The Festival Begins Tonight!

Another hot day in Matagalpa and I'm talking about the temperature not just the skills of the bicycle trick guys and the band. The location of the festival is a large soccer field, wide open for many to come, listen, and receive the word. It also gives us plenty of room to set-up the stage and all the sound we need. We are using the same crew/company from last year in Leon and they have done a nice job with excellent sound and lights. Should be a great time for all!

Today we rehearsed at 10:00 - which if you know the schedule of a band trying to rehearse and do a sound check means we started playing at 12:00. And especially when you are on Nicaraguan time. Mark - our sound guy for those of you who don't know him - does an exceptional job tweaking and mixing the sound of the band. It's really an art and he is definitely an artist. But it is a slow and painstaking process. Kind of a hurry-up-and-wait thing.

While this excitement was going on, we did get to see the Bicicross (bicycle trick guys) do their stuff as they tested out the new ramp built just for the festival. What a show just to watch them practice! I've posted video for you to see. This is Ricky warming up. Kim was a bit worried and asked the guys to make sure all was well and take it easy if they felt uncomfortable in anyway. They laughed and said that their normal ramps are twice as big, giving them twice the air. This one is no problem for them. Pretty amazing stuff.

Well - back to the stage later this afternoon and running sound check at 4:00. Then we start at 5:30 with the warm-up band, the drama team, the Bicicross show, the band, and then Marvin and his message. Should be a great night!