Cornerstone Festival
The Cornerstone Festival is a Christian music festival put on by Jesus People USA held annually around the 4th of July in Illinois. In a given year, many artists that play at Cornerstone also play at other events such as the Creation Festival, as well as secular festivals and tours such as the Warped Tour. The festival is a member of the Christian Festival Association.
From 1984 to 1990, Cornerstone was held in Grayslake, Illinois. In 1991, Cornerstone moved to the town of Bushnell, Illinois where the organizers of the Festival purchased a large piece of land, which is now called Cornerstone Farm.
Tens of thousands of music fans flock to Cornerstone Farms each year to see over 300 bands from many styles of music, including rock, metal, hardcore, pop, rap, folk, electronic, Celtic, and country. In addition to the many bands chosen who are signed to Christian record labels, many Christian bands signed to general-market labels have played at Cornerstone, for example, P.O.D., MxPx, Sixpence None the Richer, Pedro the Lion, Danielson, Saviour Machine and Galactic Cowboys. In addition to the many musicians, Cornerstone Festival also has a wide collection of guest speakers, and features independent/foreign film screenings, writers' seminars, and art workshops.
Overall, the main Cornerstone Festival (or C-stone, as many of its attendees call it) now takes place over 5 days on a wide variety of stages. For 2005, the stages were known as the Main Stage, the Rock for Life stage, the Underground Stage, the Decapolis Label Showcase, the Impromptu Stage, the Gallery Stage, the Dance Club, the Maloca Tent, Encore 1, Encore 2, the HM Magazine Stage, and Late Night Worship at the Beach. Cornerstone is the only festival that allows pretty much anyone to come and play in a designated area by providing their own power via a generator. Unofficial "generator" stages include the Fatcalf stage and the Asylum. Tooth & Nail Records also sponsors a Tooth & Nail Day (The Chariot, Demon Hunter, Norma Jean, Underoath, Extol, mewithoutYou, Showbread, Emery) which is a showcase of mainly Tooth & Nail bands that takes place on one day of the Cornerstone Festival each year.
Cornerstone is known for its phenomenal "Evening Encore" performances, now known simply as Encores. Encore performances are usually done at or after midnight, and the performers (especially on the later nights of the festival) are among the most popular, most well-established bands in Christian music at the time; some of the bands that have done Encores at Cornerstone include Zao, P.O.D., Living Sacrifice, Galactic Cowboys, and Starflyer 59.
Aside from performances by the latest bands to hit the scene, Cornerstone festival is also known for bringing in a variety of artists and performances that might not otherwise be seen by festival goers. Such performances include Blues jams with multiple musicians, all-star musical tributes performances to deceased artists like Gene Eugene and Rich Mullins, musicals like Mullins' Canticle of the Plains, or bands from outside of the United States like Iona. Cornerstone has also always featured performances from bands and artists that do not tour as heavily as they used to, like Eugene's Adam Again, Mark Heard, Steve Taylor, or The 77s. One of the highlights of Cornerstone Festival for countless fans is always a rare performance by Terry Scott Taylor and his troupe of friends and musician. Over the years these events have included the The Swirling Eddies, Lost Dogs, Daniel Amos and several acoustic shows scattered throughout the fest.
Due to the enormous success each year of the Bushnell Cornerstone Festival, JPUSA has now started a second Cornerstone Festival in Orlando, Florida, simply titled Cornerstone Florida as well as a past festival in North Carolina. In 2005, it took place on May 13 and May 14 and was attended by over 10,000 people. New for 2007: Cornerstone will hold a third annual festival in Orange County, California at Oak Canyon Ranch. Also the main festival will be held a week earlier in June.
Cornerstone 2007
This is a list of confirmed bands for the Cornerstone Festival of 2007 June 25-30. (Please note that this is subject to change)
A-D
- A Dream Too Late
- After Edmund
- After The Tragedy
- Alove for Enemies
- Anberlin
- Aracely & Hilde
- As Cities Burn
- August Burns Red
- Autodefe
- Awake the Suffering
- Bear Colony
- Becoming the Archetype
- Bloodgood
- Blue Birds & Bright Lights
- The Blue Letter
- Bradley Hathaway
- Bride
- BTU Productions
- The Chariot
- Civilian
- Common Yet Forbidden
- Cool Hand Luke
- Copeland
- Crimson Moonlight
- Crisis At Little Rock
- The Crossing
- The Dark Romantics
- David Crowder Band
- Dayspring
- Deas Vail
- xDEATHSTARx
- Decyfer Down
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Disciple
- Divebomber
- dj404
- Doug Theodore
E-G
- El Death
- Eleventyseven
- Emery
- Eric James & the New Century
- Erik Brandt
- Everyday Sunday
- Exit the Ordinary
- Falling Up
- Family Force 5
- FBS
- The Filthy 42's
- Fireflight
- Flatfoot 56
- Flinchpoint
- Flyleaf
- Freddie Fisher
- Frosthardr
- Gasoline Heart
- Glen Clark and the Family
- Glenn Kaiser Band
- The Gospel is a Grenade
H-J
- thehandshakemurders
- Headnoise
- Homer Hiccolm & the Rocketboys
- theHOPEsymphony
- House of Heroes
- Hundred Year Storm
- Inked in Blood
- Jeff Elbel + Ping
- Jeremy Kadinger
- Joel Armstrong
- John Davis
- Jonezetta
- Josh Garrels
- The JTB
- Justin McRoberts
K-M
- Kaboose
- Kenneth Thomas
- Kids in the Way
- The Last Hope
- The Lee Boys
- Leeland
- Leigh Nash
- Leper
- xLooking Forwardx
- The Lost Dogs
- Lost Ocean
- Man Alive
- Manic Drive
- Maron
- Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
- Means
- Memphis Belle
- mewithoutYou
- Michael Pritzl
- Michael Roe
- Monk
- Motion Plus
- The Myriad
N-Q
- Nevertheless
- Neviah Nevi
- No Longer Music
- Nor
- Norma Jean
- Our Corpse Destroyed
- Over the Rhine
- Page France
- Paper Route
- Pigeon John
- Pillar
- Promise Land
- Psalters
- Questions in Dialect
R-U
- Red Cloud
- Relient K (Didn't show up because on their way to the festival, their bus wrecked and caught fire, destroying all of their equipment. The band sent Cornerstone Festival an apology letter.)
- Remembrance
- The Remnants
- Roe vs. Pritzl
- Rosie Thomas
- Rue Royale
- Run Kid Run
- Sam Hart
- Sam's the Hero
- The Satire
- [[1]]
- Seventh Star
- Sherwood
- Showbread
- The Showdown
- Sivan
- Skillet
- Sleeping at Last
- Spitfire
- Spoken Groove
- Starflyer 59
- DJ Stryke
- Switchfoot
- Tess Wiley
- This Beautiful Republic
- Time Spent Burning
- To Laodicea
- tobyMac
- Tony Krogh & Friends
- True Liberty
- Underoath
- The Upstairs Divine
V-Z
- The Violet Burning
- War of Ages
- Wavorly
- The Wayside
- The Wedding
- The Wednesdays
- Well Put
- Whitecross
- widows&orphans
- The Wiitala Brothers
- With Faith or Flames
- X-Sinner
This list was added to this page on April 23. For a more updated list of bands, visit the website.
Books
- Young, Shawn David, M.A., Hippies, Jesus Freaks, and Music (Ann Arbor: Xanedu/Copley Original Works, 2005). ISBN 1-59399-201-7