VIP passes

[letsdanceon]

I've been a fan for 23 of my 35 years, and if some kid told me he deserves to be closer than me because he had more free time than I do, I would laugh in his face. The hell outta here with that nonsense.

[DeJennsitized]

1 hour ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

 

Statements like these are probably why older people don't take millennials seriously... please stop making us look bad.

There's also this idea called ageism that is probably just as shitty as the capitalist idea of "only the rich get to the front." As others have said, just because your ideas benefit you doesn't make them any better or fairer in an objective sense.

See also: ableism.  

Giving fans an alternative method to reach the front without spending hours queuing is a really great idea?? Yes, the VIP is a lot, but as we've seen, people will pay it. People queuing for hours is their choice just as much as people willing to pay a lot to avoid that. Neither method makes you a better fan than the other. 

[solongfromthestars]

3 hours ago, Hermione said:

Has the VIP thing actually stopped early queuers from getting good spots near the front on this tour? I'm pretty sure the early entry contests for 21st CB didn't cause much of a problem (don't remember complaints about it) but they were quite limited in number, don't know how many VIP tickets have been made available/sold in comparison.

At the shows where there weren't 100 VIPs it didn't make a huge difference, but I'm not sure how it'll work without a catwalk - I guess we'll find out at the amphitheatre shows. A contest is probably the lesser of the evils because at least then everyone has a chance... and it'd also make Idiot Nation membership less pointless.  

But yeah, we all love Green Day, we all deserve to be up front. No one should experience hostility or assumptions about their finances, responsibilities, etc, for their choices, whether it's paying for VIP or camping out.

[letsdanceon]

1 minute ago, Maria Gloria said:

At the shows where there weren't 100 VIPs it didn't make a huge difference, but I'm not sure how it'll work without a catwalk - I guess we'll find out at the amphitheatre shows. A contest is probably the lesser of the evils because at least then everyone has a chance... and it'd also make Idiot Nation membership less pointless.  

But yeah, we all love Green Day, we all deserve to be up front. No one should experience hostility or assumptions about their finances, responsibilities, etc, for their choices, whether it's paying for VIP or camping out.

Anything to make the idiot club seem less pointless 😜

[Hermione]

49 minutes ago, Maria Gloria said:

At the shows where there weren't 100 VIPs it didn't make a huge difference, but I'm not sure how it'll work without a catwalk - I guess we'll find out at the amphitheatre shows. A contest is probably the lesser of the evils because at least then everyone has a chance... and it'd also make Idiot Nation membership less pointless.  

But yeah, we all love Green Day, we all deserve to be up front. No one should experience hostility or assumptions about their finances, responsibilities, etc, for their choices, whether it's paying for VIP or camping out.

Yeah a contest would definitely be preferable! But unless it's huge numbers I don't have a problem with either as far as who's at the front fairness.

[gjustislaw]

7 hours ago, Hermione said:

Has the VIP thing actually stopped early queuers from getting good spots near the front on this tour?

I had a VIP pass in Detroit; I also had an acquaintance who had general admission (read: non-vip floor) and arrived in the morning to queue up.

We ended up right next to each other on the barricade.

So, despite the inequities involved, I like to think this method balances things out pretty well. We were both happy, and did what we needed to do based upon our respective circumstances on that particular day.

13 hours ago, Armstr0ng. said:

...you need to just accept that your days of being front row are gone.

Ha! Spoken like a child.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

6 hours ago, letsdanceon said:

I've been a fan for 23 of my 35 years, and if some kid told me he deserves to be closer than me because he had more free time than I do, I would laugh in his face. The hell outta here with that nonsense.

That was basically my same reaction to the bitch who told me I didn't deserve to be behind her on the barricade because I didn't spend $400.  

[WhiteTim]

Being a fan longer than someone else doesn't make you entitled over a fan whose been a fan shorter...

[letsdanceon]

53 minutes ago, WhiteTim said:

Being a fan longer than someone else doesn't make you entitled over a fan whose been a fan shorter...

No one said that, either, just that IT'S ALL IRRELEVANT

[belinda jane]

Man, I sure am glad they didn't have these VIP passes down here.

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

9 hours ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

 

Statements like these are probably why older people don't take millennials seriously... please stop making us look bad.

There's also this idea called ageism that is probably just as shitty as the capitalist idea of "only the rich get to the front." As others have said, just because your ideas benefit you doesn't make them any better or fairer in an objective sense.

I wasn't speaking as a representative for anyone other than myself. I'm not young, I am over 30 and fit the category of people who can't queue all day because  I'm a professional now. I enjoyed my days of being a student (albeit poorer days) when I could camp overnight, queue all day, attend numerous gigs with my multicoloured hair etc but now that's impossible. I'm lucky to have gotten one day off to fly into London the morning of the gig and home on the first flight the next day to be back on site for work. I was speaking about myself when I mentioned shifting priorities and being lucky to have such a fantastic job now, so getting the front of the queue (while always nice) is not something that matters all that much anymore. Even in the queue I was sending work emails! So yeah, I'm grateful for my carefree teenage years and twenty-somethings and now I'm very grateful for what I have which just means I can't spend as much time on hobbies and queuing for gigs etc. If it makes millennials "look bad" to shift their priorities as they mature, accept that you can't have everything and someone else deserves to be at the front of a queue of they're willing to actually queue then that's pretty sad for society. 

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

3 hours ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

I wasn't speaking as a representative for anyone other than myself. I'm not young, I am over 30 and fit the category of people who can't queue all day because  I'm a professional now. I enjoyed my days of being a student (albeit poorer days) when I could camp overnight, queue all day, attend numerous gigs with my multicoloured hair etc but now that's impossible. I'm lucky to have gotten one day off to fly into London the morning of the gig and home on the first flight the next day to be back on site for work. I was speaking about myself when I mentioned shifting priorities and being lucky to have such a fantastic job now, so getting the front of the queue (while always nice) is not something that matters all that much anymore. Even in the queue I was sending work emails! So yeah, I'm grateful for my carefree teenage years and twenty-somethings and now I'm very grateful for what I have which just means I can't spend as much time on hobbies and queuing for gigs etc. If it makes millennials "look bad" to shift their priorities as they mature, accept that you can't have everything and someone else deserves to be at the front of a queue of they're willing to actually queue then that's pretty sad for society. 

Maybe I just didn't understand the tone of your post then, because it was really difficult to decipher what you were saying and what was satire and what was serious.

I guess I just don't see how not being in your 20s equates to not being able to care about hobbies anymore? Shifting priorities is one thing, but becoming completely engrossed in work and abandoning the things you enjoy doesn't sound like much of a life worth living, at least to me. Sure, the things you enjoy may change, but if concerts are still what make you happy as an adult and you can make the time to go to them then there's no reason to say "oops, I'm 30, can't do that anymore." 

[Hermione]

7 hours ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

I wasn't speaking as a representative for anyone other than myself. I'm not young, I am over 30 and fit the category of people who can't queue all day because  I'm a professional now. I enjoyed my days of being a student (albeit poorer days) when I could camp overnight, queue all day, attend numerous gigs with my multicoloured hair etc but now that's impossible. I'm lucky to have gotten one day off to fly into London the morning of the gig and home on the first flight the next day to be back on site for work. I was speaking about myself when I mentioned shifting priorities and being lucky to have such a fantastic job now, so getting the front of the queue (while always nice) is not something that matters all that much anymore. Even in the queue I was sending work emails! So yeah, I'm grateful for my carefree teenage years and twenty-somethings and now I'm very grateful for what I have which just means I can't spend as much time on hobbies and queuing for gigs etc. If it makes millennials "look bad" to shift their priorities as they mature, accept that you can't have everything and someone else deserves to be at the front of a queue of they're willing to actually queue then that's pretty sad for society. 

In reply to your last sentence why don't people who queue early accept that while doing so will always get them near the front they're not automatically entitled to be the only people there?  

I don't believe anyone's saying everyone's entitled to be at the front, or that people who queue early don't deserve to get near the front for their trouble. Just that having time to queue isn't the only thing that makes someone deserving of a chance to see their favourite band up close and there's no harm in there sometimes being other ways for a few people who can't queue to be at the front too. I don't see what's unreasonable about that.

[Strychnine.]

19 hours ago, letsdanceon said:

So by your logic, only young people "deserve" to be up front, when some of their older fans who might have liked the band way longer since you were peeing your pants in diapers don't deserve it? 😂 Pretty sure even Green Day would be appalled at your flawed logic.

 

I think people should be in the front based on how long they are willing to wait in line. The two ladies I was next to in line at the Vegas show were easily double my age and they were still there just as early as I was.  

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

7 hours ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

Maybe I just didn't understand the tone of your post then, because it was really difficult to decipher what you were saying and what was satire and what was serious.

I guess I just don't see how not being in your 20s equates to not being able to care about hobbies anymore? Shifting priorities is one thing, but becoming completely engrossed in work and abandoning the things you enjoy doesn't sound like much of a life worth living, at least to me. Sure, the things you enjoy may change, but if concerts are still what make you happy as an adult and you can make the time to go to them then there's no reason to say "oops, I'm 30, can't do that anymore." 

At no point did I remotely imply that anyone should go oops I'm any age I can't do anything anymore. I have a brother thirteen years older than me who still goes to festivals in Europe. He runs his own company and just takes weeks out to camp and still crowdsurfs. It's his obsession like following the worldcup. I stood in line all day with my over 60 year old mum to see Paul McCartney. If I had implied she was too old to do that I wouldn't be here today. People like me, who have particularly busy lives, simply can't do everything at once. I think it's cute though that you think it's not much of a life worth living because I said I have slightly less time for hobbies like queuing for gigs. I literally spend half my year in Australia and half in Europe and I get to do what I love every single day. Misery 

2 hours ago, Hermione said:

In reply to your last sentence why don't people who queue early accept that while doing so will always get them near the front they're not automatically entitled to be the only people there?  

 

See now I didn't say that because as I actually DID say, I arrived after 3pm at the London gig in February and got barrier on the runway which by the way did not go down well with the girl next to me on the barrier with a worse view who had camped out. She elbowed me for a good hour or two.  And I'm also fully aware that early queuing and even camping doesn't always guarantee barrier or being near the front because I camped at Brixton and our tickets wouldn't scan so we ended up being held back. People just arriving as the doors opened got in before us. Shit happens.

[Hermione]

37 minutes ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

At no point did I remotely imply that anyone should go oops I'm any age I can't do anything anymore. I have a brother thirteen years older than me who still goes to festivals in Europe. He runs his own company and just takes weeks out to camp and still crowdsurfs. It's his obsession like following the worldcup. I stood in line all day with my over 60 year old mum to see Paul McCartney. If I had implied she was too old to do that I wouldn't be here today. People like me, who have particularly busy lives, simply can't do everything at once. I think it's cute though that you think it's not much of a life worth living because I said I have slightly less time for hobbies like queuing for gigs. I literally spend half my year in Australia and half in Europe and I get to do what I love every single day. Misery 

See now I didn't say that because as I actually DID say, I arrived after 3pm at the London gig in February and got barrier on the runway which by the way did not go down well with the girl next to me on the barrier with a worse view who had camped out. She elbowed me for a good hour or two.  And I'm also fully aware that early queuing and even camping doesn't always guarantee barrier or being near the front because I camped at Brixton and our tickets wouldn't scan so we ended up being held back. People just arriving as the doors opened got in before us. Shit happens.

And I thought I did well arriving at 12 and getting 2 rows back from the runway . I'm not really sure what your argument is then. I agree no one's guaranteed barrier and everyone has to accept that, I just don't have a problem with there being more ways at having a shot at it than just queuing super early or queuing moderately early and being lucky.

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

20 minutes ago, Hermione said:

And I thought I did well arriving at 12 and getting 2 rows back from the runway . I'm not really sure what your argument is then. I agree no one's guaranteed barrier and everyone has to accept that, I just don't have a problem with there being more ways at having a shot at it than just queuing super early or queuing moderately early and being lucky.

I'm not OK with people buying their way to the front of any queue. I can afford to do it but it's not right. Competition winners WIN competitions. Completely different thing. I think it's fucked up that money can buy me instant access to the front row. How fucked up would it be if people could skip every queue if they payed more? Queues in restaurants, shops, public transport, hell if we could just cut in front in traffic because we payed more. A queue is a queue. 

[Hermione]

1 hour ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

I'm not OK with people buying their way to the front of any queue. I can afford to do it but it's not right. Competition winners WIN competitions. Completely different thing. I think it's fucked up that money can buy me instant access to the front row. How fucked up would it be if people could skip every queue if they payed more? Queues in restaurants, shops, public transport, hell if we could just cut in front in traffic because we payed more. A queue is a queue. 

I'm not the biggest fan of the VIP tickets (would much prefer a contest) but as long as it's not so many that it interferes with people who queued getting good spots I don't mind. In any case I don't blame the people who buy them, might be some people's only shot at ever getting up close and if they're available to buy it's fair game. I sincerely hope the band never makes it so the only way to be at the front is to pay an extortionate amount (that'd be the end of my days going to Green Day shows) but if they do it'll be them at fault not the people who take them up on it.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

2 hours ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

 

Your posts are really unclear and confusing and as @Hermione said, I really don't even understand what your argument is at this point. You say you're too busy to stand in line and everyone else in the world who can't line up all day now that they're older, like you, should just be happy they're employed and can't stand in line all day instead of a poor college kid who can do so. Yet, you also say you waited in line all day for a show. I think we both agree that the VIP process they're doing isn't ideal but as others have said, free time to line up isn't just affected by jobs and kids and older-person responsibilities like you imply (people are disabled, traveling from far away, kids whose parents won't take them early, etc.) and I can understand why it shouldn't be the only gauge of being toward the front. 

How would you feel if the VIP section was off to the side, not mixed in with the people who lined up all day? Would you think that wasn't fair too? Because I think that's the biggest problem with Green Day's VIP... very overpriced for an experience with no meet-and-greet and a spot at the show that isn't even exclusive. Making it more exclusive would eliminate a lot of these squabbles among fans. Idk, it just sucks to see that these VIP tickets have brought out the worst in a lot of people, based on my experiences here and at a show in March. Several VIP people acted like their shit didn't stink and had no trouble being vocal about it and that's not the type of vibe I think most people want to deal with at a rock show. 

[Chin for a Day]

1 hour ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

How fucked up would it be if people could skip every queue if they payed more? Queues in restaurants, shops, public transport, hell if we could just cut in front in traffic because we payed more. A queue is a queue. 

Then it is pretty fucked because you can already do most of those things.  The traffic one probably not, traffic is traffic.  But of course you can get a table first if you pay at a restaurant.  You can pay more for service in shops and you can pay extra and get a cab, etc before anyone else.  You can even pay more and skip lines in places like amusement parks, theaters even churches.  All of this is done now and done all the time.   

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

5 minutes ago, Scattered Wreck said:

Then it is pretty fucked because you can already do most of those things.  The traffic one probably not, traffic is traffic.  But of course you can get a table first if you pay at a restaurant.  You can pay more for service in shops and you can pay extra and get a cab, etc before anyone else.  You can even pay more and skip lines in places like amusement parks, theaters even churches.  All of this is done now and done all the time.   

Yeah, at every amusement park a "fast pass" for lines is pretty much common practice at this point, making families with lots of kids and people who can't afford it unable to get the same experience as people who can buy them. Disney World used to do one fast pass for either the entire place or maybe each separate park (my parents didn't know about them when we went there as kids and panicked and bought them even though they probably couldn't afford them because they were afraid my sister and I wouldn't get the full experience the only time we visited). Now it's my understanding they make you do a fast pass for every individual attraction. Because this is capitalist America and we will find a way to squeeze every last drop of money out of you! 

[Chin for a Day]

5 minutes ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

Yeah, at every amusement park a "fast pass" for lines is pretty much common practice at this point, making families with lots of kids and people who can't afford it unable to get the same experience as people who can buy them. Disney World used to do one fast pass for either the entire place or maybe each separate park (my parents didn't know about them when we went there as kids and panicked and bought them even though they probably couldn't afford them because they were afraid my sister and I wouldn't get the full experience the only time we visited). Now it's my understanding they make you do a fast pass for every individual attraction. Because this is capitalist America and we will find a way to squeeze every last drop of money out of you! 

Agreed, but it isn't even capitalist america, the world has been capitalists since birth.  The wealthy have been getting more benefits since civilization began.  If you can afford to pay more for something, you get it first.  I'm not saying I like it, since most of the time I can't afford the extra, I'm just pointing out that paying extra to get something first is not a new concept.  

[Yaz.]

Man, I miss when Idiot Club was good and did early entry on a raffle. I never won, but that was the best and fairest early entry system ever. 

As someone much earlier had said, a band like blink 182 charge less than $200 but the stuff you get with their VIP far FAR outweighs Green Day's on all levels. 

For $400 you didn't even get a free t-shirt. And the goodie bag itself was exactly the same one I got from the merch table. I just really hope they never plan on bringing this poor excuse for a VIP to Europe.

[JellyTime]

8 minutes ago, Yaz. said:

I just really hope they never plan on bringing this poor excuse for a VIP to Europe.

This! But I think it won't work here, at least in smaller countries. Cause price probably would be pretty much the same as in the US and $400 is more than average Polish sallary  So it would be very stupid of them. 

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

1 hour ago, Scattered Wreck said:

Agreed, but it isn't even capitalist america, the world has been capitalists since birth.  The wealthy have been getting more benefits since civilization began.  If you can afford to pay more for something, you get it first.  I'm not saying I like it, since most of the time I can't afford the extra, I'm just pointing out that paying extra to get something first is not a new concept.  

Oh yeah, I get that. But mentioned above, this hasn't expanded to Europe or Australia yet, so for now we're the ones stuck dealing with it and reinforcing our stereotypes.