SWITCHFOOT CONCERT REVIEW

On November 22nd, Jon Foreman and the members of the San Diego-based, alternative rock band, Switchfoot, played a sold-out show at Exit/In in Nashville.
The band was on tour to promote Hello Hurricane, the latest and seventh album released in their 13-year career. Posters of the album art covered the backdrop of the stage and plastic seagulls hung from the ceiling. The stage was large enough to hold the typical band setup- drums, keyboards, and an arsenal of guitars. The venue itself could be described as a smaller Workplay with a bar and balcony and was filled to capacity with a standing-room only audience of 160, who had come from such diverse locations as Illinois, Alabama, Ohio, Florida, and Kentucky.
The first set for each concert of the tour had been the same; play the new album from beginning to end. This effort could either fail or succeed depending on the participation of the crowd. Fortunately for Switchfoot, the crowd seemed to have memorized almost every lyric and sang along as if Hello Hurricane had been around for years.
Foreman and his bandmates even experimented with the musical stylings of these new songs by bringing out a mandolin for “Hello Hurricane” and album closer “Red Eyes,” a baby grand piano for “Always,” a cow bell for “Bullet Soul,” and an accordion, a harmonica, and a tambourine for “Yet.”
After a short intermission, the band came out for a “Greatest Hits” set. Before the concert, Foreman had sent out a message on the band’s Twitter account asking the audience if they had any song requests. The most popular requests played at the show included Switchfoot’s biggest radio hits (“Meant to Live,” “Dare You to Move,” “Stars,” “Awakening,” and “Oh Gravity”) and fan favorites (“Let That Be Enough,” “On Fire,” “Learning to Breathe,” and “Twenty Four”).
Though Foreman consistently addressed the audience throughout the concert, he managed to bring his crowd interaction to a new level at the beginning of the second set. He borrowed hats and sunglasses from various members of the audience, used a man’s camera to film a video of the venue during “Awakening,” took out his own camera to snap a picture of the audience, and hopped off the stage several times to walk amongst the fans. He served as frontman and entertainer, as well as conductor for the orchestra of fans singing at the top of their lungs.
The most memorable moment of the concert happened during “Dare You to Move.” Foreman left the stage, walked up the stairs, and leaned on the edge of the balcony during the second verse and chorus. During the song, he looked as if he intended to jump from the balcony into the middle of the crowd. He soon realized there was not a safe place to land, ran down the stairs, and finished the song onstage, much to the disappointment of the audience and to the relief of his band mates.
The concert did have one imperfection. Foreman’s vocals cut in and out or at least seemed lower than usual during a few of the slower numbers. However, the band made up for it with their charisma and showmanship. Foreman made a point to make the show unique by including stories of how much Nashville meant to him and the band (he wrote “Let That Be Enough” at a Nashville hotel during the band’s 1999 tour). This night at Exit/In would mark yet another memorable concert for the band and their fans. Overall Rating: 4.5/5