I went to see Switchfoot in Santa Cruz with my 16-year old niece (remember this?). So, of course, she’s practically a groupie, so we had to run in and try and get as close to the stage as possible. So, imagine me, (I’m 6′3″) in a sea of teenage girls who, generally speaking, are about 5 feet tall, trying to look at least semi-cool while Switchfoot is rocking out. Now, I’m not exactly the “rock-n-roll” type (not so “world tour” more PGA Tour)… though I did really enjoy the musical and visual aspect of the show. The worst was when Jon, the lead singer, would come down close to where we were, all these girls would crush into the stage to try and grab him. I didn’t really enjoy that part. I could practically see John looking up at me going, “dude, you need to get a life”.
Anyhow, Switchfoot really can play. And the “live concert experience” from about 7 feet from what must’ve been the biggest subwoofers ever was shall we say, moving. As in, I could feel my internal organs moving from the sound pressure from the subs. And the guys were pretty cool… behind the club before the show we “happened” (yeah right) to walk by Jerome, the keyboard player, who graciously put his cell phone call on hold to say ‘hi’ and take a pic with Alissa. And then after the show Alissa got to talk with Jon for a minute, and even gave him CD with “Take Me Away” on it to check out. And even though I’m sure he must get countless CDs like that, he was very cool about it.
And though I’d probably rather sit up in the balcony or stand back by the console to actually hear what’s going on, it was a good experience to get a feel for what it’s like to be a hard core fan for a night. We had a great time.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. From a Guitar Nerd perspective, I’ve heard great stuff about the new guitarist, Drew’s, ear candy throughout the set. He’s a refugee from when All Together Separate disbanded and I think it was one of the best sonic moves Switchfoot could’ve made.
Interesing… I actually didn’t notice what he was doing as much as I did Jerome’s Rhodes and keyboard stuff, but the guitar playing was definitely solid. In fact, Jerome had a Les Paul on rockin’ out some power chords as often as he was playing keys. Makes me want to learn enough guitar to rock out on Sunday mornings to “Here I Am To Worship”.