Show Review: Switchfoot

I arrived at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza at about four in the evening, the sky was cloudy, the sun was going down, and the temperature was freezing - so why was there a line of people outside three hours before doors? I was about to find out. Switchfoot is a multi platinum, Grammy nominated band from San Diego, California, but despite their mainstream success, they did something very independent and risky for this tour. The gigs were titled "An Evening with Switchfoot" - no opening acts, long meet and greets with their hardcore fans, and a band playing every song in order off of their latest album before playing one hit.

Although I saw a few kids, the show was a 16 plus show in a not-so-nice section of New York City on a Tuesday night. Despite these setbacks, the show was sold out, just like every other show of the tour. The Fillmore is a small concert room inside a large venue above a better known venue: Irving Plaza, which is in the basement of the building. Because of the size of the room, the bass was relatively louder than most shows. Bass can be tricky to work with in small rooms due to the fact that it easily overpowers the other instruments with more treble such as electric guitar and vocals, but that was not the case at The Fillmore. The band came out on time about an hour after doors, as stated before, the band played the entirety of their latest release "Hello Hurricane" in order. Even though the album was just released, a large part of the crowd seemed to know the words to every song.

The five members of Switchfoot proved they had a great ear for blending their instruments. Guitarist Andrew Shirley played more high end parts on his vintage Fender Telecaster while singer Jon Foreman made use of his PRS guitars endorsement by playing quieter, more low end parts on songs like "Meant to Live" and "Stars", which were both played that night as a bonus after the album was played through. Bassist Tim Foreman played with what appeared to be complete accuracy with drummer Chad Foreman holding down the beat in perfect timing. Jerome Fontamillas, who was staged more towards the back of the crowd, made a wide array of sounds by use of his keyboard, which sounded excellent in contrast to everything else.

By the end of the show, I found myself saying to myself "this was the best Switchfoot show I have ever seen". That means a lot figuring that it was my 16th Switchfoot show as of then.

-Phil Smith

[click here for video of him & his brother playing w/ Switchfoot @ the TLA]