Any band that has song titles like "Faust, Midas and Myself" and "Happy is a Yuppie Word" obviously isn't writing simple pop music for the masses.

And Switchfoot isn't ... even though it's still reaching the masses.

And the band also offers a sound "that's kind of new, it's kind of hip ... when I heard it for the first time, I liked it," as 20-year-old fan Chris Morgan said Sunday, just before the band's show at the American Music Theatre.

Combine that sound with some creative lyrics and you're on to something — or, you're on to Switchfoot.

The multi-platinum-selling, San Diego-based band rocked the Route 30 East showplace with its always-interesting, always-catchy sound and creativity spilling all about.

The alternative-rock band and its ever-interesting lead singer, Jon Foreman, was at its creative and hard-rocking best all through Sunday night's show.

AMT, which usually features original shows and more traditional artists, was offering (with Switchfoot) one of its infrequent alternative-rock shows, and by all accounts the show worked well.

One of the 1,200-plus people on hand at the 1,600-seat theater, Mandy Mitchell of Waynesboro, liked Switchfoot's own description of its sound — "guitar-driven rock for thinking people."

Switchfoot is best known for its 2003 career-defining hit CD, "The Beautiful Letdown" ... and maybe for the version of its song "Dare You To Move" that "American Idol" winner David Cooke did on that show a year ago.

But Switchfoot on Sunday didn't just crank through that album and then leave.

It mixed up a challenging range of songs, starting with "Oh! Gravity," the title track to its last CD, from 2006, followed by "Stars" from 2005's "Nothing is Sound," and even unveiled some songs on its upcoming CD, due out later this year.

Switchfoot gets compared to U2, as a band whose Christian faith is clear in its songs even as it reaches a mainstream audience. And much like The Fray, it enjoys airplay on both Christian-contemporary and mass-market radio.

But whatever the genre, Switchfoot offers a strong message of hope and encouragement, as in "Gone," maybe its best-known song, a rap along the line of "The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."

It talks of how "life is still more than girls, life is more than hundred dollar bills ... every moment that we borrow, brings us closer to the God who's not short of cash."

And through it all, Switchfoot presents with a constant two-and-sometimes-three-guitar sound, a bass-drum crunch as good as the best of them, and also one of the most natural frontmen (Foreman) around.

He mixed easily with the crowd Sunday, often simply slinging his guitar over his back and taking a walk, mic in hand, to sing from various spots ... the front row of the crowd, or a wobbly-looking spot on top of the bass drum.

Another revelation in Sunday's nearly-three-hour concert was a Harrisburg-based band, The Jellybricks, who opened and gave a rousing 40-minute show.

The four-man band features a classic power-pop sound, and some very nice bright-and-crunchy guitar interplay between Larry Kennedy and Bryce Connor.

Among its songs Sunday was the excellent "Ruin Us," better known as a viral video thanks to the band's use of the "Rock Band 2" music video game to make the song's video.


Staff writer David O'Connor can be reached at doconnor@LNPnews.com or 481-6033. blog comments powered by Disqus