Ruth+Relient K+Switchfoot Concert

10.29.07

As I Amanda and I sauntered into the pulsing arena in the Baton Rouge River Center to our third-row seats, we were already greeted by the sounds of the band Ruth. A long-haired thin guy in a red flannel shirt picked up one foot, then the other as he swayed gently with his acoustic guitar. The rest of the band provided a bass drum-heavy and alternative-rock guitar sound reminiscent of The Benjy Davis Project.

After a brief break, the crackling speakers played a mixture of sounds and songs with the “Appetite for Construction” tour theme, as a bouncy Relient K took stage to an unfurling banner behind them. They launched directly into “I So Hate Consequences.” Keeping with the up-tempo heavy rock, Relient K followed with “Devastation and Reform,” from their latest album Five Score and Seven Years Ago. After “The Best Thing” and “Be My Escape,” Matt Thiessen started singing a Tears for Fears song, which led into the fan-favorite “In Love with the 80s.” The tone turned serious with the brooding “Which to Bury, us or the Hatchet?”, which saw some tasteful but somber ukulele action. It was back to the upbeat with the crooned “Must Have Done Something Right” and the piano-led “Forgiven.” Relient K then announced something special from their new Christmas album Let it Snow, Baby…Let it Reindeer: “Sleigh Ride,” complete with falling “snow” at the front of the arena. (I was right on the edge of it.) The sincere and longing “Give Until There’s Nothing Left” was followed by the hate-it-or-love-it “Sadie Hawkins Dance,” during which the band invited a crowd member to come play guitar during one round of the chorus. A bit of a surprise next, with the band asking if the crowd watched the TV show “The Office.” After a little cheering, the band played a made-up song about the show, eventually going into the piano notes that open the theme song. “I Need You” and “High of 75” were followed by the closer, “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been.”

A bit of a break, and a large shooting star appeared as the backdrop to a new band to take stage. As the star began to light up in different colors, Switchfoot took the stage to a quirky version of the opening chords of “Meant to Live,” after which Jon Foreman said, “Thank you and good evening Baton Rouge…but it’s not quite time for that song yet.” They launched straight into the wild title track off the latest album Oh! Gravity. There was scarcely breathing room for the next big hit “Stars” with its minute-long intro. Electronic noises filled the air as “This is Your Life” took the stage. This song has really taken me by surprise. It was always a stepchild of Switchfoot songs in my eyes, but they have really done something with it in a live setting. Jon Foreman bent low to sing and yell into his guitar pickups. Next, the band played bits of pop songs that led into the slow-burning “Gone”. An extra-long introduction for the rocker “American Dream” came next, with the band pulling something I’ve never seen before. Right before the last chorus of the song, everyone in the band froze in mid-air. Instruments and limbs were held in frozen awkward positions for nearly 2 minutes until suddenly the band was unfrozen into a frenzied conclusion to the song. The band continued playing some unfamiliar music as Jon Foreman grabbed the high-hat cymbal and started banging on it, swinging it around and strobe flights flashed as the stage threatened to explode. After the chaos settled down, Jon appeared again with an acoustic guitar for the opening of the Western-ish “Dirty Second Hands.” “This next song is about Unity and the fight to achieve it” were the words that ushered “We Are One Tonight” onstage, which led into a remixed and beat-heavy “The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”. Quiet took the stage as Jon Foreman grabbed a new microphone with a cord lit up by Christmas lights and walked out into the crowd crooning the lyrics to the piano-driven “On Fire.” As the song ended, Jon, still out in the crowd, asked the crowd to sing the opening vocals to the imagery-laden “Awakening.” After this crowd favorite, Switchfoot announced a new song, “Rebuild,” which included all the members from Ruth and Relient K on stage to help play and sing. The set closed with the inevitable “Meant to Live” and an encore of “Dare You to Move.”

Summary:
(1) Ruth is a band to look forward to
(2) Relient K is musically very technically sound but better suited to smaller crowds
(3) Switchfoot is the king of arena concerts, with enough bells & whistles but also passionate and genuine moments to make a concert-goer want to listen to their songs for days at a time afterward