i could be brave

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Switchfoot

Categories: Art • Life • Music

I watched Switchfoot at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland this Wednesday.  It was sold out so there were people outside asking for tickets standing right next to people trying to sell tickets for exorbitant amounts of money.

The show started at 8 PM however there were two bands opening for them that played until about 11.  The two opening bands were The Format, and Honorary Title.  They were both OK but their mix on the soundboard wasn’t great so that caused both of them some problems.  With Honorary title it was almost impossible to understand the lead singer.  I was able to pick out a word or two out of ever line.  The Format simply had everything turned up so much that it was difficult to hear any of the separate instruments.  The songs were probably not that bad.  I just couldn’t really tell what they were supposed to sound like.

The crowed was just what I expected.  A very strange mix of kids there with their youth groups, kids that didn’t know the members of Switchfoot are Christians (I think they were aware of it by the end of the concert), parents their with their kids, and probably a few like me who knew the band from way before they had a hit song that Z100, 105.1 The Buzz, and 94.7 KNRK played them on the radio.

I’ve been a fan of the band since The Legend of Chin.  Which, though not incredibly polished, showed their talent all the more.  I think they deserve the publicity they have been getting.  But how are they live?  Well, I think they put on a good live show.

It was loud but their mix was much, much, better than the opening bands.  The set list was made up mostly of songs from their latest album.  However, there were a few from their previous ones as well.  What I particularly enjoyed were the two new songs they played that haven’t actually been recorded yet.  The first was a song about aliens looking down on us and wondering what it was we were at.  The second was based off of a quote.  Sadly I can’t remember who the quote was from or what the quote even was.  After the second new song the lead singer, Jonathan Foreman, mentioned that he had been using Dropped D tuning a lot on his new songs.  The only song I’ve ever written was in Drop D so I took notice of that. 

The band was obviously comfortable with the songs they were playing.  There were absolutely no obviously mistakes and they had a practiced air as they leaped around the stage.  And leap they did.  Their movement on the stage was a strong contrast to the moves of my favorite band who is no longer.  They saved their hit songs for the end of the concert not even playing Dare You To Move until they got called back out for an encore. 

People were visible enjoying the show, youth group kids, and others alike.  There was one guy right in front of us that was enjoying it more than anyone.  And I don’t believe he even had anything to drink.  But who knows? 

Other than seeing Switchfoot I haven’t been up to much.  Work is going well.  I wish I could actually talk more about what I do but I work on stuff that hasn’t been released yet so I can’t.  We even have code names for the different things we are testing.  Fun stuff.  :)

Artistically I have been working on something for Dale Baker. He is a member of the Vine now and has a little solo project he is working on so I thought I would do some graphic stuff for him.  I’m not sure if anything will come of it but I’ll certainly put it up on my site if something does work out. 

Well that is it I guess.  I’m going to work on some art.  I hope everyone is doing well.

Posted by Jamie at 11:41 AM