My lovely guest poster is one of my blogging best buddies who I’ve known since the very beginning, the lovely Louise from Inspire Magazine. She is brilliant and definitely worth a follow!
Back in 2005 I fell in love big time when I attended my first ever live gig – courtesy of rock band Bowling For Soup. I still remember that night clearly in the back of my mind, even though it was almost ten years ago now! Walking into that music venue and feeling like I’d been smacked in the face with the excited atmosphere and anticipation of the crowd, I quickly fell head over heels in love with live music when seeing them perform. Since then I’ve been to hundreds of gigs; recreating and experiencing that feeling over and over again. I’ve seen almost every single band on my must see bucket list, and I’ve seen bands repeatedly night after night with the exact same set list yet the whole gig being completely different every single time. Music is my passion and going to gigs is one of my favourite things in the entire world.
Even though I rave constantly about how cheap they are (I’ve never paid over £15 for a ticket!), it does add up, meaning that even though I don’t think I’d ever not go to a gig I really wanted to see (I’d sell my liver for ticket money if I had to), it definitely gets expensive. Last November myself and some friends went on a road trip around the UK to see our favourite band on all their UK tour dates and that
actually ended up costing a hell of a lot in the end (though a lot cheaper than we thought it would be!).
For a long time now, I’ve wanted to up my gig game so to speak and start attending music festivals. I’ve dreamt of week long festivals spent camping, partying with my friends and just throwing myself into the music. I haven’t yet managed to bag myself plans to a proper proper music festival like that, but I’m working my way up. For example, this time last year I was a music festival virgin. Since November 2013, I’ve been to Warped Tour, Hit The Deck and Slam Dunk, with Camden Rocks and Wireless Festival all coming up.
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| Festival wristbands that I don’t think I’ll ever take off!
You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you that out of five of those music festivals mentioned, I only had to pay for my ticket for one of them. Additionally, I also regularly get free entry to gigs by one of my favourite bands, The Maine. |
Want to know how?
It’s all down to street teaming.
When my friend first told me she became a street teamer for The Maine, I was determined not to get involved myself. I remember street teaming for Busted back when I was a crazy little 14 year old fan girl and it’s simply a time I try to forget (I was really obsessed with them!). However, I still remember reading an article stating that Busted really helped to form the term street teaming – at the time, they were one of the few bands that really grasped and shaped the concept of encouraging their fans to help promote them in return for exclusive perks.
As geeky as it sounds, street teaming is a hell of a lot of fun. It’s not necessarily just handing out flyers
on a cold street but even when you do do this sometimes after a gig you’ve just attended for free, it can be kind of fun chatting away to fans about your passion and meeting new people. The majority of street teaming is actually done online these days too, which means promoting a photo or a post online, sharing it on your Facebook or Twitter with a simple click. In return, you can not only bag yourself free entry to said bands show or the festival you might be helping promote, but sometimes you’d be surprised at the extra perks you get too.
The first time I helped street team for The Maine for their Warped Tour set involved me doing lots of online promo and handing out flyers at the show. When we arrived however, the band members had already handed them out themselves, so we were told to simply relax and enjoy the day. Little did we know that on top of the guest list entry we’d received for helping out, we also got entry to the VIP bar and after party and actually spent the whole night drinking with the bands lead singer and my idol. This is a night I’ll never ever forget and people always get so jealous when I tell them, thinking I’m really ‘in’ with the band or really lucky. It’s not that at all though – it’s simply because I helped promote the show!
(Although saying that, I’ve met the band enough times now to be considered ‘in’ with them I suppose and often manage to hang out or go for a drink with them after their shows now which I shamelessly brag about when I can #sorrynotsorry)
Since then I’ve seen lots of festivals also really embracing the street teaming way and have managed to get free entry to a number of different smaller festivals by doing similar tasks (handing out flyers or online promotion).
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| Me (with a really cheesy grin haha) flyering at a show recently [Source] |
It’s such little effort which is often a lot of fun in return for so many amazing opportunities. It really baffles me why people don’t get involved more! I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while now, just as a little hint on how to save money when it comes to something I’m passionate about. If it wasn’t for getting involved with some of these street teams, I would have missed out on seeing so many awesome bands over the past few months.
So if you’re ever skint or you really want to see a band or attend a music festival, I would ALWAYS see if the band or festival has a street team first. It’s so much fun and although saving money on a £15 ticket doesn’t sound like much, if you’re a regular gig goer like me then it saves a LOT of money in the long run. You might also manage to get extra exclusive perks that even other guests don’t get, like VIP after party entry and the chance to chill with your favourite bands.
If you’ve ever thought about or even considered street teaming then I hope this post has inspired you to finally get on it. Don’t think it’s geeky like I first did and remember these bands are a lot cooler than Busted!
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| Terribly geeky outfits for that first ever gig back in 05! |
It’s also pretty funny how back when I attended my first ever gig it had been my sister who had paid for our tickets to see Bowling For Soup. I attended Hit The Deck festival recently for free too and managed to meet the lead singer of Bowling For Soup, telling him how their music had changed my life and helped me fall in love with live music. I liked that those two ‘gigs’ were connected in that way.
I love live music. I think my rock tastes might be a little more on the heavy side but I really understand what you mean about the atmosphere of going to a gig! I've never been interested in meeting bands, I'm just into the music really but street team work sounds great if you get into gigs for free! I've never heard of The Maine, are they similar to anyone? Great post, really resonates with me!
P.S. I think your Busted obsession is far better than my obsession as a young teen – Boyzone! I was obsessed and even in their fan club, oh the shame!
Oh definitely! I was never much for meeting bands either – apart from The Maine – but I tend to meet so many band members now that I kind of just get a buzz from it, especially when they all tend to know me and just greet me by name haha! The Maine are fairly similar to All Time Low, except maybe a little heavier and less pop punk? (although their early stuff is pop punk). They're actually all friends in real life. They're one of those bands that you wouldn't know by name, but once you do you're surprised you haven't heard of them sooner because they're so 'on the scene' if that makes sense – if you're into that type of music you'll find that they've toured with Good Charlotte, All Time Low, 30H!3 (or however it's spelt), Taking Back Sunday etc. I found it really weird that I hadn't heard of them sooner, it was a bit spooky really because they played with/toured with a lot of bands at gigs I'd planned to go to in the past but hadn't, two of their members even appeared in a music video for Good Charlotte I must have seen a million times haha.
I'm glad you enjoyed the post! I'd deffo consider it all, even if you don't want to meet band members, it's great for saving money if you go to a lot of gigs and I promise you it's not as geeky as street teaming for Busted or Boyzone haha!
Thanks for the comment x