A week ago Jason and I headed to Adrian College to see one of our favorite bands, Switchfoot. It was nearly a perfect concert, save a couple bozos behind us.
It started with dinner at Papa Johns. More precisely, the two of us splitting a pizza in my car in the parking lot at Papa Johns. When we were finished we drove a couple blocks and found a nice parking spot and walked over to the venue. It was a general admission show so we got there a little early to ensure a nice spot up front. Our patience paid off, and we were only four rows back from the stage.
The opening band was a group from Colorado named Meese. Turns out the name isn’t the plural of ‘moose’, but rather simply the last name of two of the members. Their sound wasn’t mixed very well, if at all, so it was pretty hard to tell if they were any good. There was one girl, who happened to be very sick due to food poisoning that day, that you could tell had a great voice. And they utilized a lot of keyboards, so that’s something. I still need to give them a legitimate listen, but at the concert it was not exactly inspiring.
After a set change Switchfoot took the stage and began a set that included every song from their new album, Hello Hurricane, and a bunch of the fan favorites from the rest of their discography. Jason aptly referred to it afterwards as a Greatest Hits show. I’ve seen a lot of concerts lately and this one was definitely up there with the best of them all. Switchfoot has catchy and rocking tunes, and Jon Foreman is an amazing front man, but Jason and I agreed that the thing that takes them over the edge is that their lyrics are head and shoulders above everything else out there.
Switchfoot made a conscious decision a long time ago to distance themselves from the so-called christian market and dive headfirst into the mainstream music scene. But they don’t shy away from writing and singing about stuff that they feel deeply about. Jon even mentioned that on stage that he only writes about things that challenge him—politics, religion, and girls.
“For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us ‘Christian rock’ tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that’s not what we’re trying to do. Music has always opened my mind — and that’s what we want”.
Which brings me back to the bozos. These guys behind us were extremely obnoxious and making very inappropriate comments during the first half of the show. But eventually I felt a shift and they stopped using that language, and then I started hearing them say to each other how great a song was, and how great the band is. All the while singing lyrics to songs like, “Maybe redemption has stories to tell. Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell. Where can you run to escape from yourself? Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go? Salvation is here.”
They left that show having been ministered to, whether they knew it or not. So while I was judging and critiquing the immaturity of the “bozos” behind us, Switchfoot was extending an olive branch, meeting them where they were, and inviting them into the life that we both find so fulfilling. Talk about a change in perspective!
“The selfish answer is that at the end of a songwriting process or a show, there’s an amazing feeling that you’ve got something off your chest. But the altruistic answer is that someone at the other end might have been changed or moved by your music. And belief in the transcendent God who created the universe is certainly not a prerequisite.”
Thank you Switchfoot, for the show and the lesson!
Filed under: Music, Switchfoot
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