St. Louis merch line & inside security

bootlegger10 said:

FoxyRedLa said:

I partied every moment in Cincinnati. I chose to stand in the merch line in STL mostly because I was already committed - they opened late and I was already soaked - I had no idea I would have stood in line for 2 t-shirts for 4 hours!! I can't say I wouldn't do it again - but I have to love a design - didn't buy one item last fall. But I got the shirt I wanted this year and I have 2 more shows I won't have to stand in line. Too bad buttons sold out so fast!

I would never wait in line outside for just shirts. I've never seen the shirts sellout outside, and i've seen plenty in Cincy and St. Louis at merch stands inside the venue well after doors opened. Same with posters.

The outside booth is convenient to take stuff to the hotel and not have at the show, but unless you want stickers getting to the venue when doors open should be sufficient for everything else (in my opinion).

The Show Specific shirts sold out outside at London. When the doors opened there none to be had as they had moved them all outside during the afternoon. They feed the outside stand from the inside merch. I saw that at Cincy. That's one reason why the outside lines are long. Some people don't want to take a chance on not getting a shirt. Others are willing to gamble. You just need to decide how important the shirt or poster is to you and act accordingly. If you wait three hours outside and then see everything for sale inside you need to be OK with that. I still don't have a London shirt. I didn't want to wait in the long outside line after driving 11 hours. I figured they would have everything inside and went in as the doors opened. Wrong. That's why I now jump in the outside line. We make the best of it chatting in line comparing PJ stories etc. One big family.
Some funny stuff usually happens in those lines too. A girl a few people ahead of us ordered food on her smart phone, paid by smartphone and had them deliver it to her in line. My buddy walked about two miles to find a store selling water. He gets back and five minutes later the venue sends a guy out to sell water to the people in line. Lines can be amusing and fun. Unless its cold and raining...that's different. Cincy was sunny and temperate.

pdalowsky said:

pjradio said:

derbydave said:

they MADE everyone sit cross legged on the ground!!

fuck that...would never have happened

Oh man that gave me a flashback to Manchester 2012 when the security were hideous. Insisting on sitting down crossed legs, and again daring to stand up was threatened with ejection. Hyper weird, and the guy who explained he had a back complaint and couldn't sit in that position was made to anyway.......unreal, but those guys were on a real power trip.

Completely defensive post removed. I need to think before I type here. Sorry to come off that way.

PJ_Soul said:

Sheets Of Clay said:

They make you sit on the floor before GA shows at the arena in Nashville too. I saw this guy get upset about it at a Muse show there and they said they do it to minimize people getting packed in tight and falling out before the show starts. I kinda understand why they do it.

And yes that dude got kicked out because he wouldn't sit down.

What if someone was wearing white pants?? :-??

Bump

SarahMcNadia said:

I agree that the GA entry was a mess. I was among the first 10 people in line. We spoke with a couple different security dudes throughout the day and it seemed that everything would be going smoothly when the doors opened, much like in Cincinnati.. they would lead us into the venue, maybe in groups, slowly so as to remain in the same order. But once we passed the wanding area there was just this huge open space gated off before the stairs down to the concourse and this new little security guy with the beard started yelling orders at everyone to spread out and pile together, that we would all be let in at the same time. Of course, that did not sit well with anyone who had put in the time to get a good spot. It created a lot of tension among those in the GA lineup and when one girl tried to explain that we had been told the plan was different, the beard responded by threatening to throw her out. He kept saying things like, I know what I'm doing, I do this all the time.. but it was clear that he was the one fucking the whole thing up with his arrogant douchery as well as the ridiculous physical layout. PJ's own security guy showed up and that, for me, along with the first group of us sticking together, is the only reason any order was maintained (for those of us at the front anyway). At one point, the bearded prick jumped up on the rail and started to yell again and PJ's guy shouted him down. Luckily, the first 12-15 or so of us (that I'd gotten to know throughout the day) got our earned spots but I was sure that the larger group behind us was not so lucky. It was a shit show. I don't know why they didn't just repeat the same system that Cincinnati had - it worked beautifully as far as I could tell from about 75 people back.

As far as the sitting down on the floor once we got in.. that was something security outside the venue earlier in the day had told us near the front would happen and I was happy about it. In Cincinnati we stood on the floor for almost 3 hours with barely any room to move and it was rough. Maybe a lot of people in the STL line didn't know that was going to happen..? And it probably came off like another douchey order being shouted seeing that the precedent had been set at the gates. The thing I found weird was that they told us all to sit but then had us stand again after not too long which contradicted the reasoning we were given by security for the whole sitting idea in the first place.

Anyway, that's just my point of view.

I was at this cluster F&#% and was highly disappointed with the shenanigans that took place once they moved the GA line inside. Everyone in line did their best to keep their order once we got into the "cattle pen", but security kept telling us to fill in and "not to worry because we were going to be the first group in." When they finally did let us go down the steps, the shorter security guy with the beard alternated which side of the stairs he let go down. He stopped my side right in front of me and let the other side go, allowing all the people that were in line behind me to go ahead of me. I had estimated myself to be about the 60th person in line while we waited outside, when I finally made my way down to the floor, the rail was gone, and I ended up being 4th "row" between Ed and Jeff. Not really a bad spot, but the people I waited in line with all day outside ended up on the rail down towards Stone.

PJ_Soul said:

MB58788 said:

SarahMcNadia said:

I agree that the GA entry was a mess. I was among the first 10 people in line. We spoke with a couple different security dudes throughout the day and it seemed that everything would be going smoothly when the doors opened, much like in Cincinnati.. they would lead us into the venue, maybe in groups, slowly so as to remain in the same order. But once we passed the wanding area there was just this huge open space gated off before the stairs down to the concourse and this new little security guy with the beard started yelling orders at everyone to spread out and pile together, that we would all be let in at the same time. Of course, that did not sit well with anyone who had put in the time to get a good spot. It created a lot of tension among those in the GA lineup and when one girl tried to explain that we had been told the plan was different, the beard responded by threatening to throw her out. He kept saying things like, I know what I'm doing, I do this all the time.. but it was clear that he was the one fucking the whole thing up with his arrogant douchery as well as the ridiculous physical layout. PJ's own security guy showed up and that, for me, along with the first group of us sticking together, is the only reason any order was maintained (for those of us at the front anyway). At one point, the bearded prick jumped up on the rail and started to yell again and PJ's guy shouted him down. Luckily, the first 12-15 or so of us (that I'd gotten to know throughout the day) got our earned spots but I was sure that the larger group behind us was not so lucky. It was a shit show. I don't know why they didn't just repeat the same system that Cincinnati had - it worked beautifully as far as I could tell from about 75 people back.

As far as the sitting down on the floor once we got in.. that was something security outside the venue earlier in the day had told us near the front would happen and I was happy about it. In Cincinnati we stood on the floor for almost 3 hours with barely any room to move and it was rough. Maybe a lot of people in the STL line didn't know that was going to happen..? And it probably came off like another douchey order being shouted seeing that the precedent had been set at the gates. The thing I found weird was that they told us all to sit but then had us stand again after not too long which contradicted the reasoning we were given by security for the whole sitting idea in the first place.

Anyway, that's just my point of view.

I was at this cluster F&#% and was highly disappointed with the shenanigans that took place once they moved the GA line inside. Everyone in line did their best to keep their order once we got into the "cattle pen", but security kept telling us to fill in and "not to worry because we were going to be the first group in." When they finally did let us go down the steps, the shorter security guy with the beard alternated which side of the stairs he let go down. He stopped my side right in front of me and let the other side go, allowing all the people that were in line behind me to go ahead of me. I had estimated myself to be about the 60th person in line while we waited outside, when I finally made my way down to the floor, the rail was gone, and I ended up being 4th "row" between Ed and Jeff. Not really a bad spot, but the people I waited in line with all day outside ended up on the rail down towards Stone.

Lucky for you, you got the best spot in the whole pit after all was said and done.

The rail is overrated. Too close to the stage. 4 back between Eddie and Jeff is ideal. No neck strain, the most action, better sight line.

No where to set your drink...

All of this for a spot on the rail i just don't see how it's worth it , yeah yeah this band is the best i know so the wait is worth it , not to me it's not

PJ_Soul said:

rr165892 said:

PJ_Soul said:

MB58788 said:

SarahMcNadia said:

I agree that the GA entry was a mess. I was among the first 10 people in line. We spoke with a couple different security dudes throughout the day and it seemed that everything would be going smoothly when the doors opened, much like in Cincinnati.. they would lead us into the venue, maybe in groups, slowly so as to remain in the same order. But once we passed the wanding area there was just this huge open space gated off before the stairs down to the concourse and this new little security guy with the beard started yelling orders at everyone to spread out and pile together, that we would all be let in at the same time. Of course, that did not sit well with anyone who had put in the time to get a good spot. It created a lot of tension among those in the GA lineup and when one girl tried to explain that we had been told the plan was different, the beard responded by threatening to throw her out. He kept saying things like, I know what I'm doing, I do this all the time.. but it was clear that he was the one fucking the whole thing up with his arrogant douchery as well as the ridiculous physical layout. PJ's own security guy showed up and that, for me, along with the first group of us sticking together, is the only reason any order was maintained (for those of us at the front anyway). At one point, the bearded prick jumped up on the rail and started to yell again and PJ's guy shouted him down. Luckily, the first 12-15 or so of us (that I'd gotten to know throughout the day) got our earned spots but I was sure that the larger group behind us was not so lucky. It was a shit show. I don't know why they didn't just repeat the same system that Cincinnati had - it worked beautifully as far as I could tell from about 75 people back.

As far as the sitting down on the floor once we got in.. that was something security outside the venue earlier in the day had told us near the front would happen and I was happy about it. In Cincinnati we stood on the floor for almost 3 hours with barely any room to move and it was rough. Maybe a lot of people in the STL line didn't know that was going to happen..? And it probably came off like another douchey order being shouted seeing that the precedent had been set at the gates. The thing I found weird was that they told us all to sit but then had us stand again after not too long which contradicted the reasoning we were given by security for the whole sitting idea in the first place.

Anyway, that's just my point of view.

I was at this cluster F&#% and was highly disappointed with the shenanigans that took place once they moved the GA line inside. Everyone in line did their best to keep their order once we got into the "cattle pen", but security kept telling us to fill in and "not to worry because we were going to be the first group in." When they finally did let us go down the steps, the shorter security guy with the beard alternated which side of the stairs he let go down. He stopped my side right in front of me and let the other side go, allowing all the people that were in line behind me to go ahead of me. I had estimated myself to be about the 60th person in line while we waited outside, when I finally made my way down to the floor, the rail was gone, and I ended up being 4th "row" between Ed and Jeff. Not really a bad spot, but the people I waited in line with all day outside ended up on the rail down towards Stone.

Lucky for you, you got the best spot in the whole pit after all was said and done.

The rail is overrated. Too close to the stage. 4 back between Eddie and Jeff is ideal. No neck strain, the most action, better sight line.

No where to set your drink...

What drink? How would you have gotten a drink and also be on the rail?

Great point,that's why we developed the buddy system with our rail neighbors anytime we have been up front.Every one who goes pee,brings back beer,spots are guarded And protected.All are happy and hydrated.

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

josevolution said:

All of this for a spot on the rail i just don't see how it's worth it , yeah yeah this band is the best i know so the wait is worth it , not to me it's not

I'm with you here. There's waaay too much stress people put themselves through trying to hold their spot on the rail. Experience tells me this- it might not be the same for others... but it sure is for me.

I like GA... but I like going to the pub for a nice dinner, beer, and conversation with my pals. Then I like to get a spot 40 feet away from the stage with a bit of room to my left and my right to boot.

No thinking about beating the piss out of budgers. No having to sit cross-legged on the floor. No having to hold off the people from the rear trying to take my spot. No having my bladder scream obscenities at me before I piss my pants.

"Not having my Bladder scream obscenities at me".I hate that fucking voice Thirty,and It follows me every time I'm drinking beer.

RIGHT before the show started, I went out and bought a shirt for my wife and myself and waited in line for....2 mins? No worries. Don't get wasting 3 hours of your time waiting in line for things. I'll NEVER do that. Just not a line person. I'd rather pass.

100 Pacer said:

josevolution said:

All of this for a spot on the rail i just don't see how it's worth it , yeah yeah this band is the best i know so the wait is worth it , not to me it's not

^^^This.

People are on the rail for a shot at a souvenir. Nothing more.

To each their own, though, don't you think? There are probably people on the rail for souvenirs but surely for other reasons too. Maybe that changes as you go to your 10th, 20th, 100th shows? I've only been to three shows but all have been in GA and I can say I'm not down there to catch tambourines. I want to be there to see the band up close. And to contribute (albeit in a small way) to their experience on stage by reciprocating their energy from the floor.. I don't know.. I dig it in the pit.. isn't that a good enough reason to be there?