Complaint Review: The Extreme Tour - Nationwide

 I submitted this a moment ago. It appears to have automatically selected "Owner of business instead of Consumer Comment". Sorry. This is my CONSUMER COMMENT.  I am writing this after reading the report someone anonymously posted stating that The Extreme Tour and The Objective were not a real tour, were "posing" as a religious organization, and that they are not doing actual dates or events. I felt I had to write something as I have been to The Objective and been on the Extreme Tour and it is clear to me that the person who wrote these accusations had not been. I don't believe that this person characterized the Extreme Tour correctly or fairly and I wanted to report what I

personally saw as I think that will be more accurate since I have real first hand knowledge and actual experience. I'm not just speculating or making assumptions based on a Google search of venue names or poorly filmed videos I found on social media. To be fair. The Extreme Tour is NOT like most tours. Every other tour I'm aware of is basically just a business trying to make money from ticket sales or by charging artists to perform. It turns out that the Extreme Tour does neither of these. I discovered the tour is a charitable outreach effort, doing free events in partnership with charities, churches, and community organizations in the cities it goes to. The idea they have is that

these events uplift a community and serve as a bridge between people in need and agencies that can help them. Yes, I found out they are religious people.(Christian, actually), but the events were not really specifically religious. They were basic fun community events like many I'd been to, but more musical. Like a rock concert. And they included skateboarding and crowd activities too. I also remember that most of the people attending were not at all religious. And many of the people and agencies helping were not either. There were some religious artists that played, but there were also others that were not at all religious or Christian. No one preached a sermon or anything. Again, it

was really just a neat community event. The events I've seen, or was a personally a part of, were done in the middle of unusual settings like "English Village", (the housing projects that the anonymous writer i am responding to referenced as not being a real venue), blocked off city streets, skateparks, plazas and squares, etc. Almost every event I was at was outdoors. These were not normal venues for music gigs. These were places where the shows were designed to have as much impact as possible on needy, often impoverished, communities. It seemed to me like the venues were chosen in an effort to take the event right to the people the tour or it's local partners were trying to

help. I could see where a person might see this as strange as these were not places artists usually play, but the whole experience was rather inspiring. I thought it was neat to be part of an event that brought a concert experience to people who are having a hard time and probably don't get a chance you relax or go to things often. I know that people were really encouraged and blessed everywhere I went when I was with them. Actually, the experience was a real blessing to me as well. I had never experienced anything like this before. It was a really great feeling to see our music mean so much to some people. It was nothing like the normal gig. It felt like something more. Like being a

part of something bigger that made a difference and wasn't just a show. It is true that I didn't make tons of money while doing the tour. The places we went while i was there were needy areas and that didn't lend itself to making thousands of dollars in merch sales. But, the Extreme Tour DID take care of many needs for ALL of the artists on the tour. (Not just the "top tier"). They cover things like food and lodging, and I know they helped SOME artists with transportation. I appreciated the support they gave us. Especially when I found out that every single member of the staff are full time UNPAID volunteers! EVEN their top people! Apparently no one is paid on their staff. They all raise

support from family and friends like missionaries or something. And this cuts to the main reason I wrote this. The person who accused the Extreme Tour of suckering artists and not being real clearly does not have real personal experience. They appear to have cynically interpreted things that are different about Extreme Tour from a normal tour and, I think, misunderstood what is really happening. This is a beautiful, but unusual, effort. I'm glad I was a part of it. It's worth doing for artists that want to do more than just play shows for money. You likely won't make much money, but you'll likely have one of the best experiences of your life. I hope other artists don't get turned off

by this other report from a person who didn't even see it for himself. If an artist is considering it, they should research it for themselves. I know there are pictures and videos all over online. As for the events being attended by nobody, that's not really true. I DID see a couple events with less people, but there were larger turnouts too. There are plenty of pictures on their site with the crowds in them (big and small). They also show the outdoor venues as well. Artists trying to get a real sense of what's happening should look at those. As for The Objective: This was also a great experience! The objective is an event that the Extreme Tour puts on and invites every applicant to attend at no

charge. The purpose of the objective seemed to be for the Extreme Tour to outline, in great detail, what it is they are trying to accomplish with their Tour. I assume that this was so artists could decide whether or not they wanted to be a part of that kind of an effort, and see it as more than just a gig. But they also used The Objective to offer artists access to a lot of top names in the music industry. They did this for free. When I was there, they brought in Michael W. Smith, Kurtis Blow, Ricky Skaggs, members of Wu Tang Klan, along with many more well known artists and people from the industry to mentor the artists and speak to them about developing as artists and using their music to make

a difference. Again, this was completely free to attend. It only cost if you also wanted to showcase or distribute your music to the other industry people. (And it was really a diverse group!) I loved every second of it! I don't know of anything else like it available in the industry. Certainly not for free, anyway. In my opinion, that made it worth the application all by itself! Granted, it was expensive for the travel and lodging I had to find to go to Nashville for the Objective, but I definitely believe it was worth it! And they didn't REQUIRE applicants attend. It was just offered as a service. In summary, I just wanted to give my report to correct what I felt were unfair and incorrect characterizations

of the tour I DID take part in. I hope people will read this and get a better sense of what these guys really do. It's really a neat thing if an artist wants to do something with their art.

 I am writing this after reading the report someone anonymously posted stating that The Extreme Tour and The Objective were not a real tour, were "posing" as a religious organization, and that they are not doing actual dates or events. I felt I had to write something as I have been to The Objective and been on the Extreme Tour and it is clear to me that the person who wrote these accusations had not been. I don't believe that this person characterized the Extreme Tour correctly or fairly and I wanted to report what I personally saw as I think that will be more accurate since I have real first hand knowledge and actual experience. I'm not just speculating or making assumptions based

on a Google search of venue names or poorly filmed videos I found on social media. To be fair. The Extreme Tour is NOT like most tours. Every other tour I'm aware of is basically just a business trying to make money from ticket sales or by charging artists to perform. It turns out that the Extreme Tour does neither of these. I discovered the tour is a charitable outreach effort, doing free events in partnership with charities, churches, and community organizations in the cities it goes to. The idea they have is that these events uplift a community and serve as a bridge between people in need and agencies that can help them. Yes, I found out they are religious people.(Christian, actually), but

the events were not really specifically religious. They were basic fun community events like many I'd been to, but more musical. Like a rock concert. And they included skateboarding and crowd activities too. I also remember that most of the people attending were not at all religious. And many of the people and agencies helping were not either. There were some religious artists that played, but there were also others that were not at all religious or Christian. No one preached a sermon or anything. Again, it was really just a neat community event. The events I've seen, or was a personally a part of, were done in the middle of unusual settings like "English Village", (the housing projects that the

anonymous writer i am responding to referenced as not being a real venue), blocked off city streets, skateparks, plazas and squares, etc. Almost every event I was at was outdoors. These were not normal venues for music gigs. These were places where the shows were designed to have as much impact as possible on needy, often impoverished, communities. It seemed to me like the venues were chosen in an effort to take the event right to the people the tour or it's local partners were trying to help. I could see where a person might see this as strange as these were not places artists usually play, but the whole experience was rather inspiring. I thought it was neat to be

part of an event that brought a concert experience to people who are having a hard time and probably don't get a chance you relax or go to things often. I know that people were really encouraged and blessed everywhere I went when I was with them. Actually, the experience was a real blessing to me as well. I had never experienced anything like this before. It was a really great feeling to see our music mean so much to some people. It was nothing like the normal gig. It felt like something more. Like being a part of something bigger that made a difference and wasn't just a show. It is true that I didn't make tons of money while doing the tour. The places we went while i was there were

needy areas and that didn't lend itself to making thousands of dollars in merch sales. But, the Extreme Tour DID take care of many needs for ALL of the artists on the tour. (Not just the "top tier"). They cover things like food and lodging, and I know they helped SOME artists with transportation. I appreciated the support they gave us. Especially when I found out that every single member of the staff are full time UNPAID volunteers! EVEN their top people! Apparently no one is paid on their staff. They all raise support from family and friends like missionaries or something. And this cuts to the main reason I wrote this. The person who accused the Extreme Tour of suckering artists and not being

real clearly does not have real personal experience. They appear to have cynically interpreted things that are different about Extreme Tour from a normal tour and, I think, misunderstood what is really happening. This is a beautiful, but unusual, effort. I'm glad I was a part of it. It's worth doing for artists that want to do more than just play shows for money. You likely won't make much money, but you'll likely have one of the best experiences of your life. I hope other artists don't get turned off by this other report from a person who didn't even see it for himself. If an artist is considering it, they should research it for themselves. I know there are pictures and videos all over online.

As for the events being attended by nobody, that's not really true. I DID see a couple events with less people, but there were larger turnouts too. There are plenty of pictures on their site with the crowds in them (big and small). They also show the outdoor venues as well. Artists trying to get a real sense of what's happening should look at those. As for The Objective: This was also a great experience! The objective is an event that the Extreme Tour puts on and invites every applicant to attend at no charge. The purpose of the objective seemed to be for the Extreme Tour to outline, in great detail, what it is they are trying to accomplish with their Tour. I assume that this was so artists

could decide whether or not they wanted to be a part of that kind of an effort, and see it as more than just a gig. But they also used The Objective to offer artists access to a lot of top names in the music industry. They did this for free. When I was there, they brought in Michael W. Smith, Kurtis Blow, Ricky Skaggs, members of Wu Tang Klan, along with many more well known artists and people from the industry to mentor the artists and speak to them about developing as artists and using their music to make a difference. Again, this was completely free to attend. It only cost if you also wanted to showcase or distribute your music to the other industry people. (And it was really a diverse

group!) I loved every second of it! I don't know of anything else like it available in the industry. Certainly not for free, anyway. In my opinion, that made it worth the application all by itself! Granted, it was expensive for the travel and lodging I had to find to go to Nashville for the Objective, but I definitely believe it was worth it! And they didn't REQUIRE applicants attend. It was just offered as a service. In summary, I just wanted to give my report to correct what I felt were unfair and incorrect characterizations of the tour I DID take part in. I hope people will read this and get a better sense of what these guys really do. It's really a neat thing if an artist wants to do something with their art.