Yes, Grouplove has passed the live music test. And I have to give a special thanks to my cousin Matt for winning our Metro/Bears/Packers bet and wisely selecting to see Grouplove as his first concert at Metro.

Ever since Matt picked the show I’d been digging Grouplove’s tunes on their debut release Never Trust a Happy Song, a unique and clever mix of upbeat indie-pop, rock, folk and groovy songwriting with some Beach Boys Pet Sounds melodies and rhythms tossed in.

And in the days leading up to the show my curiosity grew and a whole bunch of questions started bouncing around in my head.

I wondered how they would transfer the energy of the songs to the stage.

I wondered how the fans would embrace the band live at this very early stage in their career.

Would the band’s chemistry be developed enough to captivate and amaze?

Would fans get emotional?

Would it be the same as the Gayngs and Ra Ra Riot show?

Well, Grouplove certainly brought the goods.

And fans did spread the love and feel-good vibes on many levels.

And with the sold out Metro just about ready to burst, the quintet charged through their set with reckless abandon.

During the show I saw many fans like the ones above hugging and lovin’ on each other in many creative ways.

Some were arm-locked, while other fans were locking other body parts during the whimsical surging anthem “Itchin’ on a Photograph,” the summertime gem “Naked Kids” and especially the encore crowd-pleaser “Colours.”

Experiencing all of this for over an hour made it hard to believe that Grouplove had been together for barely a year.

And the band wasn’t shy about their lack of live show inexperience either. They declared graciously several times that this was their largest headline crowd to date.

It was a most joyous and beautiful blur.

And to top it all off I had the honor and pleasure to share the show with my cousin Matt who, I found out before the show, had not only never been to a Metro show, but had never been to a rock concert ever. Double bonus!

This was truly a scared moment, my friends.

And as I mentioned before we’re going to explore and share more as we talk with Matt about his first concert experience on a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Until then, we’d love to hear what you thought of the Grouplove show, so go ahead and post your comments and thoughts below and we’ll include your experiences in the episode.

In case you’re wondering I took these shots with my Droid X2 and originally shared them via Instagram as part of our ongoing mobile experimenting. Follow me on Instagram by searching for “livefixchris.” I’d love to see what kinda of concert magic your capturing with your smartphone too.

Well, this is a fun continuation of our ongoing White Stripes experiment. Of course it’s only Jack White attempting a new world record as he voyages out in the wake of his new album Blunderbuss.

Here’s the news according to a press release that I received and chuckled through as I read the details of this strange metaphoric concert quest.

Jack White has again decided to take on the tremendous challenge of making it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

During the rest of the performances on his current tour supporting his new album “Blunderbuss” (which incidentally is currently in the running for the world record of “the fastest named album in history” *pending), Jack White will every night on stage attempt to break the world record for most metaphors in a single concert.

The attempt may prove very exhausting and at times even dangerous, but the results could prove to be glorious and possibly even vainglorious. White and Third Man Records are certain that the extremely scientific and intricate analysis of the metaphors that occur will be examined in accordance with Guinness’ usually very thorough methods probably, or at the very least if somebody answers the phone at the pub.

Third Man Records encourages all attendees of said concerts to please not interfere or interject with any metaphors that they witness occur during the show as to not disqualify or worse yet, trivialize the metaphor in question. In addition all concert attendees are encouraged to entice as many metaphors to occur during the show that they possibly can as long as they don’t endanger themselves or Mr. White.

Sounds like fun, right?

Well, for the most part it will be entertaining to watch this unfold.

But I think if audience participation is not encourage White will be missing out on an intriguing opportunity for concert fan crowdsourcing. And if fans are just observers and not participants in this strange quest then we might have another unfortunate Looky-Loos situation on our hands.

Jack White vs. Guinness

The other twist to the story is that this isn’t the first time that Jack White has tried to make Guinness World Records history with his live show.

As Pitchfork reports, back in 2007 The White Stripes attempted to set a record for the shortest concert ever with a one-note show. The attempt was captured in the excellent film Great White Northern Lights and here’s what happened back then:

“Ultimately they turned us down,” White told Aldrin, calling the Guinness organizers “elitist” and their decision arbitrary.

“There’s nothing scientific about what they do. They just have an office full of people who decide what is a record and what isn’t. I mean, there is some stuff like Olympic records where they have a committee. But most of the records in there-who has the biggest collection of salt-and-pepper shakers or whatever-are just whatever they want them to be. So with something like the shortest concert of all time, they didn’t think whatever we did was interesting enough to make it a record. I don’t know why they get to decide that, but, you know, they own the book . . . Maybe this will help us get the word out.”

Well, it seems that it did.

Guinness World Records have now explained their decision to NME. The White Stripes were, apparently, recognized for their accomplishment in a 2009 edition of the book. But then Guinness received a barrage of applications from other bands attempting to outdo the White Stripes. The organization realized that “the nature of competing to make something the ‘shortest’ by its very nature trivialises the activity being carried out,” they told NME. They decided to do away with a range of “shortest” categories, including shortest song, shortest poem, and shortest concert. Also adding to the decision, they told NME, was how different interpretations of what constitutes a “concert” made the category hard to work with.

All this said, White’s metaphoric quest seems more like a personal mission between him and Guinness, than a fun thing for him and fan’s to experience during the forth-coming tour. Either way, I’m sure it will be entertaining to see if White can pull it off and see if Guinness finally approves.

What do you think about White’s quest?

Were you at the one-note show? Would you want to help White with his metaphoric adventure? What would you do to make this a true artist and fan collaboration?

Rock on my friends and do share your concert experiences and thoughts in the comments below, so they can be included in a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Jack White’s Tour Dates:

05/18-20/12 – Gulf Shores, AL – The Hangout Music Fest

05/19/12 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel +

05/21/12- NY, NY – Roseland Ballroom +

05/22/12 – NY, NY – Roseland Ballroom +

05/24/12 – Detroit, MI – Scottish Rite Theater +

05/24/12 – Detroit, MI – Scottish Rite Theater (all ages matinee show) +

05/26/12 – George, WA – Sasquatch Music Festival

05/27/12 – Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth Theatre +

05/28/12 – Eugene, OR – Hult Center for the Performing Arts (Silva Concert Hall) +

05/30/12 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern +

05/31/12 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern +

06/21/12 – London, UK – O2 Academy Broxton +

06/22/12 – London, UK – Hammersmith Apollo +

06/23/12 – Hackney Marshes, London, UK – Radio 1′s Hackney Weekend

06/25/12 – Amsterdam, NL – Heineken Music Hall

06/26/12 – Berlin, Germany – Tempodrom

06/27/12 – Cologne, Germany – E-Werk +

06/29/12 -Werchter, Belgium – Rock Werchter

07/01/12 – Belfort, France – Les Eurockeennes

07/02/12 – Paris, France – L’Olympia +

07/03/12 – Paris, France – L’Olympia +

07/05/12 – Hamburg, Germany – Docks +

07/05-08/12 – Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival

07/20-22/12 – Dover, Delaware – Firefly Music Festival +

07/25/12 – Melbourne, Australia – Festival Hallm +

07/26/12 – Sydney, Australia – Hordern Pavillion +

07/27/12 – Byron Bay, Australia – Splendour In The Grass Festival +

07/27-29/12 – Niigata, Japan – Fuji Rock Festival +

08/03-05/12 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza

08/08/12 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater

08/10-12/12 – San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands

Happy Mother’s Day!  One of my favorite songs about a son expressing his love and appreciation for his mom is Tupac’s “Dear Mama.”

I can’t say that I relate completely with all the lyrics, but the universal emotional sentiment that Tupac expresses is spot on. And that’s what makes the song transcendent and eternally awesome. And the emotion and realness with which Tupac performed this song is a big reason why his music still moves us and his hologram rocked our world.

And like Tupac, Kayne West continues the same tradition with “Hey Mama,” another classic tribute and a personal favorite. And I love this live version.

So go hug your mom and tell her that you love her today (and everyday too). And as Tupac points out, we remember those moms that have passed on.

Enjoy the videos and stay tuned as we continue our annual Mother’s Day tribute with an upcoming episode of Live Fix Radio to celebrate and remember how live music changed the lives of moms everywhere.

We’d love to hear about your favorite mom-centric live music stories. Post them below and we’ll include them in our Mother’s Day episode.

There’s some good data points in here. But what this infographic really reminds of is our chat with Alex from StagePage about mobile apps and how we need to foster more context and meaning around all the media that concert fans create during shows. I’d like to see an infographic that illustrates that conversation.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll share your story on a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Continuing our exploration of sites, apps, tools, other cool stuf for concert fans, we’ve been experimenting with the new social media bookmarking site Pinterest. It’s a great site and we’ve posted several boards for you to enjoy.

Here’s our Pinterest Live Fix collection of boards. So far we’ve created boards for concert infographics, ticket stubs, cool stuff for concert fans, live show shots and more.

But, as always,  we’d like to know what pins and boards you would create. Post your ideas in the comments below and we’ll share them on a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Yes, as we’ve discovered, there is a Zen likeless between the live concert experience and flipping through the vinyl at your favorite record shop.

And after this year’s Record Store Day I certainly achieved my vinyl nirvana with other live music fans at Reckless Records.

Here’s a snapshot of the bounty I scored on RSD 2012 (Clockwise):

Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power

Tegan and Sara – Get Along (Live)

The Civil Wars – Live at Amoeba

Buddy Guy – This Is Buddy Guy (Live)

Shabazz Palaces – Live at KEXP

I’ve been working my way through each album and digging every second. But I’m holding off on opening a few of these albums for a special reason because, you know, we love contests.

Live Fix Blog Comment Giveaway

Yep, we want to share the RSD fun with you so we’re celebrating with a couple Live Fix Fan giveaways.

The first one will be happening right here on Live Fix in the comments below.

Prize #1: Record Store Day prize package

During my visit to Rediscover Records, Rich was kind enough to offer up a RSD compliation CD, Tedeschi Trucks Band “Revelator” Live EP, and a Sub Pop Mixed Nuts sampler that includes tracks from Beach House and others.

Prize #2: The Civil Wars – Live at Amoeba

We’re excited to give these two prizes away as they’re both an excellent collection of live and studio tracks.

And all you have to do is drop a comment below that includes either your favorite local record shop, RSD experience, or your most memorable concert.

We’ll pick two lucky winners at random, contact you via email and send you the winnings via mail.

The comment contest starts today Monday May 7th and ends on Friday May 11th Wednesday May 16th at 11:59pm. You must provide your email in your comment and you can only enter once. Any duplicates will be thrown out. We’ll announce the winners on Sunday May 13th.

Live Fix Facebook Giveaway: Win Raw Power, Get Along

Then later this week on our Live Fix Facebook page, we’ll be giving away the Iggy and The Stooges “Raw Power” and the Tegan & Sara “Get Along” albums.

In order to win these fine albums, you’ll need to become a fan of our page, by “Liking” us, and then when you see the Raw Power, Tegan & Sara update post later this week, you’ll need to click “Like” or comment on that specific post and we’ll pick two lucky random winners from that post.

Good luck and we look forward to hearing about your favorite RSD and concert adventures and featuring them on a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

I got another cool tool to share with you that I discovered while I was at the Community Manager Unconference.

During my adventures I had the pleasure of meeting Nick Kellet co-founder of Listly. I told him about our community of live music fans here on Live Fix and after hearing about the story behind Listly I was excited to merge this tool with our other live music experiments.

I’ve been enjoying Listly these last couple months and I think it’s a great tool for live music fans for a few reasons.

Feeds Our Current Addictions

First, Listly enhances several of the things we love do to as music and concert fans: make lists, rank, share, catalog and categorize.

Empowers Us

Listly empowers us to socialize, evolve and experiment with list-making as it specifically relates to all the niche topics of the live concert experience.

And Listly makes it pretty easy to add to current lists and create your own. There’s even a gamification element that rewards top users with a point system.

More Meaningful, Contextual Concert Fan Storytelling

But what really gets me jazzed about using Listly is that, if used creatively and effectively, it can empower us to add more context and meaning to the story of how live music changes our lives forever.

Overall, it can be a great tool to rank, document and share our favorite venues, mobile apps, emotions, live albums and concert documentaries, and other supporting elements of concert fan storytelling.

Our First List: Top Chicago Venues

So to kick-start our experiment with Listly I’ve created a list (below) of all our favorite Chicago live music venues that I invite you to interact with right away.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting more lists that include our favorite live music blogs, albums, concert fan communities and our world-wide music venue bucket list and more.

Go ahead and check out our list below and let me know what you think of Listly and how we can use it to explore and share our live concert experiences. When you make your own, go head and post a link to your list in the comments below.

And stay tuned for more as we invite Nick to talk more about Listly and live music on a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Top Chicago Concert Venues

Our favorite concert venues in Chicago

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Tomorrow we’re excited to have the chance to continue several Live Fix explorations as we tune into “The Switch,” which according to the press info, is a YouTube musical live streaming experience where you can choose between two musical acts based on your mood at the time – energizing or relaxing.

The Switch kicked off in March with a live webcast of two secret shows featuring on-the-rise artists Theophilus London and Givers in Brooklyn, NYC  and April 23 8pm EST is show #2 featuring Childish Gambino and Other Lives who will be performing two secret shows from somewhere on the West Coast.

The Switch was created by YouTube and La Blogotheque, a French music production team known for taping bands playing in unusual settings. Over the past six years, La Blogotheque has filmed more than 300 acts, including Arcade Fire, Beirut, Phoenix, Cee-Lo, R.E.M., Andrew Bird, Bon Iver and Battles.

The Switch sounds pretty cool as it aims to give fans two options to match your mood while tuning in. And we’re looking forward to seeing how it turns out because, as noted below,  this virtual and emotional concert experiment touches on several previous Live Fix explorations.

Let us know what you think and stay tuned for more and we talk with the folks behind The Switch on future episode of Live Fix Radio.

• Theophilus London and touring fatigue

• Virtual concert experiences

• Why Do We Love Secret Shows?

• Big Live: Changing the Way Concert Fans Connect

• La Blogotheque redefines the concert experience

• Chew On This: Coachella and 5 Gum

• Fans, Brands and Live Music

We’ve been exploring how brands are using the live music experience to connect with fans.

And when I saw the footage of Snoop Dogg performing in the super-sized Doritos vending machine at SXSW I have to say that I wasn’t that impressed because it seems like it was just another lame attempt to only market to fans with a slick  gimmick and not really add any value or innovation to the live music experience.

But since then I have to say things have changed as I’ve experienced more of the interactive content that Taco Bell and Doritos are unveiling with their recent combined Locos Tacos campaign.

QR Code That Rocks

As you can see by the photo above, the part about the Locos Tacos campaign that I have enjoyed the most is their excellent use of QR code.  I’m  geek when it comes to QR codes and this use is by far one of the most creative and well executed that I’ve seen so far.

Taco Bell and Doritos have clearly taken the time to understand their audience right down to connecting the sense of taste sound and sight in a pretty solid interactive experience.

For example, when you scan the QR code you’re taken to a url (http://SCN.BY/9T9AB0HTW8I7L7) which then takes you to a Hype Machine sponsored site on your smart phone with intro copy that says:

“You’ve got the new Doritos Locos Tacos in one hand and you just unlocked awesome music with the other. Life pretty much rocks. Discover exclusive Performances from Feed the Beat artists…”

Yes, I love how they made the double-fisted connection of having a Doritos Taco in one hand and in the other hand you’ve got the crafty copy and the live concert videos of Dale Earnhart Jr, Little Hurricane, Miniture Tigers and other bands.

What Could Be Better

However, I do think this mobile experience could be improved. It could be more interactive and create a better sense of community among concert fans and ultimately put fans right at the center of an emotionally engaging, highly sharable, and extremely viral social media experience.

For example, Taco Bell and Doritos could enable fans to tweet the similarities between their concert experiences and their Locos taste experience, and use those fan interactions to create a hashtag, Facebook page or even a unique forum community with other Locos Tacos/live music fans who are going through the same shared experience.

What Have They Done This Year?

And I see this as a possible future phase of what Taco Bell and Doritos has been doing with Augmented Reality and their $5 Big Box this year.

So far in 2012, I’ve seen how they’ve experimented with other creative applications of Augmented Reality and their $5 Big Box.

First they turned the Big Box into an interactive Street Fighter video game, which I was addicted to playing while I stuffed my face with tacos.

And then right around the time of SXSW came the next phase which involved buying a Locos Tacos Big Box that you could scan the box with your smartphone and see an AR floating cloud of interactive tweets from other customers who’ve enjoy the tacos too. And then while you’re munching and crunching you can join the cloud and tweet your own taste raves too.

What They Should Do Next

Again, this all very fun and creative. But what they should do is capture the live concert experiences of fans who are at these sponsored Taco Bell/Doritos shows and turn those tweets into a interactive game of shared concert stories.

That way fans are not only sharing the awesome taste of the Locos Tacos but they’re also sharing what their feeling during the show. Combined together these two highly emotional experiences would be extremely powerful.

And, like we’ve said before, this type of combined emotional interactive experience is a win for fans and a win for the brands.  Who knows, maybe this or some form of this idea is already in the works.

How ’bout You?

Have you used tasted and experienced the combined pleasure of the Locos Tacos and live music? What do you think of their use of AR and creative branding? What are your favorite examples of great uses of QR codes for live music fans?

Share your concert stories and thoughts in the comments below, on Twitter @livefixmedia, on Facebook , Google Plus, or call the concert fan hotline at 773-609-4341, and we’ll include them in a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Yes, it’s amazing what our imaginations can dream up before technology can make it happen.

I say this because when I let my imagination run wild during my Adventures of Johnny Rawkwriter experiment I wrote about the first concert in space where the venue would allow you to re-experience or venture back to shows you didn’t experience via holograms that were so lifelike that you could feel, see, taste and hear everything,  as if it were right there in front you.

After watching the video of Tupac performing at Coachella as a hologram, I’m thinking that we’re closer to the first concert-in-space experience than we might realize.

That said, I’m going to re-visit my story and write a second chapter about a secret location on Earth where we were testing the technology before we headed in to space to unveil it.

However, that second chapter turns out, I know that I would add Tupac to the concert-in-space bill while considering a few things…

Besides the futuristic sci-fi possibilites, I also thought about the emotional elements that made this Tupac hologram so alluring and intriguing to explore.

Why Did Fans Love This?

We know what happens to our emotions during concerts and one of the biggest drivers to that emotionally-charged experience is nostalgia, awe and mystery. Three things that have been at the heart of this Tupac hologram story.

Fans who saw Tupac when he was alive likely got a big shot of nostalgia as memories of his live show and love for his music came rushing back. I imagine those fans wanted to re-experience those moments and this hologram gig allow them to do so, if only for five minutes.

And I’m surprised some fans didn’t rush the stage to try and give Tupac a welcome back hug.

Then there are the fans that never got the chance to see Tupac live and this Coachella gig was a chance for them to do so, even if it wasn’t really him, it was the next best thing.

What Was Snoop Dogg Feeling?

From the artist perspective, I watched the video wondering what it must of been like for Snoop Dogg to be on stage performing with the virtual Tupac.

Was he freaked out, happy, or excited? Probably a mix of both.

And I imagine he probably felt a mixed rush of grief and mourning rise up in him as he had the chance to perform again with a friend.

Tupac vs. Hatsume Miku vs. Biggie

The next thing I thought about was our recent exploration of the Japanese virtue artist Hatsume Miku who performed via satellite for the first time to American audiences.

It was amazing to explore how concert fans respond to a completely virtual artist. We figured Hatsume Miku wouldn’t be last time we’d see something like this, and after the Tupac gig, that’s pretty much been confirmed.

So will we eventually see Tupac perform live with Miku? Or as some fans commented on the YouTube video, will we see a holographic battle rap between Biggie and Tupac?

Who Would You Want To See?

Was the Tupac hologram more creepy or innovative?

Would you pay to see your favorite dead artist re-born as hologram live in concert?

What artist would you want to see perform as hologram?

How does this change the live concert experience? What does this reveal to us about what goes on in our minds and hearts during concerts?

During concerts, how much are our emotions driven by powerful subconscious associations to nostalgia, longing, happiness and grief?

Share your concert experiences and thoughts in the comments below, on Twitter @livefixmedia, on Facebook, Google Plus, or call the concert fan hotline at 773-609-4341, and we’ll include them in a future episode of Live Fix Radio.