IT COULD HAVE GONE VERY, VERY WRONG - BUT IT DIDN'T

The boys (Anthem For Today) and myself anxiously had been looking forward to May 17. It was the date for our show at "Overflow" - a youth convention in Waterloo, gathering 3,000 teens together for a weekend of activity.  AFT was playing outdoor on the Stringnoize sidestage.



Bands performing

We were happy to be included and I can't overstate just how much. Other bands we love have played at Overflow. It is a extremely well organized event. I had been trying for 16 months to get us on the 2014 agenda and when the invitation came, I think I peed myself!

The invitation was not only exciting but honouring. The proposed payment was much more than I expected for our short 25-minute set. Lunch was included, event passes included, full sound production, an opportunity to sell our merch (t-shirts, CDs, posters) but unlike some secular conventions, the promoter did not take any commission on sales. Nice!  This is truly the pinnacle in the career of AFT.

We did a show in Bowmanville the day before, followed by a band and crew BBQ, ending early so we could all get a good night's sleep, before waking up at 5:50am to drive to Waterloo.

I set two alarm clocks just to be sure I didn't sleep in.

ANTHEM FOR TODAY - Jordan, Davey,
Pip, GI and Robbert

Maybe it was the excitement but I woke up at 5:15am. At 5:45 I got up and shut off my dresser alarm clock only to find that the alarm was not set!  The time was set, but not activated!  Holy crap!  Good thing I set my phone alarm! Then, as I shut it off, IT TOO was not "on" and only set to the alarm time! I have not done that in...I don't know how long!  But, TWO alarms misfiring?!

God woke me up.  We hit the road with time to spare.

Upon getting to the venue, the FOH (sound guy) who was provided by the promoter was not the sound guy we expected.  The sound guy understands the musicians and potential errors.  Panic set in. Our biggest show ever and the sound guy was not the right guy. For a moment, the wind blew out of my sails and I thought our long-awaited show would be a bust.

Evan Duran on soundcheck
 

Travelling with us was Evan Duran, who has been quite involved with AFT, doing videos, lighting and some audio. He offered to be our last minute soundman.

"Man, throwing Evan into this at the last minute, at our pinnacle show - is that wise?"  I made the change.  Evan was totally on the ball, trouble-shooting, suggesting, helping, lifting - he was a life-saver. I'm not even sure the musicians were (or are) fully aware of the situation.

Adding to the errors that were avoided nearly took place at our merch booth.

Last song - "Inside Out"
 

We were loaned lights by Chris Bray for our merch booth. I probably shouldn't mention this - Chris will want his lights back!  We were about to clamp the new lights on the top truss of our merch booth, but I said, "meh, we're outside in the sun, we don't need the lights".  Thirty minutes later, the wind picked up the banner backdrop and blew it over to the ground. Fortunately nothing broke, but had the lights been on the truss, they would have smashed to bits.

The biggest show - 2 alarms, soundman changes and a lighting system. I can't deny that God took us through three potential disasters and gave us a fabulous day!