Same folks up front

Fighting Hellfish said:

SVRDhand13 said:

Get_Right said:

I do not do GA anymore. But give me better seats! The rail people will do what they do. I am ok with it as long as they do not exclude fans to be there. No saving spots. The idea of a rail gang, which happens with some bands, is not cool. In fact I would hope that folks would want to share that experience with new people. 

I unfortunately learned long ago that there are several crews of people who help each other skip the line. Regulars you may see posting here and on FB.  Lost a lot of respect for some people through the years.  

I ended up behind some of these people in Philly in the pit. It was my first pit experience and I did it even go in with pit tickets. Someone gifted them to us while at our seats, so I was just thrilled to be there .  But yeah, listening to these self appointed royalty all night, bitching about other members of the  “royalty”   One walked right in front of me and was oh hey don’t worry I’m not staying, just saying hi to some friends. Then stayed there all night. These people are really, really big fans of themselves. 

Be careful, some people won't believe this ever happened or that you were ever there.

spankyMP said:

Fighting Hellfish said:

SVRDhand13 said:

Get_Right said:

I do not do GA anymore. But give me better seats! The rail people will do what they do. I am ok with it as long as they do not exclude fans to be there. No saving spots. The idea of a rail gang, which happens with some bands, is not cool. In fact I would hope that folks would want to share that experience with new people. 

I unfortunately learned long ago that there are several crews of people who help each other skip the line. Regulars you may see posting here and on FB.  Lost a lot of respect for some people through the years.  

I ended up behind some of these people in Philly in the pit. It was my first pit experience and I did it even go in with pit tickets. Someone gifted them to us while at our seats, so I was just thrilled to be there .  But yeah, listening to these self appointed royalty all night, bitching about other members of the  “royalty”   One walked right in front of me and was oh hey don’t worry I’m not staying, just saying hi to some friends. Then stayed there all night. These people are really, really big fans of themselves. 

Be careful, some people won't believe this ever happened or that you were ever there.

It's true

battle1 said:

Their best move is, they "trade" for your GA extra...  Only when it's time for them to return the ticket for another show later in the tour, they ghost you and leave you with no ticket.  Then they want to send you the money the next day, with empty apologies.  So they make your extra GA theirs. Then they want to send merch to "make it right"...  And they ghost you on that too.  Such a pleasant bunch.  

I heard they punch babies and kick puppies.   When confronted they say "the baby started it.  the puppy was just a bonus".   Terrible people.

I'm relatively new to "Pearl Jam Rail Culture". I've gotten rail 5 times in the last 20 shows I have attended. Some of those tickets were 10C lottery wins, others I obsessively checked F2F.

While waiting in line, I've made incredible friends. I've helped others who are new to the process because during my first night, many people were very kind and generous to me. I have witnessed MORE incredible acts of generosity than negativity while in line and that is what keeps me going back (when I have the time and tickets, of course). Except for the stressors of getting to the line early enough, I find waiting in line to be very relaxing. That's my selling point when I try to convince my fiends. There's nothing to do all day but sit, relax, and connect with others about Pearl Jam. I've waited my whole life for that! No one I knew liked them when I was growing up. The day goes fast for me because it's probably the only chance I can actually feel okay about not being productive for most of the day. How rare is that? 

Now I hope I can convey my intention clearly here, as I'm trying to provide a fair insight into the situation.  Reading through this thread, I am not going to tell anyone that they didn't experience what they experienced, for better or worse. I have a friend that had a very bad experience, and some of the behavior lines up with some things that other friends have told me they experienced. Of course, I only know their side, but when different people (from different regions of the US) say the same thing, it's really hard not to wonder if they are true. That said, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and talk with them. Some of the people I heard bad things about turned out to be awesome AF! And others, I've tried to break the ice but got the cold shoulder instead. What can you do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  We all have bad moments or get off on the wrong foot with someone.  I realize now, more often than not, it's a misunderstanding. 

Speaking of the idea of official numbering systems, I want to share what Iron Maiden does (I'm also in their fan club).  I'm curious about your thoughts. IMFC gives fans with GA tickets the opportunity to enter into their First to the Barrier contest. The week of the show, 60 people (and their plus 1) are notified that they won.  This is how they choose winners: "All the valid entries for a show go into a spreadsheet, then we de-duplicate the entries to make sure it’s only one per person. Then we have a quick visual check for anything obviously wrong (like people not putting a real name in). Finally we use a random number generator to assign each entry a number, and sort the entries based on that number. The lowest 60 numbers win." No waiting in line, just show up and get your wristband and you can enter in to as many shows as you have GA tickets for. Not everyone who qualifies for the contest enters. 

I'd love for 10C to do this, but there's one caveat.  Everyone who has rail for Iron Maiden loses their minds during the show! We all know the energy you provide to a band comes back at you. Meaning, people who win FTTB bring the energy every time. I'm not sure if PJ fans can consistently do this, TBH. Am I wrong? I do know that as it is right now, the PJ rail regulars consistently bring it! 

They are eating the cats.

Go Animal said:

pjl44 said:

on2legs said:

arms outstretched said:

This sounds like a group of whiny entitled conspiracy theorists. Pages of fables made up about people and circumstances most of you know nothing about. Yet again. Stories you “heard”, assumptions you’re making and talking for “the band, amongst others. 

You have zero clue what you’re talking about. 

There’s no list. No sneaking in. No holding spots. No dumping drinks on people. No assigned spots on the rail. And no entitlement. 

It is literally line up and get your spot. Do your time. If you can’t do your time or it’s not your thing why shit on others? Why do you even care enough to debate here? 

I have been lining up for the rail for 11 years whenever I can make it work. I have made some of my best friends doing that and I love every minute of the experience. People have come and gone and over the past few years a new group has joined us and they are awesome. If you’re not an asshole you’ll have the same experience. No one is going to shun you or bully you or make you feel unwelcome. We all work together to make our nights and days on the sidewalk safe and fun. No one takes advantage, and if you do, you’re called out. As you should be. 

The band hates it? Ha. I’m not even going to address that because you’d have to be up front to know how they feed off us and us them. That dynamic is frankly not something that can even be described and I don’t care if you believe me or understand. 

Keep crapping on us. Don’t care. You all sound insane with your made up stories and conspiracy theories. Insane. Line up and join us and you’ll see! 

Do you really believe the band only feeds off the energy of your group? 

There's a special connection we don't understand 

😂

Marieow said:

I'm relatively new to "Pearl Jam Rail Culture". I've gotten rail 5 times in the last 20 shows I have attended. Some of those tickets were 10C lottery wins, others I obsessively checked F2F.

While waiting in line, I've made incredible friends. I've helped others who are new to the process because during my first night, many people were very kind and generous to me. I have witnessed MORE incredible acts of generosity than negativity while in line and that is what keeps me going back (when I have the time and tickets, of course). Except for the stressors of getting to the line early enough, I find waiting in line to be very relaxing. That's my selling point when I try to convince my fiends. There's nothing to do all day but sit, relax, and connect with others about Pearl Jam. I've waited my whole life for that! No one I knew liked them when I was growing up. The day goes fast for me because it's probably the only chance I can actually feel okay about not being productive for most of the day. How rare is that? 

Now I hope I can convey my intention clearly here, as I'm trying to provide a fair insight into the situation.  Reading through this thread, I am not going to tell anyone that they didn't experience what they experienced, for better or worse. I have a friend that had a very bad experience, and some of the behavior lines up with some things that other friends have told me they experienced. Of course, I only know their side, but when different people (from different regions of the US) say the same thing, it's really hard not to wonder if they are true. That said, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and talk with them. Some of the people I heard bad things about turned out to be awesome AF! And others, I've tried to break the ice but got the cold shoulder instead. What can you do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  We all have bad moments or get off on the wrong foot with someone.  I realize now, more often than not, it's a misunderstanding. 

Speaking of the idea of official numbering systems, I want to share what Iron Maiden does (I'm also in their fan club).  I'm curious about your thoughts. IMFC gives fans with GA tickets the opportunity to enter into their First to the Barrier contest. The week of the show, 60 people (and their plus 1) are notified that they won.  This is how they choose winners: "All the valid entries for a show go into a spreadsheet, then we de-duplicate the entries to make sure it’s only one per person. Then we have a quick visual check for anything obviously wrong (like people not putting a real name in). Finally we use a random number generator to assign each entry a number, and sort the entries based on that number. The lowest 60 numbers win." No waiting in line, just show up and get your wristband and you can enter in to as many shows as you have GA tickets for. Not everyone who qualifies for the contest enters. 

I'd love for 10C to do this, but there's one caveat.  Everyone who has rail for Iron Maiden loses their minds during the show! We all know the energy you provide to a band comes back at you. Meaning, people who win FTTB bring the energy every time. I'm not sure if PJ fans can consistently do this, TBH. Am I wrong? I do know that as it is right now, the PJ rail regulars consistently bring it! 

I think I saw you in Vancouver! This is a solid suggestion! 
 
So say for Pittsburgh, Iron Maiden notifies all the GA ticket holders of their rail contest. 60 people enter the contest and the band draws and assigns number 1-60. number 1-20 get rail and numbers 20-60 will be second row and so on? I just guess led how long their rail im sure you would k ow the exact cut off number. 

SHZA said:

mcgruff10 said:

Bring back floor seats for a tour.  Random order rows 1 /2. New faces up front and seniority moves closer to the stage.  Win win in my book but I do understand from a business standpoint that ga brings in more $$$$$.

Assigned seating would bring in a lot more money. With GA, the best roughly 800 seats are going for under $200 apiece. With assigned seats they could make them all premium and easily get $1k-$2k per seat for the first 10 rows, $500+ after that, etc. 

I like the Tool model. I can pick a show to do VIP and sit in the first 5 rows, get some merch with it. If I want to do another show I can skip VIP. At least I have a chance to sit close

jdopj said:

SHZA said:

mcgruff10 said:

Bring back floor seats for a tour.  Random order rows 1 /2. New faces up front and seniority moves closer to the stage.  Win win in my book but I do understand from a business standpoint that ga brings in more $$$$$.

Assigned seating would bring in a lot more money. With GA, the best roughly 800 seats are going for under $200 apiece. With assigned seats they could make them all premium and easily get $1k-$2k per seat for the first 10 rows, $500+ after that, etc. 

I like the Tool model. I can pick a show to do VIP and sit in the first 5 rows, get some merch with it. If I want to do another show I can skip VIP. At least I have a chance to sit close

Ironically one of the rare bands where I don't want to sit close

My main complaint with the rail riders is that they are absolutely selfish, absolutely hold spots and game the system any way they can, and absolutely ruin the vibes in the front of the pit. They are so defensive of their spots that there is a tense feeling the entire show. Spoiler alert, people are going to weasel their way up to the front. It's GA. How did these people survive the 90s shows? The entitlement is palpable anytime you're around this group.