The Crowd Gets In on the Act at Fan Nation

It was a Kodak moment only a rock fan’s mother could love.

Lori Foster of Riverside and her 15-year-old son, Sean, had spent almost two hours in line with a couple of hundred others at Sunday’s Fan Nation concert in Irvine, hoping to snag an autograph from Sean’s hero, sneering British punk rocker Billy Idol. Finally, Sean emerged victorious from the tent where Idol was patiently scribbling as many signatures as his allotted 45 minutes would allow.

Besides getting Idol’s John Hancock just above the knee of his faded denim jeans, Sean snapped a picture too. “He even flipped off the camera for Sean!” Lori Foster noted.

Yes, Virginia, there is a rock ‘n’ roll Santa Claus, and if you’re good, and your heart is true, he might visit your town too.

All in good fun, of course.

“It’s all energy,” a smiling Idol said after being whisked away from the autograph hunters and deposited safely backstage at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. “That’s what the music’s about, so these things all fuel each other.”

Along with performances by Idol, Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, the Wallflowers, the Go-Go’s, Eve 6 and Uncle Cracker, the nine-hour event included two tents where performers took turns signing CD booklets, T-shirts and even fans’ bodies, and another for freewheeling question-and-answer sessions.

Musicians often consider interviews and anything marketing- or promotion-related necessary evils they endure so they can indulge their first love: playing music. But first-round Fan Nation participants did little grousing about their extra-musical responsibilities, even when the interactions proved less than profound.

“You remember that video you did, ‘Mr. Jones?’ ” a fan asked singer Adam Duritz during the Counting Crows’ question session. “That was awesome!”

The motto for the first Fan Nation is “Everyone gets a backstage pass.”

The mission to strengthen the sense of community among fans and musicians is part altruistic, part pragmatic on the part of organizers looking to pump some needed blood into a rock concert business suffering from anemia.

A quick survey of about a dozen of the 12,000 or so fans Sunday turned up as many who came strictly for the music as to get up-close and personal with musicians.

A few offered suggestions for improvements.

“I expected a little more from the interviews, and a little less of the ‘Adam, will you marry me?’ kinds of questions,” said Angela Douglas, 30, of Cypress. “If they had a drop box where people could put in questions ahead of time, then they could pick out some really good ones, and mix those in half and half with the others” from fans chosen at random by moderator Ryan Seacrest of the event’s sponsoring radio station, Star 98.7 FM.

The air of informality and community carried over into the concert portion, from Go-Go’s singer Belinda Carlisle’s chattiness between songs to Idol’s stripped-down acoustic mini-set midway through his performance, to impromptu appearances by Duritz and Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins during the Wallflowers’ set.

“It’s great seeing our friends from other bands,” said Third Eye Blind’s Tony Fredianelli after his band’s turn at the autograph booth. “We usually cooperate with things like this. It’s nice to remember where you came from, and give something back to the fans.”