It isn’t often when you go to a concert and see a movie along with it. But, with Switchfoot, anything is possible.

The concert started a little after 7 PM (the scheduled start time), as the movie screen went down at Midland Theatre to preview Switchfoot’s new movie, Fading West. They will be releasing this in January along with their new album, Fading West, which is the soundtrack to their movie. The movie is about their world tour in 2012, and how they stayed motivated while they aren’t at home. There were some challenges for the band and their families during this time. The members really showed how surfing helps them relax themselves while on tour. It ran at about 90 minutes, then there was a 20 minute intermission before the concert began.

The band came on stage at about five till nine, and lead singer, Jon Foreman, thanked the audience for watching their privileged documentary. Then they began the concert with a new song from their Fading West EP titled “Love Alone Is Worth The Fight”. From their new E.P., you can tell that their new album is about starting clean, and how we can always have another chance. It shows in this song mightily. Next, the band transitioned to a song they said really described most of their movie, in “Dare You To Move”. With lyrics such as, “Everybody waits for you now/what happens next/I dare you to move/I dare you to move/I dare you to lift yourself up from the floor“, it shows that you should keep on going. They kept it up with a song from their 2011 masterpiece (Vice Verses) called “Restless”. Foreman came into the crowd in this one, as he really showed he meant what he was singing. He was walking along the rows’s seats, high-fiving everybody in sight (including my brother and me).

Then, the band played another new song, their hit single from their EP, “Who We Are”. It was noted by Jon Foreman during the concert that everybody (including drummer Chad Butler) had a microphone for the first time. Foreman the said that they were going to do something that they’ve never tried before: using one microphone for a single song. They played the title track from their 2009 album Hello Hurricane doing this, and it was very cool, especially in that theatre. You could hear everyone in the audience singing along and all five members could be heard from the microphone. After that, they played their 2003 hit “Meant To Live”. They played this acoustic, and it sounded awesome. Foreman always kept you guessing, as he would switch up the rhythms throughout the show. Surprisingly, all five band members put down their instruments after this number and left the stage after a very short set.

Switchfoot came back to the stage really fast, before the audience could even start to chant. They started the encore with “Yet” from Hello Hurricane. All of the members stood up front again for this number. Then, when the beat for the next song began, I knew it was going to be the last one. Switchfoot is now known to end their sets with their epic closer from Vice Verses, “Where I Belong”. Foreman announced that this was one of his favorite songs he has ever written and it was promise he made to himself. He went out into the crowd once again, leaving his band playing onstage. This almost seven minute song felt like it lasted forever, but it finally ended, and the band took their bows and left the stage.

The concert was for sure over, as the music in the background was playing, like it does before concerts, and the lights were turned on. But, the chant started up for one more song, and the band came back onstage. Foreman was exclaiming, “Wow, Kansas City, you’re for real!” As they started playing rocker “Dark Horses”, the amps weren’t even plugged in, showing they weren’t ready for this second encore. After “Dark Horses”, I saw guitarist Drew Shirley mouth “the sound?” to lead singer Foreman and his bandmates, and they started another rocker in “The Sound” from Hello Hurricane. Foreman was giving everything he had in this one, giving every scream all of his effort, which was very impressive. They thanked the audience for coming, then finally left the stage for the last time. Show #2 on the Fading West tour was a huge success, and it is only getting started.