AGMF 06

What a weekend.

Great music, good food, and awesome mates. I headed up to Toowoomba for the Australian Gospel Music Festival with Scotty and Ben on Friday, we set Benz tent up in the backyard of our senior pastors brother's house.

I've never been to AGMF for the whole festival before, there was so much good music! Actually there was so much that I missed some acts I would have loved to have seen.

The Chris Poulsen Trio was the one band I really wanted to catch, having never seeing them live before, and knowing Chris and loving his playing in Scat and Mike Frost and the Icemen. Unfortunately I forgot the time they were on, and we ended up going to a break dance workshop instead. However Scat were unbelievable! Chris absolutely burnt up the Fender Rhodes, the man is the best piano player I have ever seen, or heard! Scat always put on a good show, but they had an energy this weekend that was above and beyond anything I've seen before. The Fancy Pants ball finished off AGMF on Sunday night, and Chris had this idea that Scat should buy second hand suits and paint them completely white (using house paint). They looked amazing, but as Craig (lead singer) said many times during the ball it would have been mighty hot inside a stiff thick painted suit, shirt and tie!

Chris Poulsen has become a AGMF and Christian music scene star, as soon as he hopped on stage with any band he pulled huge crowds. It's great to see a good friend of mine enjoying his music so much, and sharing it with so many people, I'm sure he has a very prosperous future ahead of him.

Newsboys were the headline act, and they didn't disappoint. Ben, his niece and I ended up in the back of the mosh pit, enjoying the atmosphere and music from one of Australia's best Gospel rock groups. Having Paul Coleman as lead guitar was weird. It's almost a shame that a man with so much talent ends up playing guitar and doing backup vocals. But he is happy, and he still put on a great performance with the rest of the band.

Rebecca St James was good - well the part I saw anyway, we only caught the end. I was even able to get her autograph afterwards.

Other highlight bands were Half Way Out (Chris' brother Dave is the new saxophone player for them), The View (Sydney band I hadn't heard before, but were really impressed by), Rhubarb (haven't seen them in ages but woohoo!!), United Band, MIC, Soulframe and 24 Feet.

In other areas sharing the weekend with Scott and Ben was great. We went to Hog's Breath Cafe for dinner one night, and the Coffee Club another. We drove around in the XR6 and shot people with supa soakers, ran through the Bush Dance at full pace and sang unashamedly in line for Rebecca St James' signature.

I'll post some pictures in a second