Music fan edits band’s Wikipedia page to get a better view of concert

WASHINGTON — An English teenager who was stuck in the back at a concert in Manchester found an ingenious, and thoroughly modern, way to improve his view.

Adam Boyd was grumping his way through the opening acts at the Albert Hall, in Manchester, Thursday night and realized that things probably wouldn’t improve for him when the headliners, The Sherlocks, took the stage.

He told the British newspaper The Daily Mail that he got an idea.

He whipped out his phone and edited The Sherlocks’ Wikipedia page to say that he was the cousin of lead singer Kiaran Crook, and was an influence on the band’s first single, “Live for the Moment.” Then he headed for the VIP section.

“I don’t know how the idea climbed to the top of all the other drunken ones I was probably having then,” Boyd told the Daily Mail. Drunk or not, he was clever enough not to show his hand too early, only “remembering” to show the Wikipedia page after the bouncer wouldn’t buy his story.

It worked. Boyd was let into the roped-off VIP section above and behind the stage, posting a picture on Facebook to prove it.

As Mashable pointed out, the edit history of The Sherlocks’ Wikipedia page shows that the page was indeed edited at about 8:30 p.m. British time to include Boyd as Crook’s cousin.

The Mail reports that Boyd eventually went back downstairs, finding the VIP section too “hectic” with photographers and others running around. He did find a roped-off section, where he was still “close enough to see the time on their watches.”

The band was amused:

Rick Massimo

Rick Massimo came to WTOP, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child. He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."

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