Rock the Universe!

 

Rock the Universe was an awesome Christian music festival held at Universal Studios, CA, on March 23, 2001. This is my (not-so-little) account of the event! Oh, and one quick note before I begin: Jody wasn't at this show because Bethany was very sick at this point and Jody didn't want to travel. Randy Williams (formerly of Big Tent Revival) was Jody's replacement. He quickly became known online as "FauxJo."

My friend Robin and my brother Paul came with me on this trip. We met Florence, Kyle, and Beth there. It was sooo fun! But the moment we arrived, we encountered a problem...

 

The only line letting people into Universal Studios was the Re-Entry line and we weren't sure that was where we were supposed to go. So we asked a nearby park dude. "Rock the Universe? Never heard of it. Are you sure it's here? Lemme go ask." So we waited forever while he asked around. He finally came back, telling us, "Well, I checked with four people and none of them has heard of this. Are you sure it's in the park itself and not at the amphitheater?" I assured him that I had just called before we left and it was still going on and it was in the park itself. "The only thing we can think of is to ask over at Customer Service." Okay, great, thanks. So we got in line at Customer [Dis]Service and waited FOREVER while the line refused to move ahead at all. We must have stood there for ten minutes and not one person in either of the two lines moved one stinking inch!!! Let me tell you, by that point I was ready to cut in line and demand Phil be paged overhead right then and there so he could straighten this whole thing out. Or maybe Peter. He's more threatening-looking! :) So as we were waiting, I saw a whole troop of girls stream over to the Re-Entry line. That pack just screamed Newsboys fans! Well, not literally. You know what I mean. But if they weren't Newsfans, I would be sooo surprised. Robin said she figured that's where we were supposed to go. My brother and I kept our place in line while she checked it out. Well, in retrospect we didn't have to save our spot since the line NEVER MOVED THE ENTIRE TIME!!! Robin came back telling us she was sure that was the place, so we all got in line. And lo and behold, we got hot-pink wrist bands and were allowed into Newsboysland. Well, Universal really. But doesn't Newsboysland sound better?!

As we were waiting, I was looking around for Florence. She had to work and would arrive later.. I was hoping I'd be able to find her so she could cut in with us. I was looking behind me and to my left when I saw this really familiar-looking guy wander by. Hmm, I thought. That sure looked like Jeff. But I am notorious for failing to recognize people. So I didn't get my hopes up. But when that same guy came onto the stage, it was definitely Jeff. And the screams of fans everywhere confirmed it. Jeff just gave a slight smile and a quick wave to the crowd. He was so casual. It was just sort of a "hi, how ya doing?" wave. He got to work over by his keyboard, conferring with all the sound crew. They were having some major problems. Don't know what exactly, but there were pops, hums, and mics that refused to work. I glanced back over at the sound board behind us and the engineer was on the phone, making wild, wide arm flaps in frustration.

Now that I knew where the Boys were coming from, I watched that little walkway like a hawk. A guy walked by whose giddup must be seen (above) to be appreciated. A bright red-orange long-sleeve shirt. A short-sleeve smallish jungle camouflage shirt over that. Tons of necklaces. And to top it all off (literally), a really cheesy knitted green-and-white striped hat with a big pom-pom on top. The guy's outfit screamed "NOTICE ME!" And you know what was going through my brain? No one in the entire world dresses that strangely... except Phil! And leave it to Phil. I mean, he's said before that he wears a hat so he can blend in. He says his hair is a beacon. So, in Phil's version of logic, this hat would let him blend in. But it was the strangest, ugliest hat I'd ever seen in my life. This guy was moving quickly, so I couldn't see who it was. But I thought to myself, if that ugly hat shows up on-stage, that's Phil. Well, within seconds, here's that ugly hat with Phil's face underneath. It was the most hilarious outfit. Luckily he changed before the big show.

Anyway, Dunny arrived next and took his place behind the drum set. There was sooo much yelling for Dunny! And we with the vegemite sign were very excited. All we needed now was Peter and then the two Aussies and Phil would be on stage to see our sign! I couldn't tell you when Faux-Jo arrived, since I couldn't distinguish between him and the sound crew until he started playing the guitar. Oh, by the way, it was my brother who originally coined the phrase "Faux-Jo." Just in case you were wondering... :)

(A brief pause in the story for more pics... Here's Duncan during the sound check. And that's Beth and Kyle's mom's hat in the picture. Hee hee. )

And then, the moment we had all been waiting for! Peter arrived and finally the Newsboys were all assembled! And our plan went into action immediately. My brother and I unfurled the sign, which was rolled up quite nicely. The security guys folded their arms and stared at us with frowns on their faces! Anyway, my brother and I got the entire thing unrolled and held it up for all to see. (You can see the sign above in a picture that Florence took after the show. You can see the picture on her site here. I'm fairly sure she won't kill me for using it. Hee hee.) I was staring at Pete for his reaction. My brother, however, heard Phil just crack up over it. And I missed it! But Paul says Phil was just laughing and laughing when he saw the sign. Peter glanced our direction, but I wasn't sure if he saw it or not. Finally, after the sign had been in the air for a while, Peter looked right at us and gave us a big ol' nod. Satisfied that our message had been successfully conveyed, we rolled up the sign (well, crunched up, actually) and put it away. My brother and I rejoined Robin. "We got The Nod from Peter!" we were all shrieking. We were all quite thrilled!

Dunny got to work putting his cymbals on his drum kit. Faux-Jo practiced some chords. Peter hid the entire time behind the huge bank of speakers on the left (Faux-Jo) side of the stage. Oh well. Jeff had been squatting down on the ground messing with the equipment behind his keyboards. But now he was standing again, playing around on the keys. Phil was being his usual silly self, running around and bugging the other Newsboys! Eventually the rest of the crowd, who didn't know about Bethany, I guess, started shouting "Where's Jody?! Where's Jody?!" Peter heard them and stood with toes at the edge of the stage and shouted. "Jody's in hospital." THAT got a reaction. Imagine the sound of a hundred gasps. "He's got this little baby, a new baby girl," Peter explained. "And she's really sick. So we left him back home with her. We figured he was better there." Then he went back to hiding behind the speakers.

Meanwhile, Phil was being a total goof! Well, of course he was! He's Phil, after all! Jeff was trying out all the sampled sounds on his keyboard. He had a really cool one that said, in a male voice, "You may not be experiencing all that stereo sound has to offer." I wish they had worked that into the show! Jeff also had a sound controlled by a button off to the side of the keyboard. When the button was pushed, it said "Nn-ah-nn bozz-en bes-en-bozz click-en." Just a person making a bunch of random sounds. You can hear the sound here. Phil heard that sound and fell in love with it! Every spare moment he was over at Jeff's keyboard, pushing the babble button. He'd push it several times in a row so that the sound started over again before it even ended. Jeff would stare and him and Phil would back off, just to return a few moments later. Phil was messing with the sound A LOT, quite obnoxiously. So Jeff reached over and smacked Phil's hand. Phil didn't bother him quite as much after that! :)

(Another random shot of Peter with his back to us and Jeff at the keyboard.)

Phil also came to the edge of the stage and, at the urging of the fans, got out his wallet, opened it, and showed off a picture of Heather and Phyn. And the crowd said, "Awwwwwwwwwwwww..." Peter finally stopped hiding behind the speakers and faced his fans. I held the vegemite jar in the air and waved it around. "We have VEGEMITE!!!" Robin screamed. Peter came up to the very edge of the stage, right in front of me. He gave us a huge thumbs-up sign. Then he shouted, "Didja try it?" We all nodded vigorously, shouting "Yes!" He smiled. "Didja like it?" I've never shook my head so energetically. "No!" we all shouted at him. "Ahhh, why not?!" he laughed. Then he got back to work. It was great!!! Finally the guys were done goofing off and it was time to practice. Dunny started up the count. "Wahn tah-oo thray foh!" And then they launched into "Shine." They weren't playing whole-heartedly, though. Peter was saving his voice, I think. It just didn't sound quite right. A little lacking in the energy department. But this was just for sound, not for show. Peter had fun with the lyrics. "Make a vegetarian barbecue...Californians!" Faux-Jo did quite well, but Peter was always hovering over by him, helping him, I suppose. Peter let us sing the chorus, holding the mic out to us. After the song, Peter announced, "This is a crowd check!" and held the mic out for us again. We all screamed our brains out! "Yeh, pretty good," Peter said with a smile and nod. "Hey," he asked, looking out at the sound booth, "do we have time for another song or are we done?" "Yeahhhhhhh!" the crowd shouted. And what could the engineer do but allow Da Boyz another song? And of course it was "Entertaining Angels." What else is it gonna be? That was cool. I love that song. Once Entertaining Angels was over, the Boys all left the stage. Bummer.   Well, would you like to see the show itself? Then on we go!