|PIC1|Five-piece Californian rock band Switchfoot hit London's Shepherds Bush Empire last night, Tuesday 6 February, leading a sold-out audience of some 2000 fans through some of their best-known hits as well as their new material.

The band, who are popular among the Christian community for their spiritually-yearning songs and their humble "backstage" presence, enchanted heated concertgoers with old and new songs - going all the way back to their second studio album.

Switchfoot opened the stage with "Stars", which was followed by "Politicians", both from their fifth studio album, Nothing is Sound.

In addition, chart-topping songs like "Meant to Live" and "Dare You To Move" from the band's fourth studio album The Beautiful Letdown - which went double-platinum in 2004 - further pleased the audience as they avidly sang along in recognition.

Long-time fans were especially enthused when the band played "Learning to Breathe", which is from the band's third studio album Learning to Breathe.

Finally, the band performed songs from their latest album Oh! Gravity., including "American Dream", "Dirty Second Hands", "Awakening", "Faust, Midas, and Myself" - and of course "Oh! Gravity.".

Towards the end of the concert, lead singer Jon Foreman surprised the audience with an acoustic version of "Only Hope", from the band's second studio album New Way to be Human.

The concert was part of the Switchfoot European tour, which kicked off 31 January in the Netherlands. The band, having also made stops in Germany and Denmark, will now continue to tour the UK, slated to wrap up 10 February in Derby.

|PIC2|Following the European tour, the band will embark on a US and Canada tour on 13 February.

Switchfoot's latest and sixth studio album Oh! Gravity. is currently gaining praise as the band's best work, with critics predicting that it will likely have even more success than their previous release, Nothing Is Sound, which reached the number 3 spot on the Billboard Top 200 best-selling albums chart in September 2005.

In 2004, Switchfoot's frontman Foreman claimed to be "Christian by faith, not by genre".

"We've always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from. For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that's not what we're trying to do. Music has always opened my mind - and that's what we want."