Friday, February 5, 2010

Parachute

Just been to parachute this weekend and had a blast!

If you guys are wondering what parachute is, it is the largest christian music festival in the southern hemisphere.
Approximately 25,000 people were there I think which is huge for little NZ and maybe not for ya Yankees and Brits.
It is a festival held over 4 days with numerous bands from around the world. The main band was Switchfoot who was awesome live on Saturday night, others I liked included Leeland and Newworldson. I only went for Saturday evening and all day Sunday...though Sunday it rained heavily at times but still didn't stop us :)

It is cool to go to places like that because you can hear your favourites and also find new bands such as Leeland and Newworldson.


Here are a couple of samples:

Newworldson







Leeland,



Switchfoot,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbwY9yDL8WQ&feature=related

10 comments:

  1. 25,000 people is big, no matter where you are. Sure, I've been to bigger shows, but it still feels like you're surrounded by just as big of a crowd...

    And yes, a festival in the rain can be a lot of fun :)

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  2. PS. word verification for my last post was dauncler. You have any siblings who've become parents?

    Da Bomb
    Da Pilgrim
    Da Uncler

    ...

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  3. Yup,
    It seemed like a lot of people to me :)
    What is the largest crowd you have been in Whateverman?

    Sorry if I am a little slow, I notice Zilch does it too.
    You guys talk about "word verification" at the end of some posts? What do you mean by that?
    Like where did the idea for dauncler come from?

    By the way, I am oldest of my siblings and none of us are married, so we have no children as of yet.

    5 weeks to go till the big day! Things are getting busier in preparation though.

    cheers,

    DB
    DP
    Dan
    (DU?) :)

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  4. Oh and if no one has bothered to test the music samples I thought I would list the different types of music the bands are.

    "Newworldson" - Soul/pop...I would say with a slant of oldschool rock? Very cool mix.

    "Leeland" is more for the christians - worship/rock

    "Switchfoot" - would be classed as rock probably, but then again bands have their own styles...I don't think Switchfoot should be lost in the crowd of rock bands :)

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  5. Regarding word verification...just clicked LOL. Of course I know what it is. :)

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  6. The largest I've been in was around 75 thousand people; a festival called Lollapalooza, back when I was going to college. Definitely not your kind of music, but I wouldn't say there was anything overtly satanic or evil or unChristian-like.

    Doesn't matter. 75K and 25K feel like the same thing: a large amount of people all having fun at the same time.

    Enjoy yourself :)

    PS. I listened to Leeland and New World Son. not my kind of music at all, but probably not for the reasons you imagine: I'm partial to musicians playing instruments to play them well. Music in which the musicians are merely helping a singer look/sound good doesn't appeal to me at all. Simply put, if the lyrics are the central part of the song, I wont enjoy it too much.

    It doesn't matter to me what the lyrics are about, either. Country music, pop music, inspirational, folk music, rock/metal - no mater what they're singing about, if it's the singing that I'm supposed to be enjoying, I probably wont :)

    You can chalk it up to me being a drummer, and growing up listening to technically proficient music. Music in which people are singing is generally fairly simple. Then again, I'm biased

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  7. That's fine :)

    For me, music is more than playing an instrument skillfully. Music is the formation of a sound/feeling/atmosphere and not necessarily skill in playing an instrument but skill in writing music. You can have the most musician in the world and I may not consider his music "good" music, clever yes, but not necessarily good.

    Leeland I agree has a different focus and supports the singer. Newworldson I saw live and up close...very skillful musicians, especially the base player and the drummer. They got soo fast at their funky rhythms it was impressive.

    Check out the drummer's solo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2y4COO8Bf8.

    I thought it was cool, but then again I am not a drummer :)

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  8. It's an interesting solo. He seems to be going for a John Bonham thing (re. drummer for Led Zeppelin), which I thought was a bit ironic. However, John Bonham was The Man, and I liked the way this drummer used him while maintaining some originality.

    It was pretty creative, overall. A great blend of technique and showmanship.

    To return the favor, here's a very famous drum solo - you probably have already seen it. It's good example of what I meant by me favoring technique & proficiency over simplicity:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPncumXZExo

    PS. this kid is now almost 30 years old. The solo is old, and IMHO a bit too long for non-drummers to really appreciate.

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  9. Hey Whateverman,

    I can't watch videos on the current internet access I got, so I will watch it when I can...many thanks!

    Cya,

    Dan

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