(Wrist)Band Aid
With only 10 shows left on leg 3 of the Vertigo Tour, we’re getting down to the wire. Approximately, 3500 more fans will be “scanned” into the ellipse - most of whom will be in the ellipse after following the rules outlined by TNA’s production coordinator, responsible for telling all in the GA line what the rules are to get into “that big-ass hole.” (When she said this in Miami, I couldn’t help but giggle.) She continues by saying to make a line buddy - decide who will buy each other beers depending on who’s ticket is a winner - and most importantly - if you don’t get scanned in, proceed directly to the floor.
For whatever reason, fans aren’t happy when they’re not winning ellipse access. So, they are *still* taking it upon themselves to figure out what the wristband color combination is so they can reach into a pocket to reuse their wristbands from previous shows. Despite what local capacity rules are as dictated by local law enforcement, and the fact that the band has tried to make ellipse access as fair as it could be for this tour, the whole wristband access process is a complete joke.
Why force fans who have waited in line for hours on end - those are your diehards - into a lottery system that continues to be flawed? In Tampa, those who were the first 10 in line did not get into the ellipse, and yet 45-minutes after the doors opened, people who had no clue what the ellipse was were getting wristbands. If the band feeds off the energy of the audience, then why isn’t the band spending more time at the tip of the ellipse when the majority of the die-hard fans will not be scanned in?
I understand the frustration of having the same people in the same locations night-after-night, as witnessed with the Elevation tour. I guess there’s no happy medium between the systems - and human nature continues to prove that if there’s a flaw in a system, people will take advantage of it to their own benefit.
I’m wondering how many other fans out there are just as frustrated with the current system of the scanning lottery - and I’m also wondering how many fans have gone to multiple shows and have yet to have their ticket be a winning ticket? Myself - I’m currently 0-14 with 4 more shows to go. (The times I did get into the ellipse it was thanks to my line-buddies).
Phil said,
November 29, 2005 @ 6:36 am
I am extremely fustrated with the flaws in the system.
Plenty of people I know who did not wait in line, who show up later- don’t win the lotto and yet somehow wind up in the ellipse night after night.
I am not saying these are bad people, or that they ought to have their thumbnails forcefully removed, but the system is broke. It has turned into Elevation all over again.
This all could have been fixed by printing the date of the concert on the wristbands. Something this simple was a obivious fix to the problem on leg #1. How hard is it to see the fix yet not put it in to place?
Patty said,
November 29, 2005 @ 7:58 am
Yeah. U2 were not satisfied with being one of the best bands in the world with the best, most loyal and most respecful fanbase. They weren’t even satisfied with changing the accepted concert safety tenets in the U.S. to suit their own whims. They had to try to control the placement of 20 or so various individuals within a crowd of 20,000 on a nightly basis. Talk about control freaks.
They entered their Fat Elvis period with the Elevation tour, and it doesn’t look to be ending anytime soon.
Patty said,
November 29, 2005 @ 8:05 am
Phil, the concept is flawed because U2’s motivation for it is flawed.
I guess part of the debate here, for me, is (to use some of what you said) “why is it any more or any less fair that people who did not wait in line or win the lotto yet somehow wind up in the ellipse,” than some drunk bimbo in high-heels and a sequinned blouse who doesn’t even know there are four members in U2 who DID win that lotto but then stands in there and calls her friends on her cellphone during Running to Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own, shouting “HEYYY!! GUESS WHERE I AM!!!” ?
m2 said,
November 29, 2005 @ 9:25 am
I find it incredibly ironic that someone who has been blessed with the chance to see 18 shows is complaining about not getting into the ellipse……
The losers who cheat the system and re-use wristbands? Life’s too short to let it bother you. They’re not worth the time and energy it takes to get angry or frustrated.
m2 said,
November 29, 2005 @ 9:28 am
Patty - get your nose out of the air. The “drunk bimbo” has just as much right to enjoy the show from inside the ellipse as anyone else.
Who knows? Maybe the experience will be so amazing she’ll become an uber-fan, too, so she can bitch and moan on the next tour (assuming there is one, which is quite an assumption)…….
julie said,
November 29, 2005 @ 10:49 am
The whole thing doesn’t bother me. I guess if I had never gotten into the ellipse (I got the lucky ticket on the first leg), maybe I would feel differently? I’ve had GA 4 times on this tour and it’s always been an amazing experience. I don’t “NEED” to be in the ellipse to have a great time.
It does sort of bother me that people “manipulate” the system, but then again, if they can figure it out and work their way around them, more power to them I suppose. I wouldn’t do it because I wouldn’t want to chance getting thrown out, but to each his own. The show is amazing no matter where you are.
U2 could not even do GA on a future tour. They could go back to seats and then those top priced ones would no doubt go to scalpers at extraordinary prices hardly anyone could afford. I’m just sick of the bitchin’.
U2isABLE said,
November 29, 2005 @ 11:01 am
m2: this debate is what most people in the GA line talk about (at least at the shows I’ve been at) and has been the topic of conversation by a good number of people for the past few months. I never said that I wasn’t lucky to be able to go to as many shows as I am going to…I am quite fortunate all things considered. And I’ve had more fun towards the back of the arena where there’s some extra dancing space and getting to watch the VIPs. I just find it to be interesting that this experiement with the “lottery” system causes great anxiety about 20 minutes before doors open because everyone in line has that belief that it’s their ticket that gets them in, and when it’s not - that adrenaline surge you were feeling for the past 20 minutes is now suddenly a feeling of sadness and disappointment - and that’s not a sensation you want to be going into a U2 concert for - especially after you’ve spent many hours in line for that chance. That emotional rollercoaster is not needed before the opening chords are heard.
U2 Rules! said,
November 29, 2005 @ 11:50 am
I have been to 5 arena shows this year (always bringing a guest, and twice bringing 2 guests) and am 0-5 (including my guests for aq total of 0-12).
I agree that it does drop the excitement level a bit RIGHT BEFORE the show starts (which is too bad) but I try to get over it during the opening band’s set.
The reason I am never too bummed is that I know that without this lottery many people would never get a chance to see U2 from the ellipse. I have friends that can’t get off of work until 5pm that only had 1 chance to see U2 on the floor and they miraculously got into the ellipse and had the best show of their lives! Just for that, I think it’s worth it, but I won’t lie… I keep praying that I’ll get into it in Portland!
bonobaltimore said,
November 29, 2005 @ 1:14 pm
Why not do something for the people who shelled out the $40 (and the subsequent $30)? They could still use their lottery system. It could work something like this: for everyone who got tickets for Boston 2 through the fan club, their names could be put into a “virtual hat” and ellipse bands could be distrubuted like that with dates on them (Phil’s idea). To be honest, U2 and their people, have to know what’s going on. I’m not slamming anyone (believe me) but it’s too easy to beat the system.
bonobaltimore
m2 said,
November 29, 2005 @ 1:27 pm
that adrenaline surge you were feeling for the past 20 minutes is now suddenly a feeling of sadness and disappointment
See, I can’t imagine feeling that way while walking into a U2 concert. Makes no sense to me.
and that’s not a sensation you want to be going into a U2 concert for - especially after you’ve spent many hours in line for that chance.
But everyone knows that the “many hours” has nothing to do with getting in the ellipse or not, so why get upset when you don’t? If someone wants to spend 12 hours in the GA line, go for it. But there’s no sense getting upset over the ellipse lottery because you spent so much time in line. One has nothing to do with the other. It’s a perfectly fair system, and if it stops the 2001 “line Nazis” from leaving one concert while it’s still in progress so they can get in line for the next concert, all the better.
Patty said,
November 29, 2005 @ 5:17 pm
Matt - I don’t have my nose in the air. To the contrary, rather. How can you say that people who come to the show ’cause it’s fashionable and ‘the thing to do this year/season’ but have no idea anything about the band (and therefore it doesn’t mean nearly as much to them to be as close as it means to someone like yourself) are equally “entitled” (dumb word, but let’s go with it for sake of argument) to be in the ellipse as someone who would queue all day because they want it that much more?
Okay - let’s talk “entitlement.” What about the “friends” of the band (and by that I don’t mean Gavin or Elaine - I mean the “I’m famous/You’re famous club” as Ali calls it)? Are THEY more entitled to be in the ellipse than that drunken casual fan girl in the sequined blouse (who sat in a bar and got hammered for the three hours between getting off work and going to the show - meaning she doesn’t even really care if she remembers the show)? Because it’s THAT girl who is losing her spot in the ellipse to Lars Ulrich and Jimmy Fallon. “How?” you ask? Well — because if the band handlers know that they have assigned X number of celebrity ellipse wristbands, then that means they allow that same number *less* to scan red at the turnstile. And obviously that subtraction doesn’t come out of the bunch of fans that go in first (those who queued early). It means they run out of ellipse red-scans by the time drunken sequin girl comes in.
So is Jimmy Fallon more “entitled” to be in the ellipse than drunken sequin girl? If one believes that incredibly hypocritical? (And if you say “Of course they are, because the band says they are – then you should probably refer directly to the last paragraph right now.)
You see U2 operate under a strange conception. It’s almost as if they think everyone at the show loves them an equal amount. And that’s just not true. I’m sure there are people there that love them more than I do now, and I’m sure there are people there who don’t give a rat’s ass compared to the way I’ve felt about them. For example: my sister likes U2 ’cause she’s heard them on the radio. But she’s a fashion victim and would be going to the show ’cause it’s the thing to do, and if it came down to Sherry being in the ellipse — when Sherry was willing to wait from, say, 10am that morning vs. my sister being in the ellipse — when she wouldn’t be willing to go any earlier than 8:45pm — hands down she’d say Sherry should be in the ellipse. Would you say that my sister is an elitist?
No - what I think is that you would say whatever the band says. If the band were saying “Hey — hold on a minute, we only want people who really give a shit about U2’s music in the ellipse” and I was saying “Hey wait a minute, shouldn’t everyone have a chance to get in the ellipse?” you would throw me the band’s party line argument on the exact opposite side to what you are on now.
Patty said,
November 29, 2005 @ 5:32 pm
And while on the subject of hypocrisy — for me the biggest hypocrites in this hole situation are the band. My feelings on this are no secret. I have made them public and I have stood by them. And my actions have followed accordingly since then.
Why hypocrites? I ask that those who can think back on the PopMart tour. When tickets weren’t selling the way they did on Elevation (and Vertigo) they were thrilled as fucking hell to see some of us there on multiple nights, and in the very same place we’d been at a show the weekend (or in some cases the night) previous. Bono came to actually look for us to be in those spots, and would ask after us if we weren’t there for a long time, or if someone from the various groups was obviously missing.
So our money and our loyalty were worth their weight in gold to the band when those money and loyalty were a bit more scarce. But once they were back on top again (and once they had Jimmy Iovine not only in charge of their marketing plan, but also sitting on their shoulders putting bugs in their ears about their midlife crisis) then suddenly they were tired of seeing the same faces at several shows? WTF?
And I can tell you without a doubt that this is exactly what happened. Case in point — there’s a woman that works for U2 and grew up with Bono. She has known him since they were both 5 years old. I’ve known her on a friendly, personal level for 13 years now. Well, when the sitdown occurred in Boston, she came into the ellipse, found me and asked me what was going on. I told her that it was a reaction to U2 pulling the rug out *without prior notice* to fans who’d followed U2’s own status quo GA rules (the doctrine of first come/first served). She couldn’t believe that U2′d done that — and she was standing there in a laminate, having just in the dressing room straightning their collars not 10 minutes earlier, and she said “Why would they do that?” And I said “Because they said they are tired of seeing the same faces at multiple shows” And her *exact* answer to me was “No, no! Bono LOVES that!”
Now that was someone who grew up with them, and had already been working with them for a decade at that point. So there’s no telling me that they didn’t turn tide - and in the process turn their backs on their most loyal fans. It’s completely hypocritical.
U2 Rules! said,
November 29, 2005 @ 7:15 pm
“her *exact* answer to me was “No, no! Bono LOVES that!”
so what if she was right?
What if it’s only Paul McGuinness saying that “it’s to not see the same fans all the time” but the real reason is so that people who can’t take the day off to wait in line all day get a chance at the ellipse? Maybe THAT is the real motivation for this change.
If they were worried about the same people over and over, wouldn’t they have made the European shows with a drawing? There were the same people at the front of ellipse at those shows as well!
kat said,
November 29, 2005 @ 8:03 pm
This post has been removed by the author.
kat said,
November 29, 2005 @ 8:09 pm
And then there are those of us who would like to just be on the floor. 8 shows, and not one GA ticket. :/ Yes, I would go completly nuts if I got into the elipse, but just to spend the day hanging out in the GA line, and rushing into the arean to get a spot, being surrounded by all the other crazy jumping dancing people, if you’ve never been… I just try to remind myself, at least I’m in the building, and I got to see so many shows while I know people who haven’t been, so I’m lucky, but I still envy you guys on the floor!
Lana said,
November 30, 2005 @ 2:20 am
I was extremely disappointed with the system. I flew from London to Boston to see them last April, got there very early in the morning but neither my friend nor I got into the ellipse. Of course die hard fans should be in the ellipse. Why should good-weather fans get to see the band up close and personal with the rest of us squinting to see our heroes? Funny enough, when I went to see them again in London, the wrist bands were handed out first come, first serve. No lottery.
macmango said,
November 30, 2005 @ 5:10 am
U2 has successfully accomplished one important goal with the lottery, and that is get as many different fans into the ellipse as possible. There is nothing flawed about the motivation or idea of spreading the wealth among people who attend the shows.
I recognize the imperfections, because they have directly affected me, too. I hope the abuses and loopholes will be addressed for future tours.
But, I refuse to allow anything to screw up the show for me, especially the fake status of being in the ellipse. More than one trip into the ellipse is overrated, unless of course you think you’re better than, and deserve it more than other people.
It takes all kinds of people to make the U2 world revolve, not just the most dedicated & loyal. U2 would not exist in the 21st century if they only catered to the top 5%. So I’ve adjusted to where U2 is, because I know I cannot expect them to adjust to where I am (reference 1997).
U2isABLE said,
November 30, 2005 @ 6:34 am
I’d like to thank everyone who has chimed in on this topic - as I had thought, it still is a hot button item where people feel very strongly on both sides of the fence. I know there are somefolks who feel “enough already” and that’s totally cool too. (Thank you for speaking up!)
To chime in on something M2 mentioned about: “See, I can’t imagine feeling that way while walking into a U2 concert.” - For some people this is their only chance, and for others…they’ve heard from friends about getting into the ellipse, etc. Let’s face it - from the minute we scored GA tickets for whichever show, there was that hope that we’d get into the ellipse. We didn’t know how it was really going to work, but we knew we had a shot at it. To think that fans with GA didn’t have that hint of hope in the recesses of their brain (or heart) is silly…and when their desired outcome of getting that access doesn’t happen - you can’t help but be disappointed. (I guess it’s what you place a higher value on - if you’re just going to listen to your favorite band, then it’s one thing - but if you’re going to see your favorite band, then you want to be able to see them!)
From the GA lines I’ve been in - sure, fans know they have a snowball’s chance for the most part of getting into the ellipse, but there is that shared anticipation. I don’t know how the TNA staff cope with that first 30 minutes of the fan entry when people are trying everything possible to cut in front of each other to scan in before you. There are people in line doing a head-count trying to figure “ok…they got scanned in, there’s 7 people in front of me…if I let the ones in back go, it seems to be doing vertigo-vertigo-vertigo every 9th person…” there’s strategy going through people’s heads. It’s amazing to watch. These people forget that a randomizer is that - random.
When people’s focus should be on seeing U2 and experiencing the show regardless, for the first 300-500 in line, that’s not what’s going through their heads 30 minutes before the doors open…and that’s not what’s going through their heads for the hour they’re waiting before the opening act starts. Of course, once the music begins the focus goes away from that, but it’s still something that takes the focus off of how cool Larry’s longer hair is and wondering how much hair grease or hairgel he uses to get that “it’s not a combed-back mullet, honest” or other more fan-centric conversations. (Let’s face it - I love Larry to pieces, but it’s making him look older than he is!).
(not to go off topic or anything).
u2page said,
November 30, 2005 @ 6:51 am
I’m sort of torn on this whole topic. While I consider myself a pretty huge U2 fan, my personal situation (family with kids) and my financial situation have pretty well limited my U2 experiences this tour. I’m 0 for 1 on the Ellipse. I have one more shot and that’s it. While I really, really would love to be in there, I’m just thrilled to be at the show at all. I will indeed have a blast no matter where I am. A U2 show is an event for me, and I will be just as happy with my 5′2″ self by the soundboard. That said, I wish I could just line up early and be guaranteed that spot. It’s not like it’s just handed to you - putting your butt on concrete in all kinds of weather is a penance of sorts, and the reward is being up close and personal to your favorite band. The “same faces up front” thing really only applies to about 20 or so folks, surely it wasn’t necessary to juggle the system for those 20 or so. There are many many huge fans that can’t or won’t leave the show early to go sit in line for the next one. That said, I hated the whole ‘line nazi’ thing. (I did 7 shows for Elevation). So I really was supportive of this lottery when I first heard about it, because I felt it would eliminate all of that. Even though in retrospect it hasn’t, because now people are just lining up for the coveted front of the rail spots. I’ve heard people bitch about the whole NA vs. Europe thing, but the reality is that the stage layout is much different for arena vs. stadium, you have far fewer ellipse spots in NA. So it is a different beast. And I was one of the up front folks for Pop so I certainly can see the difference here, but Pop was ALSO a different beast.
My opinion is that the band (as in the guys in the band) are probably not thinking about this nearly as much as we are, or as we think they are. IMHO, this decision was one of a slew made on the whole tour, and once made moved on. Some people love it, some people hate it. If I scan Vertigo in Portland after refusing to sit outside all day in 0 degree weather, I will love it. There you go.
One last comment, not that m2 asked for or needs me defending him, but I wanted to just say - in response to Patty’s comment up there :
No - what I think is that you would say whatever the band says. If the band were saying “Hey — hold on a minute, we only want people who really give a shit about U2’s music in the ellipse” and I was saying “Hey wait a minute, shouldn’t everyone have a chance to get in the ellipse?” you would throw me the band’s party line argument on the exact opposite side to what you are on now.
I’ve seent m2, and most of the other folks on this site, call a spade a spade when they disagree with something the band’s done. While you might disagree with him on this subject, I’d respectfully argue that you can’t accuse @U2 of always throwing out the “band’s party line”.
Cheers.
U2 Rules! said,
November 30, 2005 @ 3:07 pm
“To chime in on something M2 mentioned about: “See, I can’t imagine feeling that way while walking into a U2 concert.” -”
I guess in my cases it’s not as much dissapointment for me as for the people I am coming with.
I have seen U2 6 times on the floor this year so I consider myself a spoiled bastard who shouldn’t complain about anything… but when I don’t get into the ellipse the first thing I think about is “damn… my guest won’t get the FULL U2 EXPERIENCE.”
Like on saturday in Montreal… someone won 3 people ahead of my girlfriend. The 2 people ahead of her obviously lose, she loses the lottery, then there is this guy standing next to me and I tell him “go ahead” (doing the head-count thing u2isable mentioned) and of course they scan his ticket and the guy wins (and obviously mine doesn’t)
Now I wasn’t just pissed at myself for thinking that I could beat a random system (I was a math major for heaven’s sake!) but I was pissed because I knew that my girlfriend would not enjoy the show as much because she is 5′1″ and she ended up watching the whole show on the screens whereas I was 3 people back from the tip of the rail and could see the band fine.
That is the disappointment… not that I will not enjoy the great U2 show, but that my guest will not enjoy it as much as if I we had won.
calebu2 said,
November 30, 2005 @ 8:02 pm
The solution, had they thought of it at the time is simple. Remember the days when you would queue up outside the Ticketmaster outlet for tickets and they would call a number and that would be the start of the line? Suppose they did that for the GA line.
Everyone who is enough of a fan to show up at 8am the day of the show (A fair time is debatable… heck it could be 5pm for all I care)gets a wristband. After this point they do not hand out a wristband, you have to wait for the wristbanded people to enter. About 30 minutes before the doors open, they announce the lucky number and start letting people in, ellipse first like they did on Elevation.
You still get diehard fans up front. Thankfully not the same ones each night. And with the staff they save by not doing the lottery computer (as cool as it is), they can police the GA system a little better or spend more on the wristbands. That the system can be circumvented so easily and so continually by some of the regular attendees reflects as badly on the tour management as it does on the fans who put their excessive desire to be up close above the safety of the 1500 GA fans they share the floor with.
What my proposed lottery would also stop is the fans who brave the elements (be it scorching heat, frigid cold or just sheer dehydration) to stay overnight and all day for their spot in line.
Once you start queuing up before a certain point in the day, you are just splitting hairs over your fanaticism and as long as you are ponying up the $50 for the ticket, you have as much right as the next person in line to have a great spot on the floor.
Amanda said,
November 30, 2005 @ 9:57 pm
I’m assuming this can’t happen on the Aussie tour as we arent getting the full ellipse, right?
I haven’t experienced the lottery myself, I’m just thrilled the boys are finally coming to Oz. But I do know full well about the people who were being unfiar in the Euro shows for Elevation.
I’ll never forget it. I walked out of Night 3 in London, to witness the same people who were at the front of the queue for that night, writing numbers on their hands for the next night’s show.
It was disgraceful. I walked over to them and asked them what they thought they were doing. They blatantly ignored me.
I think someone else then said something to them, so they decided to leave.
It was one of the most childish, selfish things Ive ever seen a U2 fan do and if the lottery stopped people like them, then I think its a good thing.
Tim said,
December 1, 2005 @ 8:37 am
The fans are not the only problem. U2 crew members working the scanners have been pulling regulars into the ellipse for months now. Then there is the whole blackmail scandal but I won’t even touch that.
Here is a subject people glance over, and “cheaters” downplay. Each city’s fire inspector comes into the venue the day of a show and gives an idea on an occupancy limit. That is why some GA’s can be bought at the box office. The venue releases a portion of the GA’s until the inspection and then confers with U2 as to number of band guests and then figures out the remaining number of tickets to sell at the box office. It’s truly a safety issue and it should be on every body’s mind, we only have to look at the incidents in Chicago and Rhode Island in 2003 where a lot of people died due to overcrowded concert venues to recognize these are possibilities that everyone should consider.
My other point and the thing I’d most like people to think about is this. What about those people who are diehards, have slept outside multiple times in a GA line this year, yet have never scanned into the ellipse and have never gotten into the ellipse. Is it “fair” to these people that there are others who are not playing by the rules and repeatedly cheat the system to get in? It wasn’t until my 8th GA show on this tour that I was able to get into the ellipse and that is because my friend sought out one of U2’s crew handing out wristbands by the soundboard and told him I’d done it 8 times and had never gotten in.
There is this whole talk of “I deserve this” or “I deserve that” it’s all bullshit really. First you’re at a U2 show, secondly, if you’ve been to multiple shows someone else deserves your spot. I get sick of the pissing contests in the GA line of “I’ve been in line an hour longer then you” “I’ve been a fan since 19XX” you know the drill. My philosophy is that for everyone who claims to be the bigger fan, there are a dozen people who are more deserving of your spot.
If you feel like your experience is going to be dampened because you are at the tip instead of the ellipse, then maybe you should go trade spots with the person who paid 180 bucks for a ticket in the 2nd tier behind the stage who has been jumping and cheering the whole show. It’s also funny because all of this is just making American fans look even more ridiculous and ungracious. Until a month ago, I bet any Aussie or South American would have gladly attended 1 show from the upper deck let alone the floor.
I also don’t buy into all the hype about the diehard fans being more energetic. I mean, how many times can you be surprised by Larry playing LAPOE at the tip? McGuinness said it perfectly in the DVD, the same people in the front row night after night knew what was coming and were not at all surprised by it.
javier buchananeversonia said,
December 1, 2005 @ 1:02 pm
erm, funny how a few of the same front people in 2001 are in front at the same shows this tour night after night
this lottery didn’t do all that much to change it did it?
but the fact of the matter is that those who “cheat” themselves in aren’t screwing ANYONE over…they generally do so after the lottery computers have been put away and before the road crew start giving out wristbands in the back. if they have initiative and enthusiasm and hang toward the back of the ellipse what’s the problem? they aren’t “losers” imho that tag should go to those who repeatedly sleep out to be front row (and by repeatedly i mean not twice but more than five or ten times)
calebu2 said,
December 1, 2005 @ 8:11 pm
javier,
I completely disagree with you on the cheaters not “screwing anyone over”. This is just an excuse that the cheaters make up to justify their actions. Like an alcoholic saying “Just another beer. Won’t harm anyone”.
The ellipse has TWO ways in. The same TWO ways out. The extra space at the back that you are so keen to fill with people is designed to be there. That space is there so that fans can get in and out of the entrance areas easily. October 4 in Boston I got in on the second chance lottery (Handed a wristband by a tour employee) half way through the show. When I got to the ellipse there was no room to move inside the ellipse AT ALL. I ended up watching the show from just inside the doorway. That’s equivalent to standing in a fire escape at a club venue.
The second lie the cheaters will tell you is that “just one more person won’t change things”. This is so wrong. There are at my estimate 40-50 of you out there making this claim. I could name 10 of you right now if I did not mind my post being pulled and starting a fan rift. If 40-50 people each think they are “just one fan”, then you have a 40-50 person problem on your hands.
In Miami, about 5-10 fans OUTSIDE the ellipse decided to sneak onto the floor without wristbands and push their way up front. The presence of those 5 or so people made the experience along the rail of the ellipse unbearable (For comparison, Tampa - 2 night later, same crowd size, no crushing). Just a few selfish fans make a lot of difference.
For me, seeing fans sneak into the ellipse while I wait patiently outside is like a taunt: Look what you could have if you just got off your high horse. I admit, as silly as it sounds, it detracts from the experience. I know how easy it is to do - in the Boston show where I got a wristband, I left the ellipse and gave my band to a friend because (a) I wanted to see how easy it was to do without actually changing the ellipse capacity and (b) I felt guilty about leaving my friend outside.
By this point in the tour, I could have been inside the ellipse 10 consecutive times. But I didn’t. For the same reason that I don’t cut in line at the grocery store or drive down the hard shoulder/follow the ambulance in a traffic jam. Because it only works if the majority follow the rules.
If the tour staff were serious about this security problem (not the “why are the same fans queuing up overnight” issue which was the focus of my last post) then they would do all of the things that have been mentioned: improve the wristbands. Put their best trained staff at the entrance to the ellipse and ban any violators from the rest of the tour.
I should not be hearing about fans that have cheated their way into the venue/floor area/ellipse and been caught who get a 1 show ban only to go back to their old ways later in the tour. What happened to U2’s black book of nutzoid fans to avoid at all costs (or was that just a rumor?)
Steve
red rocks said,
December 2, 2005 @ 4:03 am
calebu2 makes a lot of good points. I have known of people with balcony tickets getting into the ellipse numerous times. it’s not fair, and ultimately it’s not safe.
Jason said,
December 3, 2005 @ 12:53 pm
I just dont understand why people are whining about the system. the ones whining are the ones who havent been in the elipse. it seems that “if it doesnt go your way, they are doing it wrong”.. would you be doing all this whining if you had won into the elipse? i doubt it. I have been to 3 shows and havent been in the elipse once, and I dont care if i ever get in. I am just glad to be there. All I can say is BE GRATEFUL THAT U2 IS UP THERE EVERY OTHER NIGHT PLAYING FOR YOU. who knows how much longer they are going to be playing.
U2 Rules! said,
December 4, 2005 @ 1:02 am
Jason, you are right… but we have been spoiled.
The Elevation Tour spoiled us rotten, that is the problem.
Anytime you got floor tickets for the Elevation Tour you KNEW that you would get into the heart (if you wanted to). It didn’t mean you were gonna get a rail or the front, but you knew you could get in.
Because of that, we are spoiled bastards and that’s where the whining comes from.
I think it would be easier to swallow if when you came in the building you knew that you were not getting into the ellipse (because you were too late or your tickets were prelabeled to lose or whatever) but the fact that right until you get scanned YOU STILL MIGHT WIN and a few people ahead of you win or the people just behind win. So it makes you feel: “DAMN! I was SO close!”
That’s where the whining comes from, the fact that IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME IN THERE… I think that is just human nature and as much as I try to supress it, that is just how it is!!
I’m still gonna love the show and be glad that my favorite band is still kickin’ ass live, but a little bit of me inside is gonna whine: “it would have been EVEN BETTER if I was in the bomb shelter”