“The motto for this show is there is no motto. The rule is there is no rule, the plan is there is no plan. There are no white lines on the road and I don't know what lane we're in. We’re in this together, hurtling through time for the next hour or 12. Are you ready for that kind of adventure?”
This is how Jon Foreman, who daylights as the lead singer of San Diego alternative rock band Switchfoot, introduced his headlining night at the Lobero Theatre on April 10. Joined by cellist Keith Tutt and drummer Aaron Redfield, Foreman and Co. let the audience steer the way on a 90-minute, request-driven mix of unplugged Switchfoot hits and solo songs. Foreman was completely comfortable as the free-flowing maestro, proclaiming, “I love chaos.”
The communal, improvised feeling of the set was amplified in the intimate Lobero space, and in a way it felt like a cheery Sunday school service, with Foreman as the cool youth counselor. I mean that as a compliment: There was a real feeling of togetherness. Foreman sings worship music, but writes with a thoughtful and serious bent — he sings of life, death, and the meaning of it all. Christian or otherwise divinely inspired rockers can sometimes deal with these subjects in the lightest of lights, but Foreman shines a bit of shadow on his songs.