If you love crowd-surfing, confetti cannons, vintage grills (yes, for cooking) and random buffaloes and haven't had a chance to see the "Looking for America" tour yet this fall, you are seriously missing out.
Relient K and Switchfoot have been on tour together since the start of this fall and will continue to travel over to the west coast until late November. With both bands having released new albums this year, it's truly a show you don't want to miss. If new albums, old favorites and amazing light shows don't capture your interest enough, here are some reasons why you definitely need to invest in one of the best concert experiences to wrap up 2016:
1. This concert had the best mix of chill, relaxing music and music that made you jump and fist pump and sing along like it was actually your own concert.
The opener, Relient K, had a wonderful "campy" feel of feel-good songs that you know and love but also a decent amount of old favorites that just make you so happy. Switchfoot also surprised the crowd with some serious throwbacks, as well as a powerful message with some of their new songs.
2. "Air For Free" is probably the greatest comeback album ever.
If you're as avid of a fan of Relient K as I am, you probably had some questions with "Collapsible Lung," their previous album before "Air for Free." It was very different from their usual style, and some of those song lyrics made you go, "...wait, what? This is Relient K?" So naturally when "Air for Free" came out you were understandably skeptical, but the second you heard their teaser single "Bummin'" it was like, "There's the Relient K I know and love!" By far one of their best albums yet -- 10 out of 10 would recommend.
3. "Where the Light Shines Through" has some seriously amazing songs that were made to be performed.
Similar to "Vice Verses," Switchfoot's newest album maintains their style and throws in a little twist with some unexpected rock songs you can't help but dance to. Trust me, songs like "Holy Water" and "If the House Burns Down Tonight" were made for a screaming crowd.
4. Jon Foreman crowd-surfed more than once and also just got into the crowd many times.
One minute he's up on stage, the next he's right beside you giving you his microphone to sing along. Switchfoot was probably the greatest interactive show I've ever been to -- you felt like you've known Jon Foreman your whole life as he just walked into the crowd like, "Oh hey guys, let's sing together." Many times the crowd would start singing the lyrics, and he would just stop and aim the microphone at us saying, "You guys know this better than I do." Such a fun, friendly environment.
5. Relient K had a lit grill on stage, as well as their beloved buffalo, Dermike.
Right before they opened, a stagehand went over to this little red grill on stage and literally lit it with a lighter. We were like... so are they gonna grill some hotdogs for us, or...? Also, the band has this large plastic buffalo they bring on tour with them named Dermike. He was just chilling on stage with them next to the piano. It was wonderful.
6. The mixing of the two bands was SO PERFECT and unexpected, you just lost your mind.
Not trying to give away any spoilers, but Relient K and Switchfoot joined the stage together more than once, and not just to sing each others' songs. I'm just gonna leave it at that. Think about it....
Moral of the story, you need to go check out these tour dates here and choose your day because this is the greatest mix of bands that absolutely cannot be missed.
