13: Sonfest in Phoenix, Arizona. 2001
This was in many ways the coolest concert I’ve ever been to. It wasn’t that it was particularly better than any others in regards to the show, but just that so many awesome things happened that day.
I had driven up with a large group of friends including my mom, sister, brother, and my best friend, Brandon. Of course, Brandon was a huge Newsboys fan and they were headlining the Sonfest. Among them were other fabulous artists like Jennifer Knapp, Aurora, Earthsuit, Larry the Tomato…ok well there were at least three great artists.
Upon arriving at the show we were quite put out that it seemed to want to rain that day. Still the should would go on. I think I must have been the only one in my particular group of friends who even remotely liked Aurora so I was pretty much alone watching them. Later on in the day, Earthsuit had been scheduled to play but they broke down before they reached the venue. It was quite a saddening experience but Earthsuit finally arrived, shortly after their set was supposed to begin but the dumb people wouldn’t let them play! It was pretty ridiculous so I started chanting “Earthsuit, Earthsuit” and soon, the entire audience was chanting along with me and it almost worked…almost.
Needless to say I didn’t get to see Earthsuit perform. However, Brandon and I found our way around back stage and hung out there for a bit, just the two of us. We waited and waited and finally, just after I walked away to use the restroom, Phil Joel, former Newsboys bassist came out. Brandon at least got to meet him and hug him so I was happy for him.
After a while and some other boring, negligible bands, we went back in and watched Jennifer Knapp’s performance. She was totally rocking!!! Of course, she was always one of the best performers I’ve ever seen. After Jenn came NEWSBOYS! Ha as you know by now if you’ve been keeping up with this series, I LOVE the Newsboys.
Now I’m not going to go into great detail about the concert but I will say it rocked the house big time. What I want to get into great detail about is what happened afterwards. I was able to manage to pass along a note to the security guy who passed a note to the Newsboys who let Brandon go backstage to meet them. Oh yeah, it was awesome. Brandon got the special treatment. He was invited back to the dressing room for a very personal meet and greet with the N’boys and got hugs and autographs. Then he managed to convince the security to let me, my brother, my sister, and a couple of our friends back when the Boys left. It was so awesome!! I got to hug Peter, he smelled amazing, and shake their hands. I’ll never forget that night! It was one of the coolest, most fun experiences ever!
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