2009 Concert Journals

[plvarona]

And only half of "Chem 6A"? Really? Why even bother bringing it out if it was just a tease? Did they not have time?

I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, because they ended that song a bit awkwardly.  It could have been a snafu somewhere that caused them to end the song early, or maybe I was thinking the ending was awkward because I was expecting more.  I guess if somebody else here catches them later in the tour, we may get a hint as to what could have happened.

As for playing the album from start-to-finish, interestingly enough, this was the second time I've heard someone do this within a month.  (Derek Webb did this with Stockholm Syndrome when I saw him a month ago, although he played half at the beginning of the set and the other half at the end.)  I do understand this takes away the element of surprise.  On the flip side though, if you think the songs are best presented in that one particular order, why not just play them that way?  I can see both sides here.

[murlough23]

I guess if somebody else here catches them later in the tour, we may get a hint as to what could have happened.

I have a friend who's planning on attending the L.A. gig, but then she doesn't know old Switchfoot well enough to recognize "Chem 6A" and to know whether it was played in full. She's one of those who came in with TBL (by way of A Walk to Remember) and who's had a mild reaction to everything since then.

On the flip side though, if you think the songs are best presented in that one particular order, why not just play them that way?

It's not like this is a concept album where one piece of music is joined to the next. They may work together thematically, but they're still a bunch of stand-alone pop/rock songs. I think Switchfoot is overstating the case about this album. There's no more reason to play the entire thing in order than there would have been with TBL or any other of their albums.

[plvarona]

It's not like this is a concept album where one piece of music is joined to the next. They may work together thematically, but they're still a bunch of stand-alone pop/rock songs. I think Switchfoot is overstating the case about this album. There's no more reason to play the entire thing in order than there would have been with TBL or any other of their albums.

Point taken.  I just wasn't bothered too much by this.  Now had Switchfoot only played Hello Hurricane all the way through and nothing else, then I would have found that to be a bit boring.  However, I knew there were some more songs after the HH run-through, so I'll take some predictability if there are at least some parts later where you can leave me guessing.

[eatenbytehworms]

As for crowd-pleasing moments, one of the highlights was when Jon noticed a fan holding up a sign that said "Do You Love Me Enough to Play Bass on Bullet?"  (This was a reference to "Bullet Soul.")  After Jon saw the sign and conferred with his brother, they agreed to let him come on during the chorus of that song.  So when that song came up, they let this fan get on stage when the song started.  Then when the chorus came, Tim handed off his bass to the fan, and the fan actually did pretty well.  This led Tim to remark afterwards, "If I need to take a few days off, I know who to call." 

I want to do that for Always, how close to the stage would I have to be?

[murlough23]

There was a Jon Foreman solo concert where someone was requesting "The House of God, Forever", and he took a volunteer from the audience to sing the Sarah Masen part, and luckily, the girl could actually sing. I think Jon's just up for that sort of thing.

[dgp11776]

I'm seeing Switchfoot tomorrow night.  YES!

[plvarona]

I want to do that for Always, how close to the stage would I have to be?

I'd say about 10-15 feet away should do the trick.  If I remember correctly, that's about how far this other guy was from the stage.

[murlough23]

I was planning on seeing Future of Forestry's Advent Christmas Tour this Saturday, then decided not to do it due to the long drive and 2 opening acts, then two friends told me they were going to see the band for free at a church in Diamond Bar today. So I went. And the church turned out to be... a Calvary Chapel. Damn that disingenuous advertising!

FoF basically played an abbreviated version of what I'm assuming is their regular set from this tour. They opened with "So Close So Far" from Travel II, which was just as thrilling as the first time around with all the stomping and clapping and everyone playing percussion at once during the song's breakdown, then they transitioned into more of a contemplative mode for "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and "What Child Is This?", which were similar to the spacious arrangements the band gave them on last year's Advent Christmas EP. They had a cellist and an extra guitarist to round out the lineup so that T.J. could free himself up to play trombone, mandolin, etc. The one new song not present on any of their recordings was a slow-march rendition of "Joy to the World" that morphed into "All Creature of Our God and King" - odd, but interesting. "O Holy Night" reached to stratospheric heights, as it does on the EP, especially with the chiming guitar delay during the final chorus. The real show-stopper was "Little Drummer Boy", which had T.J. playing the rolling snare drum part that defines their version of the song, and which once again found Eric and the rest of the band gathering around various drums and things to bang on for a delicious percussion solo at the end that kept ramping up the tempo and allowing time for some wonderful interplay between T.J. and the band's drummer. That practically earned the band a standing ovation, and given that churches like this are probably used to the endless Chris Tomlin clones, I was glad to see that the band was so well-received. I guess that was it for them - there was no encore or anything. Short, but sweet, and they left on a high note.

But man, if I had known the band wasn't coming back out at the end of the service, I definitely wouldn't have sat through 45 minutes of Raul Ries's fire-and-brimstone, cult-brainwashing bullshit.

[ajyouthguy]

Caught Shane and Shane's Glory in the Highest Tour tonight with my wife and kids (their first concert!) and a few of our youth and college kids.  It was an amazing show...haven't been to one quite like that in a while.  Great blend of old and new, of Christmas and non-Christmas, of worship and non-worship, and it was the type of show that was a spiritual experience, not just a concert and entertainment.

Bethany Dillon was first, and she played about 4 or 5 songs.  Her last one was "Breath of Heaven" with acoustic guitar, and she told the crowd that she and Shane B are expecting their first child, too, so that was cool.  She was sick with a cold type thing, so it affected her voice on her set a bit, but she was fun and entertaining between songs as well.

Phil Wickham was next.  He played about 7 or so songs, mostly from his albums, and the middle part was very worshipful.  He also included a killer version of "Little Drummer Boy" as well.  I was very impressed with his voice and guitar work both throughout his set and he's someone i'll be checking out in the near future because he was the one of the three i was least familiar with before this, and it left me kicking myself for not dowloading his newest disc when i had a month or so to do it for $5 at amazon.

Shane and Shane played well over an hour, and were incredible. They started with 3 killer versions of Christmas tunes..."Silent Night," "O Come O Come Immanuel," and "Oh Holy Night."  Then they mixed it up with a little from a variety of their albums over the years.  They played "Everything is Different," "Psalm 13," "Psalm 118," "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," "Beg," "Burn Us Up" (including a hilarious 'rap' version before the actual version), and then a 'worship set,' that included all songs they've recorded (mostly originals) like "Worthy of Affection," "Yearn," "When I Think About the Lord," and "Before the Throne of God Above," ending the night with a powerful version of the choruses of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful."  It was a powerful night all the way around, with so much focus on God as the center of the night and HIM being glorified, not the artists.

A couple of quirky things...during Bethany's set, I had to go to the bathroom and nearly ran into Phil Wickham in the hallway, then wound up literally taking a dump one stall over from Phil doing the same.  When he got up to play, Shane B and Bethany sat on the row right behind me and my wife, and we actually had a chance to talk to her briefly and my boys entertained them a bit.  The boys actually got Shane and Shane to autograph these free posters they got to. 

It was, honestly, more of a church experience than most churches will experience in the morning, probably including my own.

[murlough23]

Hate to reveal the man behind the curtain, but Phil Wickham's supposedly impressive guitar skills are really just a delay pedal. He does have some talent for building a song from the ground up using the looping device, but I feel like he goes for the "I wanna be The Edge" thing way too easily by using the delay pedal. It sounds cool, but take away the delay and it's all very basic stuff.

[ajyouthguy]

Hate to reveal the man behind the curtain, but Phil Wickham's supposedly impressive guitar skills are really just a delay pedal. He does have some talent for building a song from the ground up using the looping device, but I feel like he goes for the "I wanna be The Edge" thing way too easily by using the delay pedal. It sounds cool, but take away the delay and it's all very basic stuff.

don't care, it was still impressive

[murlough23]

don't care, it was still impressive

I just can't believe so many folks are impressed by that and by his generic lyrics.

[ajyouthguy]

I just can't believe so many folks are impressed by that and by his generic lyrics.

i just can't believe some people live their lives in such negativity as to have to say something about it every time they see something someone else says that they don't personally believe so they feel the 'i hate to be the one to tell you' card need.  i'm not a huge PW fan, i just thought his set last night was impressive.

[murlough23]

Whoa, hold the phone. All I expressed was that I didn't understand the appeal. No need to make this personal.

I will say that Phil Wickham has a great voice. I just wish he put it to better use. It's too easy to dazzle folks with that, the Guitar Effects Starter Kit, and the Worship Song Magnetic Poetry. This further reinforces the difficulty that Christian artists who are actually creative have in breaking into the market, which is why I feel the need to speak up about it. I'm not saying all people who like the guy are dumb idiots (some of my best friends came to see him open for Jars of Clay with me and expressed that they liked him for reasons similar to yours). I'm just saying, Christian music could do better.

[eatenbytehworms]

At the Switchfoot concert in DC, I held up a sign that said "Let me always play piano."  Right before Always, Jon said...
"I know you want to play" but that he never usually has a chance to play piano ever.  at least he recognized it...some of the other fans were also disapponted that they didn't let me play.

that's ok, since it was still a glorious first concert for me.

keith tutt rocked the cello

most everybody was belting every word of the new material, including me.

the setlist:
(sped up version of Needle over the PA)
[HH album.  Jon's intro in Needle, the Sound, the jam session in Free, the contrasts in Sing it Out, and the ending of Red Eyes were some of the most memorable moments]
-
Jon then told everyone to start singing their favorite song and the prevailing song would be the next one played.  and the winner was...
Faust
Politicians
O!G
Stars/Shadow
­¡Feliz Navidad! with their very own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree
On Fire
Dare
- ("One more song! One more song!" to which Jon replied "We'll play 2."  they ended up playing 3.)
Only Hope
Awakening
MTL