Review: Purple Door 2011

The smell of sun-scorched earth and sweat filled the air. Purple Door 2011; all was right with the world. This would mark my 4^th or 5^th Purple Door. It had been two years since I had been to the festival and months since I had seen a good show. Heck, I haven’t even played too much outside of open mics in ages.

When I got there, I headed to the main stage to find some friends. House of Heroes was on. I’m not a huge fan, so I lured them away. Looking at the schedule, I saw that Texas in July was soon on at another one of the stages, so we headed that way. Little did I know that I would be following them into an indoor warehouse-like venue.

Now you may not see the big deal in this, so let’s back up. This is PURPLE DOOR. Not only did the venue change from Ski Roundtop to some fairground in Lebanon, but to also find out that only one stage is outside?! Don’t get me wrong, being inside while it was raining was nice and dry, but Purple Door is as much music as it is the familiarity with the environment. Trying to escape the blistering sun or the soaking rain is part of what you come to know, expect, and love about Purple Door.

Needless to say, I was disappointed, but I wanted to make the most of it. TIJ did not help.

See, I’ve seen Texas in July before. Multiple times. They’re good. I bought or otherwise obtained one of their albums, which is on my iPod taking up precious memory. So I know what to expect.

And this? This was absolutely horrific. Of the 200+ shows that I’ve seen, this had the worst sound quality of all of them. Hands down. The mix was terrible. The acoustics, terrible. Worst sound ever. Period.

After that, I almost left. Actually, I almost left before they were done. But I stayed. The Chariot was up next. I don’t think I’ve listened to them or have seen them before. Though the sound wasn’t optimal, it was still decent and their energy was ridiculous. But about the sound, musically they were actually interesting. Something akin to the idea of organized chaos; beautifully dissonant.

Red finished off the evening, outdoors at the main stage. Mainstream hard rock. Gag me.

Saturday afternoon was very splintered. I saw a little bit of everything. I saw partial sets of As Hell Retreats, Showbread, and For Today. They were good and I wished I could have seen entire sets. However, instead I went to see some speakers.

Aaron Gillespie was the first of those. He talked a lot about his transition from being in the band, Underoath, to pursuing a more dedicated form of ministry with solo work focused around worship. It was really neat to hear about that transformation and to see where he was headed with it.

Andrew Schwab, the frontman for Project86 spoke next. He gave a seminar on Social Media and how it impacts us. Sure, it enables great things, but it’s also something that can be consuming. It was all stuff that’s been talked about for years by both the social media gurus as well as those in opposition; no new arguments, just some interesting perspectives and things to think about.

As the evening progressed, everyone patiently awaited the big shows. Project 86 and Underoath.

And then there was rain. Anyone remember this from years ago?

 

Wish I would’ve been there.

So that’s what I was expecting when the storms started to roll in. Maybe without tens of thousands of dollars of stage equipment ruined, but still with that energy.

Instead, they moved everything indoors. Super gay.

I was real worried that the sound would be terrible. I mean, it had been for the other bands in that space. Project 86 is somewhat magical, however.

The sound was near studio quality. It was exactly as I had remembered from their albums, but with 100x more energy and a lot of sweaty bodies everywhere. They’re hard rock, but with an unmatched edge that sets them apart both with their playing as well as the vocals. And the dynamic. Oh the dynamic… It’s cuts that stop an angry mob and drops that shake your chest and release chaos in the pit.

Speaking of the pit, I’m always disappointed with the security at Purple Door. Start a few pits where they don’t want them and suddenly you’ve got your own personal bouncer, ready to bounce you at the wave of a hand… But it was still fun.

Then came Underoath. I had never seen them. In 200+ concerts and probably 6-8 years of listening to them, I had never seen a live show. The suspense was killing me. A lot of why I went to Purple Door was to see them.

And then they rushed the soundcheck. I won’t even acknowledge any more of their set than to say that I walked out early. Wow. Just …wow.

Thankfully, the good stuff made the weekend well worth it.

Just remember, kids: don’t rush your soundcheck. Ever.