Last week I posted about the fantasy of being a substitute person – filling in perfectly for a favorite band with none of the risk of being the permanent solution.

This weekend I saw the phenomenon in action when OK Go pulled a fan out of the audience to play “Here It Goes Again” with them on stage.

(Afterwards, OK Go was impressed by Eric’s performance, noting, “Most people think they know how to play it because they played it on Guitar Hero.”)

As amazing as it is to be the substitute person, it also uniquely rewarding to watch a substitute person succeed at their task. It’s as once-in-a-lifetime for an audience member as it as for the substitute!

My favorite substitute person memory is from 2002. Guster played our Drexel Spring Jam, and a young flautist in the audience convinced them to bring him on stage to play the flute parts at the end of “Fa Fa.”

Not only did he play the exact flute part from the album, he played arrangements of the horn parts and sang backing vocals.

That remains one of my favorite concert memories of all time.