Canadafan's report from Edmonton. Great information for CD promotion and security handling.
May 30th, INXS at Rexall Place in Edmonton.My 10 year old daughter was going to help me street team this event but opted out at the last minute to go with dad and friends for pizza before the concert. Mom or pizza – good thing I’m not overly sensitive – lol.
I started by posting flyers up around the venue. I was stopped by a lady at one point and she asked me if I had permission from the venue for posting these – the area I was in appears to be public but is really still controlled by the venue – she was very nice though and checked and they said it was fine, so I continued.
Later, I stood outside a very busy entrance to the venue and mostly handed out flyers and sampler CD’s. I also had business cards and magnets but since I was by myself they were a little harder to grab and distribute quickly, people tended to come in groups. The sampler CD’s were very popular. I used the “Did you follow Rock Star?” line to get peoples attention. A lot in the crowd followed Rock Star and were interested in Marty.
The INXS crowd really responds to Rock Star references so I used Marty’s name like crazy and when I got their attention I gave them the info on Lovehammers. I made sure people knew they had a new CD and about lovehammers.com and pushed that they need Canadian support. I encouraged them to pass on the word about Lovehammers and pass the sampler CD on to other people when they were done with it.
There was a variety of ages attending the show, but I found the most responsive was the 30+ crowd. I met a couple who saw LH and INXS in Vegas and the fellow said he loved LH and wished he could see them again now that he knows their music. He also said his wife was speechless meeting Marty (so are most women). There were more ladies who dashed over when they heard Marty’s name and squealed about getting the sampler – I’m sure they’ll be buying the CD!! I met some people who already had the CD and loved it– yeah!! Some people didn’t know about his band or the CD.
Then there was the disappointed group who thought Marty was the opening act and came for him – this situation can get sticky, but this is where we have to keep things positive. The people are upset and think that INXS didn’t want LH because they’re too popular – I said LH has other things scheduled in their area and that they are very thankful to INXS and LH are hoping to tour many more cities in the future. I think it’s really important to be respectful of INXS and not provide any drama here. People were very friendly and supportive of Marty, some weren’t interested, but lots were. It was a good mix of male and female support.
I decided to go into the venue and then bam! I had my backpack with me since I was dropped off, and security was right on me. They looked through my bag and said I had to take my bag to baggage check because backpacks and larger items aren’t allowed in the venue. I was escorted to baggage check and allowed to remove anything I needed – they saw my street teaming stuff and said I needed to get permission from a fellow to see if I could distribute it. After waiting for the guy for awhile they took my ticket wrote down my seat and told me he’d come see me later – and he did!
The fellow arrived with an INXS rep, looked at my stuff and said I couldn’t distribute it in the venue – which I hadn’t done, I was waiting for permission at this point – and again I was escorted to baggage check. They were polite and nice about everything, the last guy was a bit firm but it’s his job. My family was with me for the last security check and my son was upset thinking I was in trouble. I had to explain everything was fine and I didn’t break any rules and wasn’t in trouble, then he was okay. I think my husband thinks I’m having an affair with the security guy now since we were together so much- lol! Other people haven’t had issues with security or distributing in their venues, so I would say try it and the worst they could do is say no to you.
Overall, I am happy with the way things went. I got to meet a lot of people who were interested in Marty and the band and hopefully word will spread. I didn’t get to do as much street teaming as I would have liked, but I was able to do some and every little bit helps.
Sorry, I have no pictures. I was already carrying a lot of stuff so I didn’t have my camera, which was probably a good thing because the way things went, they might have strip searched me – lol!! I couldn’t do any street teaming after the concert because we had to get the kids home to bed for school the next day. It was my kids first rock concert and they really enjoyed it, they would’ve loved to have seen Lovehammers too but maybe another time. All in all, we had a fun evening.
Thanks to Kate and Gail for all your help and support!
Great job on STing INXS. 
It sounds as if you had the same reaction that NancyBBE and I had in INDY. There are alot of people that really liked Marty and didn't know that they had a CD out. I hope that RS2 and Marty's appearances will help get the word out.
