We’re not going to both­er telling you about Web­stock because a) you should already know all about it and b) there was only one tick­et left as of this morn­ing (although there are still tick­ets to the ONYAs avail­able, so get on that. Instead, we’re going to tell you about two relat­ed events that we think you should come along to.

The first, on Feb­ru­ary 3, is Rock­stars: Rock to Stock, the fund-rais­ing fol­low-up to The Case of the Mid­night Note from Col­lec­tive Noun. Like last year, they’re try­ing to help good peo­ple get to the amaz­ing Web­stock con­fer­ence for cheap­er (full dis­clo­sure: I was a recip­i­ent last year), only this year, they’re doing it live on stage. Um, play­ing instru­ments that is. Not real instru­ments though. But play­ing real songs on fake instru­ments, via Rock­band, the Playsta­tion game.  And before that, imag­i­nary bands have to cre­ate real life cam­paigns in an online game. And then live out their rock dreams at a real event! Real­ly, you should read more about it in their own words:

Be a Rockstar. The game for people who love to rock out.

Musi­cal tal­ent not required. Awe­some on air gui­tar, sing a mean lip dub, obsessed with music-based video games, or sim­ply a mas­sive music fan? This is your chance to final­ly be the rock­star you’ve always dreamed of.

  1. Cre­ate your per­sona and form an awe­some band online with your friends
  2. Take part in rock chal­lenges and gath­er some fans
  3. Then ROCK OUT in real life at the Bat­tle of the Bands!
  4. Make a video… The top per­for­mances will be screened at the Bat­tle of the Bands, with the win­ner picked by The Phoenix Foun­da­tion!

Of course, it goes with­out say­ing that you should become a fan of Jo Hubris & The Hubrettes. And if all that sounds like too much effort, just get a tick­et and come along on the night.

The sec­ond event you should come along to is on Wednes­day Feb­ru­ary 16, the Offi­cial Welling­ton­ista Unof­fi­cial Web­stock Warmup. Come have drinks with like-mind­ed peo­ple who want to show you a good time in this awe­some city of ours. Just like last year, you can meet peo­ple in relaxed beer-friend­ly sur­round­ings before the con­fer­ence prop­er begins, and/or solid­i­fy friend­ships & con­tacts you’ve made dur­ing the work­shops. Non-Web­stock-atten­dees are wel­come, but may feel quite sad that they’re miss­ing out. This year we’ll be at Mighty Mighty, upstairs in Cuba Mall, from 6pm. Spot us by our Web­stock satchels, prob­a­ble iPhones and warm, wel­com­ing smiles.

(If you’re going to the Sil­ver­Stripe meet­up at 5pm at the Bris­tol — right across the street -, before­hand, don’t wor­ry, we’ll be going late into the night so you can still come and drink with us after!).