concerts? there's an app for that: summer concert series 2014

Last week marked the end of my summer and amazingly it went out with a bang of me going to three concerts in one week. They were Drake vs. Lil Wayne and the 2 day music festival, Made in America in Philadelphia. I had bought my tickets for the shows months in advance and was peeing my pants with excitement about going. I love Drake and I had already seen a sneak preview of him at Summer Jam in June so I was super excited to see him again with Wayne at the tour.

The one thing about the tour that was cool was how it was a competition between Drake and Lil Wayne. The tour was sponsored by Capcom which is a popular Japanese video game maker who has made games such as Resident Evil and Street Fighter. Along with the tickets, you could also get a free app to go along with the concert. I was really excited to see what was up with the show because I've never been to a concert that had an app to go along with it.

The show was super dope. It really stripped down a lot of "showiness" that I'm used to at concerts and really was raw. It was basically a competition between Drake and Wayne doing all of their classics and hits they have out now. There was really no bullshit between the two: Wayne came out did and some songs, then Drake came out immediately after. There was a ton of raw energy and it was an amazing time. I wouldn't say I'm the biggest Lil Wayne fan, but I pretty much know all the lyrics to his songs, and also The Carter was the soundtrack to seventh grade like if you want me to be really honest.

The app was such a great idea, however it was kind of lacking in some areas. Basically, as an overview, the entire concert is basically based on an arcade game kind of like streetfighter. First, it only worked during the show. I'm pretty sure I bought my tickets in June and I downloaded it like the same day I bought it but I didn't know what to do with it. When we got to the arena, the score was Wayne: 7, Drake: 6. I was confused because I know that 13 people in Virginia (and outside areas that had come to the show with the app) had voted to decide who would come first. So we had to touch the button to "power up" and in the end, Wayne still won so he went first. That was pretty much the premise of the entire app. Some things I would have changed or even added to the show was having the fans interact with the show before it started. What song would Wayne perform first? What song would Drake perform when he came out? Different fan interactions like that would be super cool to be apart of. I mean, at the end of the day I didn't really expect too much, since I feel like this is the first of its kind, however at the end of the day it was a very great concert. The best part was when Drake performed "All Me" and had a video loop of him brushing the lint off his pants at the Raptors game. I was laughing the whole time, it was just so funny and I love how Drake can really make fun of himself, not to mention give away lint rollers the next day at the Raptor's game. Honestly when I found that out, the PR maven in me squealed. I love when people spin shit like that.

Moving on to Made in America...this was my first musical festival ever so I was really excited that I was going. Their app was more of a helpful guide but I really liked it. They gave us updates of different things happening during the show and you could also make your own lineup of the people you wanted to see there. It didn't help me as much when I used the make your own lineup part because I still forgot who was performing when lmao. The whole festival experience was definitely awesome. You basically wake up early, get ready and then spend the rest of your day, starting around 1pm at the festival. There's a shit ton of things to do there and if there's one thing you take from this blog post, it's TAKE SOME FUCKING BABY WIPES BECAUSE PORT-A-POTTIES SUCK. I mean honestly, they were okay at the beginning but at the end of the festival they were a hot stinking mess of piss, shit, alcohol and a whole bunch of random shit that you do not want to see.

Anyway, the acts were great. Kanye was Kanye honestly. He played "Blood on the Leaves" three times and each time seemed different to me. It's such an important song and he was a really great performer. He went on a rant for a minute about something but I wasn't really hearing it. It was just good to hear his classics too like "Stronger", "Touch the Sky" among others. J Cole had a good set too. I feel like J. Cole is J. Cole if that makes sense, but he was really good to listen to (even though during his set me and my friend lost our friends in the crowd...rule number one of festivals: NEVER leave your stuff when going to the bathroom). Danny Brown doppppeeeee haha. I really like him as a rapper because he's different. I feel like he knows his niche and exactly where his place is in hip hop and he's not afraid to be who he is. I really like him. Also, an act named Grimes performed and I really liked her music. I didn't know who she was at first, but I feel like I'm going to listen to her more after her set. It was good music.

The highlight of the entire festival was the storm. In the middle of Spoon's set a thunderstorm broke out and everyone had to evacuate. Well no one did and we all stood under some trees in the rain, not the smartest thing to do during a lightening storm but hey, I never said we were all sober at the moment. Once the rain cleared out, my friends and I went back to the stage where Pharrell was performing so we could be as close as possible. The rain had other issues in mind however, it started pouring again and on and off while we were waiting. Then Spoon came out and it started pouring hard as fuck. I was mad as a bitch to be honest. Not at anyone obviously, but just mad at the fact that I was soaking wet and there was nothing I could do about it. I mean what could I do to get out the rain other than leave the show and not be able to get back in. I was not prepared for the rain, and where I was standing got flooded so my sneakers were soaking wet and I was standing in about 5 inches of water. Not cool. It's funny thinking about it now, but in that moment I was not happy lol. But a silver lining I kept thinking about was "at least I'm not the only one" all of us were in the rain. It is definitely a story to tell for the future, haha.

I look forward to the future of apps that go along with concerts. It will be interesting for Capcom to review how they did things with Drake vs. Lil Wayne and see the improvements they can make, along with the Made In America app. I am excited to see where things will go because I feel like apps to go along with concerts are really something that musicians and tech companies can bank on.