-Mark Fisher

I was quite looking forward to The Purple Door Festival this year after a great time last year. when I attended my first Purple Door Festival. I was a little nervous this year because of a new location (which I understand is fairly commonplace for the fairly new festival) but went forward knowing there would be a lot of great bands there whether the sight bit or not!

We arrived on Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel rooms and got some chow before going to the festival's first evening. So we headed out! After arriving at the fest we checked in and got our press passes and chatted a bit with Anita and the other press area workers. We had missed opener Justin McRoberts because it took awhile to get in and get parked. This location was not as easily accessible as last years location but once I got onto the grounds I knew this was a great location. Due to the hills and such (Since it was held at Ski Roundtop Resort near Harrisburg , PA) the stages were truly separate and the sound didn't carry like it did last year at the flat Lancaster, PA Fairgrounds (it's hard to separate 2 giant sound systems with a tent!). The first act we saw that impressed us was John Reuben, Gotee's resident weirdo. I have seen John a few times but he was really into this time and the guy just gets better each time I see him. The crowd was completely into it and when he hit the first note of his hit "Do Not", the crowd was electric! "Do not tell me what I can and cannot do when I rock" all of sudden became this Purple Door rally cry for the next 10 minutes. The crowd was really into John and that was great to see. After speaker Jason Carson and some Justin McRoberts led worship the "terrible" announcement was made that headliners Project 86 were stuck in Cleveland and would not be able to make it till the next day. The crowd stood in dismay but were cheered up when an excited John Reuben came back out to do 2 more songs to get them hyped up again to pump up the upcaoming and ever rocking beats of Joy Electric (who of course were excellent). Problem solved! I wasn't very disappointed since I am not a Project 86 fan at all. What did excite me was that Pax 217 would now headline the evening and they are one of my favorite new bands. Pax 217 came out to a crowd that was generally unsure (but had stayed which was great cause I had foreseen a mass exodus after the announcement that did not happen) they wanted to be there. Pax 217 tore the place down, their high energy , hook heavy, harmony born reggae / rock one the crowd over quickly with songs like "Sandbox Praise" and "No Place Like Home". The night was ended on a definite high note. A great start to the festival.

Saturday blew by! We got there at 9:00 AM and started on the list we had made of bands we wanted to see. We started with area favorite Movies With Heroes, who sounded great (just like on their EP, "The Slate" , hint hint) and then moved onto sorta newcomers The Gold. The Gold turned out to be one man, Todd Gilliland, and his acoustic guitar. Todd is the drummer for Joy Electric but you would never guess as he moved a full crowd (which included artists I noticed in the crowd such as John Reuben, Relient K, Madison Greene, the other guys from Joy Electric, and members of Movies with Heroes) with his honest, intimate lyrics. The Gold is one of the bands that I know consider to be hope for a falling christian music industry, I really enjoyed this show. From there we ran over and caught a great set from alterna rockers Brandston. Always good! Next we saw Furthur Seems Forever which I felt were disappointing, the sounded just like their cd, almost too much like their cd for my taste. For the next few hours we ran around catching bits of Luti-Kriss, Madison Greene, Scientific and various other bands. Finally it was time for Poor Old Lu. I am not a big Poor Old Lu fan but I have to say, I like them better live and they were very tight considering the extent of time they have been apart. The thing that I really enjoyed about them was that they seemed to genuinely like each other. Bands can take a lesson from that! Squad 5- 0 was next up and was another highlight for us at 1340mag.com. They just rock and they are funny and joke with the crowd, they are just having a great time and the crowd does too because of it. They ended (after harrassing the girl holding the "time left" cards for a few minutes and threatening to beat up the crowd) with a cover of Alice Cooper's seventies classic "School's Out" which the kids were totally into too! 2,000 or so kids screaming "School's out for summer!" was hilarious to see, especially at a "christian" festival. Props to Squad for a great show! Then to mellow us out before dinner break we caught Dension Witmer's set that was of course great, I have come to expect that. Another great artist with an amazing talent for writing intimate beautiful folk songs.Dinner break was up next and we hit a local truck stop and spent some time interviewing The Gold at the fest.

Night had arrived and to kick it off was Relient K! Relient K is another great live band if you have never seen them. Running through their hits like "My Girlfriend" and "Softer To Me" as well as playing new songs like "Pressing On" and "Combos and Skittles" from their release "The Anatomy Of The Tongue and Cheek" on Aug. 28^th. They also played some eighties classics as Starship's "We Built This City" and Paula Abdul's "Straight Up", which they dedicated to all the girls in the audience after declaring the girls just messed with guys heads and guys just wanted them to be "straight up" with them! The next noteworthy band of the night was Five Iron Frenzy whom I really didn't think was all that impressive and then it was time for POD. They came out and rocked! There is no point in trying to describe it, these guys just come out night after night and prove why they are the best and the biggest band in the land. Professional, caring, and compelling. All the elements that it takes to climb to the top. They played some a great blend of old, current, and brand new songs (the new release "Satellites" on Sept . 11^th on Atlantic Records has already been certified old upon its debut). A great end to the fest.

I love the diversity of Purple Door, in between shows we spent some time in the vendor tents as well as Purple Door's art gallery, which Scott Hatch of Burnt Toast Vinyl has done an incredible job with in both of the years I have now attended. Whether you like metal, art rock, folk, punk, it doesn't matter Purple Door provides you with more than enough of each style you like to make it worth your $32, you will not be disappointed. This is a festival that feeds you spiritual, mentally and physically (deep fried oreos sound disgusting but are actually quite good!). Check it out at www.purpledoor.com and get on next year now!