Story by:
Emily Tipping
The evening of August 15, it seemed as if the entire Salt Lake Valley climbed the foothills to Sandy Amphitheater in Sandy, Utah. Collective Soul and Switchfoot performed a co-bill concert that also featured the California country singer/songwriter Jade Jackson.
Jade was a fantastic opener for this packed mountain theater, playing a few of her own cuts and covering the Boss’s “Dancin’ In The Dark” with an energy level that Springsteen himself would recognize. Jade is a vibrant young girl with tons of potential, who earns this the opportunity to tour with two great alternative post-grunge bands.
Switchfoot, the tight and hard-hitting San Diego band, opened with “Take My Fire”. Jon Foreman, lead singer and guitarist who also plays harmonica, then kicked off “Stars” while getting the crowd’s arms waving side to-side in the air. He then had a fan bring a homemade Happy Birthday sign to the stage. It was made for Tim Foreman, the brother of Jon, who plays bass in the band.
Then, as to give him a gift, Jon turned to Tim and said, “Well, what to you want to play?” Tim then launched into “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys. Jon then ran up and down the steps through the crowd singing the difficult breath-control song. It was impressive to see and hear the stamina these guys still have. Jon then treated us with some call and response with his harp in hand, still in crowd, far away echoing with guitarist, Drew Shirley, who was still on stage. The fist-pumps and high-fives continue through the next song, “Bull In China Shop”. It was fitting for the way Jon acted in the crowd, powerful and fearless, even though he said he can tell that he’s not at sea level. (the venue is about 4,450 feet above sea level) As he made his way back to the stage, the initial sounds of the band new “If I Were You” ring out. Then “Where The Light Shines Though” and “Dark Horses” that had a silky-soft “Kashmir” Zeppelin center. The accordion came out for “Hello Hurricane” and the bubbles appeared for “Float”. Pink mountains to the east enhanced the feeling behind “Florescent” and a Happy Birthday song sang from the crowd for Tim. Jade returned to the stage to join the band singing “I Won’t Let You Go”. Jon then appeared on the sound booth’s roof-top with an acoustic guitar and mic stand, wowing the fans with his rendition, “Dare You To Move”. “Where I Belong” demonstrated great timing skills as the drummer, Chad Butler must have had a metronome in his pocket. The popular “Meant To Live” was a phenomenal finisher. Jon was wrapped in a fan flag, wearing a fan’s bracelet and holding his guitar above his head for the last note to ring out.
Collective Soul got the crowd back on their feet again opening with “Precious Declaration”. Then the catchy new “All Of our Pieces” sung by Ed Roland who showed he too still had vivacious energy. He used his entire body to play his guitar, swang his mic stand around with his feet, while at the same time demonstrating his distinct pipes are still as strong as ever. “Heavy” made the crowd go crazy wild, this 90’s hit had such great guitar riffs, a dancin’ rhythm and killer lyrics.
Ed appeared behind the piano, adorned a glittered face and floral suit he started “Shine” as the crowd sang back-up through the entire song. Ed announced that they have more music coming out and leaped into “Undone” and sang with drummer, Johnny Rabb. Bassist Will Turpin continued to rock with Jesse Triplett on lead guitar for “Better Now”. Ed then covered “Bob Dylan Where Are You Today” while digging into his raspy voice. It was timely and beautiful. “December” was played with an acoustic bluesy intro, as the stars came out the enormous crowd took over on lyrics. R.E.M’s “The One I Love” was next as Ed’s voice harmonized perfectly with his brother Michael Dean Roland. Then the hit, “The World I Know” was played followed by “Right As Rain”. The band then skipped the break to be called back for the encore to allow for more time to play. They launched into “Gel”, then the loud, powerful and strong “Where The River Flows”. The crowd danced under Ursa Major’s gaze and clapped and sang along. To make the most of the time still left until a strict 10 o’clock curfew, the band followed Ed for a short sweet “Run” that closed out the set with only a minute to spare.
All three sets were captivating. Nobody wanted to leave their seats except to move to the energizing music, nobody left early, and nobody wanted it to end. Make sure you to get a chance to see this line-up while on this fall tour. The last co-bill is on Sep. 17th at Pompano Beach, Florida and the last date for Collective Soul (solo) is Sep. 25th in Dallas, Texas.
