Going the extra mile

Last night I’m browsing through my twitter feed and I see a few friends that are out to see Switchfoot. I’m personally not a huge fan, but I really like the lead singer Jonathan Foreman’s solo work so I follow him on twitter and other stuff that he writes. Lots of good reviews of the show come through the feed and then one from Foreman pops up:

Aftershow in 5 out the backstage gate

Pretty incredible for a guy in a band as successful as they are. As I’m looking at a few pic’s roll in of the aftershow my thoughts drift to our local scene. Most bands that we all know and love, that have buses, seem to have these crazy schedules that never leave time to do anything but shower after the gig and maybe hang on the bus with the select few that are allowed to come on.

What would happen if some of our guys hopped off the bus and played for everyone hanging around outside. Or send out a tweet to come behind the venue to listen to a few songs? Foreman has a ton of hardcore fans that love him and drive/fly the miles to see these guys play and I’m convinced that these kind of things are the reason. It’s not out of the norm for him… this aftershow wasn’t the first and I doubt it’s the last. He goes that extra mile to give his fans something they will talk about on Monday morning to their co-workers, friends & family or anyone that will listen. you can’t buy PR like that. Hell.. I’m writing about it and wasn’t even at the show.

At any given concert, the band playing music is definitely all that we pay for when we buy a ticket to a show. But I wonder if some of these guys forget what it’s like to be a fan of someone. In an age of social media influence, could you give something extra that causes fans to fall more in love with the music… and spreading it to more people? You can’t underestimate a fan… well… because they are fanatic.