9.22.2013

fading west in the gateway to the west | {sept. 20, 2013}

Switchfoot's first concert of their fall 2013 tour also marked the debut of their much-anticipated film Fading West, a raw and often emotional look into the Southern California rock band on and off the stage and around the world. Throughout the concert portion of the show, it was pretty clear the guys were having as much fun as their fans on Friday night. "I can't imagine any other night on the entire tour being any better than tonight," Jon said, leading into their final song. No doubt they were feeling a little anxiety and heightened emotion with the show's unconventional format, which led off with the film and continued with a Q&A through the rest of the set.

The end is the beginning. During an acoustic encore, lead vocalist Jon Foreman grabbed a camera from backstage and photographed the sell-out crowd at Missouri Baptist University. If you couldn't tell, we were front and center at the show.  (Hoping Jon's images show up online at some point -- we'll update this post if they do ...)
Fading West St. Louis photo
Giant movie set lights flanked the stage, a nod to the Fading West flick. Unlike the bold LED lights common at other Switchfoot shows, the tungsten lights cast a warm, orange hue on bassist Tim Foreman -- perfect for the laid-back, low-key mood of the night.
Tim Foreman Fading West St. Louis photo
Switchfoot live photo
Another look at their single-mic, acoustic encore of Hello Hurricane. And, yes, that's an accordion in Jerome Fontamillas' hands:
Switchfoot live acoustic photo
Jon Foreman of Switchfoot
Perhaps the most unexpected part of the show for fans came during the Q&A, which actually was designed to be an integral part of the concert. On three separate occasions, Jon called up members of the crowd who had submitted questions before the show (on paper strips or via Twitter) to join the guys onstage. Andrew Bushway of the band Stealing Silver had his moment with Drew Shirley and Jon:
Fading West concert in St. Louis
Fading West photoInteresting side note: Andrew's friend/bandmate Greg got to play Jon's guitar during the aftershow in the Pillsbury Chapel lobby. (And people wonder why we love Switchfoot so much?)
Switchfoot live concert photo
You've seen our images. Now go check out a lengthier review on the Land of Broken Hearts website. (And see more photos and videos there, too.) 

We've got a long video of the final two songs that we're still trying to hunt down better audio to dub in (and will update it if we get it):



3 Reader Comments :

Unknown said...

You guys should let us see that long video you've got :)

Ben and Beccalee said...

You got it. :) As we mentioned in the text above the video embed: we're trying to track down the guy who was standing in the front row in a plaid shirt who filmed a lot more than we did. I think, because of his position, his audio might sound a little better than ours. (Found his photo in the VIP photo collection on Facebook and commented... Fingers crossed.)

Unknown said...

This is so great! Thanks for sharing with us! I love how we can hear Jon's stomps on the stage. Let us know if that other audio works out. You guys are great!

Post a Comment

 
Copyright 2009 ben & beccalee, photographers . Powered by Blogger Blogger Templates create by Deluxe Templates . WP by Masterplan