R5 came close to booking sizable indie acts, like Neutral Milk Hotel and Animal Collective, but wound up with "a series of just-misses." No one had ever heard of the venue, and booking agents' first question was, "Who else has played there?"



That's where the War on Drugs comes in. Ami Spishock, the band's manager since 2010, grew up in Downingtown. But she had never heard of the Dell.



Barwin was ready to fix that. Spishock, who lives in New York, came to see Beirut, another band she manages, at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby in 2015.



"Connor came and picked me up at the Tower and drove me to the Dell. It was closed and locked and dark, and we were peering in through the locked gate."



He got the desired result, however. "I was totally inspired," she says. "The other thing that happened that night was he took me to a couple of playgrounds in the city. The inner-city kids were playing basketball under the lights, and everybody was thanking him and ribbing about how he was playing that year. You see that, and you've got to want to help him in that effort. I didn't hesitate."



Slawson refers to the War on Drugs as "this wonderful group" and Barwin as "like your brother. He's the kind of person who's comfortable in whatever neighborhood you put him in, and he really wants to make a difference." She and Agnew hope the War on Drugs' example will lead to others playing the venue, and a diversified lineup in 2018.



The Dell's larger capacity will allow Make the World Better to raise more than at the 1,200-capacity Union Transfer. Barwin is bummed that he'll have to miss the show, though: Usually, his shows are in the football offseason, but this one needs to fit into the War on Drugs' tour cycle, which most likely will follow the release of the follow-up to Dream.



"I didn't know I wasn't going to be playing for the Eagles," he said. "It would have been perfect if I was. It's the Thursday before the first home game. All of my teammates would have been there."



But although Barwin is now a Ram -- and reunited with defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, with whom he thrived with the Houston Texans early in his career -- he has no plans to cut ties to Philadelphia. Last week, he was looking for a place to live in L.A., and, having sold his Center City house, looking to buy another one in Philadelphia. "My wife loves it. It's a place we're always going to have roots," he says.



While in L.A. on a one-year contract, he'll get to know the local community, with an eye to expand Make the World Better, "and then if I re-sign, I'll be ready to roll." In any case, "we want [Make the World Better] eventually to be an organization that helps cities and parks and rec departments throughout the country."



But can he also maintain the level of involvement in the Philadelphia community that's made him so popular and already so missed? "The plan is to do everything we're doing in Philly and do more," he says.