Last night we attended a great concert- Athlete and Switchfoot in Aiken, SC. Overall, the show was fantastic. As always in our region of the universe, there are some interesting observations.
For starters, it appeared about 90% of the attendees were half my age. I commented that the audience seemed to be the children of the original Switchfoot fan base. Unfortunately, this made for a less than desirable reception for the first band, Athlete. I’ve been diggin’ their Beyond the Neighbourhood album for a while and was extremely excited about seeing them. The audience was slow to respond, and the row of junior high girls behind us talked through their entire set (needless to say, I got caught up on all the local school gossip). Athlete, playing without their drummer (but subbing with groovy loops on their laptop), was very good in spite of the somewhat awkward audience interaction. The live, more mellow version of “hurricane” was a real treat. The highlight, however, was after the concert when the band was hanging out in the foyer, mingling. I overheard a teenager girl ask the singer if he was from Australia…I chuckled as he responded with humor and resolve: “we’re British.” I apologized to the keyboard player for the embarrassment of the south, and he replied, “tomorrow we’re playing in Myrtle Beach. We hope to see some alligators.”
The much anticipated Switchfoot put on an incredible rock show. The super-tight wall of sound was received with great energy from the crowd: bright lights, audience sing-along, and high pitched screaming. I first saw Switchfoot perform in the late 90’s, and is was a pleasure to witness the evolution of their music.
Standing between my wife Melody and my fellow former band-mate Alex, I was taken back to joys of my rock star days- reminiscent of the live rock show. The evening was certainly a fun time of good music enjoyed in good company.
It was amazing! Kenny loved did, as did I.