ShoutFest

A few weeks ago, my brother in-law Aaron was ever so kind to surprise me and my sister, Spence, with tickets to ShoutFest in Manassas! When I first got them, I was seriously speechless, unless you include all the, “whoa…what! Wait! Wow…I…how did you…”. Of course, I managed to end it with lots of “thank you”. And here, I must thank him again, because I finally went to ShoutFest yesterday, and it was truly amazing and worth it. I would be reviewing more of the artists, but I was only able to keep track of the setlists from Carried Away and ZOEgirl. So, to start, I’ll tell you about Carried Away, two sisters and their cousin (all from Canada).
Carried Away started off with one of my favorites of theirs, “I Will Live For You”. That was a superb performance! They sounded great…it was very moving and awesome. They did quite a good job!
After that, Christine got her guitar on so they could sing the title track for their album, “Closer To You”. They did great again! Their harmonies were beautiful. Another awesome performance!
Then for the last song, they did their song “Alive”, which was absolutely amazing. It was almost chilling to hear their beautiful voices repeating “He’s alive” throughout the chorus.
I was a bit disappointed when they left the stage from that song, but I was fine again when they said “we’ll be hanging out at our tent”. I could see where their tent was, so I went on over. I was the second person to get their (and probably the only one at the moment). I bought one of their posters (because I didn’t have the CD, and the price was a little over my bag), and then Colleen came to me with a very sweet, “Hi! How are you?”. I told her I was doing good, then I asked if she could sign the poster. She did so, and then handed it over to Christine, who was also very nice. Pam was the last one to sign, and she was nice as well. While she was signing, she asked my name (the others did that, too), and when I gave my answer, she said, “yeah, I saw you in the crowd!”, then asked me if I heard their CD in a bookstore. I told her, “I’ve been listening to it on your website a lot, it’s great”. Then, I told her “I loved the show. Thanks for the music! It’s really blessed me”. She was very sweet and thankful (as the rest of them were, too), and then I left to get back to my seat, very happy that I got something signed for the first time (I wouldn’t count Charmaine signing my hand at the last minute…it ended up washing off after a few days).

Much later in the day, the band I had been looking forward to the most (besides Carried Away) had finally arrived…ZOEgirl! They probably received the most applause and screams (besides Jars Of Clay) from what I can remember, and they were amazing. So much better than I could have expected. Oh, and did I mention…my sister and I got to be in the very front row on this one!
They started off with “Dead Serious”, an awesome and popular one from their latest album, Room To Breathe. It was a perfect opener for the concert, and they sounded great! It was very fun. Their guitar player was sounding great, too.
Next off, they did a huge hit from their 2001 album (Life), “Dismissed”. Their band really started to get good on that one, especially the drummer. I was also pleased to see how interactive the girls are with the crowd when on stage. Alisa was placed on the right side of the stage (my side) throughout the song, and she was very nice when I caught her eye as I sang every single word in the song (I’ve been a fan since Life came out, so it’s hard for me to miss most of the words).
Once they finished with that one, I recognized the new beat of the drums to be starting a very fun hit from 2003 called “Feel Alright”. That has always been one of my favorites of theirs, and I was
excited to hear them play it. It was more fun and awesome than ever, and they all did a great job.
When they finished that, they chilled down for a second to say hi to the crowd and I think introduce their band, then their first (and biggest) hit from the latest album came to a start, “About
You”. Their vocals and performance still shined. The guitar sounded great, too. Another awesome and enjoyable performance!
After those songs, they put things down, and Alisa did her very great speaking that she always does before they sing their latest hit “Scream”. That performance wasn’t fast or loud, but it was beautiful and moving. It sounded amazing hearing them singing the second version of the chorus that comes at the end, “I don’t have to scream for Him to hear me, I don’t have to bleed for Him to see me, ’cause I’m clean / He is listening to me”. That performance was absolutely beautiful and I loved it.
After that one, another one of my old favorites from Different Kind Of Free, “Beautiful Name”, came up. As soon as it started, I remembered when it first came out, how I would always dream of
seeing it live; and the moment finally came! This was one that got nicely rocked out again and sounded great. It felt very nice to be able to sing along with it. It was very amazing!
When they finished that one, I knew when Kristin got her guitar out, that they had to be singing another special one called “You Get Me”. I was very happy to see them perform it. It was awesome and it sounded great. It was very cool when they turned their mics out to the crowd so we could all sing the trademark line of the song, “I’m ok, I’m ok”. It was quite a blessing to hear them sing that song. I enjoyed it very much. I was a little disappointed when they left off right at that one, but the show was still awesome anyway. When they left the stage, it was cool for me to remember how I’ve dreamed of seeing ZOEgirl since I bought my first CD of theirs. And even though it wasn’t a full set, I still loved it!
I was very happy that I was also able to get ZOEgirl’s autographs later. I had the insert from Room To Breathe with me, and they signed it for me. They were all very sweet; as soon as I got to the table, Kristin sweetly and brightly said, “Hi! How are you?” and then told me “thank you for coming!”. I responded and said, “thank you“. I got Alisa on second, and she was just as nice. Chrissy did see me when she took the insert, but she only had time to just say “Hi!” because there was quite a crowd. When I left, they gave me a “bye! luv ya!” and then I waited with my dad while Spence went to get a Jars Of Clay insert signed. I was very happy and excited for her!
THANKS TO…
Aaron, for the tickets;
Ashleigh, Aaron, and the girls, for letting us visit for a break;
Mama, for giving us the supplies to survive;
Daddy, for getting a ticket a the last minute to see the last 3 bands with us, getting me a ZOEgirl t-shirt, and helping us with lunch and dinner;
And last, but not least, Spence, for going there with me.
PICTURES
My Carried Away poster
My ZOEgirl insert
My mom’s/family’s Jars Of Clay insert
My ZOEgirl t-shirt
Me, at ZOEgirl’s table, talking to Alisa while Chrissy signs the insert…I’m the one further in the back with the long hair and the basket ball shirt (thanks to my dad for taking this picture)
To see pictures I took at the concerts, visit gallery.pineappleparasol.com.