Third Day Weblog

Some Video Goodness

Hey guys.. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer.  I've been messing with some video for the past few months, to get ready for the new website launch, and I just couldn't wait to show you a little of the "stage left perspective".  This first video is from a show in Santa Clara, CA in May.  It was really really cold, so if the camera shakes, you know why.  The second video is from a show we did in New Jersey at Six Flags in June. I hope you dig the little backstage snippets.  

Pictures from you...

Hey everyone.. I've collected tons of photos from all of you TD fans, so I thought I'd show off some of your fine photography.  If you'd like to see your shots up here on thirdday.com send them to me at: [email protected]

Enjoy!

These two photos are from Sheldon Heatherington from the Ft. Walton Beach show last year

 

these are from Sunnie McDennon at the Busch Gardens show

That one of Tai is from Joanne Chan from Spirit West Coast, Monterey, CA.

 

these two are from our friend Martika at the last show: Ignite Festival, in Chicago

Check back soon... and SEND THOSE PICTURES.  Nathan  
      

7/24 Ignite Festival, Chicago

 Well I guess I had it coming to me.  Last weekend was so unbelievably smooth, logistically speaking, that a 24 hour period of misery was due to come my way.  I’ll sum up my travel like this: Departed Atlanta three hours late, plane was diverted to Ft. Wayne, IN, where we arrived at 4 am, then left via TAXI for a six hour drive to Chicago O’Hare.  Needless to say, it has been a struggle to keep my eyes open.  As I type this, I am running on 3 hours of sleep, hopefully I’ll be sleeping shortly on this two hour trip home.  We’ll see.

Anyway! We were under the threat of stormy weather all day, so we were waiting on pins and needles to make sure the show was still going to happen.  The city of Chicago was underwater--as we discovered on our taxi journey into town.  The good news was that Alexian Field is located in the suburb of Schaumburg.  It is a nice little minor league baseball stadium.  So nice in fact that since the ground was wet, they didn’t allow the audience to stand in the outfield for fear or messing up the grass.  The stage was set up in center field and faced home plate, meaning that there was around 300 feet of distance between the stage and the stands.  Because folks weren’t allowed on the field, it made it a difficult performance for most of the bands on the festival.  But the sun came out, and dried up all the rain.... And we were pleased to see the throngs of people rushing toward the stage as we ate dinner in a skybox.  Shortly after dinner while Jeremy Camp was on stage, we were able to prep the stage and get ready to rock.  

We were two men down for this show, our regular Lighting Director John Hansen, and Production Manager/Monitor Engineer Matt Guice both had to miss this one.  In their stead, we had a guy from Indiana named BJ behind the lights and our old friend Chris Biggs on monitors.  

The band had their share of weather difficulties too, in the form of plane delays and cancellations. Its funny Tai mentioned after the show that it always seems to be hard to get from the country’s biggest airport to the second biggest.  Ironic.  

The show itself felt and sounded great.  The band played the usual summer set list, including the two new songs, “Lift Up Your Face”, and “Gone” in the encore.  The festival crowd was very energetic, and responsive.  It felt like an absolute jungle up there, but we all pushed through it and finished strong. 

We have a couple of weeks off, so stay tuned... I think I’m going to have some new goodies to post up here in the near future.  Have a good one... Nathan

     

7/18 Yakima, WA

 The last show of our northwest run happened in town called Yakima, WA.  It is the home of the Central Washington State Fair.  Today we were guests of the Louis Palau crusade which had been going on all weekend.  We were the final group to perform after Hawk Nelson, and a message from Louis himself.  The crowd had to be around eight to ten thousand people, in relatively small outdoor area where the semi permanent stage faced a grassy lawn.  The crowd’s response to the day’s events seemed to be quite positive.  They got to check out a dirt bike stunt routine, several bands, worship music, and of course a word from Louis Palau. When Third Day took the stage, they proved that they were not at all tired from a long day in the sun.  The set list was brief, only 45 minutes. They were still able to play one new song from the new album, which continues to gain momentum each time they play it.

As the band was getting ready to take the stage, something crazy happened.  We looked over the tree line past the stage, and a huge orange cloud of smoke was hovering.  Apparently there was a massive wildfire happening less than a mile from us.  They had to evacuate homes and businesses, yet as always, we were kept safe and sound. 

Directly after the show, we were able to walk to the building next door to watch Sir Elton John in concert, which was by far the highlight of the weekend, (not including TD performances of course).  He played hours of hit songs, and we were close enough to almost give him a high five after every song.  I’ve been an Elton John fan from a very young age, so to me being in the same building was just as magical as hearing him bang away on his grand piano.  

So now it is time for me to “rocketman” back to the ATL.  We’ll see you next weekend Chicago.  Adios-- N.

     

7-17 Tualatin, Oregon

So onward and upward we travel the beautiful state of Oregon.  Today we landed just outside of Portland in a town called Tualatin at a church called Rolling Hills.  We played at this very church just over a year ago, and I remember thinking last time that the church is aptly named.  It is nestled in some gorgeous green rolling hills at the foot of an impressive mountain range. It gave me the feeling of being in the Italian countryside.  

Today we were joined by our friends Hawk Nelson and again by the Oregon based band Neverclaim.  As I type this I am listening to their album in the back lounge of our bus.  I’m quite impressed.  Good band and good people.  Hopefully you will be hearing more from them in the near future.

It was a very run of the mill day today... load in, line check, sound check and tons of hours waiting around.  Today it was just random errands around town collecting bits and pieces that keep the rock and roll machine moving.  The folks that came out to the show were ready to rock out, which is a great thing.  Third Day honored their wishes by playing a handful of requests, one in particular was special to me: the song “I Deserve” from Conspiracy No. 5.  I’m not sure why that song connects with me so much, maybe its because my band in high school used to play it.  Yep, thats why.  Anyway, they played snippets of a bunch of other oldies that they didn’t quite remember.  I imagine that having around a dozen albums and over a hundred songs, it could get difficult to remember every chord and lyric.

All in all, it felt like a successful night.  One more show tomorrow on this northwestern run, and then its back home.  Don’t forget to follow me on twitter: 3Dstageleft  

Take care now, y’hear?  N

   

7/16 - 7/8-7/10 Show Recap

 

 

  



  
    

 
 

 

7/2 - Spirit West Coast

Another cross-country flight brought us to Monterey, California for the annual Spirit West Coast Festival.  We arrived in San Francisco to a gorgeous sunny day with a high of 63 degrees and no trace of humidity.  It made all of us east coasters feel a few pounds lighter, and quite relieved to be out of the oppressive Georgia summer. Even if it was only for 24 hours.

Congratulations were in order because the night before, Scotty (keys) and his wife Dede welcomed their baby boy into the world.  This new addition gives us a grand total of 21 total children whose daddies tour with Third Day, either band or crew. 

The setting of this event is a large semi-permanent stage which stands adjacent to the legendary Laguna Seca race track.  The kind of fame that I’ve only witnessed in video games until today. The landscape is interesting because there are many green rolling hills which lead down to the rocky Pacific beach.

As the evening began, the sun faded and the temperature dropped a minimum of 10 degrees on stage--which everyone should know tends to subdue the ROCK. Its hard to play with cold extremities.  All coldness aside, TD was able to deliver another fun 70 minute set, including the two new songs “Gone”, and “Lift Up Your Face”.

    

I would like for you to send me your photos and videos from any and all Third Day shows, for use on our site both now and in the future.  Send them to me at: [email protected]  

Looking forward to seeing you this summer.. rock on.   Nathan