Recording Is The Art Of Forgetting— Enjoy Yourself

Recording Is the Art of Forgetting - Enjoy Yourself

We want to acknowledge the worth of the present tense – to take a picture, to write it down. But as I look out from stage night after night at a sea of cell phones, I wonder whether anyone could really capture a moment?

I linked to this article last week and I wanted to provide some commentary on it. Jon Foreman is a beast – he consistently churns out great content through multiple medias – recordings, articles, photo, film.


But I think Switchfoot really took a prominent place in my musical life when they released Hello Hurricane and I saw them play the entire album live. It was already a great album. I wanted to take Jess to a show, and I had never seen a band play through an entire album before (let alone an album that had just been released). November 27 2009 in Anaheim California at the House Of Blues at Downtown Disney (which probably increased the magic lol). Clem was there. Was Ben there?


Anyway, it was awesome. It was such a small, intimate venue. We stood immediately to the left of the mixing board. Jon Foreman had undeniable control of the stage and the band was in absolute control of their music. I had never seen a live show like it before. I’ve seen great shows, but I never felt such a connection to an artist through their live show.


I didn’t have a smart phone at the time, so I couldn’t take pictures or audio even if I wanted to. And looking back – I’m glad I don’t have any video or audio evidence I was there. I just have my memories, my souvenirs, and that’s how I want to remember it. It keeps the memory – the essence of the moment – pure. And I don’t think I’ll be forgetting that moment anytime soon. 

Set 1:

1. Needle and Haystack Life

2. Mess of Me

3. Your Love Is a Song

4. The Sound

5. Enough to Let Me Go

6. Free (Happy Is a Yuppie Word Intro)

7. Hello Hurricane

8. Always

9. Bullet Soul

10. Yet

11. Sing It Out

12. Red Eyes
    

Set 2:

1. Faust (by crowd request)

2. Stars (Shadow Proves the Sunshine medley)

3. Oh! Gravity.

4. Dirty Second Hands

5. Twenty Four

6. Dare You to Move

7. Meant to Live (Love Is the Movement intro)
   

Encore:

1. This Is Your Life

2. Awakening