Winter Jam Debreif and Review

Winter Jam is a Christian concert tour that goes all over the United States.  There are 2 parts of the tour.  There is the East tour and there is the West tour.  The West tour takes place in November and the East tour takes place in January and goes on until the middle of March.  It started a really long time ago by Newsong and was known as January Jam, and now it has grown to be known by its name that it has now.  Some headliners that they have had over the years include Crowder, Hillsong, DC Talk, TobyMac, Newsboys, and Skillet.  There are many more to be named but I really do not have the space to name it all.  For those of you that have been around this blog, a really long time know that I did something similar to this except with Lifest.  That got a good response, so I am doing this again. What is going to be going on in this article includes, a Schedule (and the Line-up is included in this section because it is a concert), Highs and Lows, a review,  and some pointers for those who would want to go in the future.  So, without further ado, let's get started.

*I do not own the rights to this video, all praise goes to the makers of the video

Schedule and Lineup

Before I get into more detail,  I would like to give you some brief notes.  If you get Jam Nation, the doors open at 4:30 Local time, and for everyone else, the doors open at 6:00.  I will give more details in the pointers section, so keep that in mind. The artists marked with an asterisk were new artists for me

1. Steven Malcolm* 
2. Sara Reeves*
3. OBB*
4. Thousand Foot Krutch*
5. Newsong
6.  Colton Dixion
7. Tenth Avenue North
8. Andy Mineo *
9. Britt Nicole
10. Crowder

The concert ended at around 11:00.

Highs and Lows 

Winter Jam is one of the highlights of my year.  With that, however, there are always some highs and lows that become part of the overall event.  Now allow me to get into the highs and lows about this event.  My goal is to give you all at least two of each.

•  High - Andy Mineo's Set The thing about this Concert is the fact that there are multiple artists from many different Genres, and Sometimes you find yourself Jamming out to one artist while sitting down for some of the others.  One of the Artists I found myself jamming out to was Andy Mineo. For those who do not know who that is, He is a Christian rapper.  His entire set was complete fire.  His bars were on point, and he did a good job keeping people informed about what he does, and what he expects.  That resulted in the whole arena getting lit, and even the people in the nosebleed seats were getting involved.
• High - Newsong's Arise my Love For those who are not familiar with Winter Jam, Newsong is the founder of Winter Jam, and every year they play the same song.  Granted it is one of their major hits, Sometimes it gets old.  This time, however, they did it a little bit different.  Those who follow me on twitter and Instagram should have noticed that in one of the pictures, There is a Laser Cross.  That was during that song.  The thing with me that is worth noting is the fact that  I am a sucker for special effects.  When I saw that laser cross, I turned to my girlfriend surprised saying "I didn't think that they could pull it off."
• High (+1) Colton Dixion In front of us there was this girl that had brought a sign with the Batman symbol.  I didn't get to read it, but Colton saw it and had one of the security people grab her sign.  They took it backstage, and when it came back, it was signed.  That was just one of the cool thing that is worth noting with Winter Jam.  It is not really just a concert, it is more of a Family gathering,  The artists take notice of a lot that is going on in the arena.  
• Low- Traffic I know that this is self-explanatory when it comes to a lot of events.  It is a zoo afterward.  We were sitting still for what felt like 20 minutes waiting to get out. 
• Low- It's impossible to walk around the concourse during intermission As expected with major events, the concourse gets like a bunch of sardines milling around.  If you are claustrophobic this could have negative effects if you do not prepare yourself.

Review

All in all, Winter Jam is a great thing to take the entire family to.  One thing that Newsong says all the time is it costs more to park in the Allstate Arena lot than to attend.   This I think is a great strategy to get people to come to this event.  It seems simple, but it is really true, especially when it comes to filling up the arena.  Sometimes people can not afford to go to any concerts because they can not afford it, but this is an exception.

Another thing worth noting with this event is that it is honestly, really family friendly, depending on what you allow your kids to listen to.  Keep in mind, however, the artists come from all sorts of backgrounds.  To give a couple of examples, They have rap (i.e. Andy Mineo, Lecrae, Tedashii, KB), hard rock (i.e. Skillet, Red, TFK), and there is always a couple of CCM artists (i.e. Crowder, Sidewalk Prophets, Tobymac) every year.    In general, it is a great event to take your friend to, even if they don't listen to Christian music.  Who knows, they may find an artist they like.

Even with the negatives, this event is always a blast and I would recommend it to anyone.  Overall, I give this event 9.5 Stars out of 10.

Pointers

Now on to my favorite part of this kind of article, the pointers to the general public about this event.  Some of these may be common sense, but there may be some things that may help you out.

• The Winter Jam app is extremely helpful when it comes to getting notifications about what is going on.  It also has a list of artists that are going to be taking part in the event.  
• Bring 10 bucks per person.  This may seem like common sense, but it is something to keep in mind.  You really do not get to buy tickets ahead of time, except if you have Jam Nation, which is what my girlfriend and I have.  This brings me to my next point:
• Get there early.  This is extremely helpful if you want to get into the arena.  There have been times when the fire marshal told Newsong that they had to close the doors, even if there are still people in line.  To put this in perspective, my first year going to Winter Jam, Skillet was headlining, so there were a ton of people in line.  We got there at around 4:30, and for those who are familiar with the area, the line went all the way back to the Allstate Arena sign that was across from O' Hare.  It was still growing too. This brings me to my next pointer 
• Luckily, One of my friends from high school was going so we were playing phone tag telling each other where we were.  My girlfriend, A friend of ours, and I were going to the line where I found my high school friend and they let us join them.  
• Lunt Avenue, if you go to the Allstate Arena, is a wind tunnel, so dress warm.  That goes for really any of the Winter Jam stops on Tour.  The tour goes from January into March, so the temperatures may be low.
• if you have sensitive wars, bring earplugs, because sometimes the artists are incredibly loud.
• There are also multiple speakers that I didn't name so be prepared to be respectful to them.

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-I hope you all enjoy this article

-Thank you again for all of your support, I really appreciate it

- The Next installment of Pack Mentality is set to be released this Wednesday.  Just to keep you informed, it is another 2 part installment.

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