Best Music Poll Concert 2009: 10 Things You Need To Know Whether You're Going Or Not

Tomorrow, you may have heard, is our 2009 Best Music Poll Concert on City Hall Plaza, better known to Green Liners as the Government Center T Stop. These bands are playing: The Bravery, the Airborne Toxic Event, Passion Pit, Metric, Gaslight Anthem, and Ra Ra Riot. This is a free concert. The first band is on around 4 pm. If you are over 21 (and can  prove it) you can drink beer outside at City Hall. This does not happen every day. 

We've been pulling out all the stops on this one, but we thought you might want to know the following crucial pieces of information:

1. EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT GOING YOU CAN WATCH IT ANYWAY. We're live-streaming the entire concert on the internet. If you live in Boston and you end up watching this on the computer, when you could have hopped on the subway and come seen it yourself for nothing, we will hunt you down and tie a bell around your neck. But for the rest of you, we've got a camera set up in the best seat in the house, and you can talk to your friends on Facebook while you watch. Or Twitter. Whatevs makes you happy. Tune in beginning at 2:25 pm (or so) -- we'll be broadcasting all of WFNX's pre-show interviews with the artists, and then the full sets by all six bands. Did we say live? Live, motherfuckers. 

2. SET TIMES: WE GOT 'EM. Don't yell at us if the band goes on 15 minutes late -- or 10 minutes early. But as of now, here's our best idea of how this'll go. 4:30: Ra Ra Riot. 5:30: Passion Pit. 6:30: Metric. 7:30: Gaslight Anthem. 8:45: Airborne Toxic Event. 10 pm: The Bravery. Show ends: well before the T stops running.

3. IT'S 10 AM ON SATURDAY AND IT'S RAINING. IS THE CONCERT STILL HAPPENING? Dude, we just checked with God and the Weather Channel and they both told us it's going to rain Saturday morning, clear up by noon, and be fucking gorgeous and clear and 80 degrees at showtime.You bet your ass this concert is still happening. Wear a smile and bring sunscreen, champ. 

4. UM, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS "BEST MUSIC POLL" CRAP ANYWAY? It's an excuse to throw a party, we've been doing it for 20 years (or 21, we're not quite sure), although this is the first time we've made the party free, all-ages, and outdoors. It's also an actual poll where we have our readers and WFNX's listeners vote for their favorite local and national artists. Sometimes the winners play the show; sometimes we just pick some bands we like. In any case, we just announced the list of the 2009 Best Music Poll Winners, and you can read our witty quips about all of 'em over here. 

5. WE WANT TO SEE YOUR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS: We could have asked you to email them to us, or text them to us, or something laborious like that. But we know you're just going to put them on Flickr and YouTube like everyone else. So we've set up a FLICKR GROUP and a YOUTUBE GROUP for Best Music Poll 2009. When you put your shit on the interwebs, click that little button or whatnot to submit them to our group and the YouTube fairy will make sure they end up on our Best Music Poll wrapup page. You'll be (almost, sorta) famous! (P.S.: if your friend ends up getting hammered on the Plaza and posts drunk noodz to Facebook, plz tack a few to our Wall.)

6. HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOUR FRIENDS ARE COMING: Funny you should ask -- if they're on Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, or pretty much any other social network then they're probably going, they just haven't told you yet. Don't trust us? Click here and invite them yourself.

7. HOW TO FIND YOUR FRIENDS IN THE SEA OF 20,000 PEOPLE ON CITY HALL PLAZA: Twitter your face off. Include our #bestmusicpoll hashtag in your Tweets until it's a trending topic. Wait 10 seconds, then ask the aging, underfed Boston Globe reporter who follows trending topics and tracks down the kids who use them for a lift. Wave frantically at the live-stream camera. Your friends will see you on their iPhone. Promise.

8. POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA GETS YOU . . . THE EQUIVALENT OF A PARKING TICKET: Just sayin'.

9. WHO ARE THESE BANDS? You've got to be fucking kidding me . . . but fine. Here's the best interview with Passion Pit ever. We also talked shop last week with Ra Ra Riot and Metric. And some video from the last time we hung out with Gaslight Anthem. And some photos from the last time the Bravery played Best Music Poll. Get familiar.

10. SOME OF OUR TWITTER FOLLOWERS HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN VIP UPGRADES. We'll be Twittering throughout the day with set-time updates and alerts on where to get your favorite Best Music Poll bands' autographs. So if you're gonna be there, come follow us.