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Loud, yes. Clear, no.Mar 04 '01 (Updated May 06 '03) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Supertones - fun, but only if you know most of their songs.
Switchfoot - energetic and quirky; well worth seeing.
Relient K - promising young punk band that rocks live!
Performers: The Supertones with Switchfoot and Relient K Date of Concert: Friday, March 2, 2001 Location: Yorba Linda Friends Church, Yorba Linda, CA Price: $10 (general admission) I was uncertain of what to expect when a friend (known on this site as fadethecat) and I fought Friday rush-hour traffic to drive from Pasadena down to Orange County for the closest stop on the Supertones’ “Loud and Clear Dance Party USA Tour”. Other than two friends who moved to North Carolina and caught the tour last month, I didn't know anyone who was interested in the Supertones as well as the opening bands, Switchfoot and Relient K. I like them all, and other than a brief set by Switchfoot, I hadn’t seen any of them live. fadethecat had borrowed my Relient K album and been fairly amused by it, so she decided to come along just for fun. We ended up deciding that we got our money’s worth, but let’s just say that like the typical Christian rock concert, it had its elements that we had to take with a grain of salt. The Venue The concert took place in what appeared to be an overblown youth barn up on a hill at Yorba Linda Friends Church, not far from where the Supertones (once a rudeboy Christian ska band, now a full-blown, in-your-face, rock-with-horns group that was wise to move away from the ska trend before the ship sunk completely) got their start – they even made reference to having played at the church in their early days. The setup was typical – take a crowd of mostly Christian teenagers and pack them tightly into a room with little to no seating available, set up some charity booths on the side (and make sure you get a spokesman to come up on stage between bands and guilt-trip the kids for not contributing), perhaps get a stage hand or concert promoter or local pastor on stage before the show starts up just to make sure everyone still knows how to applaud and scream like maniacs at every token mention of the name of Jesus, and you’re good to go. If I seem cynical, it’s because I’ve been to enough of these things to tell the cheerleading bands apart from the bands who just want to take the art God has inspired them with and share it with all who will listen. Though Switchfoot and Relient K, both young and promising bands, lean a little more toward the artistic and just good plain fun side of things, the Supertones definitely tend toward cheerleading. Hey, I still like these bands, but often seeing them live makes or breaks my impression of their ministry. Relient K The barely-out-of-high-school pop-punk foursome started things off with quite a bang. Lead singer Matt Thiessen, though he sounded slightly off-key at times, kept the songs infused with energy and entertained the audience with juvenile but witty quips in between songs. Not surprisingly, they started with “Hello McFly”, a jumpy, bass-driven track about wanting to go back in time and clean up after mistakes that have been made. Their set included high-energy renditions of their radio hits “Wake Up Call” and “My Girlfriend” (the wacky, campy ode to a former lover who was “eaten” by Marilyn Manson), an abbreviated version of “Staples”, and a crowd-pleasing, if oddly placed closer – the theme song to “Charles in Charge”. There were also some humorous moments where the band was clearly out to have a good time without any particular religious agenda (always good to see in a young band), such as their off-kilter cover of a song that Thiessen claimed they “wrote a while ago but sold to another band for fifty bucks”, also known as the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”. This of course got the young girls screaming and the rest of the crowd laughing. Apparently the girls think Thiessen’s pretty cute, and his imitation of a boy-band crooner was good enough that he could have gone down that path if he wanted to, and thank God he didn’t! Relient K may have their share of silly songs, but at least the audience can laugh with them without the band needing to resort to the immature and often vulgar humor of bands like Blink 182. The band also treated us to two new songs – “Pressing On” was definitely more radio-ready than much of the stuff on their current album, and will likely become this band’s “All the Small Things”, while “Sadie Hawkins Dance” reminded me of an odd mixture of Blink and the Beach Boys, complete with falsetto “oh-oh-oh”s and a harmony that was somewhat reminiscent of something straight out of the 50’s or 60’s. These should both be big hits when their new album comes out. Matt was even nice enough to write a song about the experience he had in town earlier that day, entitled “Don’t Break Your Foot and Go to the Hospital in Yorba Linda, Because They’ll Charge You Fifty Bucks and Tell You to Take Some Advil”. How touching. (It’s possible that they were doing a variation on that one at every stop on the tour, but I’m not sure.) The band had a great stage presence, thanks to the guitarist’s harmony vocals and the bass player’s relentless movement around the stage – this man is really into his instrument! I mentioned to my companion after they finished that I’d already had my ten bucks’ worth. She agreed. Set List: Hello McFly Staples My Girlfriend I Want It That Way Wake Up Call Yorba Linda Hospital Song Pressing On Sadie Hawkins Dance Charles in Charge/Leavin’ on a Jet Plane Switchfoot This surfer threesome from San Diego plays an inspiring, quirky an entertaining brand of alternative rock, and tonight they were in even better form than when I saw them opening for Delirious? on their Mezzamorphis tour. They seemed to pick up on Relient K’s love for wacky covers, since they opened with a rendition of the 80’s song “Footloose”. I was pleased that they played all of my favorites from their second album New Way to Be Human, including a rather punkish version of “Something More” (which is heavily programmed on the album), the wacky ode to corporate America “Company Car”, the calm acoustic ballad “Let That Be Enough”, and the up-tempo sing-along “New Way to Be Human”, which was unfortunately a little too bass-heavy for the audience to hear much else. From their latest album Learning to Breathe, the band performed their latest radio hits “You Already Take Me There” (which unfortunately didn’t come off with quite the amount of energy it has on the album) and “Learning to Breathe”, which is a softer, poppier track but was played a little faster live, giving it more momentum. They also picked two fuzzier, more alternative rockers – “The Loser” (an ode to the spiritually down-and-out which was only slightly marred by lead singer Jon Foreman reading off a few Beatitudes in the middle and interjecting some annoying reggae-style “ay-oh”s that seemed a bit out of place) and the garage-rock ode to pop music and celebrities, “Poparazzi”. The only track they picked from their debut album The Legend of Chin was their first big hit, the sloppy slacker anthem “Chem 6A”. I would have liked to hear “Underwater” as well as a number of other tracks from the latest album, but I guess you can’t please everyone. Jon Foreman and his brother Tim Foreman fronted the band with a considerable amount of charm and energy, and Chad Butler was a live wire on the drums as always. Their set only became unbearable at one point following “Let that Be Enough” when they transitioned awkwardly into an unoriginal cover of “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever”, the widely known modern worship anthem that was made popular by Delirious?, and needs to be left to Delirious?. Set list: Footloose Something More (Augustine’s Confession) You Already Take Me There Company Car The Loser Let That Be Enough I Could Sing of Your Love Forever Learning to Breathe Poparazzi Chem 6A New Way to Be Human The Supertones After some last minute crowd-hyping and begging for charity money (along with an honestly heartfelt prayer request for the persecuted Christians in Sudan, a cause which could stand to have a little more awareness among Christians), the boys from Orange County took the stage, dressed in preppy school uniforms with the letter “S” emblazoned on the front that had to be quite uncomfortable! It didn’t hamper the Tones’ energy at all, though – they opened with “Escape from Reason”, their loud, bold indictment of the church’s frivolous usage of “bumped sticker doctrine and cute catch phrases”. Unfortunately, the lyrics were nearly impossible to make out amongst the rest of the mix, as were the horns, so much of their set suffered from a lack of poignancy and musical diversity (especially for people like my companion, who only knew two or three of their songs). I have to say that watching lead singer Matt Morginsky looked a little weird with his preppy outfit as he practically spit the lyrics into the microphone, but you had to hand it to him for keeping his energy level maintained throughout the show in that outfit! The set continued with what was truly a great cross-section of the band’s discography, covering most of their big radio hits and hitting a few sleeper hits along the way. Listeners who knew enough of their songs would have enjoyed the shift back and forth from older, more traditional ska songs such as the wistful “Resolution” and the bouncy, rude-boy styled “O.C. Supertones” (which included a hearty call-and-response of “Where are you guys from?” “ORANGE COUNTY!!!” and a humorous false ending in which the band members purposefully couldn’t get their timing down quite right), to newer material such as the rough-and-tumble rap anthems “Grounded” and “Return of the Revolution” and the hard-reggae-styled “What It Comes to” (during which Morginsky did an excellent job of making up for the absence of Toby Mac, who sings/raps on the album version). The concert had a decent mix of fun, upbeat moments, and slightly softer, more reverent songs (thougb many of them were still fast-paced and hard to decipher, which killed the worshipful spirit at times), although I really could have done without the pointless dance contest in the middle of the set. It was basically a lame excuse to get a few young fans on the stage, and while I appreciate audience participation, I come for the music and not for the fooling around. I also could have done without the worship set near the end of the concert – it made the show feel too much like a church service. Bass player Tony Terusa is a good motivational speaker, and the band can disguise themselves as a traditional worship band without much effort, but their choice of songs (“Open the Eyes of My Heart”, “Holiness”, “Amazing Grace”) was rather tired, and they didn’t do much to incorporate them into their own style – no horns or nothing. I’m all for a band taking time out to be mellow and allow the audience to worship God, but I don’t think it means that they should have to sound like a different band. It nullifies their usual musical style – makes it look somehow “less spiritual” in comparison. I found my moments of worship in songs like “Wilderness” (a strikingly honest song about suffering in the life of the Christian) and “Away from You” – even they cheesy, spell-everything-out-like-we’re-at-a-campfire song, “Hallelujah”. Fortunately, the pace picked back up as they returned to normal Supertone mode with the ominously mournful intro to “Little Man” (one of the only songs that fadethecat knew, but one that she really enjoyed), and continuing into the ode to serving God on the bad days, “Jury Duty”, and another rapidfire, hardcore call for Christians to rise up and fight back against false teachings and complacency, “Return of the Revolution”. Of course they had to come back for an encore, and they chose another blistering rap anthem from their earlier days, “Unite”, and then closed with their token mellow acoustic track, “Refuge (In Conclusion)” (which is a nice thought, but a bit of a ripoff of what Green Day did with “Time of Your Life”). Overall, the band was a lot of fun, even if I was surprised at the omission of their coming-back-to-California theme song “Chase the Sun” and their first big hits “Adonai” and “Who Can Be Against Me”. I was glad, however, that they stayed out of the back half of their newest album, which isn’t nearly as interesting as the front half. It was a special show for the ‘Tones, since they were on their home turf, and their old drummer Jason Carson (who left for youth ministry) was present, and got some action on stage with them during “Unite”. It would have been nice to stick around for autographs, but with a rather rabid crowd, the heat in the room, the sheer length of the show (3 hours plus, thanks to two meaty opening sets), fade’s tired feet, and my scratchy voice, we cut out as quickly as possible after the final note of “Refuge”. Set List: Escape from Reason Louder than the Mob Resolution What It Comes to Grounded Supertones Strike Back Dance Contest Hallelujah O.C. Supertones Wilderness Away from You Worship Set: Open the Eyes of My Heart Holiness Amazing Grace Little Man Jury Duty Return of the Revolution Encore: Unite Refuge (In Conclusion) Overall, I’d recommend catching this tour since it’s relatively inexpensive for three good bands. Honestly, we could have left after Switchfoot and felt the satisfaction of a great concert. The Supertones are a lot of fun to experience live, but they don’t manage to entertain passing fans as much because it’s hard to tell many of their songs apart if you can’t listen carefully to the lyrics. Relient K, in my opinion, stole the show with their youthful, carefree energy, and Switchfoot made a fine showing as well. Both are bands that I will definitely enjoy watching as they mature over the years (Switchfoot has already matured quite a bit, actually, but they still have a little room to do so in their live set.) As for the Supertones – I don’t regret it, but I think seeing them once was enough for me. My Ratings: Relient K: 5 stars Switchfoot: 4 stars Supertones: 3 stars Show Overall: 4 stars  |
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