While the FAA's nationwide ground stop stranded more than a million travelers Friday, Hoobastank, Simple Plan, The Used and Lolo played a live in-flight concert on a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Orlando, per Variety. The band was already airborne when the sky closed.
The only rock show in America on Friday had an aisle for a stage, a cabin full of fans, and a 2004 power ballad as the centerpiece. "The Reason" at cruising altitude is the in-flight version of the song: everyone is stuck, the lighting is fluorescent, and the encore ends when the plane lands. Passengers sang along and then did what passengers do, which is post it.
Southwest runs the "Live at 35" program, which is an airline's content budget line, a PR operation that converts a delay into a concert. The FAA's operation ran the other direction, printing "extraordinary circumstances" for five hours over an old radar system while the industry sat in terminals. Friday produced two kinds of delays: the ones with setlists and the ones without.
Lolo wrote that "every plane was grounded today, but the emo gods made sure this one flew." The emo gods are the only booking agent still working the circuit, and the Warped Tour finale is this weekend in Orlando. The tour ends and the sky shut the same day, which is either a sign or weather. The bands are playing either way.
YOUR TURN: Hoobastank played the only rock show in America while the sky was closed. Is that a concert or a hostage situation?
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