Christian Contemporary Music story: The Switchedfeet meets Switchfoot
“Wow! The Philippines are off the hook. Seriously. Off the chain. Off the richter. Off the charts. See, jerome is the finest human being on the planet. (This is a well known fact. Find me one person who will dispute that and I will cease to call it as such.) And now I know that the country of his birth is filled with extraordinary folks as well. So much energy in the room tonight! one of my favorite nights of noise ever.” - Jon Foreman (check here for the complete blog)
“Wow! The Philippines are off the hook. Seriously. Off the chain. Off the richter. Off the charts. See, jerome is the finest human being on the planet. (This is a well known fact. Find me one person who will dispute that and I will cease to call it as such.) And now I know that the country of his birth is filled with extraordinary folks as well. So much energy in the room tonight! one of my favorite nights of noise ever.” - Jon Foreman (check here for the complete blog)
"jon made the claim early on in the day, before the show even started, that he thought tonight would be one of his favorite shows ever, and i don't think it disappointed. tonight was nuts. i have never heard a crowd flip out more. one of the best things i have ever seen is when jon went around and introduced everyone, leaving romey for last. jon basically just turned in romey's direction, and the crowd just went insane. then he got on the mic and said some stuff in tagalog and everyone freaked out again." - Andy Barron of Daily Foot (check here for the complete blog)
the Switchjeep
The concert was just so full of energy that even if I only ate breakfast and a little of what Reeya baked, I was jumping up and down, singing and all that! We transferred to Tim’s side after the fifth song, and finished the concert there (with some interesting things happening too!).
What an experience. This is definitely one of the best nights of my life." - Tina of the Street Team (Check here for the complete blog)
Speaking of the Street Team, here’s my own story while I am working with the group.
It all started on July 13. I received an email from my friend, Rhonee (owner of the Switchfootphils yahoo group) in Singapore telling me that Switchfoot is coming to town on Sept 10. Immediately I confirmed the news with Jomar, my friend from WWAI. I asked if I can join the Street Team and then he referred me to Reeya (from One MountainTop), the producer. So that’s how I got in. My only purpose in joining the Street Team then was to somehow represent the SF Yahoo Group where I am a moderator while the owner, Rhonee, is in Singapore. Oh, and hopefully meet the band too. Never did I think there was more and more than what I hoped for.
I can still hear Reeya saying “Street Team, we can't afford to be star struck”. But how can I not get star struck upon seeing , as Tina addressed him, The Jon Foreman and the rest of the band. Look, I have their six studio CDs, 3 of which I bought in the US when they were not available here. Four of my barkada at work are Switchfoot fanatics. The only songs in my ipod since day one of the concert prep are their songs. And for 2 months, all I talk about with friends is Switchfoot, my office cube is decorated with switchfoot posters, and my laptop screensaver is Switchfoot. I mean how can I not get star struck now that I am seeing them up close here at the NAIA.
At the airport. The guys were so friendly, down-to-earth, approachable, funny, and have no star complex. They were even the ones who introduce themselves first. As if they needed to. Anyway, Drew’s first words when he approached us was “Asteeeeeeeg!” I thought he looked tipsy. Hahaha! Maybe they're tired but still are very accomodating. Jon took a video of us for the podcast. We were supposed to say “Mabuhay! Welcome to the Philippines Swichfoot!”. We were to say it in English and Tagalog but all we can say was “Mabuhey!" (hahaha we’re star struck)
After every one was introduced to every body, I, Erik, and Grace hitched with Tuesday in going back to the hotel. Inside Tue's car we realized we did not take a single picture at the airport though I have my cam in my pocket. Star struck! Hahaha! So at the hotel lobby, we did not let the photo op slip again. I got a good shot with Tim and Jerome. I posted these 2 pics later that day and a friend and a lister in WWAI cried out of envy.
I could have stayed at the hotel but decided to go back to Cavite. I was in Cavite 4:12am took a nap and ready for the big night!
The Big Night Itself? I’m out of words how to describe it. That’s why I borrowed some testimonies from those in my network and place them at the start of this post to help me define the euphoria that night. And here are some more:
My Personal 30 Minutes of Fame
During the StreetTeam/Switchfoot Meet and Greet session, Tuesday was showing the posters to Drew. These posters will be signed by SF and will be given to qualified ticket holders later after the show. Tue told Drew that I designed those posters so Drew turned to me and had these words to say:
“Hey man, I was told you did these posters. You know what, we can sue you for infringement of copyrighted materials. So we have to confiscate all these posters, take them with us and we have to take you too…
... so you can be our official graphic design artist.”
All I could say was “wooohooo! Yes! I like that!” And everyone was in laughter.
I learned that the guys liked the poster and brought some with them. I also personally gave them button pins based on the poster design and I was really glad they liked them. Andy Barron (artist/photographer) gave me his calling card so I can send a soft copy of the poster. (Uh oh! Will I go to jail?)
Later that night I distributed the posters. I was signing their tickets after giving away the poster. Hey look, I am also signing my autograph… hahahah!
It was then I realized that these fans are queuing in lines for my poster. Okay! Okay! I know it’s the band’s signatures they’re after. But it still feels good you know, esp when some of them were begging just to get one.
The following day after the concert, I spent the whole day and almost the whole night staring at my signed copy of the Switchjeep poster ...and wishing Drew would hire me. Hahaha! Libre mangarap.
the Switchjeep
...ooOoo...
"Everything still feels so surreal...I’ve never seen such an awesome performance up close! The energy was amazing! And everything sounded so good, I was hoarse by the third song! We were standing at the side of the stage by Jerome, and we were cheering him on. Amazing person, really.The concert was just so full of energy that even if I only ate breakfast and a little of what Reeya baked, I was jumping up and down, singing and all that! We transferred to Tim’s side after the fifth song, and finished the concert there (with some interesting things happening too!).
What an experience. This is definitely one of the best nights of my life." - Tina of the Street Team (Check here for the complete blog)
...ooOoo...
These are a few of the many testimonies I came across with in cyber space pertaining to the recent visit of Switchfoot to Manila. It is great that it’s not only us the Filipino fans that enjoyed their visit. The guys themselves loved the fans, the energy that night, the experience they had in their very limited time to roam around, and the overwhelming warmth and love we showed them from the people who organized the show, to all Street Team and IJM volunteers, and, of course the fans....ooOoo...
It all started on July 13. I received an email from my friend, Rhonee (owner of the Switchfootphils yahoo group) in Singapore telling me that Switchfoot is coming to town on Sept 10. Immediately I confirmed the news with Jomar, my friend from WWAI. I asked if I can join the Street Team and then he referred me to Reeya (from One MountainTop), the producer. So that’s how I got in. My only purpose in joining the Street Team then was to somehow represent the SF Yahoo Group where I am a moderator while the owner, Rhonee, is in Singapore. Oh, and hopefully meet the band too. Never did I think there was more and more than what I hoped for.
...ooOoo...
Fast Forward – Sept 10, 2007, 12:00 AM. I was at the NAIA with Reeya, and Street Team members Tuesday, Tina, Happy, Erik, Grace, Jomar, Maan, Ogie, and Jordan to pick up Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman, Jerome Fontamillas, Chad Butler, Drew Shirley, and their tour companions Andy (graphics, photos, videos), Chris (tour manager), Ryan (the audio guy). Come again, pick up who? SWITCHFOOT, man... SWITCHFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!I can still hear Reeya saying “Street Team, we can't afford to be star struck”. But how can I not get star struck upon seeing , as Tina addressed him, The Jon Foreman and the rest of the band. Look, I have their six studio CDs, 3 of which I bought in the US when they were not available here. Four of my barkada at work are Switchfoot fanatics. The only songs in my ipod since day one of the concert prep are their songs. And for 2 months, all I talk about with friends is Switchfoot, my office cube is decorated with switchfoot posters, and my laptop screensaver is Switchfoot. I mean how can I not get star struck now that I am seeing them up close here at the NAIA.
At the airport. The guys were so friendly, down-to-earth, approachable, funny, and have no star complex. They were even the ones who introduce themselves first. As if they needed to. Anyway, Drew’s first words when he approached us was “Asteeeeeeeg!” I thought he looked tipsy. Hahaha! Maybe they're tired but still are very accomodating. Jon took a video of us for the podcast. We were supposed to say “Mabuhay! Welcome to the Philippines Swichfoot!”. We were to say it in English and Tagalog but all we can say was “Mabuhey!" (hahaha we’re star struck)
After every one was introduced to every body, I, Erik, and Grace hitched with Tuesday in going back to the hotel. Inside Tue's car we realized we did not take a single picture at the airport though I have my cam in my pocket. Star struck! Hahaha! So at the hotel lobby, we did not let the photo op slip again. I got a good shot with Tim and Jerome. I posted these 2 pics later that day and a friend and a lister in WWAI cried out of envy.
I could have stayed at the hotel but decided to go back to Cavite. I was in Cavite 4:12am took a nap and ready for the big night!
...ooOoo...
1 PM we were at the venue, Cuneta Astrodome (next time it will be anywhere but Cuneta… please!). Each Street Team member has his/her own role to contribute – seats prep, making badges, selling shirts, tickets, taking care of the press, running errands, etc.. The best task I think was Jordan’s. Check here why. Anyway, each of us did a lot of hardwork from day 1 of the Street Team meeting, to the day it self, till the last meeting after the concert. BUT IT'S ALL WORTH IT.The Big Night Itself? I’m out of words how to describe it. That’s why I borrowed some testimonies from those in my network and place them at the start of this post to help me define the euphoria that night. And here are some more:
"That was the best concert i've ever attended! They played all my favorite songs! (yeah, they even played chem6A!) It was pure 'nirvana' last night. I was singin' at the top my lungs! Wah! Cloud 9 pa rin ako. May math exam mamya pero di pa nag proprocess utak ko ngayon." - Ysrael of SFPhils"astig! sobra! yung line up it was really great...oh! gravity...stars...dare u to move...gone...this is ur life...chem6A..american dream..awakening..meant to live...only hope...the cowboy song(manila version),on fire...more than fine...we are one! hanep! sobrang saya talaga kagabi." - Yanz of SFPhils"Yeah, I'm still on a switchfoot hangover. That was probably the best concert I've been to in a really long time. And i got an autographed shirt! Wheeeee! Salamin rocked too..." - Ida of SFPhils"Whoa. I still can't absorb everything that happened last night. The holding Jon's hand, Tim's super gel-ed hair (and he smiled at me at my friends!), Chad seeing the little black notebook me and my friends worked hard on, ROMEY BEING WELCOMED BACK TO HIS HOMELAND :), and Drew and his super cool white flare pants(and how he smiled at me and my friends when we waved at him) - purplesky of SFPhils
"best concert i've ever been to! haha. thanks guys, the count down, the tix hardwork. haha. thanks to those generous people behind the affair. switchfoot=awesome." - Dane of SFPhils
"hehe... masaya! kaso bitin! sana nakanta yung 24, the shadow proves the sunshine, beautiful letdown at loser... hehe... pero ayos! i enjoyed the balut eating!" - Harriet of WWAI"it was a great concert ! anong song yung nagpause sila ng matagal...kala ko the crowd would tire out for cheering and screaming...waiting for them to finally move..hehehe.." - gen of WWAI
"me too! i was jumping and dancing about 90% of the time. Kaya nga lang bitin talaga.. it was fun though. Ang cool ng balut session hehe.." - eramarie of WWAI
...ooOoo...
During the StreetTeam/Switchfoot Meet and Greet session, Tuesday was showing the posters to Drew. These posters will be signed by SF and will be given to qualified ticket holders later after the show. Tue told Drew that I designed those posters so Drew turned to me and had these words to say:
“Hey man, I was told you did these posters. You know what, we can sue you for infringement of copyrighted materials. So we have to confiscate all these posters, take them with us and we have to take you too…
... so you can be our official graphic design artist.”
All I could say was “wooohooo! Yes! I like that!” And everyone was in laughter.
I learned that the guys liked the poster and brought some with them. I also personally gave them button pins based on the poster design and I was really glad they liked them. Andy Barron (artist/photographer) gave me his calling card so I can send a soft copy of the poster. (Uh oh! Will I go to jail?)
Later that night I distributed the posters. I was signing their tickets after giving away the poster. Hey look, I am also signing my autograph… hahahah!
It was then I realized that these fans are queuing in lines for my poster. Okay! Okay! I know it’s the band’s signatures they’re after. But it still feels good you know, esp when some of them were begging just to get one.
The following day after the concert, I spent the whole day and almost the whole night staring at my signed copy of the Switchjeep poster ...and wishing Drew would hire me. Hahaha! Libre mangarap.
...ooOoo...
To Switchfoot, Maraming Salamat! Astig kayo!
To Reeya and the Street Team, Maraming Salamat! Astig tayo! Till next time.
…speaking of next time, the guys promised there will definitely be one.
more pics here
To Switchfoot, Maraming Salamat! Astig kayo!
To Reeya and the Street Team, Maraming Salamat! Astig tayo! Till next time.
…speaking of next time, the guys promised there will definitely be one.
more pics here
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