Originally posted by ultraviolet299:
Thats the point i was trying to make! Because she has the pass, maybe she still needs a ticket to enter (maybe its not AAA or whatever).. i dunno!! Maybe she has some connection somewhere that she is not willing to talk about. You never know.
I have myself covered for entrance.. and I just have one extra GA that I would be willing to trade in order to get backstage.
...but i guess its just a scam
Don't get too excited about going 'backstage.' It's really not what most people expect. It is highly unlikely you will get to meet the band doing so.
There is technically NO Backstage Pass for the Elevation Tour 2001. There are, however, several different types of access passes used for different purposes.
Photo, Guest (MGMT), Crew (Riggers, Security, Tech, etc..), VIP, a few others...
I do know there is NOT a single AAA pass at all for the tour (unless you are bono himself
What happens is that your pass is restricted to its effective intended limits. Although every pass has to be assigned to you, The VIP and crew passes are I think, the only ones that have a photo. The rest have a serial number on back. Also, these passes do indeed let you in the building without a ticket, whether at the front gates or the VIP or security entrances. They will also let you down onto the floor and into the heart.
Now from what I can tell, the ONLY pass that will get you in the 'front row inner security barrier' is a photo pass. Even then, you need additional credentials usually (press pass). Maybe Otto will comment on this. Not even a VIP pass will do that.
As for backstage, a photo pass generally won't get you backstage unattended, however GUEST and VIP passes will. Even still, backstage is compartmentalized into 'areas' and your pass will only get you into the appropriate 'areas.' For example, almost no pass including crew (i don't know about the techs) will ever get you into the "Band's room" where u2 actually is. You have to have a BAND VIP pass to get into the band's room, and rest assured they just don't give those out - you indeed have to have a business being there whether you are family or friend or Bill Clinton. The Bands room is guarded by two of the toughest looking guys you'll ever see and they will not hesitate to move you right along.
An example of how this works is as follows:
Hanson (the band): All have VIP passes for the Dallas show. They arrive through the security entrance, and are backstage, but they will never get into the Band's Room, or Crew Areas. They can however, choose to watch the show from the heart or the VIP enclosure around the soundstage on the floor.
The Elevation Crew: (Dallas Schoo, Lighting Riggers, etc..) Well they pretty much know each other at this point, but all have photo ids anyway and in Dallas's case, an additional VIP pass, for local security personnel, etc.. They get everywhere except Band's Room.
Christy Turlington, Wynona Rider: They have VIP Passes with Band Room Priviledges. They have free roam except for crew areas (under the stage, etc..) They will actually get to hang out with u2 and in many cases get to travel with the band on Elevation Air.
Marketing Dude for RollingStone: Has a MGMT Guest pass, which allows him free roam of all areas execpt crew (under stage, soundboard) and Band's Room. This dude can hang out in the Management Room though and talk with the management personel on staff including McGuinness. These passes are also color-coded per city on a rotaional basis. Security usually doesn't care though.
Finally, unless you are elevation crew, you are highly discouraged to attend the soundchecks no matter what pass you have as they really like their privacy and consider that to be of very personal time. Ocassionally however, especially earlier on in the tour you could attend without any problems.
If you need all-encompasing access, you will have multiple passes. If you look carefully at Dallas Schoo, you will see he has at least 5+ passes hanging around his neck.
I hope this clarifies how this all works, and I must urge extreme caution in trading a GA ticket for that pass. This woman sounds extremely suspect. Even if it were real, you would not get to meet the band with any kind of pass she could give you, and in the end it is not intended for you. I don't know what would happen if you were caught (thrown out or worse). On the other hand though you could take the risk and at least get into the heart. There is also a small probability of running into the band outside the Band's room, although they are usually attending to some kind of business. Finally, and this should be a wakeup call, **security will no doubt be 100x tighter on this leg because of the recent terrorist events** Jerry, U2's head of security, is a very understanding and nice guy, but make no mistake he has a job to do and he does it well.
Peace,
Skeksis, Mystic of Urskek
