Switchfoot review
Lost: One pair of socks, after being rocked off by Switchfoot at
the Ogden Theater last Saturday. If found, please return
The air was thick Saturday night at the Ogden Theater in
downtown Denver with a mix of cigarette smoke and the perspiration
of more than a few youth groupers.
The crowd awaited the fourth Colorado appearance since last
March of the San Diego rock group Switchfoot, with the energy of a
packed high school lunchroom.
The opening act, Copeland, effectively got the night off on the
right foot. These young rockers could be the best thing to come out
of Georgia since the Allman Brothers Band. Dirty South
represent!
Once Copeland had cleared their gear off the stage and the
stagehands had strategically placed enough water bottles on top of
the amps to quench any rock star thirst, the lights dimmed and the
silhouettes of four shaggy-haired surfers occupied the stage.
Ambient noise began to fill the theater and as the stage lights
flashed on, the band known as Switchfoot launched into the
high-energy crowd pleaser “Dare You To Move” and filled the next
hour with their left-coast brand of rock and/or roll.
Since the release of their newest album, “The Beautiful
Letdown,” in February 2003, Switchfoot has been on the road almost
nonstop. The band is currently on tour behind the release of its
first concert DVD, “Live In San Diego,” which hit shelves on March
23, and its newest single, a reworked version of “Dare You To
Move,” a song that originally appeared on the band’s 2000 release,
“Learning To Breathe.”
Despite being smack dab in the middle of a four-night run, the
band played with enough energy to make one think the show was a
one-off in their hometown. Highlights included rare performances of
“New Way To Be Human” and “Redemption” as well as blatantly
hard-rocking versions of “Ammunition” and “Meant To Live.”
God bless electric guitars and power chords.
After a full band rendition of “Only Hope,” a song made popular
by Mandy Moore in the film “A Walk To Remember,” lead singer Jon
Foreman made sure the audience knew that the cell phone had
replaced the lighter, a comment that was followed by nearly every
cell phone in the venue being thrust into the air.
The group’s energy carried through the entire set, ripping
through 12 songs in just over an hour, before wrapping up with the
sing-along, “Gone” and leaving the crowd with the sentiment that
life is still worth living.
The set was full of sonic interludes to newly tweaked versions
of songs new and old. If one thing can be said of a Switchfoot
concert, it is that the band aims to please the audience by
exploring every musical nuance of each song.
The boys in Switchfoot manage to improve on their studio effort,
without compromising the integrity of the music.
That is what live performance is all about. Switchfoot has it
down, and they are only getting better.
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