I was plateauing for a while there - not enough fans and the level wasn't high enough to take on the next mission but I have finally broken through the barrier.
Level 30 and more than 750 fans! Now I can play at the shopping mall. Still a long way to go before I can record a demo which requires Level 40 and 1,000 fans but I'll get there eventually.
Level 40 is going to take a while unless there's an easier way to grind out levels that I'm missing. Probably more than a month unless I get a lot of energy restoring pizzas along the way.
1,000 fans will come faster. Sometimes with my drunk fans included, I already exceed that number. Fun times.