We were cleaning out our record collection on Sunday and we discovered an interesting live bootleg recording of Paul McCartney and Wings in 1972 in Belgium. But something is missing. So I’m turning to you and the interwebs to hopefully solve this live music mystery.

Like most of the records in our vinyl collection we can trace each album back to the person who gave it to us or track it back to the place where we bought it.

But not with his Paul McCartney and Wings Live bootleg that we surprisingly discovered in our collection on Sunday.

What we do know, is that the album found its way into our collection when we found a box of Beatles records in the mail room of our old apartment. And for the last six years the bootleg has been hiding inside one of our other Beatles albums (sneaky little live bootleg.)

I’ve done some initial research online and found some helpful stuff about how there are other bootlegs from the rest of the “Wings Over Europe tour in 1972.

But I’d like to learn more and do a Live Bootleg Experiment to see what happens.

By doing the Experiment I’m hoping to learn more about the album and who made it, since it was clearly made by a loyal Wings fan long ago.

And who ever made it was most likely a dedicated live music fan. So if you’re out there and reading this blog and this is your Wings bootleg, I’d love to hear from you.

And for those of you who know anything about this Wings bootleg, or bootlegs in general, you can help me by answering some of these questions that popped into my head this past week:

• Was there a special reason why they made a bootleg of this specific Wings concert?
• How did it end up in the stack of our Beatles records?
• What was this fan’s experience like at the Wings concert?
• Did this fan make any other Wings bootlegs?
• How did they make this bootleg?
• Why did they get rid of the album since it seems like it was a pretty special thing to make such a live concert recording?

That’s all for now and I look forward to hearing what you have to say about this and other live bootleg recordings.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The surprise show is one of the greatest things that can happen to a concert fan. And one of the reasons I love surprise concerts is because they catch fans completely off guard.

And whether the surprise concert lasts for only one song or goes on for an entire set, fans always get lifted off their feet. So let’s see how Lenny Kravitz, Robert Plant, Jimmy Buffet, Radiohead and Dr. Dre and Timbaland set their fans floating home on cloud nine.

Ask any concert fan and they’ll tell you nothing beats being surprised at a show when one of your favorite artists walks on stage unexpectedly.

And because the moment is so intense and unbelievable, the surprise concert instantly becomes unique from any other concert that you’ve experienced before.

I don’t know if it’s just that time of year, but these last few weeks have been prime time for surprising concert fans all over the globe. So here’s a list of artists who gave their fans a memorable moment of rock and awe.

Lenny Kravitz Crashes Church Choir Practice

As you saw in the video above, last week Lenny Kravitz surprised a church choir in New Orleans and laid down a groove on the drums and cranked out the vocals to “Fly Away.”

Jimmy Buffet at Lulu’s

After the his original show was canceled because of the oil spill in the gulf, Jimmy Buffet made it up to a restaurant of super-thankful fans.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Robert Plant with Los Lobos at Taste of Chicago

Besides stuffing their faces with tons of yummy food, fans also gobbled up an impromptu set by Robert Plant with Los Lobos at the Taste of Chicago.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dr Dre and Timbaland at Culver High School

Dr. Dre and Timbaland headed back to school to rock the gymnasium for the class of 2010 at Culver High School. Dre and Timbaland playing your high school graduation? That would be very cool.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Radiohead at Glastonbury 2010

It wasn’t a completely secret show since rumors of the appearance were circulating days before the show. Nonetheless when (half of) Radiohead showed up at Glastonbury’s 40th anniversary festival fans were treated to a surprise stripped-down acoustic set. Now that’s how you do a sing-a-long to Karma Police!

Click here to view the embedded video.

No Surprise For You (Jay-Z Concert Canceled)
Even though the artist has good intentions, some surprise concerts unfortunately don’t get to be realized. Just ask Jay-Z who had his concert on top the Ed Sullivan Theater canceled before it even got started.

Some say it was to avoid the same riots that happened at Drake’s concert last month in Seaport.

Broken Social Scene at Rothbury 2009

All this surprise concert talk conjured up fond memories of watching Broken Social Scene put on an excellent secret mini-concert at Rothbury last year.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s just a few of the many other surprise concerts that happened this year and more are sure to happen as the summer rolls on. And I bet a surprise concert is probably going on somewhere right now as you read this post.

But What About You?

When’s the last time you were rocked and awed by a surprise concert?

A soggy Saturday in the Windy City couldn’t keep us from enjoying a day of excellent blues roots tunes. And the rain certainly didn’t stop me from connecting our Blues Fest experience to a famous blues-influenced rock band either. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good day for concert fans who love the blues.

As we announced on Friday, the Chicago Blues Festival was rocking the lakefront all weekend in the Windy City. And since this was my first time, I was super stoked about celebrating and revisiting the roots to some of my favorite rock and hip hop music.

We heard tons of great blues musicians tear it up and we saw throngs of fans groove and dance around in the rain while the band jammed and juked. And as the rain poured down from the heavens, the celebratory scene made the festival feel like a big joyous blues baptism.

One of my favorite moments at this year’s Blues Festival was watching guitar legend Bobby Parker play. During Parker’s set I pulled up his wiki on my Droid (hopefully Blues Fest, will also have an Android mobile app next year) and read that Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page had seen Parker play in Los Angeles circa 1970.  And as legend has it, Page was inspired by Parker’s playing and offered Parker a deal to record a demo which Parker unfortunately never completed.

So as Parker wailed, squealed on his guitar and rocked us with his classic hit “Watch Your Step,” I thought to myself, “Hey, that’s pretty cool. As a concert fan, I have something in common with Jimmy Page because we both saw Parker play and we were both inspired by his live show…”

And on top of that, my “Bobby Parker” moment answered some of the questions I’ve had ever since I read Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. In the book, you get a great idea of how and why the blues inspired Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin. But unless you were actually there at the same show Page experienced in 1970, you really didn’t get a true feeling of what Page might have felt when he saw Parker play. And I feel as though I had a glimpse into that moment during Parker’s set.

And even though this alleged “Page seeing Bobby Parker play” moment isn’t specifically mentioned in Hammer of the Gods, nonetheless during that moment at the Blues Festival I was inspired to write this post and share with you a concept that I’ve been thinking about for a long time: concert genealogy.

What is Concert Genealogy?

The reason I’m telling you this is that, coming up on future posts, we’re going to be exploring the concept of “concert genealogy.”

I won’t go into the full details on this post because the concept of concert genealogy will take awhile to explain and explore, and I don’t have it all figured out just yet. Which is why we’ll be diving deeper into all the facets of how concertgoing and genealogy go together.

But I Will Tell You This

As I know it now, concert genealogy is the process of connecting fan experiences throughout rock concert history. And like the practice of regular genealogy builds out a family tree and connects family members, concert genealogy seeks to connect both fans and artists by pulling together and cataloging the details about when and where concert fans have experienced live music throughout the history of concertgoing.

Like I said, concert genealogy is a massive topic and that’s why I’ll be sharing it with you in pieces on future posts.

And as we go along, I expect us to redefine and expound on what it is and why it’s important to concert fans. And what excites me the most is the opportunity to discover and explore it with you.

That said, I invite you to share your thoughts. And I especially invite anyone who has a deep knowledge of genealogy to leave feedback and reference links in the comments below.

I regularly participate in several concert and music fan sites/forums like Wolfgang’s Vault and Sound Opinions. And what goes on in those forums is directly related to the essence of concert genealogy. And if you’re a part of similar concert fan communities, you’re most certainly invited to share your insights and comments, too.

Without a doubt, I’ll always remember my “Bobby Parker and Jimmy Paige” scenario at The Chicago Blues Fest because it was the moment that inspired me to start this journey with you.

Let’s Start Our Exploration

What do you think? Does the idea of concert genealogy interest you? Would knowing how you’re connected to other concert fans and artists through concert history be meaningful to you?

All photos by Colleen Catania

Since I was out seeing Tim Fite last night, I just now got done watching the final episode of LOST. I’m not even going to try to tell you what I think about how the whole thing ended (or didn’t.) But I will tell you something else about LOST.

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with LOST after I started watching it last year. Like the rest of the world I was sucked in. And each episode made me love and hate LOST even more. But I kept watching anyways for different reasons.

And as I watched, I kept my eye out for any live music moments of which there were a few.

I loved the Drive Shaft “You Are Everybody” moments. And I will always sing that song long after LOST is over.

And to be honest, I expected a bit more in the final episode as they all headed to a “final concert.” I was hoping for a bigger payoff. But it never came. (Did I just review a fictional concert in a prime-time drama series? Man, I am a live music geek.)

Not So Fast Captain Lapidus

Since the final LOST episode didn’t really answer anything, I want to go back to the island and hang out there for a moment. And I’d like to put a LOST-centric spin on an old rock critic classic question: the Desert Island Jukebox Pick.

If you’re not aware of the DIJ concept, basically it asks the question “If you were stranded on a desert island what song or album would you want to have with you?”

But since were celebrating (or mourning) the end of LOST and were all live music fans, let’s indulge our imaginations one last time with these 3 Live Music Fan Desert Island scenarios. You don’t have to answer all of them. But I do hope you pick at least one to respond to in the comments below.

1. If you were stranded on an island with a group of people and none of you were a musician or musically inclined, do you think your group of unmusically-inclined LOST-like strandees would be able to make music to satisfy our basic human need to experience live music together?

2. If that group of people were able to make music, what genre do you think would be created? Would we see the creation of a new type of live music experience or musical genre?

3. Since we all connected with at least one of the LOST characters, if you were stranded on an island with a group of concert fans, what type of concert fan would you want to be stranded with, other than the one that you normally are associated with? Would you want to be stranded with a hip hop, metal, jam-band, rock, pop, or dance fan? And why?

Do you have a live music LOST-centric scenario to add? Go ahead and share it the comments below.

I look forward to hearing your responses as we all sort out these crucial live music scenarios and details in the wake of LOST’s last episode.

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Summer’s just around the corner and I can’t believe how fast this week went by. Speaking of how fast time goes by, Colleen and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday.

And while we waited for dinner to come to our table we talked about all the great live music experiences we’ve had since we’ve been married. And though it endearingly captures a slice of the romantic dinner we had at Le Colonial in Chicago, this picture I took also reminds me why Colleen is the one taking the pictures and I’m the one writing the words when we cover concerts.

In addition to celebrating our wedding anniversary, I’d also like to celebrate a great week on Live Fix with this weekly wrap up, including live music news about Live Nation Q1 Losses and Immigration Laws, Mother’s Day and Sasquatch Festival Dancing Guy interviews, sensual eye experiments and news about upcoming baseball park concerts featuring Eminem and Jay-Z.

You’ll also want to check out the recent updates to our Live Fix summer music festival iPhone apps guide and the Foursquare fan and venue call-out experiment.

This Week’s Posts:

Talkin’ Live Music with Mom: New Colony Six to Elton John

Sasquatch Festival’s Dancing Guy Reveals His Swarm-Starting Secrets

Live Music News: Live Nation Reports Q1 Losses and New Arizona Immigration Law Haults Concert

Eminem and Jay-Z Not Afraid To Rock Yankee Stadium, Comerica Park

Book Review, Fan Experiment: Are You Seeing With Maximum Pleasure At Concerts?

Recent Updates:

Summer Music Festival iPhone App Guide

Are Concert Fans and Venues Using Foursquare?

How Was Your Week?

When I “saw” St. Vincent earlier this year I questioned whether or not concert fans need their eyes to enjoy a concert, or if music writers really need their eyes to write a concert review. And after reading an excerpt from one of the best books about the five senses, I’m starting to see concerts in a whole new way.

So am I second guessing what I said in my St. Vincent post about not needing our eyes during concerts?

Nope. Not at all.

And I’ll tell you why we need to refine our St. Vincent Experiment to better understand the sensual power of our eyes.

After reading Diane Ackerman’s A Natural History of the Senses, I’m reconsidering how crucial of a role our eyes play when it comes to experiencing maximum pleasure at concerts.

Ackerman’s book is a fascinating read, and if you want to have a deeper understanding of why you smell, taste, touch, see and hear the way you do, I recommend picking up a copy and diving in yourself.

So let’s see why her book is perfect for experimenting with live music.

Do You Go To “See” or “Hear” A Band Play?

Even though I know what concert fans mean when we say “I’m going to SEE a band play,” I’ve still always wondered if there was a scientific or biological reason why we say were going to “see” when we probably mean “hear.”

But after reading this excerpt below our choice of words makes a lot more sense.

And when it comes to having maximum pleasure at concerts, I think our eyes just might be more influential than our ears.

So, like I mentioned, I’m refining my St. Vincent experiment. And I invite you to join with me in this mini-experiment by swapping out “Lovers” for “concert fans” in the Ackerman excerpt.

And when she refers to the connection between the Lovers, I also suggest switching up the context of the Lovers and pretend that the relationship she describes is between the Concert Experience and You, The Individual Fan, instead of between two love-struck people.

I’ve done this “swapping” many times already and I’ve also read the passage out loud while doing the swapping.

And when I did, this passage takes on a whole new meaning. The more you read it in a concert experience context, the more you can begin to see just how big of a role our eyes do play when we want to experience maximum pleasure at concerts.

Seventy percent of the body’s sense receptors cluster in the eyes, and it is mainly through seeing the world that we appraise and understand it. Lovers close their eyes when they kiss because it they didn’t there would be too many visual distractions to notice and analyze — the sudden close-up of the loved one’s eyelashes and hair, the wallpaper, the clock face, the dust motes suspended in a shaft of sunlight. Lovers want to do serious touching, and not be disturbed. So they close their eyes as if asking two cherished relatives to leave the room.

The reason this passage is so powerful in the context of live music is because you can use it to illustrate how our eyes and ears both work together to give us maximum pleasure at concerts.
Like I did during St. Vincent, I “closed” my eyes and had a wonderful time letting my other senses and imagination take over.  And when I’ve done the opposite and relied on my eyes to give me pleasure at other concerts my eyes have never disappointed (well, maybe a few times; it can go both ways, I guess.)

See No Concerts, Hear No Concerts

So do we actually “see” more or “hear” more at concerts?  And should we close our eyes more often at concerts so we can experience more pleasure?

The answers to those questions depend on many variables; like for example, what type of concert you’re at, how your body is wired up, who you’re with at the concert, what sort of substances you have in your body during the concert and where your vantage point during the concert is.

And whatever your answers to those “variable” questions are, I think you should have fun testing things out for yourself.

And if you do decide to do a little testing, you’ll find out, like I did, that when we discover how much of a sensual epicenter our eyes are, it definitely makes us think twice about whether our ears are really the ones fully responsible for giving us maximum pleasure at concerts.

And if you do run your own concert experiment, you just might accidentally plunge yourself in to a pool of live music pleasure like I did at St. Vincent.

You can look forward to more mini-experiments like this because Ackerman’s book is full of passages, like the one above, that are perfect for illustrating the sensual power of live music and showing us how our bodies adapt to and are changed by the live music experience.

So What Will You Do During Your Next Concert?

Will you let your eyes do the hearing? Or will you let your ears do the seeing?

Pick up a copy of A Natural History of the Senses via Amazon:

Photo by Colleen Catania

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I first saw the YouTube video of the Dancing Guy at Sasquatch Music Festival last year I had my doubts about whether or not it was real. But then I soon learned what I was watching was in fact real, organic and completely spontaneous. After I had my story straight, it was then time to talk to the Dancing Guy himself to see exactly how and why he started the massively joyful and inspiring swarm.

Through my follow up posts questioning and then discovering the truth behind the “Dancing Guy’s” YouTube video (above), I learned that his name was Colin Wynter and he that was from Vancouver B.C and that he loves live music.

In tribute to Colin’s virally famous dancing display, and since the “Dancing Guy” posts have been some of your favorite all-time Live Fix stories, I contacted Colin so we could learn more about about his inspirations and motivations for starting the dancing swarm.

And even if you aren’t going to this year’s Sasquatch Festival that kicks off at the end of May, I’m sure you’ll enjoy what Colin has to say, because he does a fine job of both challenging and inspiring his fellow live music fans by sharing his thoughts about the struggle many fans face to either freely expressing ourselves or give into to peer pressure when we’re caught up in the moment of sonic and rhythmic pleasure at concerts.

Colin tells us why he chose embarrassment over regret and how he didn’t succumb to the peer pressures around him and just let the flow of the good-times goofiness takeover during Santigold’s and Gogol Bordello‘s set. He also told me what it was like for him before, during and after the swarm, and how marketing companies like Ted.com have even used his “Dancing Guy” video to explain marketing techniques.

I hope you enjoy this chat with Colin, and as always, let’s continue the conversation in the comments below.

Interview with Sasquatch Festival’s “Dancing Guy” Colin Wynter

Live Fix: What was it like before, during, and after the dancing swarm?

Colin: What was it like? Hmmm…odd question. I mean, everything was great; sun was out, Santigold was playing, I was on a giant hill overlooking a beautiful view of the Gorge…Heck, half the time I wasn’t even looking at the band; what was the point? They were waaaayyyy down there. So I listened to and felt the music wave through me, and checked out the beautiful experience I was given.

I guess I just thought everybody was silly, sitting there just chillin’, so like close friends (that they were not), I started yellin’ at them to get off their lazy asses.

Now it’s a fine line between freedom of your own expression and inhibiting others’, so you try once, twice, thrice, then you chill out and let others do their thing. At the same time, if I was bothering anyone, well, it’s a pretty big festival; move over a few feet. That’s half the reason why I went way back, up onto the hill: seriously, I think there were two people behind me. Yup, [the] two that had [the] video cam, hahahaha.

During the whole dance shebang, well, you know what happened. I jetted out [from] under the feet of this mob that surrounded me (I’m a little claustrophobic). I know I was having the time of my life, but didn’t really think much of anything—like that I did it. At the time, I didn’t know that I did anything special really; all I did was self-express… Maybe that’s all you have to do, sometimes.

Afterward…It was Gogol Bordello, so I rushed my fuckin’ ass down to the stage area, where I danced like mad; and when their song “Wear More Purple” came on, I stripped off my shorts [down to] just my purple underwear I was wearing and danced like mad. At one point some people came up and praised me, bowing to me, and I was disturbed; and I let them know the ones they needed to bow to was Gogol Bordello themselves. They were the true artists that started this mad frenzy of movement.

What inspired you to start dancing?

I dunno, it’s just who I am. I learned to let myself be free—yes, drugs and alcohol are a part, and I have no qualms saying that I was drinking liquor and ate some mushrooms. I wasn’t pissed drunk, nor did I eat a pound of mushrooms; just little nibbles here and there. It’s part of festivals for some people, and there is nothing wrong with using hallucinogenic and alcoholic substances if you do so properly. Would I have behaved in the same manner without? It’s pointless to ask a questions like that since I did use them. But what was the actual inspiration—why, the music, of course!

What did you think when you saw the video of yourself dancing and the reaction of the other people?

My reaction to the video….well, to be frank I was quite embarrassed, thinking, omg! I am such a dork. Then I got over myself and realized how much fun this was. I guess I was super surprised to see what happened from that angle, because from mine I was dancing, and then I was surrounded, and then I ran outta there!

Have you ever done anything like that at a concert before?

Hmmm…danced like that at a concert…I guess…the most accurate comparison was when I used to frequent this after-hours club in my home town of Winnipeg, and I would dance in the back, open space all by myself, and people would just stand there and stare. It certainly creeped me out! Made me really nervous—but I learned to ignore them, and just allow my mind to drift, and let the vibration of the music go into my subconscious to affect my bodily movements.

It’s been almost a year since last year’s festival. What do you think about it when you look back on it?

I think, holy shit, people are still talking about this. I still get friended on Facebook with comments of much I affected them. [So much so] that now there are people on news shows using what I have done to explain marketing techniques, the latest being ted.com. Which certainly bothers me. They are not specifically talking about me but they are talking about a situation that I was directly involved in, and they are wrong on certain points…of their grand ideologies. In fact, you were as well, but you corrected yourself on several accounts, and hopefully this interview will make things even clearer.

Have you started any other dancing swarms since?

No, I don’t think I’ve started any since; what I did was not intentional, and I certainly am not going to put on one of those staged dance events (good for those who do, and those who participate, though), but that’s not really my thing.

What do you think stops people from dancing and expressing themselves like you did?

What stops people from freedom of expression[is] they’re too inhibited [due to] social conditioning by their peers, and all they need is a little liquor to break them outta that. Perhaps it’s just not for them; some are doers are some are observers. Perhaps the timing is not right, and they just haven’t yet had the chance to free themselves.

Will you be attending this year’s Sasquatch Festival, or any other summer music festivals?

I plan on going to Sasquatch—they gave me two free tix! Also I plan on Shambala again; it’s by Nelson, B.C., and Burning Man in Arizona.

Has Sasquatch ever contacted you about last year’s festival?

Yeah, Sasquatch sent me some schwag, got me free tix; I also did a promo video for this year’s festival.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What would you say to other future or aspiring Dancing Guys?

Who am I to give advice, or say anything to anyone about this or that? Am I wise, do I have experience, am I knowledgeable? All I can do is just let everyone know that it’s okay to be themselves. It’s okay to do something that is not normal and become embarrassed. Trust me, embarrassment wears off, but regret is much harder to shake. Exist for the moment through focusing your mind; worry not about the future or the past. Through movement you can evolve your mind, and become transcendental. Practice yoga—start immediately, or when best you feel like you can. Read. Read as much as you can. Love. Love everyone and everything. Be understanding, compassionate, determined…You know all that moral crap…But most of all: have a smile on your face, be pleasant and polite, and if you’re bothering somebody’s “personal space”, tell them you’re existing beyond the material world right now, so they can go fuck themselves—Hahahahaha, just kidding…Swoop behind them so they don’t see how much fun or whatever goofiness it is that you’re doing, and then their own personal world of social conditioning or peer pressure and that there own box like mold will never see a crack in it[?]. Have sympathy for them, but never pity the poor folks; one day they might understand.

Thanks again to Colin for taking the time to share his story.

If you have any comments or questions about this interview or have specific questions for Colin, please leave them in the comment section below.

Get the Sasquatch iPhone App

Looking for the latest info on Sasquatch Festival’s iPhone App?  Check it out on the Live Fix summer music festival iPhone app guide.

I had a totally random thought the other day when I was talking with a fellow concert fan. My thought was related to my discovery during a Matisyahu concert when I saw a fan create a fantastic invention.

Ever since I saw this periscope at the Matisyahu concert last year I’ve told so many people how great it was. And this week I was surfing through MAKEZINE.com and digging back to 2008 to check out other cool DIY inventions like the DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist’s ESPN-style MIDI camera set up.

My dig through the past on MAKE got me thinking about how cool it would be to build on the periscope idea and make some sort of helmet or shoulder holster for the periscope so you could rest the device on your shoulder and free up your hands to do other things and keep your arms from getting tired and your eyes focused on the stage.

Think that’s a good idea? Do you have any other ideas that build on cool inventions you’ve seen other concert fans create? I’d love to hear them. Let’s invent, create and swap ideas in the comments below.

For the last few months I’ve been doing a test with Foursquare. And I’ll admit, like other new mobile social apps, I wasn’t completely sold on it. I had to play around with Foursquare for awhile to find out how it works and how it can be useful in my life. Well, I think I’ve figured it out. And now all this testing raises important Foursquare questions for concert fans and music venues.

Update:: More info on how The Roxy in LA is using Foursquare, how to add your venue and links to recent developer evolutions have been added below.

If you’re new to Foursquare I’ll do my best to quickly sum it up by saying that it’s a location-based mobile social media app that’s similar to user-generated restaurant rating service Yelp.

But what’s different is that Foursquare makes things a bit more fun and game-like and even competitive at times.

When you use Foursquare you can “check-in” to everything from concert venues and restaurants to workout gyms and grocery stores, or even large group events. And when you “check-in” you get points and sometimes a special badge as you visit more venues or leave more tips for your friends to find.

For me, one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed Foursquare is because it’s fun to give “shout-outs” to cool places that others might want to visit when they’re in the area. And I’ve been to a few places already just because I’ve seen some of my friends enjoy the venues, too.

How Should Concert Fans and Music Venues Use Foursquare?

Well, aside from the obvious sharing of all the cool places to see live show, Foursquare’s ability to gather up points and “become a Mayor” of venues is where I think concert fans and music venues have the most chance to benefit from using the app.

I say this because, as Foursquare continues to become more popular, venues have begun to offer special discounts to “Mayors” making “Check-ins” a sort of fun competition and more importantly giving users as a reward for coming to the venue more often.

For example, just this week I became “Mayor” of Tommy’s, a local hot dog joint that I go to way too often. And when I was told by the Foursquare auto-message that I had just ousted the former Mayor of Tommy’s from his Mayorship, I strangely felt like I was a test subject in some reward-based Pavlovian social media experiment because I had felt this  buzz of pleasure knowing that I was now the Mayor.

But unfortunately, Tommy’s doesn’t offer any specials for Mayor’s (yet.)

And besides local hot dog joints, I also go to a lot of local concert venues, too.

But becoming Mayor of my favorite Chicago concert venues is a lot tougher since there’s other concert fans checking in regularly, too.

Nonetheless, I’ve still had fun leaving behind little tips and raves about the concert venues that might be helpful to others as they discover places like Metro, The Empty Bottle, Bottom Lounge or Reggie’s in Chicago.

But Do Concert Fans Use Foursquare?

Foursquare debuted last year at SXSW and ever since it has continued to grow in popularity as mobile apps become more a part of our daily lives.

That said, I’d like to ask those of you who’ve been using Foursquare to check into concert venues what your experience has been like.

Have your favorite concert venues started offering “special” badges or deals for the local Mayor? What are the best Chicago concert venues to “check-in” at?

How have you been using Foursquare to enhance your concertgoing experiences?

What About Concert Venue Owners?

If you’re a concert venue owner, I’d like to hear your thoughts, too.

Are you even using Foursquare? How do plan to integrate Foursquare in to your venue’s larger social media plan?

Have any concert fans asked you about “Mayor” specials or unique badges for multiple check-ins? What have you told them?

Update

As I continue to keep an eye on this Foursquare story, I recently found some more info about how the Roxy in LA is using Foursquare. The info comes via Billboard and says that:

“The Roxy in LA offered a free CD to guests who show they have checked in on Foursquare. The offer was made through a “Special Here” promotion. Foursquare users click on that button to see what special is being offered by a nearby business. “The Roxy welcomes Sara Haze!” it reads. “Show this check in at the merch booth for a free Sara CD of your choice!” To date, The Roxy has received 840 check-ins from 439 unique users. Those are incredible numbers, but they’re large enough to show Foursquare marketing can be useful. In comparison, New York’s Bowery Ballroom has 2,214 check-ins from 1,438 unique users.”

Add Your Concert Venue & Get More Info On Foursquare
There’s a bigger discussion going on about Foursquare and for the sake of getting to the point in this post, I’ve just looked at the broader points of Foursquare. So I encourage you to check out this Social Media Examiner blog post for more info and a deeper dive.

You can also check out this links to see how other developers are evolving Foursquare for concerts and find out how to add your concert venue to Foursquare:

How to Add Your Local Business To Foursquare
A Lesson To Companies
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If you haven’t seen PHISH 3D yet, here’s your chance to win a pair of tickets for the limited engagement that ends this week.

As you know, I saw PHISH 3D on April 20th and this week is the only time you can see PHISH 3D during its limited one-week run.

I have two pairs of tickets to giveaway and here’s what you need to do to win them, and a PHISH 3D movie poster.

We have a very short time to give the tickets away, so pay close attention to the contest details and make sure you enter your comment quickly. As soon as the contest is over we’ll need to send you the tickets ASAP overnight before May 6th.

Contest Details

Win This
Two separate winners will receive a pair of PHISH 3D tickets, and a limited edition PHISH 3D poster.

Do This
Post your response to the question below in the comments section.

Answer This
If you could pick one of your favorite Phish concerts to re-live in 3D, which Phish concert would you pick and why?

By submitting your response in the comment section below, you will be eligible for our first ever Live Fix PHISH 3D movie ticket comment contest.

Picking the Winners
UPDATE:  Contest End Time Changed To Today  Tuesday 5/4 at 6pm CST, the comments will be closed and shortly after I will post a video of me choosing a random number (via this number picker) between 1 and how ever many eligible comments there are. The number that matches the comment (1 being the first comment and so on) is the lucky winner. Then I will award the second pair of tickets by doing a second random drawing using the same random number picker. Repeat responses and/or multiple posts will lead to immediate disqualification (1 answer per user).

How To Get Your Tickets
Winners will email me their address and the tickets will be sent directly to you.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing which Phish concert you pick to re-live in 3D!