If you're Sean Parker, the Napster/Facebook dude portrayed by Justin
Timberlake in the film "The Social Network," and it's a few days before
this year's Facebook developers' conference ("f8"), and you suddenly
decide you want to throw the party of the year, what do you do?
Apparently, the answer is buy a warehouse, invite four arena-sized
artists (Jane's Addiction, the Killers, Snoop Dogg and Kaskade) to
perform and invite your digital music industry VIP friends - such as
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Napster co-founder Sean Fanning - to accompany
you.
First, Parker and Ek had a brief powwow on stage - or, at
least, on a podium in front of around 300 audience members. They
discussed the obvious - Napster, Spotify, Facebook and Justin
Timberlake.
"Napster had instantaneous gratification, a service
that was easier to use than piracy," said Parker, candidly. "Solving
the piracy problem can't happen if you don't build a service that's more
convenient than piracy. Spotify was the first product that I saw that
competed with piracy."
But the talking was soon done with, and then the evening's entertainment portion truly began. Ostensibly to celebrate the new Open Graph era of Spotify and Facebook,
it was obvious from the minute a slimmed-down, acoustic configuration
of the Killers took the stage that Parker had thrown a party just to
party: He rushed the front row with Ek, jumped on chairs reserved for
the press and knocked over an entire bottle of tequila.
There
was something for every type of Facebook friend: The Killers spoke to
those attendees who claim they "like music" but can't name any artist in
particular. Kaskade turned every late-night programmer into slightly
sketchy rave kids. Jane's Addiction, meanwhile, was lighting up that
large part of the crowd in their 30s or older. And while the programmer
world isn't exactly filled with OGs, Snoop's gangsta rap hit the spot
with just about everyone.
"I still believe in human
communication - none of this Face-fucking-book," joked frontman Perry
Farrell during Jane's Addiction's set. "Face to face, one on one touch;
it's still the only way." Farrell and his band played an abridged
greatest-hits set (skipping "Jane Says"), then showcased their new
classic-in-the-making, "The Irresistible Force."
The Killers relied on hits like "Human" and "Mr. Brightside," but
they also included a nod to the San Francisco environs: a cover of Otis
Redding's "(Sitting on the) Dock of the Bay." It played to frontman
Brandon Flowers' strengths, especially in the band's special acoustic
configuration.
And Snoop Dogg was perfect in the role of Snoop Dogg, effortlessly
rolling through hits like "Nothing But a G Thing" and "Gin and Juice."
Towards the end of his set, however, as Snoop launched into "Jump
Around," women started jumping up on the stage and dancing. Pretty soon
the entire stage was filled with half the audience dancing, a sure
reminder that, in fact, this was truly nothing but a party for Internet
dorks - there wasn't a single bouncer or security person in site. And
those who weren't on the stage with Snoop? They were standing by the
bar, posting Facebook updates.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage