Cornerstone Shaped My Life Before I Even Attended

I have only went to one Cornerstone in my life, but Cornerstone has had an influence on who I am even before that. It’s been affecting my life since I was a young teenager finding new music and finding who I was.

I don’t have the same sentimental and emotional attachment to Cornerstone like others do (Nikki and Sarah!). I was first introduced to the idea of Cornerstone when I was around 14. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, so most of the music I listened to was “Christian.” All these bands that I was discovering and engrossing myself in had one thing in common: Cornerstone.

They all played this giant Christian music festival out in the middle of nowhere Illinois for a whole week. This sounded like the Promised Land to me. This was exactly where I needed to go, I had to be there, I had to experience this giant circus tent filled rainbow of music and culture. 

Over the years, I watched the RKMB explode the weeks and months leads up to Cornerstone, reading everyone’s plans and bands they were wanting to see. And then the boards would be dead, and the they’d blow up again when everyone would return and share all their memories and inside jokes. I promised myself, eventually, I would attend.

And I did, last year I was finally able to make it to Cornerstone. After 7 years of day dreaming and wondering what it must be like, I was able to experience it. In a lot of ways, it was so much more than I imagined. The grounds were a lot larger than I pictured, the tens were huge, the whole place was constantly filled with bands playing over each other. It was perfect. In some ways though, it also let me down. I didn’t get to see very many “Cornerstone veterans” play. mewithoutYou, Relient K, Five Iron Frenzy (even though it wouldn’t have been possible that year), ect. But, seeing Flatfoot 56, Norma Jean, the Chariot, and Deas Vail more than made up for that. 

I’m glad I was able to at least attend it once. I had been dreaming about going for years and I’m so happy I can cross something off my Bucket List. I was able to meet all my RKMB friends for the first time and enjoy their awesome company and have tons of laughs throughout the week. It was awesome. I have never done anything like that and I probably never will now that this is the last year. So, thank you Cornerstone, for shaping who I was before I even went. You were a legacy of the music scene and maybe someday you can be resurrected.

Dylan