Today's Big Idea: Music and Messaging

Today I was on a company's website seeing what they do and they wrote about how they placed PSAs at concerts and suddenly a spark went off in my brain.

The last big show I went to was the U2 360 tour (I'm old; that's my teenage music). They had GIANT screens, as I'm sure most performers do these days. U2 tries to be interesting with their giant screens and do cool stuff, like call the International Space Station in the middle of a concert to kick off a song. They have art-y videos during and between songs, and when they're taking a break; before the encore. 

I was thinking about other types of artists (although I think U2 is perfect for this as well; although I can admit the demographic is aging a big), namely country artists, and what kind of messaging the screens could do before and during the show.

My big idea was this:

Have the band or artist solicit videos from fans about a month before the concert (or the tour). Before each concert, show videos from fans across the county talking about a particular subject - what people are doing to make a difference in their town, how they feel about the U.S., a soldier from their town/family that's currently serving abroad. Give the crowd a shot of heartwarming feeling before the main act comes out so that they will be associated with that feeling and also make sure to tie in the national sense of it, that people are submitting from every part of the country, that the fanbase extends to all sides and knits it all together. Create a feeling of community; make the fans think "We are this land, and this land is my land." 

Of course, a more "today" idea would be to create a special hashtag for each concert venue and have people create vines as they're getting ready, driving to the show, waiting in line, getting through the gates; and then have someone (or a team of someones) curating those videos and posting them in a queue to be played on the big screen before the concert and during the show. Maybe mix and match from different concerts; hold on to especially good ones from the tour and rebroadcast them in other cities, mixing in the local pride with laughs or joy at someone else's celebration.

So basically the original idea was to have fans create PSAs for something local to them or national and show them before the concert. It would be a difficult line to walk: how do you pick causes that are heartwarming but not heartbreaking? Like, with the soldiers: will someone in the audience be torn up because they'll be reminded of a loved one across the world or, worse yet, killed in action? 

But how do you make it real without it being schmaltzy, all puppies and kittens (which makes me think: cat videos! What a crazy and hilarious oddity to show before your concert!)(And speaking of oddities, wouldn't it be all the more awesome if your band was Gwar or something like that, so that the disconnect was even deeper (but probably not off-putting to fans, who probably love the videos, too - or have girlfriends who do).

Anyway; that was my idea.