This was the fourth time I’ve attended the Creation East festival and the first time I’ve covered it for NewReleaseTuesday.com since I started writing reviews and the “Behind The Song” devotional series. I was thrilled to arrive for the opening night’s set as Downhere, David Crowder*Band and Switchfoot are three of my favorite bands and each most recently released the best albums of their career, in my opinion.

Sometimes an album doesn't live up to the hype after an excellent album like Wide-Eyed And Mystified,, but every song on Ending Is Beginning is amazing. As a major fan of the Canadian band Downhere, since their Dove Award winning debut in 2001, this band has only managed to get better this decade, and it put them in the ranks of my other favorite bands Jars of Clay, MercyMe and Sanctus Real.

Downhere opened Creation East 2010 with “We Will Rock You,” which got the place rocking in style. Many have compared co-vocalist Marc Martel’s voice to Queen’s Freddie Mercury, and he proved the comparison is reasonable. “The More” was next and was also the focus of my tenth “Behind The Song” devotional, which is based on 1st Peter 1:5-8. This is such a great anthem of faith. Downhere really brings to life the words of the Bible in stirring me to be a closer follower of Jesus "until He comes to take me home." We all have a calling to sanctification, and "the more we know Jesus, love Him and need Him, the more He’ll become part of us." What a great promise and comfort as we struggle with daily distractions, and what a great hope it is to know the love of Jesus.

Glenn played trumpet to lead into the great rock anthem, “My Last Amen.” At this point, I was blown away and I enjoyed watching the gathering crowd look at each other with this expression of “wow, these guys are really good!” Co-vocalist Jason Germain introduced that the next song was “Hope Is Rising,” also from Ending Is Beginning, my top overall album of 2008. Marc announced that even though it was June 30th, last summer they recorded a Christmas album and that the band was blessed to sing about the birth of Jesus. That led to the Christmas anthem “How Many Kings,” one of the best original Christmas songs I’ve ever heard. It is a very powerful Christmas song that really challenges you to think about the sacrifice that our King Jesus made on our behalf. Truly, no other king in the history of the world besides Jesus humbled themselves to come off their throne to become one of their own and become the least...for me. For that, I am eternally grateful.

They continued with “The Song You Sing” a new song from their upcoming album. After the song Jason announced they had just recorded a music video which led to rousing applause. My favorite song by Downhere is “Here I Am,” based on my favorite passage of the Bible and my life verse, Isaiah 6:8: Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!" This verse stirs me to answer my calling as a Christian to do God's will. They closed with “Bleed For This Love,” which is written from the perspective of Jesus. It is a moving portrayal of His sacrifice and Love. The crowd all sang along, and I wished Downhere would have just kept singing--they are that good. I interviewed Marc and Jason after their set for an upcoming “Behind The Song” devotional about “You’re Not Alone” from their upcoming album. Here’s a picture of me with the guys.


Creation East was the third time I’ve seen David Crowder*Band live in concert and the first time at an outdoor arena. I can’t say enough about the energy and enthusiasm of 75,000 worshippers jamming along with this incredible band. If you’ve ever heard the expression you need to see a hockey game in person to experience the true essence of the event, I would apply the same description regarding David Crowder and his band. I’ve re-listened to the studio and live versions of the songs from the concert, and I love the energy and audience participation of the live recordings.

David Crowder*Band opened with the great song “The Veil” from Church Music, which is one of my top 5 albums of 2009. They started off the fun in style with the great chorus: “What A Savior, What A King.” This really personified the enthusiastic style of the evening, which included 10 incredible songs over the next 50 minutes.

In the next song “No One Like You,” David asked the audience to sing back in unison in response to him and made us sing again when he reminded us that he wanted “loud, not pretty singing.” We complied and thankfully I had a water bottle to replenish my vocal cords, which I lost after every song. “Foreverandever, Etc.” was next, and I loved the build-up to the whistling part where David had us whistle along and jump up and down as we sang “and ever and ever and ever and ever..”


We jumped right into “Here Is Our King,” which was a blast to sing in unison with the crowd going crazy at Creation. The next set of songs was my favorite part of the evening. There was only one slower tempo song and the highlight was next with my favorite song of 2009, DC*B’s hit recording of “How He Loves” from Church Music. The song has a beautiful chorus and my all-time favorite bridge as we all prayed along “We are His portion and He is our prize, Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.” “You Are My Joy” was next which David describes as his rock opera song. As we were all cheering wildly, David talked with his guitarist Jack about how great it was to play for the enthusiastic crowd. They joked about whether the crowd was cheering for them or because of the next band, Switchfoot. David and Jack then joked about how much they liked the Switchfoot. David said “the Switchfoot can sure write a great rock song. I know I’ll be singing along when they hit the stage.”

The fun continued with David’s reminder that he and the band are from Texas and prepared us for the hoedown to the banjo-led “I Saw The Light” remake of the Hank Williams song. The dancing led perfectly into the current single “Oh Happiness,” and it was extremely moving to watch the capacity crowd all wave their arms in unison to the celebratory song “Oh happiness, there’s grace enough for us and the whole human race!” The last songs were “O Praise Him (All This For A King)” and “Sing Like The Saved” sung as a medley with “Make A Joyful Noise.”

I highly recommend seeing David Crowder*Band any chance you get for a fun night of upbeat praise and worship and be prepared to jump up and down and “dance like the saved.” You’ll also need plenty of water for your vocal cords. Great night and great band.

Switchfoot is a band that can totally rock a big arena, and front-man Jon Foreman also has incredible charisma and an unmatched ability to personally connect with fans. I had the amazing opportunity to see this top notch band at a small crowded indoor arena on December 11th. I couldn’t wait to see them again in front of a capacity outdoor crowd of 75,000, and they didn’t let me down. The new album Hello Hurricane acknowledges life’s storms while managing to find an element of hope in them. Hello Hurricane is the group’s seventh full-length album and its first on Atlantic Records. Switchfoot is comprised of Jon Foreman (vocals/guitar), Tim Foreman (bass), Chad Butler (drums), Jerome Fontamillas (keys/guitar) and Drew Shirley (guitar). For me, Hello Hurricane is now the best overall album by Switchfoot and is one of my top 5 albums of 2009.

"Needle And Haystack Life" began with the U2-esque epic feel and extremely catchy music and lyrics. That was an incredible way to start an incredible night. Next was "Mess of Me" and the whole place was rocking, with the capacity crowd all jumping up and down in unison. This song switched gears musically and brings a new grunge-type sound with the passionate lyrics “I wanna spend the rest of my life alive!” Then, "Stars” which is my all-time favorite Switchfoot song-the crowd went crazy! "Oh! Gravity" kept the high energy level going and the ground felt like it was shaking under my feet, which was amazing. Jon jokingly started “Chem 6A” and said “No, we’re not singing that song.” Instead, the crowd jammed along with "Gone" which had the crowd all clapping and singing along.

"Your Love Is A Song" was next, which is my favorite new Switchfoot song. Jon said that this song is about grace. My favorite part of the song was at the end when he continued the song as a medley with “Your Love Is Strong” which is from Jon’s solo EP’s and is a re-write of The Lord’s Prayer. The softer section of songs continued with "Yet" during which Jerome played accordion. “Yet” is a gorgeous contemplative song with a sincere chorus: “I'll sing until my heart caves in, no, you haven't lost me yet, if it doesn't break your heart it isn't love."


Photo Taken by Susan Lloyd, Used With Permission
The rock started back up with "Hello Hurricane," the great title song with the encouraging lyrics: “You can't silence my love I've got doors and windows boarded up all your dead end fury is not enough you can't silence my love.” That blended perfectly with "This Is Your Life" from The Beautiful Letdown. My favorite part of the concert was next with "The Sound," which is based on the book Let Justice Roll Down by Doctor John Perkins. "Love is the loudest sound you can make." Jon shared that as believers we need to look for chances to let justice roll down. Jon also shared that Switchfoot had last played Creation around 2002 and played a demo of “Meant To Live” on the side stage. Jon really shared his testimony before he sang "Free," which is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs from Hello Hurricane. Jon mentioned how we are saved from our sins by Christ’s sacrifice, and we need to celebrate the freedom that we have in Jesus. He continued “Jesus came to set us free, so we don’t have to be alone or outcasts.” The song opened with the lyrics “Nothing is sound” from “Happy Is A Yuppie Word.” Great intro, and I love the extremely passionate and spiritual lyrics "free, come set me free, down on my knees, I still believe You can save me from me," which is a great truth as a believer. There is an awesome drum part where Jon, Jerome and drummer Chad all played together to end the song. The call to action as Christians continued with the gorgeous “On Fire” from The Beautiful Letdown.

They continued with “Awakening," "I want to wake up kicking and screaming!" They briefly left the stage and then starting with "Love Is The Movement" as an intro the band started playing "Meant To Live," which may have the best guitar intro ever. Jon walked out to the center of the arena and sang “Only Hope” acoustic, just himself and a guitar and then closed with "Dare You To Move" where Jon worked his way back onto the stage during the amazing song. It was the perfect end to a fantastic opening night at Creation!

Hello Hurricane is a 5-star album, and you MUST see this band live if you like quality music and a fantastic concert experience. Don't miss any chance to see Switchfoot, easily the premier alternative rock band in the history of Christian music!