Parachute was epic

Right this is probably going to take me all night so I might as well start now.

Parachute was so amazingly epic that I'm still having trouble finishing my diary, not to mention my blog. But hey lots of people say a picture tells a thousand words so if I put up some pics that'll save me writing as much.

This is on the way up. In the coolest bus called Wayne. It was awesome. We left at 4:30 in the morning, and I didn't sleep at all. Sleep was impossible. Unless you happened to be one of those people who can sleep at the drop of a hat. So after a extremely weird breakfast at Bp in Taupo we kept travelling until we got to Mystery Creek and I thought there wouldbe a big line but their actually wasn't.We hopped out and got our tickets. Then we set up camp right next to some portaloos which isn't the best place to camp if someone decides to topple them one by one (which I actually heard people talking about doing but I'm pretty sure they didn't). Then I went wandering round the village with Jason and some other people whom which Jason was giving the whole Grand Tour. Which I didn't really need cos I went last year, but seeing as my brothers had completely ditched me I decided to take the grand tour.This is one of those funny things which you stick your heads in and it was of Kingston who are a really cool band. It was right outside the Mana store and that big red circle above it is the paintball place. Anyway the bands didn't start playing till 5:00 anyway so we had heaps of free time to do stuff. The first band playing was called Addison and there is only two words to describe them. They. Sucked. We went in and then pretty much walked out again. Next band I went to see were a lot better. They were called All the big Names, did covers, and dressed up in Ninja suits for absolutely no apparent reason.They did The Final Countdown and a few rocked up church songs like Ancient of Days.

Right, so after the Ninjas I went to Mainstage to see a band I absolutely love, they're probably about my favouritist kiwi band and they're called Arm's Reach.

They won the Wildcard competition to play on Mainstage and they rocked it hard out. I was moshing even though it's pretty hard to do carrying jandals and a waterbottle.

They did my favourite song Stars and Satellites, as well as their mean new ones Tired Eyes, Soft Light, Stop Talking: Start Dancing, and Grinding Teeth which is another one I knew.

It was soooooooooooooo cool!

After them was Late 80's Mercedes which were ok.

Then there was Mumsdollar. They were pretty good, did heaps of songs I knew but for some reason I didn't enjoy their performance as much as I liked their concert with The Ember Days at Hastings.

Then Rapture Ruckus was on. He was AMAZING! I'm not really into rap but anyone who doesn't like Rapture Ruckus' rap is pretty silly.

He did two really cool new songs called Catch me Riding and Hold On. The last one was so awesome it almost made me cry.
The thing about his show was even if you didn't like his music you had to admire his stage presence. He had the entire crowd behind him and the set itself was awesome. There were lights going everywhere and even fireworks!

That was pretty much the last show I saw on Friday. I saw a bit of Family Force 5 at the Palladium and a bit of Luke Thompson but I was so tired that I decided to hit the hay.

The next day was even awesomer. We went to the Morning meeting and practically melted in the heat while listening to Parachute Band and Brian Houston. Parachute Band did Come to the River and Living Rain from their new cd.After that I quickly headed back to the ditch to avoid dying from the heat.

The ditch is our mint shady spot at Parachute but it's location is top secret. We cannot afford having some other punters nick it next year otherwise we will die.

So I went to see heeeaaapppsss of random bands after that.
The first was a guy called Edwin Derricut. He was ok. He got a guy called Steve to come up on stage and help him with the song. Now this concluded of giving a triangle a 'ting' at the end of the guitar bit. It was real funny. This is the Kiwiana party which was at the Palliadium, and I was up in the stands so I got a mean picture. It was a cricket battle: Family Force 5+ Kutless vs some Punters. And the American side kept cheating. It was hilarious.

After them I went to see Season Pass. They were awesome! They had The Ember Days drummer and Mumsdollar's bass player, as well as 3 other guys.

Then I went to see a random band called Solidify mostly because I liked the name. But on Friday Kerry told me that was his cousin's band so everyone had to come and see them. They were surprisingly good actually. There was just their cousin and and some other random guitarist.

Oh and I won a can of sprite for having the dirtiest feet. It was real funny!
Then I went to see Magnify only to leave after the first two songs to see a band buzz txtd me about. But I ended up going to the wrong stage so after I finally got to the proper stage then ran back I ended up missing most of the Magnify concert. Oh well.

Then the next band I got to see was Kingston on Mainstage. They were pretty good, especially their songs Good, good feeling and I'll see the world. That was rocking.

After them was Nathan King but I missed most of that concert too because I ran up a hill to say bye to Mum and by the time I got back down it was all over.

So I purposfully missed out seeing All Left Out cos their singer sucks. We got back just in time for the Family Force 5 concert which was real awesome. They had funny costumes and did insane things like crowd surfing and jumping on drums. Nate obviously didn't think the last one was that funny.

Then it was Kutless. They fully rocked Mainstage down. I was abot three lines from the front, and moshed like crazy. I almost got shoved into a death circle too but luckily managed to escape.

It was awesome. They did heaps of songs I knew but the best one had to be their first one: To know that you're alive. They started with their instrumental Sleeping City then came on. It was an awesome way to start the show.

Then we went to see the Ember Days at Palladium. They were awesome, especially their last song, Seven which had Mumsdollar in screaming. It was real cool.

The next day, Sunday, was probably the best. First up was the morning meeting and their was communion, which was real cool.

The next band I got to see was Shooting Stars. They were real cool. It was just two guys from Mumsdollar playing acousitic guitars. The lead singer did this mean trick called the 'suger shaker' which involved shaking a coffee cup which was filled with packets of suger.

After them I went to see Rapture Ruckus' last show at a stage called Massive and it was pretty much packed but it was an awesome show.
Then Nate found out he'd lost his phone. Turns out it was in his tent.

But before finding that last bit out we went to see Kingston and Arms Reach again and they were epic. Even better than at Mainstage. Cos Arms Reach did a song of their's which I love but they hadn't done it at Mainstage.

After Nate found his phone we went to Nanette's birthday party at the ditch. It was epic.

Then we went to see a bit more of Kutless before going to Mainstage to watch the Ember Days.

You wouldn't believe who I met there.

It was my old mate Jacob who used to live in Dannevirke. Turns out he was at Parachute with his Youth Group. It was epic. So I got his phone number off him and we carried on.

After the Ember Days (who were real good) was Magnify. I was going to see Avaline instead of them but seeing as I missed most of their last concert I decided against it.

Magnify were awesome. Especially Blown Away with Rapture Ruckus.

The next band I saw was Smalltown Heriocs. Me, Nate and Jacob moshed hardout to them. Their guitarist, Stefan was AWESOME! He did the most epic guitar spin. The reason it was epic was his guitar strap broke halfway and his guitar went flying! So he had to patch it up with heaps of tape. It was so funny!

They did Distance which is the meanest song.

Afterwards we got to meet them and Beka got their guitar picks.

Then we saw David Crowder Band. They did a hoedown with a banjo. It was epic as.

After that was Casting Crowns. They were so awesome! Definitly the best worship band I've ever seen. Mark Hall is such a good singer! They did practicaly all the songs I know. But then we do have all their cd's excpet for the latest one.

After that awesome concert in which I utterly lost what little voice I had left, me and Jacob wandered round the village a bit and got hugged by some randoms. It was quite entertaining. Their were heaps of people doing random stuff like brakdancing and drumming on rubbish bins.

Then I decided to go to bed and I just crashed.

Monday was cool too, even though it was our last day. First the morning meeting with Parachute band and Joe Pringle: Then there was this mean speaker called Chris Hill. He killed Barbie and Ken. That gives him instant hero status lol.After that I went and got prayed for by this cool securityu guard called Chris. Then I went to say bye to Jacob who was leaving in the middle of Casting Crowns. Then I managed to get all the way to the front and got some mean as pictures of them.
This was Mark Hall he was so cool. He kept preaching. It was awesome. They probably talked more than singing but nobody minded. They were stunning. Really. I can't really think of anybody who would not have liked that show.
After them I went back to the tents and we took them all down. Then we went into the village to get lunch. I had a pizza and got some stuff for Mum.

Then the bus trip home. It was epic. I was right in the back and we were actually moshing on a bus. It was so funny.

Then we played corners and I got so squashed.

We stopped in Napier for Pizza Hutt and Nanette introduced us to the game of mine. In which, answering a question with the word 'mine' makes you have to do 10 pressups. This is only allowed to happen if the person who's in the game asks you that question.

This is Beka doing very bad pushups on the bus. She was one of about 4 people I managed to trick. Mwhaha.

After that we rolled on back to Dannevirke. It was an awesome end to an awesome weekend and there's one thing I know:

I am sooooooooo going next year!

Jordan