It blows my mind that a band as good as 311 never stops!! This years concert was sick......from Fiction Plane, Snoop (of course) and problably one of the most energetic sets i have seen in a while from 311!!! Thank you guys for all that you do for your fans!! I dont think there is a band around that tours and makes cd after cd that you know will not dissapoint!!! You guys are the greatest!!!

Yall bring back the joy I've experienced at live shows in the past. Give us a taste of what ya got for the new album, please? Can.t wait for the new tour!!!

311 has changed the way i look at things. I have stayed positive and learned to love my life ever since i started listening to you guys. Im so pissed that i didnt get to go to the concert here in St. Louis. I couldnt find any tickets. Flowing has to be the greatest song. I cant describe how i feel when i listen to the song. 311 has to come to STL again for 09 or else i will die! 311's got the boom ya'll!!!

What The Takeover Tour Has in Common With The Joker

This past summer, my band Full Service embarked on its first ever Takeover Tour. Armed with 5,000 demo CD’s, a mailing list that we hoped to fill, a generator for power, and our instruments, we undertook our craziest stunt yet. Instead of playing normal club dates as we had in tours past, we followed around the 311/Snoop Dogg/Fiction Plane summer Tour—16 cities, from Boston to Austin—and played for the people in the parking lots before the big boys took the stage inside.
We didn’t have permission, but we had an idea that we were onto something. In fact, before we did our last Takeover in Austin, TX (our hometown), we met Tim Mahoney, who was unbelievably supportive and excited about our adventure, and at the Backyard Amphitheatre in Austin, 311 approved us to play INSIDE the gates. Many thanks to them, and may they always remember what it was like being an independent band coming up.
What follows is an abbreviated version of an article I wrote about our experiences during the Takeover Tour.

There's a scene in Batman: The Dark Knight, where the Joker pays a visit to the newly deranged Harvey Dent. An explosion has left Dent badly injured, leaving his body--and his psyche--ugly and disfigured. The Joker, in an attempt to recruit another player into his anarchist experiment, hands Dent a gun and says proudly..."Introduce a little anarchy".
Now, the Joker's particular brand of anarchy is obviously not cool. (See, "gun,” above). But it occurred to us during our recent Takeover Tour that what we were doing was really just as much an experiment in anarchy as it was a mission to spread our music and win new fans. True, it may have started as a promotional stunt, but it quickly turned into a fight against the powers that be—NOT 311, who as you’ll see later, were very receptive and supportive of our experiment—but rather the consolidated nature of the music industry (record label is concert promoter is music venue is radio station) and the bland, tightly controlled, corporate-owned concert experience that accompanies this conglomerate system.
As we traveled from city to city during our Takeover Tour, we noticed the remarkable sameness of each venue. Whether it was The "Comcast Center," The "Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre," The "PNC Bank Center", it was all the same. It all lacked the same x-factor that a good concert-experience requires. It's one thing for a huge corporation to own a venue; it's another for that corporation to make you feel like you're attending a concert at their corporate campus. For three weeks we slung our arrows at Godzilla, never bringing him down exactly, just annoying him, forcing him to do something about the little-band-that-could that was rocking in their parking lot.
Not every amphitheatre was boring, though. And not all were owned by a cell-phone or cable company. We did run into one exciting venue. It was The Backyard in Austin, TX. A mom 'n' pop joint. Funky. Real. The Backyard not only let us do The Takeover, they invited us to come inside the gates and set up on a big grassy knoll near the main stage.
First, of course, they needed to run it by the guys in 311. And how COOL is it that 311 ended up giving us the go-ahead, proving they still remember what it was like being a “DIY” band. This is a group of guys that toured independently for years, doing it themselves, honing their “grassroots” approach and building a solid core of dedicated and loyal fans. When we spoke with Tim Mahoney, the lead guitarist, he told us about their early days traveling around in an old R.V. He also told us that lately the band had been kicking around the idea of having up-and-coming bands play outside their concerts in the parking lots before their shows. Serendipity, anyone?
We also shared stories about both our bands’ experience during this tour. (We were surprised to learn that they didn’t call it “The Takeover Tour,” they called it the “311 Summer Unity Tour.”) We talked about the particularly bland, authoritarian scene at New Jersey’s “PNC Bank Center,” the long, long drives between cities (they had a driver and bunks for sleeping, we had a “who’s-driving-next?” schedule and benches for sitting,) and where we were touring next (we, to the east coast [U.S] and they, to the faaaar east coast [Japan].)
We ended the conversation with an exchange of emails and phone numbers, and Tim was kind enough to put us in touch with 311’s manager. Maybe, he said, we could set something up for next summer. They could sponsor the takeovers, get us permission to play, maybe hook us up with a little stage. We thought that would be great, but we’d have to somehow reconcile “permission” and “stage” with the concept of a “Takeover”.

311 Day is EVERY SINGLE year. You are welcome for my time ...

J.
NY

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This next album is going to be super raw! Can't effin wait for the release. BTW they only have 311 day every two years so we have to wait for a while before we know where it is and we can get tickets. Either way, I'm doing whatever I can to see the best day of music of all time

Is 311 day going to be in New Orleans again? And when can i get tickets?

311 + Snoop + Philadelphia = spiritual paella :-)

Creatures was definitely crazy in Council Bluffs! Thanks so much for keepin it rockin for so long. Don't stop, my life would change too much!

311 and Bob Rock (Producer)!! all I can say is it is about time and I absolutely cannot wait for this next album!! Peace and Love!!

Yay! We are all so excited and we cannot wait for Spring '09! I love you 311 and I love my 311 family! :)