Alliance Festival was a first year Christian metal/hard rock festival that filled a day with fun music outside of Pittsburg, PA. For many reasons, there was a lot of controversy surrounding the day. This will not be addressed here, but in a future editorial. Three IATU team members journeyed to the small town of McDonald, PA to experience one of the potential successors to the now defunct Purple Door Festival which also took place in PA. Each writer in attendance presents their highlights of the day:

Ray Moore:

Going into this festival I wasn’t sure what to expect due to all the controversy the week leading up to it. I was very unsure about it. I thought long and hard about it. Should I go or should I stay. LOL. Yes I just quoted The Clash.  If I went I would see maybe 10 bands, get to hang with friends and maybe have a little fellowship. If I stayed beyond I would get to see my friends in Two Cow Garage play their CD release show. This was a tough choice for me.  In the end I decided to go to the festival.  As it turns out that was the right choice. As much as I love music sometimes it isn’t just about the music. This day was a great example of that.  Earlier I mentioned controversy surrounding the festival and I’m not going to speak about that because it’s not my place. All I’m going to say is that the bands and fans that did not show up missed a great day.

Highlights:

• Having awesome conversations with two good friends on the way.
• Having great conversations with bands. (Those Who Fear, The Great Commission, Letter To The Exiles)
• Seeing The Great Commission for the second time this summer
• Watching Inhale Exhale’s last show. They killed it. OMG!!!! (Editor’s note: their last show will actually be sometime in the fall in Canton, OH)
• Finally seeing Once Nothing. They have been a favorite of mine for a long time.
• Conversations with random people.
• Watching people hardcore dance. This is always fun. At this show I saw a guy doing one-handed push-ups in the middle of a mosh pit. Now that’s hXc.

Lowlights: I really don’t have any. It was a really good day. I enjoyed every second of it. There were moments I got a little frustrated with things there but then I remembered why I was there. I was there to praise God, hang with my friends and see some music and I did all that. So I really have nothing to complain about.

Marco Castro:

Alliance was a lot of fun. Despite the drama it gave me the Cornerstone fix I need for the summer while watching great bands with friends.

Band highlights:

• Phinehas: Heavy Duty Mustache Metal!!! Enough said.
• Corpus Christi, Those Who Fear, Blood of the Martyrs, Becoming The Archetype: Good stuff.
• Being as an Ocean: The return of EMOtional hardcore. Awesome set.
• Fit For A King and Inhale Exhale: Been wanting to see them for a while. Didn’t disappoint!

• Letter to the Exiles: Great farewell show! They got a new fan!
• Once Nothing: Raw, Dirty, Blue Collar Metal. Everything I was hoping to see.
• The Great Commission: Justin (TGC vocalist), thanks for bringing back the sanity and the real purpose of the fest.
• Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Short set, but I heard the best was what these guys did behind the scenes.
• Demon Hunter: Solid set full of old and new tunes. It was the end, everybody was tired, but the consensus was the same among everybody: It was all worthy.

Random highlight: Guy doing pushups in the mosh-pit

Ryan Getz: 

• I have to concur with my friends who mentioned One-Armed-Pushup Guy
• Inhale Exhale ruled. Probably the highlight of the day for me – “Redemption” and “A Call to the Faithful” are two classic metal core tunes I will probably never get tired of.
• Having a conversation with some of the guys at the Convictions stand. It started with them complimenting my Beartooth shirt and then saying their live show would put Beartooth to shame. Watching their guitar player stomp around impatiently before the set even began backed up this claim.
• The Great Commission really knows how to work a crowd and get people in a God oriented mindset while absolutely shredding.
• Phinehas was a great way to start the day. Really nice guys, too.
• An conversation with Letter to the Exiles combined with their show had me regretting the fact that I hadnt given them a fair chance earlier.
• Demon Hunter somehow managed to cram a wonderfully diverse set into 30 minutes. “Undying” and “My Heartstrings Come Undone” were the highlights.

PHOTOS – Courtesy of Joe Alexander: