Interscope Records STAR 98.7 and ARTISTdirect.com present
Fan Nation, an all-day concert featuring bands such as The
Wallflowers.
By Emilia Hwang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Before DGC Records, “Mr. Jones” and a great deal of
airplay, the Counting Crows performed at small and intimate San
Francisco clubs. Ten years later, getting up close and personal
with the double platinum band may be as easy as purchasing a
concert ticket.
Los Angeles radio station STAR 98.7 and ARTISTdirect.com are
presenting Fan Nation, an all-day concert featuring bands like the
Counting Crows on Sunday at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. In
addition to live performances, the event will feature autograph
signings and fan conferences. It also features Billy Idol, The
Wallflowers, Third Eye Blind, Eve 6, the Go-Go’s and Uncle
Kracker.
“We saw this as the ultimate fan experience,” said
Marc Geiger, chief executive officer of ARTISTdirect in a phone
interview from his Los Angeles office. “I’m looking
forward to seeing the audience because to me this is all about how
the fans react and get off to this.”
To Geiger, the Internet is the ultimate consumer experience with
sites like ARTISTdirect.com connecting the artist and fan. Fan
Nation, he said, is the real life equivalent.
“On the Internet it’s easier to connect,” he
said. “But it’s an on-line/off-line world so we have to
do both.”
Geiger, who co-founded Lollapalooza with Don Muller in 1991,
explained that there is an element of “connectivity”
missing from today’s concert.
“When you go to a concert, you talk about it on the way
home but it doesn’t sit with you,” he said. “Get
a backstage pass and you talk about it forever.”
In fact, Fan Nation is being promoted as “a concert where
everyone gets a backstage pass.” In addition to signing
autographs, the artists will participate in conferences where the
fans will get to ask the questions.
Since this is Fan Nation’s first year, Geiger said that he
does not know exactly how long concert-goers will have to wait in
line before meeting the artists.
“This is our first experiment at a concept we know is
solid,” he said.
The idea for Fan Nation came from an annual event called
Nashville’s Country Music Fan Fare. Playing fairs and rodeos,
country artists are more accustomed to actively cultivating a fan
base than other musicians, Geiger explained.
“It sort of started with country, but it can work with any
genre of music,” he said. “Because the artists want to
identify with the people, it’s a natural extension to get to
know their fans.”
The music powering this year’s Fan Nation is the modern
adult contemporary sounds associated with STAR 98.7, a station that
plays music from popular artists of the ’90s and today.
Matt Orcutt, a second-year theater student, said he will not be
attending Fan Nation this weekend though he likes the concept
behind the event.
“That sounds like a pretty good idea to get people in
touch with the artists that they listen to. People need to get in
touch with the people they look up to,” he said. “I
think I might know about it if there’s a different line-up
and maybe I’d be more likely to go.”
Geiger said that the Fan Nation bill is not directed toward
college audiences and is designed to appeal to an older
demographic.
“We were programming this for STAR,” he said.
“If we were programming this for college it would be a
totally different show.”
A fan of Napster and Dave Matthews Band, Laurie Gorman, a
first-year undeclared student, said that though she can’t
make this year’s Fan Nation, she would like the opportunity
to meet other artists, like Lenny Kravitz.
“I would want to know what his childhood was like because
he’s such an interesting person,” Gorman said.
For college students that are not interested in the artists at
Fan Nation, going to the concert will be a waste of time, Geiger
said.
“I think if they want to experience connectivity with
musical artists in an intimate setting they should go,” he
said. “If they don’t like the bands, they should wait
for the next Fan Nation.”
CONCERT: Fan Nation takes place on Sunday at
the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. Doors open at noon.
For tickets go to ticketmaster.com.