All Concerts Should Be Lottery
yearsofstatic
Posts: 17
After watching a number of bootlegs of shows in which seating was based upon seniority in the 10Club, I have come to the conclusion that all shows should be lottery based. I have seen too many songs where the front row just stands there. Must be a huge buzzkill. Look at me. I've been a fan since 94. This song sucks. Let me stand here. Fuck you. Give everybody a chance to be there. Let me sell it on Craigslist. If you're a real fan, you don't need to be right there. You just need to be there. If you get to be in the front that rocks.
Pearl Jam is about the energy they create. Giving those people who might never dream of being in front creates even more energy than those who are so used to being there. A lottery would mix it up. Instead of saying, "Hey man I've sat next to you at the past 10 concerts because of our number." It would be, "Hey, how did you get into Pearl Jam?" Call it the rantings of someone who would never get close to the front. Call it the ramblings of someone who doesn't care when you became a fan of Pearl Jam, just that you're a fan.
The lottery of the first two rows and the 8th and 9th doesn't cut it. Maybe if some people know they won't be sitting in the first five rows, they might open up some more tickets to those who just want to be there. To feel the energy. Not to be with those who take a piss when they hear a song they've already heard. To be with those who want to see the band. Who want to make their own connection with them and their fans.
I'll be sitting in the back, because that's where you feel the rush of the crowd. Not standing idly by at the barricade when they play songs that have meant so much to so many people.
Pearl Jam is about the energy they create. Giving those people who might never dream of being in front creates even more energy than those who are so used to being there. A lottery would mix it up. Instead of saying, "Hey man I've sat next to you at the past 10 concerts because of our number." It would be, "Hey, how did you get into Pearl Jam?" Call it the rantings of someone who would never get close to the front. Call it the ramblings of someone who doesn't care when you became a fan of Pearl Jam, just that you're a fan.
The lottery of the first two rows and the 8th and 9th doesn't cut it. Maybe if some people know they won't be sitting in the first five rows, they might open up some more tickets to those who just want to be there. To feel the energy. Not to be with those who take a piss when they hear a song they've already heard. To be with those who want to see the band. Who want to make their own connection with them and their fans.
I'll be sitting in the back, because that's where you feel the rush of the crowd. Not standing idly by at the barricade when they play songs that have meant so much to so many people.
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but, you're right, everyone should have a shot to get real close. i like the system the way it is now. if you've been a member since 92, you don't deserve to sit anywhere outside the first 5 rows, but you aren't entitled to be front and center every time.
but i too hate seeing old people in the front. zero energy. as a performer, i want the people up close to be moving and dancing when i'm singing...not standing there like some geriatric cripples. i want to feel your energy.
Oh... okay... here we go... AGAIN.
People are supposed to act like the way you want them to act... we get it. The feeling of self worth because you came to the party way too late and all the good booze is gone... but you are there to party hardy... we heard that song before.
...
NEXT!!!
Hail, Hail!!!
I´m not too happy with seniority seating, but maybe because I became a TC member this year!
It has nothing to do with "self worth." Can you say that you're better than someone who has just stumbled across the band? You're better because you've been a fan longer? Bull.
My problem is not with the people standing idly at the front, it's with knowing that those people are there simply because they've paid more money to the fan club over the years.
good point. so why does it matter so much to you to have a lottery?
Conversely... what make YOU a better fan than them? Your own words:
"I have seen too many songs where the front row just stands there. Must be a huge buzzkill. Look at me. I've been a fan since 94. This song sucks. Let me stand here. Fuck you. Give everybody a chance to be there. Let me sell it on Craigslist. If you're a real fan, you don't need to be right there. You just need to be there. If you get to be in the front that rocks. "
What does that all mean? Are you saying those people are up there because they want to be bored? I don't get it.
I've been close to the front... i've been in the rafters... I've been in between... and to me, i don't concern myself what other people are doing. If I'm having a good time, that's what matters. I don't have to prove to anyone what a 'Great Fan' I am by 'Going apeshit' and screaming out the lyrics... i do it in my own way and don't really give a shit how anyone else enjoys the music.... be it 'going apeshit' or just standing there... I'm not them... who the fuck amn I to say?
...
Oh... and by the way... being up front kicks the shit out of being in the back. You get to see and hear things you don't get to see and hear from the rafters. If you get mesmerized by the band... like McCready's guitar work... and happen to turn into a deer in the headlights... well, that's just what happens and there's not much you can do about it.
Hail, Hail!!!
It's 2009. This complaint has been whined about to death. The band dealt with it.
Move on.
Thank you.
It's like the Pearl Jam Supreme Court has already ruled on this... and most people are satisfied with this compromise.
Hail, Hail!!!
shit that happens to me wherever i'm sitting :oops:
i've been up front once (not pj)...it was great!! but i've had just as good times at other concerts with shitty seats....the show is what you make of it
+1
feel free to flame me.
Norm... you strike me as the type of person who has a good time... no matter WHERE you are at.
Hail, Hail!!!
ain't that what life's all about???
"Vinyl or not, you will need to pay someone to take RA of your hands" - Smile05
424, xxx
I wouldn't have minded if you sat next to me in the front row at the Ryman show... 'cause this OP wouldn't have liked what he saw in me and would have thought I deserved to sit way in the back. :P
I honestly would have not complained if I sat all the way in the back...as long as I had equal access to the music like everyone else.
Thank you, Cosmo!
EV: It's your band.
~Q Magazine
"Kisses for the glow...kisses for the lease." - BDRII
fucked? nobody owes you anything. its an honor to be in the same arena as pearl jam.
i've been to 41 shows and have never been closer than 12th row.
do i wanna be up front? obviously. but im not gonna bitch
Hey... that's just the lottery of birth. Some people were born outside the time they think they should have belonged.
And look at the positives... it could have been worse... you could have been born a poor Jewish kid in the Warsaw ghetto back in 1936.
Hail, Hail!!!
Thanx.
The first time I was ever in the very front was at the General Admission shows in San Francisco in 2006. It was fucking AWESOME!!! And McCready... the fucking guy... I never appreciated 'EvenFlow' as much since the early days. But after seeing his solo from that point of view... fucking incredible.
Hail, Hail!!!
They should be rewarded, but it's not their birth rights to be able to great seats every time at the expense of some of the newer fans. The fans that are new to the fan club only have a small chance of getting close with the lottery . Lottery is a good solution, but would nice of newer fans would get a good shot at great seats.
The seniority keeps the great seats out of the hands of the scalpers, if it was a lottery for anyone who was a fan club member regardless of seniority, chances are the scalpers would join the club just to have a shot at the great seats.
No easy answer to this problem.
I think I remember reading that review...especially SENROCK! freaking out.
But uh...that was not the point here... right?
I loved what my husband said when touringvan (not sure if that's what they were called, but a group that followed PJ and interviewed fans) interviewed my hubby briefly...asked him what was the best part about the show?
"From the moment I got in the building"
And that night, we were nowhere close to the stage....far, far away and we were having a blast!
Even around "numb" people, you can still have a good time as seen in this picture (me and hubby) with the guys looking like ants:
London, 2005:
:P
When I'm much closer to the stage...I just freeze like a deer.
EV: It's your band.
~Q Magazine
"Kisses for the glow...kisses for the lease." - BDRII
You gotta look at this way, its not our fault that someone was born the same year I saw Pearl Jam live for the first time
I dont care how long you have been a member, or how you have "paid your dues".....
Give everyone, young and old, a chance to get up close..............
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
That´s the best explanation for this issue I´ve heard on this board.
I´m just excited that I´m going to seattle to begin with and for the first time going to get to see them live! I´m not getting to excited on those 129 or 10 row seats. If I was to look up to those seats, when I don´t get them I might get sad so I´m not thinking about those too much!
And now I´m totally excited because I just found someone to buy his extra TC tickets for a couple of friends that are taking the trip w/me!!!
Senority in the 10c is a rough thing. Once they announced ticket allocations were by senority in 2000, the turnover of older members must of come to a halt. Once people realized they had to renew every year they stopped forgetting to renew.
Which means in 2000, the longest running 10c member would of been 8.. maybe 9 years. Front Rows. Now someone that joined in 2000, 8 or 9 years later. Is still going to have mediocre seats.
People with good senority well be up close for many tours the come.. anyone that joined later in the 90's or 00's will never get closer due to attrition, because there is no attrition.
So senority is a cool way to allocate tickets, it keeps scalpers from being up close, but its nature prevents anyone from moving up the ranks.. ever. At least the lottery gives a little hope
Like it or not, but life is one big seniority list. The longer you have been around, the better seats you will get.