The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of each year but was sometimes held as late as early February in some cities including Perth.
Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands. Many bands who perform Christian rock have ties to the contemporary Christian music labels, media outlets, and festivals, while other bands are independent.
Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman, Chad Butler, and Jerome Fontamillas. Guitarist Drew Shirley was also a member of the band from 2005 to 2022. After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream recognition with the inclusion of four of their songs in the 2002 film A Walk to Remember. This recognition led to the release of their major label debut The Beautiful Letdown, which was released in 2003 and featured the hit singles "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move". Their fifth album, Nothing Is Sound peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and included the single "Stars." Their seventh album, Hello Hurricane (2009) received a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album. They have been noted for their energetic live shows.
Delirious? were an English contemporary Christian band. For the majority of their career, the lineup featured Martin Smith on vocals and guitar, Stu G on guitar and backing vocals, Jon Thatcher on bass guitar, Tim Jupp on keys and piano, and Stew Smith on drums and percussion. Paul Evans took over as drummer for the band's final two years.
Sparrow Records is a Christian music record label and a division of Universal Music Group.
Parachute Music Festival was a Christian music festival held annually in New Zealand between 1992 - 2014. Originally starting in Waikanae, the event moved to Matamata in 1995, and then finally to Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand where it was held from 2004 - 2014. The three-day festival was run by Parachute Music, and ran annually in late January, on the weekend before Auckland Anniversary Day. The event was one of the largest Christian music festivals outside of the United States and it was one of the largest multi-day festivals in the Southern Hemisphere. As well as musicians, it also featured guest speakers.
The Beautiful Letdown is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Switchfoot, released on February 25, 2003, by RED Ink Records, and later re-released through Sony Music. It marked the band's first release on a major label and their first release with keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas. The album was produced by John Fields and Switchfoot and recorded over a span of around two weeks; all songs on the album were written either in part or entirely by lead singer Jon Foreman.
Mezzamorphis is the second studio album by Christian rock band Delirious?. Released in 1999, it represented a large step towards a more electronic sound for the band and received a huge critical acclaim.
The 36th Annual GMA Dove Awards, also called the 36th Annual GMA Music Awards, were held on April 13, 2005 recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 2004. The show was held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee and was hosted by Steven Curtis Chapman, CeCe Winans, Rebecca St. James, Smokie Norful, Darlene Zschech and Israel Houghton.
Unity Christian Music Festival (Unity) is a four-day Christian music festival held annually during the month of August at Heritage Landing in Muskegon, Michigan.
The Ichthus Festival is a Christian music festival in Wilmore, Kentucky. Held 44 times from 1970 to 2015, the event was originally a Christian-music answer to Woodstock but developed into both the longest-running Christian music festival and a Christian ministry serving tens of thousands of attendees annually. With financial difficulties in the 2010s, the festival left Wilmore after 2012 and put on one last event in 2015 at the Kentucky Horse Park in nearby Lexington, Kentucky. In 2021, the festival was revived in Wilmore.
"I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" is a popular Christian rock and worship song by the English contemporary Christian band Delirious?. The song's popularity has reached far beyond the band's; CCLI places the song among the 30 most-sung worship songs in the United States and has been called a "modern worship classic". According to Martin Smith, the author of the song:
Stuart David Garrard better known by the stage name Stu G, is an English vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. He is one third of US-based Christian contemporary music band One Sonic Society, and is writing and recording as a solo artist.
Oh! Gravity. is the sixth album by the San Diego–based alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on December 26, 2006. It was Switchfoot's last album released through Columbia Records and Sony BMG.
The Oh! Gravity. Tour is a 2007 concert tour by the alternative rock band Switchfoot, held to promote their sixth studio album, Oh! Gravity. The tour began in Utrecht, Netherlands on January 31 and ended in Saint Joseph, Missouri on April 17. During the 77-day tour, the band performed in nineteen states, six provinces in Canada, and three countries in Europe, plus several shows in the United Kingdom. The tour was depicted in one live concert film, Live at the Ventura Theatre, which was shot during the North American leg of the tour.
Revelation Generation was an annual Christian music festival in Frenchtown, New Jersey. The festival was first held on August 13, 2005, and was held annually held on the Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend through 2010. The 2011 event was canceled, and the official website indicates the festival is on an indefinite hiatus.
The World Pulse Festival is a Christian contemporary music festival in South Bend, Indiana. The World Pulse Festival was started by LeSEA Broadcasting Corp. in 1986 as a birthday celebration for radio station WHME. It is held on WHME grounds in South Bend, Indiana, except in 2014, when it was moved to the Compton Family Ice Arena at Notre Dame. In 2017 the Pulse Festival started the "Pulse Summer Series" that spread out a concert each month during the season. Its attendance numbers have ranged between 40,000 and 60,000 attendees, making it one of the largest Christian music festivals in the Midwest.
The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It hosted heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold and Babymetal.
A Christian music festival is a music festival held by the Christian community, in support of performers of Christian music. The festivals are characterized by more than just music; many feature motivational speakers and evangelists, and include seminars on Christian spiritual and missions topics, service, and evangelism. They are often viewed as evangelical tools, and small festivals can draw 10 times the crowd of traditional revival meetings. While the central theme of a Christian festival is Jesus Christ, the core appeal of a Christian music festival remains the artists and their music. Critics point out that the dichotomy of business and religious interests can be problematic for Christian festivals. In similar ways as the Christian music industry in general, festivals can be drawn away from their central theme and gravitate toward commercialization and mainstream acts in an attempt to draw crowds.
Brandon Dickerson is an American writer, director, and producer whose work includes film, music video, documentary film, and television commercials. He made his feature film directorial debut with the 2011 feature film Sironia, which won the Audience Award at the 2011 Austin Film Festival in October 2011 before its release through Filmbuff. His second feature film as writer-director, Victor, is set for release in 2017 as is his documentary film A Single Frame.
