Friday night found LivingSocial’s new venue at 918 F
Street bumping with the sounds of Christian rock band Switchfoot. Fans
could purchase tickets to the intimate concert on the website
of the popular purveyor of experiences, where a VIP pass to
meet the band and receive a signed copy of their latest album,
Vice Verses, went for $75.
Jerome Fontamillas, the keyboardist for the band that came to fame in the early aughts with hits such as “Meant to Live” and “Dare You to Move,”
remarked that the performance was one of their more intimate, allowing Switchfoot to truly connect with their fans.
The vibe at the show was similar to standing in the
first three rows of any concert, rubbing shoulders with the die-hards
feeding off one another’s energy. Fans ranging in age from
teenage to fifties sang along to “Hello Hurricane” and “Learning
to Breathe” at the top of their lungs and ate up the
“Storytellers”-esque banter between songs.
The band members seemed to be having just as good a time. Frontman
Jon Foreman carefully balanced on the beams of a cutout mezzanine to interact with concert-goers in the bar below, and Fontamillas traded
spaces with drummer
Chad Butler to cover “Lucky Man” by another early-aughts favorite, the Verve.
The scene at the meet-and-greet after the show was equally energetic, proving that the band’s multifaceted image—rockers,
surfers, Christians—pays off by providing broad appeal.
“One song may not mean anything to a fan, but there is another song that means a lot to them,” Fontamillas said. “Our music
is for everyone; we don’t try to put up any walls.”
