Switchfoot Brings Back the Y2K Era at OLG Stage in Niagara Falls ON [Photos]

OLG Stage brought together a celebration of the late ’90s and 2000s with a mega lineup featuring Thomas Nicholas, Lit, Fuel and, after some delays, Switchfoot.

Thomas Nicholas was a later addition to the show and the tour as a whole. A couple of shows in, he was added as the opener, making it a four-band night.

Thomas Nicholas might not be a familiar name, but for those who watched American Pie, you’ll recognize him as Kevin Myers. The setlist heavily reflected his role in the movie, as the majority of it was a parody of songs about American Pie.

Whether it was the parody of “1985” by Bowling For Soup, but with the lyrics changed to the story of American Pie, or the parody of “Jessie’s Mom,” switching the lyrics to “Stifler’s Mom.”

Fans of American Pie enjoyed a funny but short set, and it helped bring in a crowd to the OLG Stage. The stage setup was short since Thomas Nicholas was one man with an acoustic guitar, and it didn’t take long for Lit to get the party started at OLG Stage.

Lit is one of those bands that has been able to maintain the majority of its lineup throughout the years. The only non-original member in the current lineup is Allan Shjellenberger, the drummer who unfortunately passed away in 2009.

The current drummer, Taylor Carroll, fits the role perfectly and brings strong energy to the drums. Doesn’t matter what part is thrown at him; he’s always doing it with style. Frontman A. Jay Popoff also brings strong energy, despite facing a broken foot at the time of this performance. That didn’t stop him from having strong energy throughout the night.

Lit ended the night with “My Own Worst Enemy,” the band’s biggest hit and the song that everyone in the crowd knew. This also marked the last thing that went to plan during the evening, as the Fuel set was going to be a little different.

Fuel’s set was mainly improvised, and despite that, they still made sure to keep strong interaction with the crowd and make sure the music sounded right. The band kicked into overdrive quickly with “Shimmer” at song three, a song played all over the radio at the time of its release.

The set was supposed to be an hour, but instead, around the hour mark, they had to begin improvising. They first covered “Hotel California,” originally not planned on the setlist. They then brought out Thomas Nicholas and Lit to have a party on stage and cover “Highway To Hell” by AC/DC.

Nobody really knew the reason for the set extension; it ended up spanning double the original set times. Turns out Switchfoot was stuck at the airport, being held back by Canadian Customs, since the band was playing a set in Indianapolis earlier in the day.

Even though Fuel were put under immense pressure, and were forced to improvise basically an entire second set. The group proved they were talented musicians and were able to hold it down until Switchfoot was able to make it to the OLG Stage.

Switchfoot hit the stage around 11:00 pm, the original end time for the show. They instantly started the set with a hit, “Dare You to Move,” which had the crowd on their feet and singing along right off the bat.

The group had to make some sacrifices to the setlist because of the late start, and everything was out of order between the actual setlist and the printed setlist, but they still made sure to include a cover of “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys.

Snippets of multiple popular songs were played throughout the setlist as well, including “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin, “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley, “Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi, and “Paranoid Android” by Radiohead.

The second last song was a fan request, the song chosen is off of their upcoming album and is one of the released singles for it, “Absolution.” The fan was included during the show and was given the microphone to introduce the request.

Although the setlist was shorter than expected, the band made sure they included all the fan favourites. And they ended the set with “Meant to Live.”

Despite the troubles the show faced, every band brought strong energy to the OLG Stage. Extra props to Fuel for being able to hold it down for so long. This show was easily one of the longest and latest shows at OLG Stage, and honestly, who knows if the venue will ever see a headliner go on at 11:05 again.

Switchfoot has two tours coming up, one-off shows with Fuel and Lit are still planned in the future, and a full tour with Anberlin to promote the release of their upcoming album Forever Now has also been announced.