Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Learnings From a Linkin Park Concert


It hit me Sunday night as I was in a crowd of thousands that I need to not just enjoy my night, but learn from it. So here are some observations and learnings from last night's Linkin Park concert:

1. People are weird! (There was quite a diverse crowd!!)
Learning: People come in all shapes and sizes. But once engaged, people are people. I spoke with some different people throughout the night. Some had had way too much to drink, others were just so excited about the concert, there was one couple (friends), who the girl just started to tell me about her boyfriend and the guy started to tell me about how left out he feels now that she has a boyfriend... it was crazy!! People want to be engaged and listened to. They want others to come along in their excitment and passion. No matter how many tats or piercings... they are still just people with the same needs and desires as I.

2. They do not sing the "clean" version of songs at the concerts
Learning: Though the f-bomb was flying... I personally saw more people connecting to the lyrics than the commentators. When I could understand what they were saying... I saw a common theme to the songs: a desire for acceptance and to be heard. One of the few songs I knew was "Somewhere I Belong"... what a sad song if you think about it.
3. People love to be heard. During the breaks they had a number you could text to and your message would appear on the screen. There were about 18 marriage proposals, a ton of sports fans, some political messages, shoutouts, messages of love and thanks, pop culture references, and sometimes a mixture (Like when someone asked Hannah Montana to marry them).
Learning: What I got from this also was a good feel of the views of the audience. This was a great way to poll interests. I can tell you that the crowd did not like the Jonas Brothers, did like Obama, most had seen Dark Knight (b/c of all the references to Heath Ledger), they were up on current pop news (the RIP Bernie Mac texts), and they love seeing their names on a big screen. Here were some of my favorite big screen entries:
My fav, but I think Heath Ledger and Bernie Mac got more applause. Definitely Linkin Park got more :(
That made me think of Lisa :)
That last one got a lot of boos.

1 comment:

Nat Churl Disaster said...

My name is Christopher Cambell and I am a Junior at Moody Bible Institute, studying Communication. I am doing something of a research project and was wondering if you would like to participate. The study is of Christian females who blog online. Your name will never be used, but your words may be quoted (as an anonymous surveyor of course) in a paper. If you are interested, please email me your responses to these questions at CHRISTOPHER.N.CAMBELL@MOODY.EDU

1) If someone were to ask you to describe yourself, how would you describe yourself?

2) Is this affected by your affiliation with Christianity? If so, how?

3) What is the purpose of your blogging online?

4) Do you believe the purpose is consistently accomplished?

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you and have a nice day,
Christopher Cambell