I walked into Stabler Arena having never heard of Ruth, liking Relient K, and being a sort-of fan of Switchfoot. I left knowing I would hear a lot more from Ruth, being a fan of Relient K, and considering Switchfoot as one of my favorite bands.
My daughter Katie was up front and center amid the 200 or so fans standing on the floor of the arena. I was working staff and standing behind the group.
Newcomer Ruth, fronted by Dustin Ruth, was impressive in their 6-song set. They sound a bit like Leeland vocally, but with a more rock sound. I agreed with Katie’s text to me saying, “This band is pretty good, they’ll be big.”
Some highlights from Relient K’s set were “Be My Escape” and their very good rendition of Tears for Fears’ “Head over Heals,” followed by “In Love with the 80’s.” Matt Thiessen’s mustache, that he’s been working on all summer long, could actually be seen.
They played “Sleigh Bells” from their Christmas CD, Let is Snow, Baby; Let it Reindeer complete with an inflatable igloo, polar bear, penguin, and Christmas tree, and even snow falling from the light truss.
Matt asked for some volunteers and selected a girl to play guitar and two boys to play some percussion and look silly on stage on “The Sadie Hawkins Dance.” Relient K closed their set with “Who I am Hates Who I’ve Been.”
I’m not sure how many of the 3,600+ mostly younger crowd recognized Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks” playing as Switchfoot took the stage, or made the connection with the rebuilding theme of the evening. After a tease of a few bars of “Meant to Live,” the band opened for real with “Oh! Gravity.”
They played a good mix of songs from their latest CD, Oh! Gravity and earlier CD’s. “Stars” and “More than Fine” were crowd pleasers. Front man Jon Foreman is a real showman, stepping across the subwoofers onto the rail and being supported by helpful fans several times. He did a little crowd surfing and at one point went into the side stands to direct the mass choir in singing “On Fire.”
With the theme of the tour being “Appetite for Construction,” one dollar from every ticket goes to Habitat for Humanity. Band members from Relient K and Ruth joined Switchfoot with Jon, Matt, and Dustin singing together on “Rebuild.”
One literal show-stopper was Switchfoot’s two minute freeze frame during “American Dream.” All five band members actually stopped, mannequin-like, for two minutes, which seemed like an eternity, but looked really cool. Another dramatic point was Jon singing “This is Your Life” lying on his back, (have you ever tried that?) and then rising and breaking into “Meant to Live” for the finale of the set.
Jon returned alone with an acoustic guitar, which I saw him carry in from the bus as he arrived at the arena, and sang “Only Hope,” followed by “Dare You to Move” with the rest of the band joining him halfway through the song.
The use of “smart lights” coupled with Jerome Fontamillas’ moving between keyboard, guitar and percussion, was effective in creating an ethereal Pink Floyd/Delirious?-like mood at times.
Everyone in our group that attended agreed that this was one of the best concerts they’d ever been to. If you have the opportunity to catch any of the remaining dates of this tour, do whatever you can to get there. But there’s always next year. Switchfoot, Relient K, and Ruth will be around for some time.
For remaining tour dates, pictures, and videos, visit www.relientk.com and www.myspace.com/relientk or www.switchfoot.com and www.myspace.com/switchfoot. To learn more about the former ccmBuzz featured artist Ruth, visit www.myspace.com/ruthrock.
