Photos by Andy Argyrakis

Every so often, an album enters the marketplace and manages to capture an entire generation, which was certainly the case two decades ago when Switchfoot released the landmark “The Beautiful Letdown.”

Although the San Diego-based alternative rock/power pop players were grinding in the Christian rock scene for a half-dozen years, this was a defining moment of crossing over to Columbia Records (when a major label really mattered) and achieving double platinum sales.

The anniversary not only prompted front man Jon Foreman, his brother/bassist Tim Foreman, drummer Chad Butler and keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas to possibly take a cue from Taylor Swift and re-record the entire 2003 collection, but have members of the Jonas Brothers, Twenty One Pilots, OneRepublic and Illinois’ own Sleeping At Last take a crack at their favorite tunes.

Switchfoot’s subsequent tour wrapped around the theme is in the process of selling out all over America, including the House Of Blues, where the original trio and a pair of supporting musicians (due to Fontamillas dealing with a family emergency) shuffled up the track list for a deeply philosophical and spiritually provocative, yet never preachy, trip through tunes such as “This Is Your Life,” when Jon literally climbed around the crowd.

Upon returning to the stage, there were the sunny, surfy harmonies of “Gone,” the contemplative title track and the guitar-charged “Meant To Live,” though the motivating “Dare You To Move,” technically introduced on the prior “Leaning To Breathe” project, especially packed more punch and poignancy than back in the day.

Of course, Switchfoot notched several additional singles since then and made sure to shine some “Stars,” plus revisited “Bull In A China Shop,” previously debuted at this very venue, and merged “Dark Horses” with Led Zeppelin’s “Kasmir.”

An encore consisting of “Float” and “Where I Belong” added extra feels to the 90-minute night, which may have constituted mostly memories, but nonetheless felt fully present thanks to its many life-affirming anthems applicable to an even wider audience.

For additional information on Switchfoot, visit Switchfoot.com.

For a list of upcoming Live Nation concerts, visit LiveNation.com.

Upcoming concert highlights at the House Of Blues include Here Come The Mummies (Sept. 29); Neon Trees (Oct. 2); Todrick Hall (Oct. 3); Chappell Roan (Oct. 4-5); Adekunle Gold (Oct. 6); Vacations and Last Dinosaurs (Oct. 7); Christian French (Oct. 8); Chris Hayes (Oct. 9); TesseracT (Oct. 10); A R I Z O N A (Oct. 11); Rod Tuffcurls & The Bench Press (Oct. 13); Jessie Murph (Oct. 14); The Aces (Oct. 17); Owl City (Oct. 18); Peter McPoland (Oct. 20); House Of BOOlesque (Oct. 20); Victoria Monét (Oct. 22-23) The Dear Hunter (Oct. 26); CircuitMOM (Oct. 28); Between Friends (Oct. 29) and Armor For Sleep (Oct. 30). For additional details, visit HouseOfBluesChicago.com.

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