Christian music festival
Encyclopedia
A Christian music festival (also known as a Jesus music festival or simply a Jesus 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.
Though Christian music festivals had been held prior to it, 1972 is seen as a pivotal year for Christian music due to the Explo '72
event, which was concluded by a massive music festival. Today Christian music festivals are held regularly throughout the United States and around the world. Christian music festivals were often supported by evangelical organizations; this is still true today, however, there are a number of free-standing festivals as well. Christian festivals are sometimes attached as secondary events to youth conferences, revival meetings, or billed as a part of a weekend package at theme parks. In 1999 the Gospel Music Association
estimated the commercial revenue of Christian music festivals in the United States at approximately $22 million, with a combined attendance of over one-half million people. Christian music festivals continued to grow significantly into the 2000s, with the number of large festivals rising, and the formation of a representative organization
for the festivals themselves.
While counter-culture is generally accepted many attendees dress conservatively, and unlike their mainstream counterparts Christian music festivals are relatively free of alcohol
and drug use
. Even at the Explo '72 festival, which was attended by 150,000 or more people, police reported a trouble free event.
Christian events were sometimes held as part of secular music festivals. As the genre of Jesus music
gained artists, its followers began to sponsor festivals, mimicking secular events such as Woodstock and Monterey Pop Festival
. One of the first events, the Youth for Christ
sponsored Faith Festival, was first held in 1970 in Evansville, Indiana
. The event drew enough attention that the following year it garnered coverage by CBS
and attracted about 15,000. Artists at the Faith Festival included Pat Boone
, Gene Cotton
, Danny Taylor
, Crimson Bridge, and "e", a band which included Greg X. Volz
. The attention that the Faith Festivals drew made them prototypes for future Christian music festivals.
Also in 1970, Asbury Theological Seminary
professor Robert Lyon founded the Ichthus Music Festival
, which is presently the longest running Christian music festival. The Hollywood Free Paper, a publication about the Jesus people movement, sponsored festivals in California and other areas of the United States. In 1971 the "Love Song Festival", sponsored by Maranatha! Music
, was held at Knott's Berry Farm
. Attendance was reported to be 20,000, a park record at the time, and artists included Love Song
, The Way
, Blessed Hope, and the Children of the Day
. In late 1971 Christianity Today summarized four festivals that had taken place during the summer season. The same article described the artists who appeared at a Santa Barbara, California
event, including Gentle Faith
, Tom Howard
, Ron Salsbury, The Bridge, and Randy Stonehill
, as being "veterans of Jesus rock festivals."
1972 is seen as a pivotal year for Christian music festivals due to a crusade
and evangelism
training event called Explo '72
, held in Dallas, Texas
. Explo was sponsored by the World Conference on Missions and Campus Crusade for Christ
. The week long event was attended by 80,000 registered attendees and concluded with a day long music festival. The attendance of the final event was reported by Life magazine at 150,000 and was characteristic by Billy Graham
as a "religious Woodstock." The Explo '72 roster contained artists in a variety of genres including performers Larry Norman
, Love Song, Andrae Crouch
, and Johnny Cash
. Explo '72 was a watershed event for the fledgling Jesus Music genre, and was the most visible event of the Jesus People movement. It is also the largest Christian music festival ever recorded; some critics even credit Explo with jump-starting the Christian music industry.
Early Christian music festivals were noted for their conservatism, often limiting their artistic expression to "safe, middle-of-the-road acts." The Jesus Festival, which was founded in 1973, offers a few illustrative incidents. In their inaugural year they hired a promoter, Tim Landis, who brought in acts such as 2nd Chapter of Acts
, Pat Terry, and Phil Keaggy
. The conservative owners, who wanted a family oriented music festival, found the music "a little too racy" and fired him. The following year at the same festival, Randy Matthews
was chased off stage by a crowd which pronounced him to be demon
or drug
possessed due to his musical style and his announcement of an impending tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd
and ZZ Top
. Matthews was later dropped from the tour roster.
The number and size of Christian music festivals continued to grow alongside the Christian music industry. By the mid 1970s festivals had appeared in all parts of the country. Tim Landis went on to found the Creation Festival
in 1979, which was designed to appeal the youth, and has become one of the largest Christian festivals in the United States. For several years Creation was held at the same venue as the Jesus Festival, the Agape Farm, only a few weeks apart. More specialized festivals appeared to fill niche market
s within the industry. The first completely rock music oriented festival was held in 1981. Called Illinois Jam, it featured artists including Barnabas
, Servant
, Randall Walter, and Randy Stonehill. Christian metal
festivals also emerged, particularly in the late 1980s. One such festival was held in Carson, California
in September 1987. The lineup was entirely Christian metal bands and included Guardian
, Barren Cross
, Vengeance Rising
, and many smaller bands.
While the members of Jesus People USA
had long been involved in Christian festivals around the country, the Chicago
organization founded the Cornerstone Festival
in 1984. Seeing the trend toward conservatism, Cornerstone was designed to set itself apart by being artistically unrestrictive. Its design came from the counter-culture of JPUSA itself, with an intent to appeal to an audience that may not have been attracted to more conservative forms of music. As Cornerstone
magazine editor Jon Trott later characterized it: "Cornerstone would be to Jesus festivals what Seven Up was to cola
: the unfestival." Their slogan in 1984 was "More Rock And Roll Than Anyone Has Dared"; Artists included Kerry Livgren
, Resurrection Band
, The Choir, Joe English, and the Sweet Comfort Band
. Today Cornerstone is one of the premier Christian music festivals, and is most influential promoting groups on the fringe of Christian music.
In the 1990s the contemporary Christian music industry experienced explosive growth and saw the establishment of new festivals as well. The most significant of these are Purple Door and Tomfest
, the latter of which regularly holds mini-festivals in diverse parts of the country. Since the turn of the century traveling tours such as Festival Con Dios
and Shout Fest
have appeared. They are often similar in structure to their secular counterparts such as Vans Warped Tour or Lolapalooza, offering extreme sports and a carnival-like atmosphere. Throughout the 2000s, the attendance at United States festivals grew significantly. According to one source, the number of Christian music festivals attended by more than 5000 youths grew from five in the year 2000 to 35 in 2006. As a result of this growth, many US festivals have formed a collective organization, the Christian Festival Association
, to represent their interests.
Christian music festivals now exist throughout the world. The Greenbelt Festival
, founded in 1974 in the United Kingdom
, was at one time one of the largest recurring Christian event in the world. Germany is host to several festivals; two of the most notable are Freakstock
and Christmas Rock Night
. In greater Europe notable festivals include Flevo
and EO-Youth Day(The Netherlands)Seaside Festival, Norway
, the Big Boss' Festival
(Switzerland
), the Song of Songs Festival (Poland
), and Frizon Festival (Sweden
).
A sanctioned
Christian festival was held in 1989 in Tallinn
, Soviet Estonia
. The festival featured performances by American artists such as Sheila Walsh
, Bruce Carroll
, Paul Smith
, and Scott Wesley Brown
, and had an attendance of 15,000. This was reported to be the first such festival. In 1992, after the Fall of the Iron Curtain
, a Christian music festival was held in St. Petersburg, Russia
. Dubbed as a "Christian arts festival", the event included acts to appeal to all ages from a variety of styles, largely representing greater Europe and North America. Bands represented included No Longer Music (Holland), Bloodgood
(USA), Double Edge (Canada
), and Graham Kendrick
. The event also included orchestras from the UK and Russia, and Russian headliner Boris Grebenshchikov
. The shows, which were organized by Youth With A Mission
, sold out 10,000 tickets well in advance.
New Zealand
hosts the Southern Hemisphere's largest Christian festival, the annual Parachute Music Festival
. It attracts nearly 30,000 a year, including a large number of non-christians. It is one of New Zealands largest music festivals and is sponsored and covered by most mainstream television and radio networks in the country.
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
held by the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
community, in support of performers of Christian music
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
. The festivals are characterized by more than just music; many feature motivational speakers and evangelists, and include seminars on Christian spiritual and missions
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
topics, service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
, and evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
. 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
Christian music industry
The Christian music industry is a small part of the larger music industry, that focuses on traditional Gospel music, Southern Gospel music, Contemporary Christian music, and alternative Christian music. It is sometimes called the gospel music industry, although this designation is not a limitation...
in general, festivals can be drawn away from their central theme and gravitate toward commercialization and mainstream acts in an attempt to draw crowds.
Explo '72
Explo '72 was an evangelistic conference sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, planned and directed by Paul Eshleman. Explo '72 has been called the most visible event of the 1970s Jesus movement, and came to be associated with the same, even though its primary attendees were not directly involved...
event, which was concluded by a massive music festival. Today Christian music festivals are held regularly throughout the United States and around the world. Christian music festivals were often supported by evangelical organizations; this is still true today, however, there are a number of free-standing festivals as well. Christian festivals are sometimes attached as secondary events to youth conferences, revival meetings, or billed as a part of a weekend package at theme parks. In 1999 the Gospel Music Association
Gospel Music Association
The Gospel Music Association was founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of Gospel music. There are currently about 4,000 members worldwide...
estimated the commercial revenue of Christian music festivals in the United States at approximately $22 million, with a combined attendance of over one-half million people. Christian music festivals continued to grow significantly into the 2000s, with the number of large festivals rising, and the formation of a representative organization
Christian Festival Association
The Christian Festival Association was formed in September 2006. The group consists of members representing major Christian music festivals held in the United States. Collectively, this group represents over 1.5 million attendees, and are held between April and December, with most held during the...
for the festivals themselves.
While counter-culture is generally accepted many attendees dress conservatively, and unlike their mainstream counterparts Christian music festivals are relatively free of alcohol
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
and drug use
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
. Even at the Explo '72 festival, which was attended by 150,000 or more people, police reported a trouble free event.
In the United States
In the early days of the Jesus People movementJesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
Christian events were sometimes held as part of secular music festivals. As the genre of Jesus music
Jesus music
Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music which originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movement...
gained artists, its followers began to sponsor festivals, mimicking secular events such as Woodstock and Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
. One of the first events, the Youth for Christ
Youth for Christ
Youth for Christ is the name of a number of previously unaffiliated evangelical Protestant religious campaigns which led to the creation of Youth for Christ International in 1946....
sponsored Faith Festival, was first held in 1970 in Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
. The event drew enough attention that the following year it garnered coverage by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and attracted about 15,000. Artists at the Faith Festival included Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
, Gene Cotton
Gene Cotton
Gene Cotton is a pop and folk singer-songwriter. He is best known for his four Billboard Top 40 entries during the years 1976–1978.-History:...
, Danny Taylor
Danny Taylor
Daniel Turney Taylor was a Major League Baseball outfielder from 1926-1936. He played with the Washington Senators, Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn Dodgers. He died on October 11, 1972.-External links:...
, Crimson Bridge, and "e", a band which included Greg X. Volz
Greg X. Volz
Gregory Xavier Volz is a Christian singer. He is most noted for being the former lead singer of Christian rock band Petra from 1979 to 1985 and is currently the lead vocalist of the reunited lineup.-Biography:...
. The attention that the Faith Festivals drew made them prototypes for future Christian music festivals.
Also in 1970, Asbury Theological Seminary
Asbury Theological Seminary
Asbury Theological Seminary is a multi-denominational, graduate institution that offers a variety of master degree and postgraduate degree programs through the schools of Biblical Interpretation and Proclamation, Theology and Formation, Practical Theology, World Missions and Evangelism, and...
professor Robert Lyon founded the Ichthus Music Festival
Ichthus Music Festival
The Ichthus Music Festival is an annual Christian music festival in Wilmore, Kentucky. Begun in 1970, it is the oldest Christian music festival in the nation. The festival began as the brainchild of Dr. Bob Lyon, and a group of seminary students at Asbury Theological Seminary, in response to...
, which is presently the longest running Christian music festival. The Hollywood Free Paper, a publication about the Jesus people movement, sponsored festivals in California and other areas of the United States. In 1971 the "Love Song Festival", sponsored by Maranatha! Music
Maranatha! Music
Maranatha! Music began as a non-profit outreach of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The Jesus People of the late 1960s and early 1970s began to write new hymns and worship songs with a folk-rock style. Maranatha! Music was founded at this time in order to publish and promote this new type of Christian...
, was held at Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park in Buena Park, California, now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and a line of jams, jellies, preserves, and other specialty food, now part of The J. M. Smucker Company based in Placentia, California....
. Attendance was reported to be 20,000, a park record at the time, and artists included Love Song
Love Song (band)
Love Song was one of the main Jesus music bands, one of the first Christian rock bands. It was founded in 1970 by Chuck Girard, Tommy Coomes, Jay Truax, and Fred Field. Additionally, the earliest members included David Ingram on keyboards, Ernie Earnshaw on drums and Jack Schaeffer on bass. It was...
, The Way
The Way (band)
The Way was a Jesus music band who were active from 1971 to 1976. They released two albums on Maranatha! Records and contributed four non-LP tracks to their label's compilation series and one LP track was pulled for the first label retrospective.-History:...
, Blessed Hope, and the Children of the Day
Children of the Day
Children of the Day was a Contemporary Christian music group that recorded and toured from 1971 to 1979. It is considered by many to be the world's first contemporary Christian music group.-Beginnings:...
. In late 1971 Christianity Today summarized four festivals that had taken place during the summer season. The same article described the artists who appeared at a Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
event, including Gentle Faith
Gentle Faith
Gentle Faith was a Christian country rock band in the 1970s, during the Jesus Music era, before the rise of the CCM industry. The group formed in 1974 and released one self-titled album in 1976 under the Maranatha! label....
, Tom Howard
Tom Howard (musician)
Tom Howard was an American pianist, musical arranger and orchestral conductor.In 1983, Howard helped the rock band Daniel Amos form the Alarma! Records label....
, Ron Salsbury, The Bridge, and Randy Stonehill
Randy Stonehill
Randall Evan "Randy" Stonehill is an American singer-songwriter from Stockton, California, best known as one of the so-called "fathers of contemporary Christian music". His music is primarily folk rock in the style of James Taylor, but he has assayed other styles, with various albums focused on...
, as being "veterans of Jesus rock festivals."
1972 is seen as a pivotal year for Christian music festivals due to a crusade
Revival meeting
A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held in order to inspire active members of a church body, to raise funds and to gain new converts...
and evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
training event called Explo '72
Explo '72
Explo '72 was an evangelistic conference sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, planned and directed by Paul Eshleman. Explo '72 has been called the most visible event of the 1970s Jesus movement, and came to be associated with the same, even though its primary attendees were not directly involved...
, held in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. Explo was sponsored by the World Conference on Missions and Campus Crusade for Christ
Campus Crusade for Christ
Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational Christian organization that promotes evangelism and discipleship in more than 190 countries...
. The week long event was attended by 80,000 registered attendees and concluded with a day long music festival. The attendance of the final event was reported by Life magazine at 150,000 and was characteristic by Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
as a "religious Woodstock." The Explo '72 roster contained artists in a variety of genres including performers Larry Norman
Larry Norman
Larry David Norman was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music...
, Love Song, Andrae Crouch
Andrae Crouch
Andraé Crouch is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, recording artist, record producer, and pastor.-Early years:Born Andraé Edward Crouch in San Francisco, California....
, and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. Explo '72 was a watershed event for the fledgling Jesus Music genre, and was the most visible event of the Jesus People movement. It is also the largest Christian music festival ever recorded; some critics even credit Explo with jump-starting the Christian music industry.
Early Christian music festivals were noted for their conservatism, often limiting their artistic expression to "safe, middle-of-the-road acts." The Jesus Festival, which was founded in 1973, offers a few illustrative incidents. In their inaugural year they hired a promoter, Tim Landis, who brought in acts such as 2nd Chapter of Acts
2nd Chapter of Acts
The 2nd Chapter of Acts was a Jesus Music and early Contemporary Christian Music group composed of sisters Annie Herring and Nelly Greisen and brother Matthew Ward. They began performing in 1973 and enjoyed their period of greatest success during the 1970s...
, Pat Terry, and Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 50 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets...
. The conservative owners, who wanted a family oriented music festival, found the music "a little too racy" and fired him. The following year at the same festival, Randy Matthews
Randy Matthews
Randy Matthews is a Christian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music. He was born into a family with at least five ordained ministers, including his father, Monty, a founding member of the Jordanaires. When Randy was in high school in Lamar, Mo., he sang in a quartet called The...
was chased off stage by a crowd which pronounced him to be demon
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
or drug
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
possessed due to his musical style and his announcement of an impending tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
and ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
. Matthews was later dropped from the tour roster.
The number and size of Christian music festivals continued to grow alongside the Christian music industry. By the mid 1970s festivals had appeared in all parts of the country. Tim Landis went on to found the Creation Festival
Creation Festival
Creation Festival consists of two annual, four-day Christian music festivals held in the United States. According to www.Creationfest.com, the festivals have become the "Nation's Largest Christian Music Festivals." This is in reflection to Creation Northeast being known to attract 100,000...
in 1979, which was designed to appeal the youth, and has become one of the largest Christian festivals in the United States. For several years Creation was held at the same venue as the Jesus Festival, the Agape Farm, only a few weeks apart. More specialized festivals appeared to fill niche market
Niche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...
s within the industry. The first completely rock music oriented festival was held in 1981. Called Illinois Jam, it featured artists including Barnabas
Barnabas (band)
Barnabas was a Christian hard rock band that was active from 1977 through 1986. The name of the band was in honor of the New Testament disciple Barnabas...
, Servant
Servant (band)
Servant was a Christian rock group that grew out of the counter-culture Jesus Movement of the sixties and seventies. The band was founded in Victoria, British Columbia in 1976 by Jim Palosaari and performed to audiences throughout North America, Europe and Australia for over 12 years. Originally...
, Randall Walter, and Randy Stonehill. Christian metal
Christian metal
Christian metal, also known as white metal, is a form of heavy metal music usually defined by its message in a song's lyrics as well as the band's dedication to Christianity...
festivals also emerged, particularly in the late 1980s. One such festival was held in Carson, California
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....
in September 1987. The lineup was entirely Christian metal bands and included Guardian
Guardian (band)
Guardian is an American Christian hard rock/metal band. The band released six studio albums, three additional albums in Spanish—and toured extensively worldwide...
, Barren Cross
Barren Cross
Barren Cross is a Christian metal band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983 by highschool friends Ray Parris and Steve Whitaker . The band released six albums from 1986 to 1994...
, Vengeance Rising
Vengeance Rising
Vengeance Rising is an American Christian thrash metal band from Los Angeles, CA. Fronted by vocalist Roger Martinez, they originally formed as Vengeance in 1987, but changed their name in 1989 to avoid conflict with another band from the Netherlands...
, and many smaller bands.
Jesus People USA
Jesus People USA is a Christian intentional community in Uptown, on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1972, coming out of Jesus People Milwaukee in the Jesus Movement, and is the largest of the few remaining communes from that movement...
had long been involved in Christian festivals around the country, the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
organization founded the Cornerstone Festival
Cornerstone Festival
Cornerstone Festival is a Christian music festival put on by Jesus People USA and held annually around the 4th of July near Bushnell, Illinois. In a given year, many artists that play at Cornerstone also play at other events such as Creation Festival and mainstream festivals and tours such as the...
in 1984. Seeing the trend toward conservatism, Cornerstone was designed to set itself apart by being artistically unrestrictive. Its design came from the counter-culture of JPUSA itself, with an intent to appeal to an audience that may not have been attracted to more conservative forms of music. As Cornerstone
Cornerstone (magazine)
Cornerstone was a newspaper and later a magazine published by Jesus People USA, focusing on topics of evangelical Christian faith and engagement with politics and culture....
magazine editor Jon Trott later characterized it: "Cornerstone would be to Jesus festivals what Seven Up was to cola
Cola
Cola is a carbonated beverage that was typically flavored by the kola nut as well as vanilla and other flavorings, however, some colas are now flavored artificially. It became popular worldwide after druggist John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in 1886...
: the unfestival." Their slogan in 1984 was "More Rock And Roll Than Anyone Has Dared"; Artists included Kerry Livgren
Kerry Livgren
Kerry Allen Livgren is an American musician and songwriter, best known as one of the founding members and primary songwriters for the 1970s progressive rock band, Kansas.-Biography:...
, Resurrection Band
Resurrection Band
Resurrection Band, also known as Rez Band or REZ, was a Christian rock band formed in 1972. They were part of the Jesus People USA Christian community in Chicago and most of its members have continued in that community to this day. Known for their blend of blues-rock and hard rock, Resurrection...
, The Choir, Joe English, and the Sweet Comfort Band
Sweet Comfort Band
Sweet Comfort Band was a Christian rock band that first performed in 1973 in Riverside, California, and were active until 1984. The band was initially composed of keyboardist/lead vocalist, Bryan Duncan, and brothers Kevin and Rick Thomson. The band was the brainchild of the Thomson brothers...
. Today Cornerstone is one of the premier Christian music festivals, and is most influential promoting groups on the fringe of Christian music.
In the 1990s the contemporary Christian music industry experienced explosive growth and saw the establishment of new festivals as well. The most significant of these are Purple Door and Tomfest
Tomfest
TOMfest was an annual Christian music festival held in Camas, WA, USA.TOMfest was a Christian indie and alternative music festival founded in 1995. Showcasing established and up-and-coming Christian bands, TOMfest presented an alternative to secular music festivals and provided a venue for...
, the latter of which regularly holds mini-festivals in diverse parts of the country. Since the turn of the century traveling tours such as Festival Con Dios
Festival Con Dios
Festival Con Dios was a traveling Christian music festival that began in spring 2001. The first festival was started by Newsboys and also featured Audio Adrenaline, The O.C. Supertones, Pillar, T-Bone, The Benjamin Gate, Skillet, Switchfoot, and others. This was one of the largest CCM traveling...
and Shout Fest
Shout Fest
Shout Fest is a Contemporary Christian music festival that features several of today's most popular acts. It also includes games and other activities...
have appeared. They are often similar in structure to their secular counterparts such as Vans Warped Tour or Lolapalooza, offering extreme sports and a carnival-like atmosphere. Throughout the 2000s, the attendance at United States festivals grew significantly. According to one source, the number of Christian music festivals attended by more than 5000 youths grew from five in the year 2000 to 35 in 2006. As a result of this growth, many US festivals have formed a collective organization, the Christian Festival Association
Christian Festival Association
The Christian Festival Association was formed in September 2006. The group consists of members representing major Christian music festivals held in the United States. Collectively, this group represents over 1.5 million attendees, and are held between April and December, with most held during the...
, to represent their interests.
Worldwide
Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more secular festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and non-Christians.The festival...
, founded in 1974 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, was at one time one of the largest recurring Christian event in the world. Germany is host to several festivals; two of the most notable are Freakstock
Freakstock
Freakstock is an annual Christian festival held by members of the German Jesus Freaks movement. First held in Wiesbaden in 1995, the festival was moved to Gotha in 1997. Over 8000 people attend annually...
and Christmas Rock Night
Christmas Rock Night
Christmas Rock Night is a Christian music festival held annually during December in Ennepetal, Germany. The festival does not focus on particular styles of Christian music, but leans toward harder forms including metal and alternative.-Background:...
. In greater Europe notable festivals include Flevo
Flevo Festival
The Flevo Festival is an open air Christian music festival held each August in The Netherlands. The festival was first organized as the Kamperland Festival in 1978 by the Dutch arm of Youth for Christ and became a private foundation in 2002....
and EO-Youth Day(The Netherlands)Seaside Festival, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, the Big Boss' Festival
Big Boss' Festival
The Big Boss' Festival is an open air Christian music festival. It is for the Big Boss: God, it's where the name come from. This festival has begun with two bands in 1999. Now, more than 4000 people come each year and more than 14 international bands play on two stages...
(Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
), the Song of Songs Festival (Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), and Frizon Festival (Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
).
A sanctioned
Religion in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion and its replacement with atheism. To that end, the communist regime confiscated religious property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in schools...
Christian festival was held in 1989 in Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, Soviet Estonia
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic , often abbreviated as Estonian SSR or ESSR, was a republic of the Soviet Union, administered by and subordinated to the Government of the Soviet Union...
. The festival featured performances by American artists such as Sheila Walsh
Sheila Walsh
Dr. Sheila Walsh, D.Min. is a Scottish-born contemporary Christian vocalist, songwriter, evangelist, author, inspirational speaker, and talk-show host.-Biography:...
, Bruce Carroll
Bruce Carroll
Bruce Carroll , is an American CCM singer and multi Grammy and Dove Award winning recording artist. He currently is the director of arts and worship and leads a ten member band at the six thousand plus member Hope Church in Memphis, Tennessee.Bruce lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife...
, Paul Smith
Paul Smith (christian music)
Paul Charles Smith is a Contemporary Christian Music performer and songwriter. He is best remembered for his early years with influential gospel group, The Imperials. Paul spent four years with that group, recording four albums and one live video. Smith was inducted into the Gospel Music...
, and Scott Wesley Brown
Scott Wesley Brown
Scott Wesley Brown is an American CCM singer and songwriter.Brown recorded for Sparrow Records for much of his career, recording more than 20 albums; his songs have been covered by Petra, Pat Boone, Bruce Carroll, Sandi Patty, Amy Grant, and others...
, and had an attendance of 15,000. This was reported to be the first such festival. In 1992, after the Fall of the Iron Curtain
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
, a Christian music festival was held in St. Petersburg, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Dubbed as a "Christian arts festival", the event included acts to appeal to all ages from a variety of styles, largely representing greater Europe and North America. Bands represented included No Longer Music (Holland), Bloodgood
Bloodgood
Bloodgood is a Christian metal band from Seattle, Washington. Originally formed in 1984 and by 1988 represented one of the four largest Christian metal bands alongside Barren Cross, Whitecross, and Leviticus....
(USA), Double Edge (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), and Graham Kendrick
Graham Kendrick
Graham Kendrick is a prolific British Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader. He is the son of a Baptist pastor. He now lives in Croydon and is a former member of Ichthus Christian Fellowship...
. The event also included orchestras from the UK and Russia, and Russian headliner Boris Grebenshchikov
Boris Grebenshchikov
Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov also known as Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov, is one of the most prominent members of the generation which is widely considered the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music...
. The shows, which were organized by Youth With A Mission
Youth With A Mission
Youth With A Mission is an international, inter-denominational, non-profit Christian missionary organization...
, sold out 10,000 tickets well in advance.
New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
hosts the Southern Hemisphere's largest Christian festival, the annual Parachute Music Festival
Parachute music festival
The Parachute Music Festival is a Christian music festival held annually at Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand.The festival is run by Parachute Music and lasts for four days and three nights. 'Parachute' is the Southern Hemisphere's largest Christian music festival, primarily...
. It attracts nearly 30,000 a year, including a large number of non-christians. It is one of New Zealands largest music festivals and is sponsored and covered by most mainstream television and radio networks in the country.