Switchfoot at the Crystal Ballroom; Jon Foreman at the Max stop, July 31, 2009

There are so many strange factors to this tour:

1. Switchfoot is releasing a new album in three months. It's standard for bands to tour the new album, so expect a tour in late fall. They'll tour again about six months after the album came out to reengage interest, and then if they have a long pause in their production schedule until the next album comes out, there may be another random tour in there, too. But it's unusual for a band to tour just three months before an album. Random timing.
2. It's a purposeful tour in that it's called "Crazy Making," and it's supposedly a co-headlining tour with Blue October.
3. Blue October has had one major hit, with one (maybe two) others making radio appearances. They're not very talented. Switchfoot has had 10 successful singles (conservative guess stabbing in the dark), and they were the opener that only played for an hour. What a joke. I'd guess that 80 percent of the crowd was there for Switchfoot judging by the noise, signs, and pre-show chant. None of the sort for Blue October.
4. One of Blue October's shirts had a defacing picture of Jesus on the cross. They're not a spiritual band at all that I can see. I'm not one to take offense to that, but that's just a little strange when paired with Switchfoot and some of the Christian-bubble folk they attracted. (I need to pause here to say that Switchfoot does not conform to the Christian bubble at all, but that doesn't mean none of their crowd does. Instead, I'd say they bring up questions that anyone who's trying to live a life on earth deals with.)

Despite all the factors, obviously this tour is real and actually happening. Blue October with Switchfoot, but really it was just Switchfoot playing a highly energetic hour-long set, a large portion of the crowd leaving, then Blue October still thinking very highly of themselves (somehow).

Before I get any further, I need to say that if you read nothing else, skip below to read about why Jon Foreman is now #1 on my list of nicest and most real musicians (well, Carbon Leaf is up there too). But continuing...

Let's just ignore Blue October. That's what they deserve anyway.

Like I said, it's an interesting time for Switchfoot to be touring. I'd heard that their new album (Hello Hurricane) is totally done, so I was expecting that maybe they would focus on brand new songs. They did play two or three new tunes, but the majority of the songs were actually from their album The Beautiful Letdown, which I would go so far as to call a classic, at least in my own library. However, it's now approaching three albums ago. They played only one (maybe two, depending on my memory) song from their latest album.

Now I suppose this isn't that unusual as many times when a band goes on a tour at a random time like this, they often dig deep into their songbooks and even throw some interesting covers in (see Shins posting below). The timing of this tour just surprised me.

Summing up those last few paragraphs of rambling, they featured a great setlist of classic Foot songs.

I have never seen Switchfoot live before but have wanted to for at least seven years. They've come to Eugene when I've been in Portland, and Portland when I've been in Roseburg. Meanwhile, I'd heard that they are at their best live and put on pretty breathtaking shows. I'd now echo that statement.

Keep in mind that it was about 90 degrees in Portland yesterday (Switchfoot is from San Diego, and they couldn't stop talking about how hot it was). The Crystal Ballroom does not have air conditioning. True statement. It had to be at least 110 degrees in there and bodies sponging up against each other.

Frontman Jon Foreman said twice, "If we pass out, you guys keep going." But pass out he did not; instead, he put on an intensely energetic show.

Switchfoot takes generous influence from U2 in many ways, but never was it clearer than seeing them live. Jon could have been a younger Bono at times in his stage presence and booming voice. ("Hey, Bono, glad you asked. Life is still worth living.")

This band puts on a great show, but even more so, they promote good causes and get people thinking about important questions like what is love? how are we spending our time on earth? what are our possessions?

I know they're mainstream and can be annoying (yes). Just give 'em a chance.

Now, on to what I really want to talk about. I paid $35 (it was rough) to see one of my favorite bands play for an hour. Not too bad, but I figured I might as well stick around for the other band. I did and lasted three songs, was disgusted both by the band and the emo crowd, so I decided to head out. I walked by Switchfoot's tour bus on the way to my car and saw a couple of the guys. Let me pause to say that Jon Foreman pretty much is Switchfoot. He writes all the songs and is quite talented (though his brother Tim is the bassist, he doesn't do much composing to my knowledge.) So a couple of the guys were around, and I got them to sign my ticket stub. But I could tell that Jon hadn't come out yet because fans were obviously waiting for something.

I was by the bus for maybe five minutes when Jon comes out clutching an acoustic guitar. Some people suggested we walk to Pioneer Square for brilliant acoustics, so we started that way, Jon strumming "Hey Jude" to an impromptu sing along as we went (see video below). Jon, not being a Portlander used to walking the downtown, suggested we stop by a Max stop instead of going the extra four blocks there. The Max wouldn't let us on because there were some 50 of us, and we couldn't all get on while the doors were open. So there we were at the Galleria/SW 10th stop in a little nook by a store apparently called the Real Mother Goose, where he played a private acoustic concert to the dedicated fans. As you can see in the video below, it appears that he truly is the real Mother Goose.

He asked someone to get out a piece of paper and pen and to pass it around the group. "That will be the set list," he said.

He played for about an hour, focusing on his solo stuff, but also playing others like "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" and, to my surprise, "Only Hope," which was marked Switchfoot's entrance to success some ten years ago with the Walk to Remember soundtrack.

He also spoke very candidly with fans in a conversation, but most importantly, he wanted to emphasize that concerts like these are what makes him do what he does. He said something along the lines of, "There are no tickets, no money, no merchandise." Only music, a musician, and listeners. A brilliant combination.


An example of the intimacy of the performance. This is one of the best-known songs, which explains why you hear the crowd more than Jon. The focusing on random people was supposed to be a panning of the crowd to show that there were only some 40 people there. And the whirring about halfway through was the Max going by, which it did about once every two minutes of course...haha


The exodus from Crystal Ballroom to the acoustic site, playing a sing-along version of "Hey Jude" along the way. This is my attempt to show what a crazy sensation it was to be following a rock star with an acoustic guitar, singing along to one of the best songs of all time, with a crowd of some 40 people in downtown Portland at night.