This is my yearly Cornerstone Festival Concert Log. A list of the bands I saw at C-Stone and a few words about them. It is a list that means almost nothing to anyone but me, but then again this is MY blog. If you want to see clips of many of the shows from this year, go checkout the link at the bottom.

Day 2:
Hope For August – Young band from Michigan, great emo, like Further Seems Forever, strong female vocals that need some training. 7/10

Mending Chaos – Amazing music, hideous off key overbearing sung vocals. Music like early Cool Hand Luke but with piano consistently in the mix, each instrument played with precision. But the vocals kill it! 4/10

Day 3:
Fighting Jacks – indie rock, nothing special. 5.5/10

Still Breathing – Latest female vocalist is solid, the band as a whole has much better stage presence, they are definitely going the way of math-metal (driven by time-changes). 6.5/10

The Death Campaign – Good doom metal, creative and melodic, great stage presence, uses dual vocals and keyboards (six members). 7.5/10

Slow Coming Day – Awsome! 8/10

The Agony Scene – The sound mix was screwed-up at first but got better, guitar player has great presence, they played “Paint it Black” by the Stones! 6.5/10

Mae – not bad. 6/10

Anberlin – A very fun, rockin’ show, vocals need some strength. 8/10

MeWithoutYou – The crowd was insane, louder than the vocalist. The band not really “on” tonight, needs a smaller venue. The vocal mic was too low. During one song a friend of the band brought his girlfriend up on stage and proposed to her! She said yes. The new stuff sounds great. 7/10

Spoken – New stuff sounds very good, great stage work as always, vocals very strong, singer gave the mic to the crowd too often during the old songs. 8/10

Day 4:
Noise Ratchet – Very solid set, played their best songs. 8/10

Copeland (piece) – solid. 7/10

The Party People – Super-group with members of Ghoti Hook, Starflyer 59 and Denison Marrs, lots of fun. 8/10

Leper – Good goth music, sung vocals alternate with high-end screams, only two guys and a CD player, VERY showy (almost too showy) and evangelical. 7/10

Torn Skin (piece) – Six-piece industrial, decent music, techno parts needed to be more powerful. 5.5/10

Nodes of Ranvier (missed beginning) – good show, love the hardcore anthems. 7.5/10

Unwed Sailor (piece) – sounded good. 7/10

Robert Randolf and the Family Band (piece) – Wild! Dance party and rock riffs, black Pentecostal worship. 9/10

Demon Hunter – Played every song from the CD plus one new one, sound not mixed well, vocalist needs to work on signing voice. 7.5/10

Day 5:
Brandtson – They sound so good live, played “Blindspot” from their first CD. 7.5/10

Holland (piece) – pop, ugh. 6/10

Beloved – Great prescence, songs sound great live, but way too much dead time between songs. 7.5/10

Narcissus – Blew me away! The new stuff is excellent. 9/10

Cool Hand Luke (piece) – Opening was VERY boring! 5/10

Zao – Still such powerful music, show opened with blackness then strobe lights only revealing Dan in white shirt covered in fake blood…creepy. They spoke more than any other show of theirs I’ve seen. Announced a new full length to be recorded in August. 8.5/10

Day 6:
Miranda Stone (piece) – Fun show, bluesy. 8/10

Waterdeep – Very weak compared to what I know they can do. 5/10

C-Stone Birthday Bash – 77’s, Jan Crist, Resurrection Band, Derri Daughtery and Steve Hindalong (Choir song - acoustic), Living Sacrifice, Ashley Cleveland, Squad 5-0 (second song with Mike Knott), Over the Rhine (acoustic), Lost Dogs, Bill Mallonee (V.O.L. song - acoustic), Relient K. 8.5/10

Steve Taylor – Showed mockumentary of Taylor’s life and music career before show (hilarious). Fun, solid show, a dream concert come true. 10/10

Five Iron Frenzy – Always a great show. They tossed piñatas to the crowd, two of which were filled with pork and beans, the rest with candy. Sadly, they are disbanding this fall. 10/10

Blindside (piece) – Their live sound is a shadow of their CD sound. Very disappointing. They have good stage presence though. 6/10

The Prayer Chain – Reunion show, amazing performance, intro and outro were too long. 9.5/10

Day 7:
Living Sacrifice – A classic LS performance, even without Rocky Gray (off somewhere with Evanescence). They are also disbanding. 10/10

Cornerstone Festival Live Coverage 2003