Cross Rhythms' Helen Whitall went to all of the UK and Ireland concerts by Californian rockers SWITCHFOOT. Here's what she saw and heard.

28th October 2017, Limelight, Belfast
View: Front right, in front of Drew
Today may have started with two of the worst cups of tea I have ever consumed, but it certainly improved from there. Tonight's venue was a brick built club, larger than Dublin's and plastered in band posters. And it was cold again; I had to keep my scarf on until Switchfoot started.

The band opened with "Afterlife" (from 'Vice Verses'), a request from sound check that wasn't played, which was a nice touch. They sounded amazing, especially Drew's guitar work. Again they followed with "Stars" and then played "Oh! Gravity". I loved how much they played this one, it's probably my favourite live. To begin with Jon was having some trouble with vocal effects on the pedal but it nonetheless sounded as epic as ever. And they rocked. Then they played "Your Love Is A Song", then "Bull In A China Shop" and "Love Alone Is Worth The Fight". I just love watching Jon interact with people whilst singing in the crowd. They played "Needle And Haystack Life" (from 'Hello Hurricane') for the first time of the tour; this one really got the crowd singing. Drew was all hair tonight, really going for it. Although it wasn't on the setlist, Jon decided to go into "Only Hope", saying it felt right. Again he omitted the second verse. And then he introduced "I Won't Let You Go": "There's a lot of stuff going on in the world. I look at twitter, I get depressed. I look at the news, I get depressed. There are a lot of reasons to give up; but I realised a while back it's always going to be this way. I want to be aware of what's going on, but I also want to be aware of the transcendent love of the Maker himself. When I write songs I want to acknowledge the darkness in the world and within, but I don't want to let that be the end of the story."

As they played, the guys all had their eyes closed, as if each were playing to an audience of one. Suddenly the last thing anyone expected happened: Jon decided to "embrace the chaos", asking, "Any questions, comments or concerns?" (a tongue-in-cheek question he often asks at sound checks and aftershows) in the middle of the show, and it went weird! People were calling out "What's your favourite colour?" "When's the next album out?" "Do you want to come round for dinner?" "We're going surfing tomorrow, want to come?" It was hilarious! Somehow he managed to bring it back and play "Hello Hurricane" around the fancy mic. They again played the Thin Lizzy cover they'd had so much fun playing the previous night, the gleeful grins on their faces were infectious and we could tell they were having a blast. As with previous evenings they closed out the main part of the show with "If The House Burns Down Tonight", "Where I Belong" and "Meant To Live". And they stuck to the same encore routine, except that when it came to "Float" the disco ball was broken and chugged round super slowly, causing a lot of amusement. Then they finished with "Dare You To Move". Suddenly poignant, Jon said, "I never know how many more times I will be able to do this; I live each day like it's my last. Thank you for a beautiful last night in Belfast." He began the song with a yell and Tim filled in with lots of bass. And then it was over, the venue cleared to make way for a late night party.

30th October 2017, O2 Ritz, Manchester
View: Front right, in front of Drew
The Manchester venue was a large club with a black interior and a balcony running round that unfortunately was closed for this event.

Switchfoot again opened with the full electric version of "Hello Hurricane", which got everyone jumping. As on previous nights they followed up with "Stars", Jon making a lot of eye contact with the audience. Then he departed from the setlist to play "Needle And Haystack Life" before going into "Your Love Is A Song" and "Love Alone Is Worth The Fight". Then they played "I Won't Let You Go"; Jon spotted a little girl in the crowd sitting on her dad's shoulders. He went over to her and asked if she was having a good time. He said to all of us he often gets asked how to write songs and that he has found it difficult to answer, but that he has figured it out now - "start in the darkness and search for the light." Going back to the child, he said this song feels like a father holding his daughter; "I look at you and have to try not to cry," at which the whole crowd responded "Awww!" Next, Jon started "Dark Horses" with the slow, acoustic version of the chorus, before going into the usual rocked out version. It felt very moody and was really powerful to see played this way. Then he went into the crowd for "Bull In A China Shop" saying, "Can we get the party started?" Back on stage, they started playing "If The House Burns Down Tonight", and Jon started singing too late and caused a timing error, though he recovered it quickly, and the others - real professionals - were not phased. Then they played "24" round the fancy mic. It was acoustic right to the very end when the others drifted back into their positions and seamlessly brought in the full band - gorgeous. Then they played one of their favourite covers, The Verve's "Lucky Man". Again they ended on "Where I Belong", Jon again wearing my banner, and then "Meant To Live", and woah, did they rock hard! As "Float" began for the encore Jon came back on stage with a mouthful of water, and spat it out into the air like a fountain, which made us laugh. Tonight the disco ball was working, just a little slowly, but Jon crowd-surfed and successfully floated this time. He got everyone swaying for "Live It Well" before finishing with a heartfelt "Dare You To Move".

Afterwards we headed back out into the cold. There were doubts about an aftershow happening, but I wasn't leaving. I at least wanted to see them again. But then there was a tweet from Jon! He played right outside the venue just to the side of the bus to allow the other guys to get back on in peace, and played "Caroline", "On Fire" (from 'The Beautiful Letdown'), "Before Our Time" (from his 'Dawn' EP), and "Inheritance" for a couple expecting a baby. Referencing its lyrics he asked before he played it, "Does anyone remember payphones?" He told us how he used to have to get up at 3am on tour to call his wife, but that she had a huge family, so he'd spend forever dialling in the long code, mistyping etc, only to find the phone was engaged, again.

31st October 2017, O2 Forum, Kentish Town, London
View: Front right, between Jon and Drew
Now things were really starting to get disorientating after so much travel. Where were we, exactly? This show was at an actual large venue, with a second tier of seating and very ornately decorated.

Switchfoot once more opened with the full electric "Hello Hurricane" and got the crowd going, singing along and jumping. The crowd's energy tonight was fantastic where we were. During "Stars" Jon paused, smiling, to survey the crowd in a way I've seen many times previously, but hadn't seen yet this tour. It felt good already. "Stars" led straight into a vid of John M Perkins on the screen, introducing "The Sound"; it was an INSANE performance! I let go and danced like a crazy thing. Introducing "Your Love Is A Song" Jon said, "There's a theme to tonight's setlist. I believe in a love that's louder than hatred, louder than racism, that all our wrong notes in this symphony of life will be made right by the Composer himself." Then he jumped into the crowd for "Bull In A China Shop" and "Love Alone Is Worth The Fight", dedicating it to Chad as apparently this is yet another place he used to live. Jon wove his way through the crowd and worked us all from the back as though it were no different from any other venue I'd seen him play; even that large, two-tier crowd seemed just as engaged with his performance. Back up on stage, there were smiles and hugs between the guys and the crew. Beginning "I Won't Let You Go", there was a funny moment when Drew somehow made an accidental guitar noise. Jon told us tonight felt "like family, church, community. . .", and I had to agree. They played "If The House Burns Down Tonight" and then at the end of the song Jerome disappeared - and reappeared on the drums with Chad.

They played The Clash's "London Calling". Jon was all hair, definitely getting into his punk side. "Dark Horses" followed, then Jon fetched a ukulele that he had been given earlier by a fan. He said being given the uke he took as a sign since we're a long way from the islands and it doesn't happen often; he wanted to play one of his favourite songs that they've never played before as they wanted to bring something special out for London. . . and they played "The Edge Of The Earth" (from the EP of the same name). That EP is up there with my favourite recordings. They started all gathered around the fancy mic then returned to their positions for a truly epic ending. Wow. By the time they were closing out with "Where I Belong" and "Meant To Live" the energy was so high I felt Iwas back near Bristol heights of ecstasy, yelling and rocking out in absolute bliss. They again played "Float" as an encore, and despite the prominent "No Crowd Surfing" posters everywhere Jon did indeed float. There was an interlude with Jon talking about s'mores whilst introducing "Live It Well", and he got his old friend JJ up on stage for a shoutout to thank him for all he'd done to support them right from the start. And then they finished once again with "Dare You To Move" and Jon got the crowd lighting the stage with their phone lights. It was as pretty in real life as the pictures I'd seen! A magical way to end another stunning show.

Afterwards there was eventually another aftershow. Jon came out and had just started playing "Caroline" when the Alvarez Kings' bus needed to get past and we all had to move out the way. Then no sooner had he started a second time there was a loud siren in the street. It was fairly silly! But he played, and we sang. There had been a lot of singing from the crowd tonight. He played "24" and "Your Love Is Strong", then he was gone and we headed back to get some sleep.

1st November 2017, O2 Institute, Birmingham
View: Front left, between Tim and Jon
This time the venue was a converted church tastefully decorated in turquoise, brown and gold and fronted with statues whose facial expressions and body language provided us with a great deal of pre-show entertainment.

As I had requested earlier, and to my husband's delight, Switchfoot opened with "Holy Water" (from 'Where The Light Shines Through'), the first time I'd heard this one live. The sound started out quite tinny unfortunately, but thankfully it got better. It went down very well with the crowd. Then they gave us "Stars" and followed up with "Oh! Gravity". We were treated to another improvised solo in "Your Love Is A Song", then Jon again jumped into the crowd for "Bull In A China Shop". As he got back up on stage, he hugged the security guy who helped him back from the barrier, then put his mic to Drew's guitar, laughed and ruffled Tim's hair roughly, clearly having a great time. As they reached the end of the song, Jon spotted a sign saying "Switchfoot is where the light shines through!" being held up in the crowd. Jon took it and held it up, and then played "Where The Light Shines Through" as a request. That solo was impressive again. Jon introduced "I Won't Let You Go" with some wise words of encouragement and hope in difficult times. During "If The House Burns Down Tonight", Jon broke a string and switched guitar seamlessly. Next they introduced the "fancy" mic spot: Jon said, "We have no control over when the storms come, but it's about what we do in the face of the storms," and they played "Hello Hurricane", Chad at the end picking up his drum and walking back to the kit with the tambourine on his head like a crown. And then they covered Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On", explaining that they started out as a Led Zeppelin cover band and were terrible! Jon's yelling was absolutely on fire!

During "Love Alone Is Worth The Fight" Jon again went back into the crowd - and he climbed up onto the balcony as though gravity didn't exist. If you could have seen the faces of security, and his amused bandmates. . . At the end of the song Jon just sat looking silently up at the ceiling, as if wondering figuratively and literally where to go from here. Then he began singing "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine" for a moment, before going into the second verse of "Where I Belong". And just when we began to wonder if he really was stuck this time, he suddenly turned and climbed down again, still singing, like it was no big deal at all, the crowd reaching up to hold his feet. Wow! He came back through the crowd up onto the stage and took my banner. The encore was the same again, but oooh how Jon sang "Float" tonight! As he introduced "Live It Well" he said this was probably his favourite show of the tour. And as they finished with "Dare You To Move", Jon started with a yell and we could really hear Jerome filling out the sound; at times it was just him and Jon playing. As I was leaving the venue I overheard the venue security fangirling - I think Switchfoot made some new converts!

2nd November 2017, UEA LCR, Norwich
View: Front right, between Jon and Drew
My 15th Switchfoot show in one year and they were finishing up at my former university, just five minutes from where I once lived. I worried about the crowd; it seemed disappointingly small with the venue maybe only about half capacity, and I wasn't sure they were that switched on either, with lots of drinking and chatting going on, including disparaging comments about the Alvarez Kings during their set. It could be a difficult one. . . As it got towards the start of the show, everyone began chanting and clapping. What would Switchfoot make of this one?

The lights went down and there was much whooping. Then they came on to a different intro track - the "Needle And Haystack Life" intro from the 2009/10 Hello Hurricane tour, featuring the voice of a child reading the song's lyrics. Switchfoot were full on right from the start and caught that crowd up into their energy. It felt very meaningful to sing "It's no accident we're here tonight, we are once in a lifetime" in that place, at the end of this amazing tour. Again they went into "Stars" next, and it was already pretty hot! They followed "Stars" with "Dark Horses", this time with extra screaming. By this point I was enjoying having a bit of extra space in the sparse crowd to rock out. Jon introduced the crew with hugs. Drew played a rich melodic solo during "Your Love Is A Song" and Jon's harmonica playing was epic and seamlessly blended into a scream from Drew's guitar. "Bull In A China Shop" and "Love Alone Is Worth The Fight" came next, and Jon disappeared off into the crowd, clearly connecting with a lot of people. I remembered seeing Delirious? playing here as a student, and Martin Smith popping up at the back there at one point. For me it was extremely special seeing Jon now over where Mr Smith had performed. Back on stage, Switchfoot took the energy down a little, playing "I Won't Let You Go".

Then Jon introduced "If The House Burns Down Tonight", telling us he'd had "an authentic college experience, spilling some books in the hallway, burning the roof of my mouth on a slice of pizza (not that it affected his singing one jot!) and going for a walk in the woods." He dedicated the song to firefighters again. There was lots of windmilling tonight with the four guitars up front. Then Jon told us he wanted to play a song they'd not played yet on this tour and wanted to bring Norwich something special; they played "Mess Of Me" (from 'Hello Hurricane'), and woah! That yelling! I was rocking out completely. It would definitely have been moshing in a denser crowd, but here I had the space to go for it without slamming into anyone else. This show was getting very sweaty! I absolutely loved Jon's solo where he mirrored his singing on the guitar. After that Jon mused, "Growing up, so many of our favourite bands were from this part of the world, so we've been playing a song on each stage of this tour from each city we've visited - but Norwich. . . we really put google to the test and came up with about five bands that came from Norwich, which didn't leave us much choice. I think we can probably all agree that Led Zeppelin is probably better than any of the five bands from Norwich." This got some cheers. And they played "Ramble On" again. What. A. Voice.

Then the "fancy mic" came out again for "Hello Hurricane"; to begin with, Chad started a little too far away so Tim shifted him inwards whilst they played, and Jon accidentally hit Tim at one point, bringing some amused smiles. And then "Where I Belong". Once again I got my banner out, Jon asked for it, I threw it and he held it up before wearing it. In that moment, I was where I belong, and I soaked up every second. Forever, now. And "Meant To Live" blew me away. Jon was still in heavenly voice for the encore, adding an interlude where he got the band to play "a little bit softer now," then "a little bit louder now." He began playing "Live It Well", and then got Alvarez Kings up on stage to finish singing it along with them. They were so stoked! At the end, their singer picked Jon up and carried him round the stage, the drummer ruffled his hair and there were lots of bear hugs and smiles between them. Finally, Jon decided it felt right to go into the crowd with the mic stand and guitar to play "Dare You To Move", right in the centre of the crowd. It was very emotional. Today never happened before! After the show ended I just wanted to stay in it.