifying experience that I won’t soon forget.

 

          For me to give mention to every good performance I saw at Cornerstone would be both monotonous and tedious due to the fact that there were so many. However, there are a handful that stand out in my mind as being exceptional and worth mentioning.  

Divebomber

          Divebomber made me laugh. Don’t take that as a bad thing, because it’s not. Their set genuinely made me smile, which was good. It had all the light hearted and genial elements of ska along with the energetic force of punk. I have to say, it’s been years since I’ve seen a “skank pit”, yet Divebomber encouraged and got the crowd to pull it off. The highlight for me had to be when they played Ghoti Hook’s “My Bike”, mainly for nostalgic reasons. Their set reminded me of the kind of music I used to come to Cornerstone to see. As lame as it sounds, it was its own little trip down memory lane.

 

 

The Chariot

          Speaking bluntly, The Chariot does not impress me. I know, that’s a fairly odd way to start out an “honorable mention” review, but I have to state that right off the bat. I saw them play last year at the festival, and I went away befuddled at how anyone could take them seriously. After receiving their full length album, I didn’t like them, but I was no longer disgusted by the notion of them. The funny thing about The Chariot is, at their performances, no one will admit they like them. Virtually everyone I ran into said that they either “came there with a friend…” but didn’t really like them, or “wanted to check them out…” and again didn’t really like them. I have to say, hats off to The Chariot for being the first band that everyone will go see play, buy their music and wear their t-shirts, and yet has very few “admitting” fans. The Chariot dumbfounds me, because I now have to (a little shamefully) admit that I like seeing them play. If any other band put on a show as chaotic, frenzied and sporadic as them, I would venture to say that it was relatively contrived. Yet, for The Chariot it all seemed to come together naturally and genuinely melded with the music. I think above everything, that’s what impressed me about seeing The Chariot play. They make the irregular seem natural and they pull off what most bands couldn’t.

 

The Lonely Hearts

          I saw The Lonely Hearts on a whim and didn’t really expect anything much. I was wrong. The Lonely Hearts get my pleasant surprise award. Honestly, the main reason I even went to their set was because they were playing before Lovedrug (who were amazing, but not really in need of an individual review). The one word that describes the Lonely Hearts set for me is: refreshing. For those inexperienced with Cornerstone, it’s easy to get bogged down with overwhelming amounts of hardcore and metal because of their prevalence throughout the festival. The Lonely Hearts set kind of gave me a break from that. Their poppy, mellow, melodic driven rock was a good retreat from much of what I’d already heard at the festival. In short, here’s what I think:

Flat tire on the way to the festival (which really did happen to me) – bad surprise

The Lonely Hearts – Good surprise.

Enough Said.

 

Copeland

There’s not really much I can say to elaborate on their set but it had to be mentioned. It was amazing. If you’ve never heard Copeland, change that. And, if you ever get the chance to go see them play live, make sure you do. One thing that really impresses me about a band is when their live performance can surpass an already exceptional recording. Copeland falls under that category.

 

The Showdown

          Yet another Cornerstone surprise. A friend mentioned this band to me, and by her description, I knew I couldn’t miss it. To simplify, her description included earth shattering metal, obliterating guitar riffs and thick country accents. All of what was previously mentioned was dead on accurate. If I had to compare, I would say they were a lot like Lamb of God with plenty more attitude (I know, which is hard to imagine). To top it all off, the overall stage presence of the band was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I think I’ve said all I can say about this band and their great set. I’ll leave you with one of the many memorable quotes from the singer.

          “Who wants me to swing down from this tent and stomp ya’ll in the face with my boots?!”… [crowd cheers].

 

Ester Drang

          It’s not very often you see a band that can create an entire atmosphere for the listener to simply fall into. Ester Drang is one of my favorite bands, and every time I see them play, it’s never been disappointing. I won’t bore those reading with details of their set because I could go on forever. Their spacey, intricate melodies tied together with amazing visuals make their shows definitely set apart. Incredible as always.