First of all, wow! I can't believe I've been here for 3 months already. Its all been great though. So a little bit about these concerts. Typically they are new artists who maybe have one or two singles out and don't have a huge recognition. The concerts are free to the public, and the bands don't charge us anything, and are what is known as "brown bag concerts". We did all of these concerts at the Riverwalk Crossing which is an outdoor mall with an amphitheater venue.
The first concert was back in May and featured American Idol finalist, Chris Sligh. He was a little sick so it wasn't the best of shows I've seen, although the drunk gal getting up at the end while he was still singing on stage was a highlight.
Less than a week later we brought in a band by the name of Tenth Avenue North. This was by far my favorite show. I was familiar with the first 10 seconds and the last 10 seconds of their single Love is Here which is as far as I get when voice tracking my on-air shifts. First of all, the label rep came along with them and took me out to lunch. It was great to be able to sit down and talk with her and have her genuinely want to know my needs for the station. Quite the change from my days on Morningside College Radio where I had to fight tooth and nail to get any response from the labels. (This is ironic because Tooth & Nail Records was the only label I didn't have to struggle to get CDs from. Thanks Allison!). The show went great and the guys invited me out with them afterwards to see the "new" Indiana Jones. The only disappointment of the evening.
We took a short break while we geared up for a few other things we had going on with the station including a concert that saw over 30,000 people that showed up. Then in mid-July we kicked it back up with an acoustic show by Pillar. This is to date, the only strictly acoustic show Pillar has ever done. This is why I love this station. They did it as a favor to us and for the fun of it.
Pillar - Fireproof (live at Riverwalk)
Finally, after a great season, with no complications, we wrapped up with a show with three artists on the ticket as opposed to our usual single artist shows. We were so close to having a perfect season. So, I started my day around 9:30 and began prepping for the show. Just before 10, I got a call from the first band to perform, Caleb Rowden Band. They had informed me that their bus broke down outside of St. Louis so they had to cancel. It really was disappointing, don't get me wrong, but given the rest of the circumstances of the day it actually helped us out a little. There had been thunderstorms threatening all day and Outdoor venue + Electrical sound equipment ≠ successful concert. Before they canceled we were going to have to make a decision by 2pm whether or not to move the concert to an indoor church about a mile from the initial venue. This causes problems only because 1, we have already been promoting the Riverwalk, and 2, the church doesn't have the capacity of the amphitheater. Having the band cancel helped us to delay our decision because the other 2 artists were alone. Just a guitar and a microphone. We changed the load in time from 2:30 to 4:00 and were going to make a decision by 5.
Around 11am I got a call from Franny's label rep, Kellyn, saying their flight was delayed by an hour so instead of getting in at 3 and being at the station by 4, they wouldn't make it to the station by 5. With the schedule change from Caleb, this wasn't much of a problem, so no big deal. At 2pm it was a torrential downpour and had we needed to make a decision, it would have been indoors. So its now 3:30 and I get another txt from Kellyn saying they are still on the tarmac waiting to take off which is an hour after the hour delay. So now, they aren't going to land until 5. The day just keeps improving. She calls me shortly after 5 and says they finally landed and I told her to come straight to the venue, but that she could call the station and do a phone interview if she'd like. After another hour of them waiting for their bags, and the 20 minute drive over, they finally arrive at the Riverwalk at 6:30. Its an 8:00 show, so an hour and a half may sound like plenty of time, but believe me its not. Thankfully, it was a quick set-up, she got on the stage for a quick soundcheck and we still had plenty of time to do the pre-show stuff. It all worked out, but man what a ride getting there.
The next morning, I got the chance to take Josh to the airport. What else do you talk to an artists about on a 20 minute car ride than music? He made me fan of pandora.com and I haven't talked to him since he's had a chance to listen, but I'm relatively sure I made him a fan of the Spill Canvas.
Here's some pics from the shows. Just click to enlarge. There's more available on the station website at www.kxoj.com.
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