Same folks up front

SVRDhand13 · April 9

bootlegger10 said:

SVRDhand13 said:

mcgruff10 said:

I m gonna roll into ga at Pitt one about five minutes before they take the stage with a smile on my face knowing wherever I am in ga is closer than 95% of the people in the arena.

I've told this story several times before. But Tampa 2016 me and my wife were about ten people off the stage in GA. She got tired about halfway through the set and wanted to move to the back. I was annoyed and did not hide it lol. Ended up getting to give Eddie a pat on the chest when he ran through the crowd during Porch. All because we moved to the back of GA.

I have heard Ed talking about that pat on the chest many times. Great to hear your version!

What? You are definitely joking with me lol

pledgeagrievance · April 9

SVRDhand13 said:

mcgruff10 said:

I m gonna roll into ga at Pitt one about five minutes before they take the stage with a smile on my face knowing wherever I am in ga is closer than 95% of the people in the arena.

I've told this story several times before. But Tampa 2016 me and my wife were about ten people off the stage in GA. She got tired about halfway through the set and wanted to move to the back. I was annoyed and did not hide it lol. Ended up getting to give Eddie a pat on the chest when he ran through the crowd during Porch. All because we moved to the back of GA.

“Chest”

cblock4life · April 9

Some like the back of GA so they can dance.

Loujoe · April 9

cblock4life said:

Some like the back of GA so they can dance.

SVRDhand13 · April 9

pledgeagrievance said:

SVRDhand13 said:

mcgruff10 said:

I m gonna roll into ga at Pitt one about five minutes before they take the stage with a smile on my face knowing wherever I am in ga is closer than 95% of the people in the arena.

I've told this story several times before. But Tampa 2016 me and my wife were about ten people off the stage in GA. She got tired about halfway through the set and wanted to move to the back. I was annoyed and did not hide it lol. Ended up getting to give Eddie a pat on the chest when he ran through the crowd during Porch. All because we moved to the back of GA.

“Chest”

Why the quotes? lol

I felt bad because I hit him pretty hard. I had adrenaline and didn't realize how small he was until I did it lol

Merkin Baller · April 9

SVRDhand13 said:

pledgeagrievance said:

SVRDhand13 said:

mcgruff10 said:

I m gonna roll into ga at Pitt one about five minutes before they take the stage with a smile on my face knowing wherever I am in ga is closer than 95% of the people in the arena.

I've told this story several times before. But Tampa 2016 me and my wife were about ten people off the stage in GA. She got tired about halfway through the set and wanted to move to the back. I was annoyed and did not hide it lol. Ended up getting to give Eddie a pat on the chest when he ran through the crowd during Porch. All because we moved to the back of GA.

“Chest”

Why the quotes? lol

I felt bad because I hit him pretty hard. I had adrenaline and didn't realize how small he was until I did it lol

PJ_Soul · April 9

onemorshow said:

https://liveforlivemusic.com/news/ticketmaster-dudes-in-the-front-row-rail-rider-tickets/

Fantastic, hahaha.

bootlegger10 · April 9

SVRDhand13 said:

pledgeagrievance said:

SVRDhand13 said:

mcgruff10 said:

I m gonna roll into ga at Pitt one about five minutes before they take the stage with a smile on my face knowing wherever I am in ga is closer than 95% of the people in the arena.

I've told this story several times before. But Tampa 2016 me and my wife were about ten people off the stage in GA. She got tired about halfway through the set and wanted to move to the back. I was annoyed and did not hide it lol. Ended up getting to give Eddie a pat on the chest when he ran through the crowd during Porch. All because we moved to the back of GA.

“Chest”

Why the quotes? lol

I felt bad because I hit him pretty hard. I had adrenaline and didn't realize how small he was until I did it lol

You could have clotheslined him. Ha.

Loujoe · April 9

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lCsH1g5ZESk&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD

reedrothchild · April 14

Chrrie said:

reedrothchild said:

Chrrie said:

baldog27 said:

This is the way. There is no substitute. https://www.phishfirstentry.com/ Online lotto open 2 days prior to show, find out the day before if you won (around 200 winners), queue starts 2 hours before doors on show day, ID check, plus one (optional), also ID check for plus one - find out the day before. It would take PJ 2-3 employees to accomplish this per show. Camping for two nights is certifiable when the point (IMHO) of touring around with your friends is to see the world not hang out on a sidewalk. To a larger point it would also allow a lot of people up front who would not normally get that opportunity for a lot of (work/life) reason's that keep them from the queue.

Very familiar with this process as it's the same one DMB uses, also run by First Entry.

My main counter is that there are infuriating aspects of this system that you can't do anything about. If you win the lottery and have a pair of tickets you can bring a +1. Obviously many times groups of friends go to the show together, or families, so you've got large portions of the rail and the second row that are saved by lotto winners to keep groups together. Is it fair for a group to be split up? The answer is probably subjective but I'm sure it doesn't feel good for the other people who won and may never again. No one usually says anything because most people don't want to be confrontational, and when you didn't have to put in 12+ hours waiting in line there's less drive to ruffle feathers. And this isn't like a rail mafia controlling everything, although there is one that follows DMB around and they did figure out how to increase their chances of winning, it happens every show with different people either innocently (a family wants to get their kids on the rail for example) to those who feel like because they won, it extends to everyone they're there with.

Anyway, I love DMB and I would love to experience being center rail now that I'm in the part of my life where I could put in the time. I have come to the realization that I most likely won't, ever. You need to win the tickets in the fan club lottery, then you need to win the early entry lottery, and then you need to get assigned a very low number. There's no exception made because it's your hometown show, or it's your birthday, or 50th show, or whatever special occasion that some people who don't normally camp choose to for a particular show. The lottery created different problems and the DMB community has it's own group of angry/annoyed fans who don't like what it turned into. First come first serve is on paper "fair", but now it's polarizing because there's people who are willing to wait a lot longer than the vast majority of GA ticket holders can or want to. If someone's main argument is that official rules aren't being followed, I've gotten emails that said GA was "allowed" to line up at 4pm the day of the show and when noon rolls around there's already 50, and 100 by 4pm. How many hours before the email states does it become acceptable to line up and if the answer is more than 0 then why are we so offended by 10-20 people who do 24+?

Idk, the whole lottery thing, you might never win it and you'll still never be front and center. So it's like getting into the territory of wanting to personally give up the ability to participate if you want to just so those people can't have it anymore. If the band decided of their own volition to change the system fine I accept that, but if the 10c implemented a lottery because of this perception that the whole thing is fixed that would be devastating to me.

Let's be clear that the people mentioned in the original post don't comprise the entire rail. They're not taking away the ability to get it even if you don't want to sleep there overnight. The "big dude" referenced purposefully doesn't always do GA despite loving it because he's aware it's hard to see around him, and only took center this year when it was his 250th show.

Stopped reading at “I love DMB.”

But in all seriousness, that is a lot of time and effort spent to see a band past their prime up close where the sound is subpar. But I guess the music isn’t the driving force for the rail riders…

I don’t find the sound subpar up close.

Have you watched a show back by the soundboard? The sound difference is night and day compared to the first 10 rows or so.

huntersthompson · April 15

devonfz said:

Most of the rail people literally do not drink all day long. I don’t know how they do it. I’m there to have a good time but more power to them. The back of the pit is just fine but I’m a beer drinker. What can I say some people have their rail strategies, I actually like to get there to my seat a little early and then strategically lay out my route to the bathroom and the beer line so that I can take a leak and grab a beer and be back in my seat usually within the song I usually can get this down to under four minutes usually need at least two beers during the show Ohana is great my strategy is they let you bring in metal water bottles bring in a very big one fill it with three beers from the beer stand. Yes, it’s 45 bucks. Ouch, but I will actually last me just about the whole show.

Attending Ohana again this year....did not know the metal water bottle trick...it shall be employed in your honor @devonfz

Get_Right · April 15

I have said it before, but we also snuck in mini titos bottles. The drinks are expensive and weak.

pjhawks · April 16

They start the list yet?

JojoRice · April 16

I prefer the back of GA myself. It's usually a lot less cramped and plenty of room to move around.

pjl44 · April 16

I hadn't been in GA for Pearl Jam in ages but the 2 Fenway shows last fall were perfect. Walked in at the beginning of Glen's set both nights and we were about a dozen people back dead center. The whole night was lively but not at all crowded. Not sure if that's the norm.