Switchfoot Live at the London ULU
The crowd gathering in London's ULU this evening are mainly covered in Creed t-shirts, but never-the-less, many of them manage to remark that "it's a two for the price of one tonight really, Switchfoot are awesome". Switchfoot are the band whose single "Meant to Live" was Spiderman 2's theme single, and in all honestly I never expected much more than that one hit wonder track from this band.
However, this evening, as Switchfoot grace the stage I am surprised and exhilerated by the performance. Any original fears of this band being a one hit wonder are immediately forgotten as they storm through a lengthy set of songs with the meaningful lyrics and explosive guitars needed to prevent this quartet from being just another angst-ridden band on the indie scene. They fill out the set impressively by playing a diverse range of songs that vary completely in sound from any of the other tracks - whilst managing to maintain their own distinguished sound.
As frontman Jon Foreman talks animatedly with the front row of the crowd, thanking everyone for showing up and further expressing gratitude for our appreciation, you're immediately struck by how generally nice these guys seem, and further more, how well they've written and performed these songs. This band is tight live, with no apparent flaws and each member is obviously comfortable when in front of a crowd. The sound live is infact remarkably better than the studio sound of this band you find on their CDs. With the energy and emotion practically buzzing off this band, they perform tracks which clearly have a deeper meaning to the musicians as each audience member is drawn into each chorus and chant.
Switchfoot are a band that give you goosebumps without you even noticing, they get your head bopping and your foot tapping and they are sure to produce tracks better than "Meant to Live", which finishes tonight's show with the sold out ULU singing along to the final refrain as Foreman turns his microphone around to face the audience in a final classy gesture.