How did I get to see my "Song of the Summer" live?

Photo by Will Rice via Lost In Concert

For a great review of the actual show I saw last Sunday written by Marisa Ruiz (@MarisaVictoria) with more pictures like the one above by Will Rice (@wiLLLrice) please click over to the post at Lost in Concert.  Instead, this post is more about my personal experience in getting myself to see the frontrunner for my personal Song of the Year: "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People:



There are a lot of parallels with my early exposure to this song and my experience with 2009's "1901" by Phoenix.  Both were witnessed in the verge of Summer's start at a sold out smaller venue, but more importantly shortly after hearing the tracks had I known it to be the Song of the Summer without a doubt.  Time will have to tell if "Pumped Up Kicks" will win my personal Song of the Year award, but it's easily the leader in the clubhouse right now.  (quick sidebar: one thing these songs do NOT have in common are ties to any embarrassing encounters with cute concertgoers)

Foster the People have been riding quite a popularity wave after being a darling of SXSW in March, performing a sold out show in Chicago at Schubas in April and exposure on NPR in May before returning to Chicago to perform in front of a larger sold out show at Lincoln Hall in June.  Not to mention they will also be back for Lollapalooza in August.  All of it on top of this viral pop track that's been playing on the radio during this time span... But since I don't listen to the radio, by the time all this buzz finally busted through to me their show this past Sunday was already sold out.  With the song basically on repeat for me the days leading up to the concert I decided it was time to attempt a plan that I have been thinking about for some time.

People who know me know I love Lincoln Hall.  These same people know I'm quite the loudmouth on various social networks about it as well.  I've shared my praise with a few people at LH and they have been appreciative while kindly asking for a Yelp review.  As soon as I was asked I knew I would write a review - eventually.  Part of me didn't because of sheer procrastination and laziness.  However, I also thought I should attempt to withhold a review until the timing for me would be more advantageous.

Giving away tickets through their Facebook page and Twitter account is nothing new for Lincoln Hall.  However, they seemed to up the ante last week.  In order to enter to win free tickets to the sold out Foster the People show, LH asked for people to vote for them in Chicago Reader's "Best of Chicago 2011" poll.  In addition to tickets for last Sunday's show, LH was giving away tickets to "an unannounced August" concert.

After nearly half a year of thinking in my mind what I wanted to write on Yelp, I finally signed up and published a review:

A list that is actually longer now in my mind

To really drive home my obsessive level of appreciation I attached a few of my crappy Instragram photos from past concerts and proceeded to run the propaganda train all over my social networks.  I posted it on the aforementioned LH Facebook Wall and tweeted it myself.  Finally, I submitted my ballet to the Reader and let LH know I had done so - while also not so casually mentioning that I was the same dork that recently posted on Yelp.

Less than 30 hours later LH had replied a thanks back on Twitter, liked my FB wall post and lo and behold sent me an e-mail saying I had won two tickets to Foster the People along with a not-yet-announced Lollapalooza After Party (again thanking me for the kind words on Yelp)!

And there you have it sports fans.  Who says wasting time on the Internet doesn't pay?  A wonderful song, a great story and an even better venue to encapsulate it all.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: Lincoln Hall, I love you - don't you ever change.