With all of the wild music industry innovation that’s come from the digital age, touring seems like the one thing that’s stayed frozen in time. You book some shows, you announce the tour, you play the shows. Pretty simple. Virtual concerts during the pandemic were the biggest change we’ve seen, and they’ve already become scarce with venues reopening. So when I got the game plan laid out for me of the tour Walden was planning to go out on… my brain was doing backflips. In the midst of global crisis and so much forced change, four guys from Athens, Georgia and their manager said “what if we do something absolutely bonkers and take it to every extreme possible?”
And that’s how the Where’s Walden tour was born. The band headed out with a budget of $50, a van named Vanny, the coolest website I’ve ever seen… and the goal to visit all 50 states in 100 days. Today marks day 90, and the final show of the tour. In just 3 months, the band hit literally every US state with the support of fans who helped pay for tanks of gas, flights, and offered up places for the band to perform and sleep — homes, farms, high schools converted into Airbnbs. It’s the most interesting and exciting thing I’ve seen happen in the touring world in ages. Hearing about it made me feel inspired. Seeing it actually happen so successfully?? A better adrenaline rush than skydiving in Hawaii (which they did on this tour, by the way).
We chatted with Walden while they were on the road — literally driving between shows — and got the lowdown on everything that’s happened so far, plus a tour of the van. It felt like a mix between a tour vlog and a FaceTime call with old friends. It seems fitting that our most unique interview so far would come from the band doing the most unique things, check it out below!
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