Pic above: Preparing to go onstage at Youth Alive Groundswell Orange

May was an epic month with round a dozen gigs from Toronto, Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Wellington (NSW – yes there is a town called that, I was so excited to be going to NZ but alas!), Gold Coast, Brisbane & a few gigs back home in Sydney.

Most of the shows were part of the Full Hearts tour which included a bunch of the regional Groundswell youth events for Youth Alive NSW. These shows were my favourites, just watching kids who may not have encountered a lot of live music just be so impacted by Full Hearts, their faith & their ministry.  So many kids gave their lives to Christ on these nights & it was just inspirational to me.  Playing keys with Full Hearts was a really rewarding & exciting opportunity & really opened my eyes to what its like out there in churches all over the place.

Round halfway through May Josh (from Full Hearts) & myself made our way up to the Gospel Music of Australia conference up at the Gold Coast.  Met lots of great new people, renewed some friendships from the year before, saw some awesome bands (you have to check out ‘The Art of Sleeping’) & artists (Jeremy Fowler from New Empire).  It was a lightning 24 hour visit, plane up on Thurs morn, back on Fri morn, out to a gig at Penrith that night then off to Wagga in the morning so it was no wonder I felt like I was in constant motion & that virtually summarises how I felt the whole of May.

The wkd after GMA my wife & I flew up to Brisbane for a worship night at Kedron Brook.  We’d been friends with people from this church for years but never visited so it was great to see their home & we caught up with some old friends who’d lived in Sydney for years but who’d moved to Dublin for a few years.  Predictably, but amazingly, the morning after I finished this last gig for the month I came down with a massive head cold!

Pic below: The Full Hearts boys minus Mons & Jonno & plus a local at Youth Alive Groundswell Wagga Wagga