VIP/EXCLUSIVE/EARLY BIRD/EARLY ENTRY CUE JUMPING Tickets! Jesus Help me!!!!!!!!

RomerojpgX · 21-09-2011, 21:38

Right its getting to me no end this. We all hate second hand ticket sites who rip us off for a fortune!

But a new evil seems to be growing in the music gigging world. Them Early entry/VIP/ tickets. Pay vastly more than the usual ticket price and get in front of everyone who waits outside for hours on end, why? just because you paid more! how sad and pathetic is that. Its not about fans at all, its about who has the most cash.

I dont mind that they can sometimes get to meet the band/singer, get signed stuff etc... its mainly that PAY to get to the front, many gigs have whole front sections for these high rollers only. Pay �50 for a standard ticket, or �100, �200 even �300+ for one of them front ones. Or worse just early entry so they can jump to the standing area first (and still get pushed out the way

).

It does my head in it really does. The EVIL O2 Academy has done it for a while now if you show your phone and are on their O2 contract, its bloody scummy watching someone come 5 minutes before the doors open, flash and phone and jump to the front just because they have a bloody phone contract. Sadly I had to join/fake

O2 on my phone so I can now get to the front, but I dont feel guilty as I still get their hours early.

Anyway its now spreading so much more than I have ever seen it before, even smaller bands seem to be getting in on the act. A band I just got normal tickets for - Lacuna Coil, were �15, but pay �35 and get in first (and meet them which is nice).

Still its bugging me and I dont think I have seen any rants on it, so here's one

douglasb · 22-09-2011, 07:43

Any artist that charges fans to meet w/ them is utter scum.

NicolaUK · 22-09-2011, 08:48

Don't blame the artist, blame their label/promoter.

RomerojpgX · 22-09-2011, 18:09

I do sometimes wonder how much input a band has in there "VIP" tickets, or if they ever want to do then at all! as said paying to meet a band/singer etc.. should be illegal, they should want to come out and met some of the fans! for free.

Space Duck · 22-09-2011, 18:19

It's the same with Theatre now... Ticketmaster have seats at �90+ that they say are a special section but the theatre's top price is like �65 for a seat so why are ticketmaster allowed to hold these seats back.

What Pees me off is the Government have made it practically illegal to resell Olympics tickets to prevent touting, to resell you must go through a service created by them to stop folks ripping those that want to go off.

You lobby them to do the same for gig tickets, make touting or reselling above face value and you get ignored!!! ARGH!

It's not really fair especially when the likes of Ticketmaster are ripping folks off... well they did anyway by charging an admin fee per ticket...

Ste7en · 22-09-2011, 18:31

I miss the good old days when you would have to stand outside a venue all night before the tickets went on sale to get a front row seat. These days you need an O2 phone for an academy gig. For seated (non-academy) gigs it is best to go via the band website as they get first allocation.

I've done the Alice Cooper VIP jobbie, which was worth every penny when FanFire done them. Not now, they shot up by around 100 quid and you get less tat.

I was taking the **** out of a mate who went VIP for Bowling for Soup, then he told me about it... and the price!

http://www.alterthepress.com/2010/01...-tour-vip.html

Now that is ******* great! I wish I liked them

mikegray · 22-09-2011, 19:57

The O2 thing is something you can't get round in terms of early entry. In terms of the VIP crap, the unbought seats get sold off at regular price a couple of weeks before the show. So just keep checking Ticketmaster, and you'll find you can get those premium (!) seats at a normal price.

Unfortunately some of those premium packages come with a free bar, so you end up sat with ***** all night.

sjgill · 22-09-2011, 23:58

it really is down to the band/management/promoters. I went to see Pearl Jam through 10 club tickets and they were great and cost exactly the same as other tickets. I have however paid for the VIP tickets with NIN and it just meant early entry to the show and a fancy ticket.

I know bands like KISS do the vip meet and great thing but how often will you get a chance to meet a band. IMO it's no different the celebs charging for autographs at conventions.

Bish · 23-09-2011, 07:13

VIP ones that include things like a meet and greet are fine but I hate the whole golden circle thing.

RomerojpgX · 24-09-2011, 14:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikegray

The O2 thing is something you can't get round in terms of early entry. In terms of the VIP crap, the unbought seats get sold off at regular price a couple of weeks before the show. So just keep checking Ticketmaster, and you'll find you can get those premium (!) seats at a normal price.

The O2 thing stinks worse than any VIP ticket for me. I hate it so much. I remember the day the Carling Academy's changed to O2 I had a gig, I was in the cue at the front (literally number 5 in the cue and had waited 2 hours in the rain becuase its a standing venue and want to be at front) and 10 minutes before the door opened they went along the cue and said anyone with an O2 phone? and bang over 100 people jumped in front of me, I wanted to murder them all and the staff on the spot!
The thing is most people I talk too in the O2 cue jumping line do NOT have O2 phones anyway, it is sooo easy to get around its flawed beyond words.

All the events I have looked into these VIP tickets have sold out instantly, so fans must like them (well the fans with cash to burn on such things) and I speak to some in the cues once in a while and they do seem excited about that expensive laminated pass haha still I can see why the more pricey ones dont go when they are getting charged a few hundred quid!
Its just a pain for say standing gigs when all these VIP ticket holders get in first and go straight to the front, even if I wait 4 hours. I know it will never change any time soon, but hey I just get angry

Paying to get stuff and maybe meet the band seems good sometimes (you can get good stuff, like tours and even dinner with an artists at times, more than a 5 second hello then), but cue jumping should be illegal, as illegal as selling overprices tickets

TigaSefi · 24-09-2011, 15:59

Can I just say it is queue jumping and not cue. These sorts of tickets wind me up no end too. I remember in the 90's, it was so easy to get tickets at the door. Not a chance these days.

RomerojpgX · 24-09-2011, 16:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by TigaSefi

Can I just say it is queue jumping and not cue. These sorts of tickets wind me up no end too. I remember in the 90's, it was so easy to get tickets at the door. Not a chance these days.

Fair point on the word Cue/Queue. I mainly say Cue as I hate the word queue

its not laziness or ignorance, I just hate seeing the word spelled like that - yes I am crackers

I guess the net has helped expand ticket sales to anyone with a connection to the world wide web, but it also brings up problems. Still you can get tickets on doors easy to many gigs nowadays, gladly for me most the artists I go to see are not sold out. It just feels better to get any tickets the moment they go on sale and wait at the doors for a bit on the night just to get the best spot, I cannot imagine leaving ticket buying till the night and then going later on and hope to get an ok spot to stand. I never enjoy gigs when I am in a place I am uncomfortable

especially if I paid a fair whack.