ccmBuzz was on the scene Friday afternoon as Vicky Beeching kicked off the weekend with an impressive time of praise and worship at the Air 1 Grandstand stage. Paul Aldrich followed with a dose of humor and a Kum Bah Yah medley that had folks roaring with laughter. Up next, Stellar Kart got the crowd moving with favorites like "Student Driver" and their pop/punk version of Bon Jovi?s "Livin? on a Prayer."

BarlowGirl took the stage and energized the crowd right off the bat with "Grey" and "Let Go," from their latest album, Another Journal Entry. The girls shared, through their music and ministry, how God has been moving in their lives. Alyssa Barlow talked about how difficult it is sometimes to grasp the concept of God?s unconditional love. This is the message behind "I Need You to Love Me," which the band performed beautifully for the growing Friday evening crowd. Becca Barlow shared a little about a past struggle with eating disorders, looks and trying to meet the world?s standards as they moved into "Mirror, Mirror." Before the girls launched into "Average Girl," Lauren Barlow gave a passionate speech about non-conformity and the desire the Lord has placed on the sisters? hearts to remain pure, dress modestly and give up dating.

Combining the words fun, worshipful, traditional, contemporary, rock and bluegrass might begin to describe a concert experience with David Crowder Band. Complete with banjo, electric violin, keytar, and a whistling crowd, David Crowder Band displayed their unique ability to engage a crowd no matter what the musical style. From the catchy rhythm of "Undignified" to the strains of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and "Amazing Grace" to the country sounds of Hank Williams? "I Saw the Light." Interesting facial hair aside, the comical Texan and his band-mates were a delight, performing chart topping favorites such as "O Praise Him (All This For A King)," "No One Like You" and "Here is Our King" as the crowd sang, whistled and clapped along. Jeremy Camp even joined in the fun during "Sing Like the Saved", first shoulder-to-shoulder with David Crowder, then right down in the middle of the crowd, dancing away with the fans!

As evening closed in we moved on to the Reaction Radio, C-28, Tooth&Nail stage. Hawk Nelson played up to the west coast crowd with their hit, "California," from Letters to the President. A few in the center of the crowd took to moshing and crowd-surfing, but the majority of the audience danced and jumped as the band put all they had into their music. The crowd continually requested, "Bring ?Em Out," featured in the 2006 film, Yours, Mine and Ours. Hawk Nelson acted as if they had no idea what the crowd wanted, but finally honored the request as the last song of an enthusiastic set.

Headlining the Tooth&Nail stage was Thousand Foot Krutch. By the time they took to the stage, a boisterous crowd, made anxious with anticipation, greeted the band. Many people in the audience retreated to the stands to enjoy the rest of the concert in relative safety. Though his voice seemed a bit softer than normal, lead singer Trevor McNevan?s energy level remained high throughout the set. The band performed quite a few songs from their latest release, The Art of Breaking, including the title track, and "Absolute." The crowd was showered with favorites like "Rawkfist" and the title track from Phenomenon, as well as a bit of the "old skool" sound with "Puppet." TFK ended their set with a recent chart topper, "Move" and, after a brief testimony by Trevor, an acoustic version of "This is a Call." (A personal highlight of the evening.)

Saturday at SWC began with Inhabited, an energetic band with a heart for its audience. As a wake up call to the morning crowd, Inhabited offered up their first radio single from The Revolution, "Open My Eyes." During the set, lead singer, Sara Acker, let the audience know that the band prayed for them before they went on stage, asking the Lord to work through their music and into the hearts of everyone there. She shared a story of a young girl that she met online who was spending her nights sleeping on a couch in a dirty store. Her story and others like it inspired Sara to write the lyrics for "One More Night," which the band performed for the growing audience.

Saturday was a haze of sounds by KJ-52, Matthew West and Kutless on the Grandstand stage as band interviews took place behind the scenes. By evening we were ready to rock and headliners, Newsboys, did not disappoint! Strobe lights, fog and a screaming crowd were the signal that the veteran rockers were about to take the stage. It began with nothing but the steady beat of drums as drummer, Duncan Phillips, towered above the crowd. Slowly bass (Phil Joel), keys (Jeff Frankenstein), and guitar (Paul Colman) were added to the mix until finally lead singer, Peter Furler grabbed the mic, leading the crowd in a powerful sing-along to newsboys? current chart-topper, "I Am Free." The crowd was still jumping as Furler asked the long-awaited question, "Can you?take me?TO YOUR LEADER???" The crowd was ecstatic, belting out line after line, screaming at the top of their lungs in rhythm with the decade-old hit. The ?boys waited for things to quiet down, then led the crowd into a time of adoration and devotion with "Blessed Be Your Name," "Entertaining Angels" and "He Reigns."

Furler took 15 minutes or so to share his thoughts on God?s plan and purpose in our lives and to pray with the crowd. He spoke of God?s plan being fulfilled in each one of us and went on to say that there are three types of Christians - "There is one set that have packed their bags and are waiting on the rooftops for Jesus to come back or for something to happen. The world sees them as hypocrites and judgmental. Whatever light they had the world has taken a bucket and it?s put it over them. It sees them as nothing more than entertainment, being made fun of on television. There?s a second set that has entered out into the culture and whatever light they had has become dim. They?ve made a great mistake in trying to make God look cool. God does not need us to make Him look cool; He needs us to be obedient. There?s a third set and they?ve realized that this is their time in history. There are poor all around us, there are people suffering, school kids without fathers and mothers. This is our time in history and this is our generation and we?re on watch. And this generation will be judged for what it does and does not do."

Unfortunately, ccmBuzz was not on hand for the third day of Spirit West Coast, but what a way to wrap up the experience. We are already looking forward to Spirit West Coast in 2007!

For a concert review on David Crowder?s Late Nite Worship set go here.

For more information on the festival check out SpiritWestCoast.org.