Reflecting Nehemiah... my life at Calvin College

Friday, April 11, 2008

Switchfoot and Emery at Calvinsi

jon foreman in the crowd next to my friend min woo

“It had to have been Switchfoot with partners-in-rock Emery and Athlete that turned it up a notch on Saturday night in Calvin’s Fine Arts Center. I thought it was just a “Spinal Tap” joke that amplifiers could be set to 11. It was the loudest, craziest set to visit Calvin in years.” -Ryan Alons writing for Chimes, Calvin’s student newspaper.

this is my second time seeing both switchfoot and emery. i really haven’t been to that many concerts, and many can beat me in a name-how-many-concerts-you’ve-been-to contest: “oh yeah, i’ve seen dave matthews band 57 times.” of course, i have a big disadvantage because i lived in hong kong for 8 years. the only major concert i saw in hong kong was alicia keys, and that was pretty incredible. i should’ve seen westlife when they came by. bummer… irish boy bands don’t come by the US very often. anyway, back to grand rapids. the fact that this was my third time seeing switchfoot probably means something. yeah, they have a fantastic live show, and i think they’re much better live than on CD. in my opinion, that’s quite an accomplishment, because you can always refine your work in the studio. made a mistake? no problem, we can rerecord until your budget for studio time runs out. oh wait, you’re self-produced? never mind then, you can fine-tune to your heart’s content.

he said they couldn’t afford to bring a drummer. i cringe.

besides touring with emery, switchfoot also brought athlete, a poppy british band. after wooing all females in the FAC with their accent, they went on to rock and roll without a drummer. their frontman informed us that they couldn’t afford to bring their drummer over from England. i couldn’t help but picture a lonely drummer guy hanging out without his band looking at youtube videos of his bandmates exploring a new country. being a drummer myself, i’d never want that to happen. i admire athlete for giving it their best shot anyway, even relying on drum machines for a few songs. i’d like to hear them again when they’re a full band.

it’s hard taking pictures from the pit when people are shoving you

“I think the keyboardist was more content with headbanging than actually playing the keys. Partnered with an extreme nature of the artists on stage, the music inspired the pit to fulfill an unprecedented act for Calvin College — actual moshing, as real as moshing is going to get for the casual concertgoer.” -another quote from Chimes

first off, i must point out to mr. alons that the emery “keyboardist” is also their second vocalist. emery has more than one lead vocalist, and the keyboardist does most of the screaming parts. kind of like underoath where the drummer does most of the singing and a frontman does all the screaming. it’s not really a big deal, but it makes me feel good to correct someone who writes for a reputable newspaper ;) makes me feel like i could be a professional reporter or something.

second, i was in the middle of said mosh pit. being 5’7” and slightly over 100 pounds, i risked being tossed around like a lone shoe in a washer and dryer. yes, the lone shoe would be tossed twice in such a situation: once in the washer, and again in the dryer. and yes, getting tossed in a washer would get the shoe wet. i was quite soaked in sweat, most of which was not my own. lovely. but strangely fun. i’d never seen semi-violent movements before at Calvin concerts, and i was surprised to see some Campus Safety officers at the front of the stage at the beginning of emery’s set. that pretty much foreshadowed what followed, and i’m thankful that no one got hurt. you know it’s a Calvin College hardcore concert when people are shoving people almost to the floor, then at the last moment pulling them back up. it’s also a Calvin hardcore concert when people in the pit are apologizing profusely to one another after the band’s set.

the last time i saw emery, i was in barrie, ontario, which is a small town north of toronto. barrie was a stop on the vans warped tour, and i went there with some of my friends the summer before i went to calvin. emery was playing a small stage, and there weren’t that many people watching their concert. they still rocked out, and i distinctly remember their throwback basketball jerseys and little tikes basketball hoop on stage. back then, their music wasn’t that tight knit. their singer frequently went off key, and they seemed more focused on putting on an energetic show than being tight and hitting all the notes. i don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing; it’s just a different approach to concerts. ideally, a band can be energetic and hit all the notes perfectly. but let’s be realistic. it’s been 3 years since i’ve seen them, and emery’s released two more albums. they definitely approach concerts differently now, and they were quite tight. it was a great show, and i’m happy to see how they’ve progressed.

my favorite switchfoot dude. he’s asian, i have to say that.

calvin usually doesn’t get big names like switchfoot to come. but this time, a reliable source tells me that switchfoot invited themselves over for cheap because a nearby show was canceled. we weren’t a planned part of their original tour schedule, but when we found out switchfoot was coming, we still sold out the FAC. during the show, jon thanked us for coming and said that we’re the best crowd they’ve had yet on their tour. if they enjoyed playing at calvin so much, maybe they’ll return one day.

like i said earlier, i’d seen switchfoot before. the last time i saw switchfoot, they were playing at hope college’s brand new gym. young life was sponsoring the event, although i didn’t know it until i arrived, and a lotta young life kids got to meet their heroes backstage. a lot of middle school kids filled the space in front of the stage, which was sweet because short people like me (and i’m as tall as some of these middle school kids) can rarely see anything over tall dutch heads. switchfoot rocked the house, and they pulled all sorts of stage tricks to keep the crowd entertained. jon foreman ran around the bleachers surrounding the gym amongst the crowd with a wireless microphone, singing along to the band playing on stage. at one point, the entire band froze on stage in a break in one of the songs. the drummer froze in mid stroke, and the guitarists were frozen with their arms at varying points of a strum. the crowd usually whipped into a frenzy at this point, and the band would suddenly resurrect with a renewed passion for rock and roll. stuff like that really impressed me the first time i saw them, because switchfoot put on a show. they didn’t just play their songs, but they got the crowd into it. to me, that’s the hallmark of a great live band.

at calvin, they pulled a lot of the same stage tricks. each time, i grinned because i knew exactly what to expect. but still, i enjoyed it, and i felt like a had an inside joke with the band. they did change things up a bit, and at one point jon invited his brother-in-law on stage to play drums for one of their songs. apparently, jon’s brother-in-law is a calvin student (or maybe he wasn’t and was just at the show. he looked like a student though). stuff like that makes me smile. even if you can’t hear their lyrics, you can tell that they’re a different kind of band. i’d like to think it’s because they’re all Christians.

oh, and have i mentioned that they’re extremely talented? they gave a very polished performance, and i was especially pleased to see the drumkit chad butler plays. that same kit is plastered all over my drum magazines, along with chad’s description of the sound: “my new kit is a bubinga/birch mash-up, it’s like having Barry White sing a duet with the Bee Gees. I have to fight back tears of joy every time I hit them.” although i dunno who barry white is, i know the Bee Gees, and that’s enough to make me laugh. who compares a drumkit sound to the Bee Gees? apparently, chad butler does, and i can see why after seeing them in concert. they’re a fun group of guys!

super crowd-pleaser