It's been something of a custom for me to make an "event" out of a group of listeners all going to the same concert a couple hours drive from where ever I'm broadcasting from. My first was riding with a bunch of Backstreet Boys fangirls (and their parents) to Charlotte from Augusta, Georgia. My ears might still be ringing from that. Also, now you know how old I really am. lol
When I was co-host of a morning show in Mobile, Alabama, we did bus trips to Jazzfest in New Orleans, too, and ss station manager in Alexandria, Louisiana, I brought that tradition with me. We took many listener "party bus" trips to New Orleans (THE party city) for JazzFest & Voodoo Fest; to Houston & Shreveport, too, for major concerts. Here in Myrtle Beach, we've done the same to see Shawn Mendes at the State Fair, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Justin Timberlake in Raleigh.
Each trip has its own unique memories for me, and I get to "know" another handful of listeners a little bit more, and they get to know the quirky person they've been listening to weekday afternoons, too ... for better or worse. :)
Yesterday we enjoyed the services of Extreme Limousine on a journey to the North Charleston Coliseum to take in a TwentyOne Pilots concert that blew us all away. More on that in a bit.
First, let's meet our guests.
I learned a week or so before the show that we had a pair of "meet and greet" passes for listeners - which is great, except I had a bus with ten listeners. What to do?
One of our listeners - Aimee - mentioned 'Cards Against Humanity.' Perfect!
So doing our best to remove the awkward photo cards and deciding to eliminate the truly revolting cards from the game, we played until Olivia, Jessica's guest, won the passes. College girls were getting to meet Tyler & Josh. Eeee!
So we got to the arena around 3pm, needing to get there for a 3:15pm "meet and greet" gathering. Our trusty friend Darrin, from TwentyOne Pilots' record label, was there to coordinate. Tyler and Josh met Olivia and Jessica, myself and Ethan, then we still had like two hours to kill before the show. So we all went across the boulevard to Tanger and the various places to eat over there before getting back to the arena in time for the show.
I actually gave up MY tickets to Bob at Extreme Limousine in case he or someone he knew wanted to go. It turns out Kyle & Melissa (friends of Bob) had been trying to win tickets but didn't. Well, they got to go with us and were super fun (and helpful, as our 'Cards Against Humanity' judges).
Anyhow, I was able to give up my passes because Jon Bellion's folks gave us a pair of tickets that we just needed to pick up at 'will call.' Only there was a bit of confusion at the box office. They had our tickets, but didn't have names to go with the batch of tickets. Eh, no big deal; we caught the last bit of the first band, all of Jon Bellion's raucous set, then settled in for TwentyOne Pilots. Jon Bellion, by the way, was awesome.
Naturally I couldn't record the ENTIRE concert but I got a little bit here and there (via Snapchat and Instagram) to share. I wish I could give you more to relay to you just how amazing TwentyOne Pilots' set was. Incredible. These two quiet guys were just ... ELECTRIC. I sat there through their nearly two hour performance, amazed that the soft-spoken duo we'd just met earlier that afternoon were on stage just going berserk for a packed arena. The band geek in me was actually REALLY proud for them; they never struck me as the type who might've been the "popular kids" in school, growing up, but were super-dedicated to their vision and how cool is it that they're living it out?
I'm not sure, but that MAY be me singing. lol
The guys even invited Jon Bellion and the opening act, Judah & The Lion, back out, where all three acts collaborated on an old school set that included Blackstreet's "No Diggity," The Black Eyed Peas "Where Is The Love," and House of Pain's "Jump Around." Epic.
All in all, a great day and night, and it wouldn't have been possible, again, without the graciousness of Extreme Limousine, and our driver Eddie, who worked about an hour later than any of us expected because Tyler & Josh gave us SO MUCH of a performance!
Also, a tip of the cap to the staff at AEG, Darrin and the staff at Fueled by Ramen and Francesca and the crew at Capitol Records. And most importantly, to the fun folks who came along for "Riiiiiiiide."