Thursday evening on 31st January – after a very hurried dinner and one frantic car ride to Expo – there we were. Finally. THE SWITCHFOOT CONCERT!!!
They are one of the very few bands I still really admire. They were the stuff of my adolescent dreams and waking moments. And I knew I just had to go. Especially since I had buddy tickets that let me get up close and personal with front row seats… on the cheap! Thank you E.
It being a WMU production, there was the pre-requisite local band segment (support local music sial). Fire-whatever-flight, West Grand Boulevard, and some other band. I did give them a chance though, but personally, they seemed more interested in making sure that their flying kicks were high enough and their hair was in its rightful, indie place rather than making good, solid music. Maybe in another year or so it will be different. Like, when they grow up.
That totally changed when the lights went out and Switchfoot took over. After a rather tedious one and a half hour long local music segment, the crowd screaming in one united voice for the band they’ve been waiting for the entire night could not be any louder.
I loved that they concentrated the good ol’ favourites – like Meant to Live, Dare You to Move, Learning to Breathe, This is Your Life, and even Chem 6A – and intertwined them with newer hits like Oh! Gravity and Awakening. I think the younger crowd didn’t really remember anything that was older than Meant to Live, but the moment these songs came up, I remember I screwed my heels and jumped like I was 16 all over again. It brought back so many memories; like where I was when I first heard these songs, my young, sometimes naïve thoughts, and saw with hindsight the journey their music brought me on, and how their music and words played a role in moulding my life, who I am today.
Jon Foreman’s hair has definitely gotten a little longer, and I don’t really fancy the new members in the group. But I’m an old skool Switchfoot fan. Jon’s guitar skillz are still mad, and he’s definitely still a rockstar. You can hear an added U2 influence in their music, especially in their new song Awakening. I loved how he came down and mingled with the screaming crowd, how the people sang back the lyrics word for word to just about every song, how Jon crowd surfed and sang an entire song at the same time, held up only by the loving arms of a crowd of Switchfoot fans. How everyone kept silent when Jon sang a powerful On Fire solo that even made me shed a few tears.
What a rockstar. I still love you Jon. Here’s to more beautiful years with the most excellent Switchfoot music.
