The Hope College Concert Series and Young Life are teaming up to welcome Switchfoot to the DeVos Fieldhouse on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m.
The San Diego-based band has often combined a spiritual bent with a critique of some of modern society's hypocrisies on songs like the Top-Five singles "Dare You to Move" and "Meant to Live," as well as tracks such as "Politicians" and "Happy is a Yuppie Word," from the group's last album, 2005's "Nothing is Sound."
The group was founded in 1996 by brothers Jon and Tim Foreman, along with Chad Butler on drums, as Chin Up. After only a handful of shows, they were signed by Charlie Peacock to re:think Records as "Switchfoot," a surfing term meaning to shift one's feet on the board to take a new stance facing the opposite direction.
The band released three independent albums, "The Legend of Chin" (1997), "New Way to Be Human" (1999) and "Learning to Breathe" (2000), which turned out to be its first gold album, selling 500,000 copies.
The band was signed by Columbia Records, which put out 2003's "The Beautiful Letdown," selling two million albums in the U.S. alone and producing two Top-10 Pop and Modern Rock singles, "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move." Last year, the band put out "Nothing is Sound," which debuted at #3 on the "Billboard Top 200 Albums" chart and promptly went gold while yielding the radio hit "Stars."
Coming off three hit records in a row, the band is now touring in support of its new album, "Oh! Gravity," which is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, Dec. 26.
Switchfoot's expanding musical scope can be heard on the sawing alt-country of "Head Over Heels," the exotic instrumentation and Middle Eastern flavor of "Circles," the REM-esque pulse of "4:12," the lush Brit-pop melodies of "Yesterdays," the Echo and the Bunnymen/Smiths influenced "Burn Out Bright" and Motown sound of "Amateur Lovers."
Tickets for Switchfoot's concert are on sale to the public for $26 at the ticket office in the main lobby of the DeVos Fieldhouse, which is located at 222 Fairbanks Ave., between Ninth and 11th streets. Tickets may also be purchased by calling (616) 395-7890. The ticket office is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.