(above : target audience)
So it seems Phoenix played an Austin high school gym earlier this week for a CBS TV taping. Because the gym was pretty small and the TV crew had tons of gear (as did Phoenix, presumably), there was only room for a few hundred students.
The school’s solution? Award tickets to those with perfect attendance (and yes, I immediately thought, “what’s second prize, TWO Phoenix concerts?”).
In all seriousness, putting aside for a moment whatever low opinion you might have of Phoenix, what band with any sort of self-respect wants to exclusively perform for the sort of kid who has never cut class? Who’s gonna be forming the great bands of the future? Probably not those who didn’t at the very least, occasionally bail on school for any number of not-so-sinister reasosn. Sure, it probably won’t be anyone who actually wanted to see Phoenix either, but didn’t I say we were putting your low opinion of them aside? I think it sucks that attendance counts more than reading comprehension (in this case, anyway). Did the members of Phoenix get to where they are today (ie. playing Central Texas high schools) by dry-humping the status quo?