I didn't do GA for Elevation, but did for Vertigo. For some Elevation shows, you could stroll right into the heart shortly before the show just like you could waltz into the pit not too long before 360 shows (but more astounding, perhaps, because we're talking arena vs. stadium). For the rail, I'm sure you had to get there very early, though I don't know how early.
On Vertigo, there was a lottery to get into the ellipse; everyone else was outside the ellipse. That changed things a little bit, perhaps making it less important to camp for some (with the idea that you could still get into the ellipse any time you lined up if you scanned in the lottery), but also making it more important to camp for others (with the idea that the earliest campers who don't get the lottery can only get the outer rail, and all latecomers will end up further back in GA). So, Vertigo was kind of a different beast.
For the first DC Vertigo show, I got there around 6-6:30 AM, we were #39 & 40 in line (signed a list & got a # on your hand when you got in line). I hoped that being #40 would somehow be lucky for the lottery, but it wasn't.
Still, we were front & center on the outer rail of the ellipse. Perfect!
The behavior on 360 has me worried about how the GA lines for a future arena tour will work. People in Philly had camped out for something like 3 days, which is absurd. What is really stupid, IMO, is that because the policy was that they couldn't sleep overnight, they got to go home overnight. Not really "camping out," IMO. Worse still, while being "in line" during the daytime on those days before the show, they'd get to leave the line for hours on end.
To me, if you are "camping out"
days before the show, you should be in line the entire time that you're camping out there. Yes, get out of line for meals & bathroom. But to be able to leave for hours and return at a "check-in time" is just stupid---it really defeats the whole purpose of camping out days before the show. Imagine being someone who is truly willing to camp out the night before the show & you find out you're 100th in line behind a bunch of people, many of whom may have spent 4 hours a day in line on each of the two days prior. A four-or-five-hour-a-day commitment for two days versus a real commitment of actually camping out straight. It doesn't add up to me.
I completely get that many venues aren't letting people sleep overnight on or near the premises. However, how much would it completely suck to show up at 5AM and think you're maybe 10th in line, only to find out that 150 people come ambling in for their 6AM check-in, having gone home the night before.
I dunno. I don't have a better answer, I just think that this situation is pretty lame. Moreover, it bodes quite poorly for a truly fair arena GA experience on the next tour.
[/cranky post]
!
