Switchfoot and Sanctus Real Concert Last Night (8/17) :D

The short version: the concert was AWESOME. (and I'm not just saying that because they're two of my favorite bands.) If you didn't already know, I love Switchfoot. They are my favorite band of all time and I really like Sanctus Real too.

If you don't really care about or *gasp* even like either of these two bands I suggest you don't read the rest because it'll get really boring. Just leave with the knowledge that I highly recommend going to see either band them if you ever get the chance to see them live. :)

Anyway, I saw Switchfoot and Sanctus Real both play at the Powerlight Festival at the Illinios State Fair last night. Sanctus played at 6:30 and Switchfoot at 8:00. I went with my parents and a friend of mine (her name's Rachel). We got there at about 5:00 so we were just kind of wandering around for awhile because we didn't know (and didn't really like) the band that playing. We went over to look at the band merchandise to see what Switchfoot and Sanctus Real had. Switchfoot wasn't there yet but someone was setting up the Sanctus Real stuff. I looked over there and I swear I about fainted. It was Matt (guitar and lead vocals) and Steve (bass) from Sanctus Real. So we went over there and were just kind of talking to them and stuff when Rachel (who hadn't known who sanctus real was before that morning) looks at their poster and then at them and is like, "you're the in the band, aren't you?" They were the guys from the band of course and she bought a wrist band that said sanctus real on it and I bought their poster and they signed it for me. They're really nice guys if you ever get to meet them. Then we were looking for the other two guys from the band to have them sign the poster too. We spotted Chris (guitars) sitting to the side a little bit later working on his guitar so we went up to him and asked him if he would sign the poster. He did and then him and Rachel got into a discussion about guitars and stuff because she plays the guitar too. We saw Mark (drums) a little bit later and he signed my poster too so now I have the whole band! YAY! I'm going to hang it on my wall later today.

By this time it was about 6:15 and Sanctus Real was setting up thier equipment. Me and Rachel went and got seats right in front of the stage. She was literally leaning up against the stage and I was right behind her (she's short so I could see over her head). :) We were right in front of Chris so that was great. They played almost their whole CD and "Buddy Holly" by Weezer (great song) and Here I Am To Worship. Here I Am To Worship was my favorite part of their set. It was so awesome... It was just Matt playing and the rest of the band was singing along and so were most of the people in the crowd and it was just so cool. Rachel got really excited when she saw that Chris had a Weezer pin on his guitar strap and when they played "Buddy Holly" she FREAKED OUT! Lol... it was so funny. Everybody was jumping up and down and singing along and all of that other good stuff. :) Then at the end of "Say It Loud" (their last song) Chris threw Rachel his guitar pick, I guess because they had been talking about guitars earlier. Rachel is now obsessed with Chris and thinks he is the coolest person on the planet. He signed the pick for her when we ran into him later which might have had something to do with it. She gave him a hug and had me take a picture of her with him. I think I have one with her and either Mark or Steve too. So all in all, Sanctus Real was really good and I liked them a lot.

Okay, now Sanctus Real was good but Switchfoot was AWESOME. It was just... WOW! Right before Sanctus had started we'd seen them show up so Rachel and I walked over there and got to talk to Jerome (guitars and keyboards) and to Tim (bass and background vocals). They both signed the cover of my Beautiful Letdown CD (although Tim did sign it again later because he'd signed it in pen and it didn't show up very good) and we got to talk to Jerome for a couple minutes. He's REALLY nice. (Actually they all are.) Then we saw Sanctus Real and between their show and Switchfoot Rachel and I left for a minute to go get something to eat and some water because it was REALLY REALLY hot. (And it was humid.) When we went to eat we lost our really good spots so we ended up standing on the left side of the stage because the front was PACKED and we're both kind of short so we wouldn't of gotten to see anything. Standing over there actually ended up being a good thing because it got us noticed. ;) See Rachel had this glowing little stick thingy in her mouth (I know that made no sense but go with me here) and was yelling "I love you, Switchfoot!" between almost every song while we were both jumping up and down. Jerome was on the left side of the stage and kept looking over at us and laughing and shaking his head like, "oh brother." Hehe, it was so cool. Then one time when we yelled really loud Jon (lead vocals and guitars) heard us and said "I guess we have Switchfoot fans on the side of the stage too!" Then we yelled really loud again and he laughed. Jon's cool. :) Oh, and before they played "The Loser" (my theme song) Jon said this: "We write a lot of songs for the thinkers, the dreamers, and the believers. Here's a song for the losers." It rocked. Jon was climbing around on the speakers and they were all jumping around and it was just rad. Jon also did this cool guitar thing during "This Is Your Life" where he sings into his guitar. I know that makes no sense but it's really cool looking/sounding. They played "Meant To Live" last and at the end Jon was just singing "We were meant to live..." a couple of times and everyone in the croud was singing along and all of the sudden he was just like, "good night!" and they went off the stage. I was just like, "NO! It can't be over yet!" Apparantly, eveyone else felt the same way (NO ONE wanted them to leave) because they just kept on screaming so Switchfoot came back after a minute and played "Gone" and "The Beautiful Letdown". After that was over they really left.

We hung around for awhile after the concert and got to talk to Jerome again. Haha, he remembered us from before and from the side of the stage. We told him about how we drove (well, my parents) four hours to see them and how they should play in St. Louis more often because it's easier for us to get there. ;) It turned out that they had flown into St. Louis that morning and then drove to Springfield. He said they might play in St. Louis this fall and to check the website (I already do it all of the time) so I'm crossing my fingers. We got to get our picture taken with him and all of that cool stuff. After that we went back over to the merchandise and I got a Switchfoot shirt, Sanctus Real shirt, switchfoot poster, and switchfoot and sanctus real stickers. Rachel got a Switchfoot guitar pick necklace and some stickers. By this time, all of Switchfoot had made their way over there so I got the whole band to autograph my poster and my CD cover and they signed the back of one of Rachel's stickers. I also got to get a picture with Jon and one with Tim which just ROCKED. (Tim is actually kinda short because I'm only 5'1" and he was only a few inches taller than me. My dad kept refering to him as "that short little guy playing bass", haha.) Jerome saw Rachel and me up there again and he was like, "Rachel, you're here again?" (Jokingly of course.) The whole band actually remembered us as the people yelling on the side of stage. Good times...

We finally left at about 10 and drove home. *sigh* It was wonderful... the Switchfoot show was awesome... I can't even describe it. They're an amazing live band. Just if you ever get the chance to - go see them live. You won't regret it.

So there ends my Switchfoot and Sanctus Real concert story. (Sorry it was so long.) :)

The best part - Switchfoot's show and getting to talk to them afterwards

The worst part - it ended. (I already want to see them again!)