| TUESDAY, MAY 9TH; |
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| a pilgrimage back to irving f*cking plaza 22 YEARS after leaving my sorry little impressionable heart crumbling over the venue floor along with brian molko's countless cigarette ashes. y'know, back when our dear brian didn't look weird in the slightest from the "black market music" tour era. *smirk* |
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actually got to the venue in the early afternoon. me standing in a crowd during a concert is a truly rare occasion, but this time around my mind was dead set on reaching 1st row if i were to stand at all. 3 reasons:
- hanging on to the barrier up front helps A LOT with my backaches;
- waaaay less clautrosphobic that way;
- re-creating my 2001 experience standing around the same spot.
ok, ok. extra 4th reason:
- seeing ville's eyes in real life. cannot lie.
legit i was the first person to get there, but i figured i'd hang around the area 'til people showed up instead of just standing there alone like a weirdo. |
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| it didn't take too long that people started showing up and turns out i ended up being the 5th person lining up. perfect-o. |
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| street WIFI, thank youuuuu!!! got to watch youtube on my phone for a while which made the wait a bit less boring. but goddammit the weather was more chilly then expected. hadn't brought an extra sweater cuz i didn't want to be bothered with it once inside the venue, but really wish i did. |
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k now this chapter's called;
"HOW TIMES CHANGE AND MOSTLY NEVER FOR BETTER" |
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| so in order to increase my luck of reaching closest to the stage, i'd originally paid for this extra upon buying my ticket online: |
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| sucks, but hey. *shrug* sometimes you just have to accept you're being screwed over.....for your own good? mind you i didn't really have much a clue of how that functioned either once you got to the venue, since it wasn't like that in the early 2000's where you only had your physical ticket to get you in. riiiight. anyway, fast forward to a couple hours later. more people had arrived by that point and the line behind me was frankly a bit of a mess. found myself thinking how glad i was that they were behind cuz if there's one thing i'm always dreading in these types of situations, it's having to fight (cuz i'm getting too old for that goddammit). |
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eventually a lady working for irving plaza comes out with stuff in her hands and right away a group of people from the queue starts flocking around her like vultures upon a fresh carcass. so i'm thinking GREAT, here we go WTF. somehow they all seemed in the know and at this point i'm guessing it's because they all attended the 1st VV gig the night before? left my spot in line to figure out what's going on cuz clearly i don't have much of a choice—or if there's a choice it's a really crappy one—to get some info. meanwhile i'm seeing her accept cash from all those people surrounding her, checking their ID's and handing out stickers. eventually pushing my way forward more aggressively cuz i'm getting cranky;
-[me]: "sorry, but is this about the fast lane pass?"
-[her]: "no that's actually for the VIP bar lounge. you get to enter the venue 30 minutess before everyone else, but then you have to wait at the bar. then i guess it's a matter of whoever runs to the stage first."
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| being a bit stunned with this new info and having no clue what to do nor what to think upon this very moment, i take back my spot in line. all this waiting down the drain??! then i start talking with one of the guys who'd been waiting right behind me to ask if he knew any more about this. because honestly it still wasn't super clear to me. gladly turns out he was there the night before and knew exactly how it worked: VIP group 1st, fast lane 2nd, whoever else bought a ticket 3rd. nevermind the queuing line and who arrived first. nevermind everything.
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| ...just how far back can you roll your eyes into your head? what a shitty yet genious way to exploit people. that bar thing is the biggest scam which i could've only hoped coming up with if i ever owned a bar within the same building as a concert venue, alas. (kidding.)
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basically, it's this:
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| however what the livenation website forgets to tell you (or purposely doesn't tell you *cough*) is that your FAST LANE PASS IS WORTHLESS if you wanna get in 1st yet haven't purchased a VIP pass.
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ok. fine. WHATEVER. i wasn't US$35 short of potentially realizing my goal of the day. since 1st row without the freakin' pass = just NOT happening, i went back towards the lady + pushed my way through the people still gathered around her. honestly kinda worried she was gonna run out of passes as i already knew the fast lane passes were sold out online.
-[me]: "hey, i'll take one. are you accepting credit cards or just cash?"
-[her]: "can be both but cash is quicker."
-[me]: "ok, it'll be cash."
handing her the $ / her handing me my VIP sticker
-[me]: "wait, you're not checking for my I.D. like for all the others?"
-[her]: "oh no i'm only checking with the young ones cuz they're serving alcohol at the bar."
-[me]: *frown* "does that mean i'm looking that old then?" *chuckles*
-[her]: "no! nooo." *laughs*
k yeah, sure. HAHAHHAHAHA.
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| anyway at this point i have my stupid sticker:
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| let's all nevermind the fact that i don't even drink + let alone the fact that even if i liked drinking i would NOT be drinking that night cuz god forbid i'd need to pee and lose my freakin' spot. after all this trouble. nooooo, thank you.
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then ultimately staff splits up the people from the queuing line into the 3 groups in a rather random way.
-[lady working @ venue telling me from afar]: "alright young mama, you can come line up over here!" *laughs*
oh sh*t. hahaha. ok ok.
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| meanwhile i'd started chatting with a couple of girls who'd been waiting near me who'd also purchased the ridiculous VIP pass. one of them found the situation particularly unfair and felt quite irate that this was the way to go at irving plaza. another girl from another lineup was pissed since she was underage and therefore could not buy the VIP pass even if she really wanted to—straight out calling it discrimination.
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what's a mindf*ck also at this point is that even though you got there super early wasting all those hours in your day and even though you paid an extra total US$50 crapload of money: you're not even guaranteed a good spot by the stage. sheesh. almost as though you're gambling at the casino. and albeit at this point me and my surroundings found ourselves in the prefered spot/lane by the time the doors were about to open, i think it's safe to say we were all a bit on edge. speaking about getting the best spot:
-[goth girl from lineup]: "ok, i really like you guys. but if i have to fight you, i WILL fight you."
i think that really sums up the mood? haha. but in all honestly, i think this girl really liked the other girls however me not so much. gut feeling. π |
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so the doors finally open (at last!) and the lane is then split again into two lanes with staff checking our bags + scanning tickets.
-[man working in lobby]: "are you gonna be drinking?"
-[me being a bit surprised since we're the VIP bar lane]: "ergh...i dunno??!"
-[man working in lobby getting a bit pissy]: "are you gonna be drinking—yes or no??"
-[me WTF in my head]: "well, ok, maybe. WHY?"
-[man working in lobby]: "cuz i need to check your I.D."
okkkkk. *shows I.D.*
guess turns out i wasn't looking old after all? BWHAHHAHAHAHA.
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| feeling kind of like in a video game where i'm slowly but surely unlocking levels. now let's go down to this bar where i'm not going drink and just stand and wait for 30 minutes... |
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