The Microsoft store remained packed hours after they opened their doors to the public.
It’s no surprise that a location change had to be made for the Microsoft Grand Opening concert featuring Macklemore and Ryan Lewis opening for Neon Trees on Thursday June 13, as announced on the Honolulu Pulse. The concert was scheduled to take place in the parking garage outside the store to be a nice side show to accompany the opening day of Microsoft’s Ala Moana location if they had hired some flashy street musicians, but the mall garage has no capacity to comfortably house the more than 5,000 people that were expected to attend the concert, which featured pop superstars Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Neon Trees. Instead, tickets for the show were given to the first 5,400 recipients that checked out the new store opening beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday morning. To increase the hype, the eager concert attendees lined up beginning 10 p.m. Wednesday night outside Microsoft’s doors. The line tapered down around 1:30 p.m Thursday, with plenty of tickets still to give away. But the crowd inside the grand opening stayed packed with playful consumers sampling out the new Microsoft products.
New Microsoft products are displayed so that consumers can try before they buy. $100-off coupons were also given out for this one-day event.
In addition to throwing a free concert for the public Microsoft also gave up to 20 computers to four community partner groups including Girl Scouts of Hawaiʻi, Goodwill Industries, YMCA, and Hawaii Community Foundation, according to the Girl Scouts Hawai‘i website.
With plenty of tickets to the free concert still to give away, the line ceased and the velvet ropes withdrawn.
Each partner group volunteered up to supporters to help with the opening and Microsoft donated one computer for every 10 volunteers, up to five computers per community group. Volunteers also helped work the concert by handing out water to young fans.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis took the stage at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park at 6 p.m. and played a few songs before Neon Trees, who wrapped up the concert at about 8:45 p.m.
Additional Information:
http://www.honolulupulse.com/2013/06/microsoft-store-concert/
http://girlscouts-hawaii.org/2013/06/05/microsoft-grand-opening-macklemore-with-ryan-lewis-neon-trees-concert/