#SicEmSwitchfoot

WOW.  Tonight I had the opportunity to see my *FAVORITE BAND EVER* perform live here at Baylor.

I can’t remember a time when Switchfoot’s music wasn’t in my life.  I did a little research, and I was able to trace my fan years all the way back to 1999 (yeah, I was 6!). I first heard them on the soundtrack for A Walk to Remember with the song Only Hope and immediately fell for Jon Foreman’s one-of-a-kind voice.  Dare You to Move was 2000.  Talk about making me feel old! 13 YEARS ago.  The rest is history.  I’ve had every one of their albums and know probably at least 90% of all their lyrics.

As I think back on my childhood and teenage years, I can think of so many vivid memories I have that involve singing along “at the top of my lungs” with my sister on family road trips, learning Twenty-Four in my early guitar years, or contemplating life decisions with songs like Restless and This is Your Life playing loud in my car.  Their music never fails to be the ultimate combination of thought-provoking lyrics, melodies you can’t help but join in and belt out, and overall true artistry.

As if seeing them perform some of my favorite songs with pretty good seats plus a premiere of their Fading West feature documentary (so good and a neat look into their lives on the road) wasn’t enough to make this girl already excited, something else happened…

They had said they would answer questions fans had for them on Twitter during the intermission between the film viewing and the concert portion.  Of course I tweeted about five different questions with no real thought that anything would come of it.  Here’s the kinds of things I asked:

 They come out on stage, we all go crazy, they give a little intro, more screaming…Before they start playing, Jon says they had a few questions to answer first.

They each pull out some pieces of paper from their pockets (I guess they were writing down their favorites during the intermission as they saw them on Twitter).

JON FOREMAN THEN SAYS, “JESSIE PRICE!”and continues to read my question… 

My heart stopped and crazy fan-girl screaming commenced so he would know where I was in the crowd.  The question they answered was the instruments one, and Jon said he was so honored that I would say that! I’m literally dying at this point that I basically just had a conversation with my long-time musical/Godly/down-to-earth/Cali-surfer/singer-songwriter man crush in front of a few thousand people in Waco Hall.

The rest of the concert was incredible, and I was singing every word. It was the perfect mix of old and new, and I am even more stoked for the new full album to come out.  They ended the show, gave a “campfire-acoustic-style” encore, and I even headed over to Common Grounds when I heard they were hanging out and having an unplugged after show in the coffee shop’s backyard until close (yeah, even better).

Their last song they sang at the concert was one of the best – Where I Belong.  It’s a song about us not being made for this world, but always waiting to arrive in the place we really belong – when we meet our Creator face to face.  It’s an anthem that sets our eyes on Heaven and was so cool to sing with other Switchfoot fans and full-of-faith believers.

Feeling like a refugee
Like it don’t belong to me
The colors flash across the sky

This air feels strange to me
Feeling like a tragedy
I take a deep breath and close my eyes
One last time
One last time

Storms on the wasteland
Dark clouds on the plains again
We were born into the fight

But I’m not sentimental
This skin and bones is a rental
And no one makes it out alive

Until I die I’ll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Feels like we’re just waiting, waiting
While our hearts are just breaking, breaking
Feels like we’ve been fighting against the tide

I wanna see the earth start shaking
I wanna see a generation
Finally waking up inside

Until I die I’ll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

This body’s not my own
This world is not my own
But I still can hear the sound
Of my heart beating out
So let’s go boys, play it loud

On the final day I die
I want to hold my head up high
I want to tell You that I tried
To live it like a song

And when I reach the other side
I want to look You in the eye
And know that I’ve arrived
In a world where I belong

Where I belong

I still believe we can live forever
You and I we begin forever now
Forever now
Forever
I still believe in us together
You and I we’re here together now
Together now
Forever now
Forever now
Forever now