Tom Read

thevineband:

2009 was an amazing year for The Vine Band. Here are 10 (actually there are 11 but 10 sounds nicer) of the highlights of last year:

We started off the year with an Asia tour, and Malaysia was the first stop. We had an amazing night of worship at FCC, and ate some seriously tasty food. This was the moment we learnt that Chris Mellen likes to sleep wearing a wig. True story!



Singapore was our next stop - 5 worship sets in just over 24 hours! We will be hooking up with our good friends at Cornerstone Community Church again in 2010 (did we mention that their church serves the best fish and chips in the world!!..well almost!)



Manila definitely holds the title for ‘The hottest concert ever’ …and when we say hot we’re meaning it literally! The mega tent was an amazing venue and we had a great time worshiping with hundreds of filipinos. This was also the trip where Chris Mellen wore the same clothes for 3 days straight. Good times.



In Cebu we got to hook up with the rock legend that is Carlos Choi! We had an amazing night of worship in Ayala, with his band Still opening up the night. This is also where most of the team experienced ‘Bangus’ for the first time (google it).



Delirious? live in Hong Kong for the first and last time. We hosted them and opened up for them. What more needs to be said? Epic!



Next we headed up to Beijing to lead worship at the ‘Go ‘09’ youth camp. This was the moment when Michele finally realized her dream of becoming a performing member of the band with her debut on keyboards. Rock!



In April, Worship Central rolled into town. We had a crazy weekend with Tim Hughes and Al Gordon and the rest of the WC team. Look out for the next Worship Central event in April 2010.



In July we went to India for the first time to lead worship at the India Tranformation conference. Amazing to see how worship transcends cultures and languages. We led our first worship set in Hindi with a little help from a local worship leader, and The Bau became best friends with Tommy Tenney! Enough said.



In October we were invited back to the World Revolution Festival in Macau. Mark wouldn’t let The Bau change before they went on stage so he did the whole set in his basketball clothes… rock and roll baby!!



In November the year went from ‘amazing’ to ‘ridiculously ridiculously amazing’ when we had the opportunity to open up for the billboard No 1 artist Owl City. This was the night Tom almost lost his hearing whilst acting as a bouncer and holding back hundreds of screaming girls from Owl City… it’s good to be humble!



We finished off the year with New Zealand’s very own Parachute Band here in Hong Kong. Super nice guys with super hearts of worship. All in all a super weekend to finish off a super year. Super!


Thanks to everyone who has supported us in 2009. It’s been an incredible year and we cannot wait for what is in store for 2010. Bring it!