U N C L E *B R U C E* S P R I N G S T E E N *

JaneNY wrote:

Here's a question for anyone who's been in the pit section this tour? You don't lose your right to be in the pit if you go out to the bathroom or get food do you? I know you'd probably lose your actual spot in the pit if you go out, but you'd get let back in with your wristband right?

Strangest Tribe wrote:

I just want to give a big FUCK YOU to the United Center for their inability to handle what would be a real easy ticket situation. I have no problem with the wristband method, but if you had floor tickets you couldn't go through any of the main gates. Someone should let us know this after we waited over an hour in line at gate 3 only to be disallowed and told to get in another line which was fuckin ridiculously long and had to wait over another hour in that line. What a huge shit they took on us, we had to stand in the back and were there hours before people ahead of us.


SO FUCK YOU UNITED CENTER !!!!!

kiss my ass in the Town Square

418 was the number drawn for the pit. 500 people in the pit meant 418-918 were in. One would expect that #919 would be the next person in after the pit line, then 920, 921 and so on -- in fact, that was the format to be followed according to the rules posted on the United Center site and here at Backstreets.

Well, here came Jerry Fox and his little bullhorn announcing that after 918 the line would start back at #1, go 1-417 and then 919-1100+ (never heard the exact # of numbers handed out). Chaos ensued. Jerry claimed he never saw the UC rules -- and shook them off when someone presented him with a printout of the rules from the UC website. "I'm making the rules." And he walked away leaving the crowd to handle it themselves.

You could later see the UC staff arguing with Jerry and pleading him to reconsider. Fell on deaf ears.

Numbers 1 and up gladdly got in line behind 918 while the 919 crowd refused to head back. About 20 minutes later Jerry pulled the 418-918 group off from along the fence where the line had been and moved them out in the street to get in order. This sent everyone else up along the fence in a mob 20 or so people wide by hundreds deep. After the pit line was let in they tried to call out numbers and checked wristbands through the low hundreds, but by this time most were completely out of order and spread throughout the mob, mixing with those who didn't even have lottery number bands. They eventually relented and let the numbered folks in out of order all at once and then the rest. Mass chaos doesn't begin to describe.

And with one little bullhorn in a crowd of over a thousand, if you weren't next to him you couldn't hear what was up at all.

Hats off to the United Center staff. They did the best they could and had everything set until Jerry rolled in. And they were the ones who had to take the heat as everyone assumed they were in charge. The higher up folks in the suits were even out apologizing saying sorry, it was all Bruce's staff who messed it up.

Good ol' Jerry and his little bullhorn.

They had no idea that they were creating a bigger problem for themeselves with this process. Instead of dealing with 300-500 people trying to line up all day or 2 days they are now dealing with over 1000 people. They then try to squeeze all those people through one doorway in the dark. They have created more work for themselves and they are handling it poorly.

I, for one, hate this method. If they insist on this method it needs to get a little more advanced. They need to set up barricades to create actual lines for people to line up in. Have they never been to Disney World?

Here's all you need to know:

- get there for the lottery; show up at 4 or so
- be prepared for disappointment; your chances are probably 50% at best to get into the pit and probably worse. Don't let the fact that you don't get in ruin your night
- if your number doesn't come up, come back at 8pm and take a spot near the back of the floor. Sound is great, view is fine, big screens, not crowded and still a better spot than about 85% of the venue
- if your number does come up, have the time of your life. In my opinion, the chance you might get in the pit is still preferable to the best reserved seats.

If Springsteen's handlers are trying to avoid "camping out" as some have suggested, then there should be no advantage to arriving early. As it turns out, there are distinct advantages: (1) they run out of lottery wristbands before 5 p.m, meaning you have to get there EARLY to get one; and (2) after the lottery winners get in, the next people to go in are those with the lowest (i.e., earliest to arrive) lottery wristband numbers, meaning you will want one of those too and you can only get that by arriving early. Springsteen's handlers mis-advertised the procedure by saying there is no advantage to getting there early. Fact.

Get your lottery wristband early (i.e., get there at 2), and return at 5 for the drawing. If you "win", great you can stick around and you're in the pit. If you lose, you can stick around and go in before the rest of the GAs in the non-pit area (personally, I wouldn't do this because you're jammed up to the front of the non-pit area and you will have difficulty getting a beer and returning to your spot) or you can return at 730 and get in with the rest of the GAs -- you still get a super view and you have more room at mid-court or back even farther if you choose.