The List Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way - All GA Line Drama Discussions Here

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And I am 100% in favor of a lottery. Boohoo, people can't line up for days at a time to see a rock 'n' roll band, the injustice of it all!

Like someone else said, this gives opportunity for people who have never been up close, and who do not live a privileged enough life to be able to wait in line for 3 days to be able to be close to the band. It gets rid of the ridiculous endurance olympics, which is not fundamentally not safe.

Lottery is the way to go.
 
I agree with others about a lottery. During my 2 concerts on the Vertigo tour, I got into the ellipse once and got on the front rail, the other time I had a great spot on the outside. It just seems fair and safer. I remember lining up early for U2 in Chicago, July 2011 on a humid, 100 degree day. It was absolutely miserable and the staff at Soldier Field eventually brought everyone in line inside to wait in the shade/cool of the concourse. After braving the elements earlier that day and sitting on the hot metal floor waiting for the show to start, everyone I was with was hot and tired by the time the show started and more than one person I was around had to leave during the show for a cool place to rest.
 
nbelcik said:
lol I've never seen anyone have a breakdown because they didn't get rail. Once again, you're making things up.
.
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Nate, Naomi, or others? No. But I had one fan in Boston in 2015 flip out on me because I took "her" spot at the e-stage. This fan has been to close to 100 shows and front row at almost every one. And was still front row in Boston. And I've seen others get angry over not having a specific spot on the floor. It's really really sad, actually.
 
nbelcik said:
Many of the line leaders would actually like to go back to camping. If you think that allowing camping would prevent the same people from being front row every show you're incredibly naive. Not to mention the fact that venues will not allow camping on their grounds due to liability and safety reasons. Those days are over.
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This is complete and utter bullshit. EVERYONE knows where the line begins when camping, it's a true first come first serve, there's no checking in and then back to the air-conditioned life. There's no built-in entitlement advantage towards certain individuals bullshit.

YOU are smarter than this.
 
nbelcik said:
I don't think the band will ever step up and run the line (although I know Nate's had conversations with U2 crew about that), but what Nate and Naomi have been pushing for is venue communication...but many venues won't announce the line due to liability reasons. Naomi and the line runners in Detroit helped convince the venue to send out information about the line, but many venues don't. Everyone who I've spoke to in the group chat I'm in really likes what Nashville is doing.
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[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Let me see if I’m understanding correctly. The venue sends out the GA line rules, presumably because they have direct access to the emails of the ticketholders via ticketmaster or whatever. But U2 staff is dictating the GA policy. Then you have the line runners trying to work with both the venue and U2 staff to make the line go smoothly and the rules clearly communicated. So regardless of whether experienced fans or U2 staff or venue security actually run the line, in terms of communication the issue stems from how U2 staff vs the venue do things. Ideally, since U2 staff is making the rules then they should be the ones to send the GA line rules email out, but I presume they cannot because they don’t have access to the emails of the ticketholders, or some other reason? And some venues won’t do it out of liability concerns or what not. So we’re left with this Frankenstein GA line system that differs with every venue depending on how willing and able the venue is and how liability-adverse they are to communicate things accurately. What kind of authority does U2 staff have to push rules on each venue? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Its great that Nashville appears to be stepping up in this regard; while other venues suck at it like the Rose Bowl. [/FONT]
 
80093391-cartoon-dinosaur-with-sunglasses-pointing-up.jpg


Bonosaurus
 
nbelcik said:
The Vertigo lottery system was different from Springsteen's. You'd still have a good spot even if you didn't get scanned into the ellipse.
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I never suggested they're the same, so what's your point?

It's kind of hard for Nate to have a rational discussion with people in an echo chamber who constantly insult him. Y'all essentially trolled him so he's going to troll you back.
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Bollocks. For multiple tours, people have made reasonable arguments that the line is run in a secretive and exclusive manner and hoped that somebody involved would actually show up and address these concerns. People like Headache and myself are only too keen to hear what they have to say for themselves, clear up misconceptions, etc.

Instead, when Nate comes in here just to troll, he simply provides more reasons to believe that he is a spoiled child.

At least you're bothering to address some of the substantive concerns.

The guy who started the Chicago line literally posted that someone needed to bring a marker because he forgot his. He had no idea that he needed to work with security and thought that he had to be there 24 hours a day. He was not prepared at all. The line runners who arrived after he started the line have been helping him out and giving him advice and he still has his number 1 spot.
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Sounds like he WAS prepared, because that underlined bit is pretty much how a queue works. But keep suggesting he was hopeless because he had the audacity to start a queue before the people who do it every other night. The gall indeed!

I do, however, completely agree with this and think that both check-in systems and endurance queuing are idiotic:

TinKnight said:
And I am 100% in favor of a lottery. Boohoo, people can't line up for days at a time to see a rock 'n' roll band, the injustice of it all!

Like someone else said, this gives opportunity for people who have never been up close, and who do not live a privileged enough life to be able to wait in line for 3 days to be able to be close to the band. It gets rid of the ridiculous endurance olympics, which is not fundamentally not safe.

Lottery is the way to go.
Click to expand...

:up:
 
ImOuttaControl said:
I agree with others about a lottery. During my 2 concerts on the Vertigo tour, I got into the ellipse once and got on the front rail, the other time I had a great spot on the outside. It just seems fair and safer. I remember lining up early for U2 in Chicago, July 2011 on a humid, 100 degree day. It was absolutely miserable and the staff at Soldier Field eventually brought everyone in line inside to wait in the shade/cool of the concourse. After braving the elements earlier that day and sitting on the hot metal floor waiting for the show to start, everyone I was with was hot and tired by the time the show started and more than one person I was around had to leave during the show for a cool place to rest.
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To be fair, I figured out the "random" lottery system to get in the floor pit for the Vertigo tour on opening night. Because they were playing so many shows in SoCal within an hour's driving distance on the first few weeks of the tour and really mixing up the running order of the set, I made it a point to catch several shows in just a couple week's span.

Basically, the system as it was would select about every 10th person as they entered through the floor GA line to have their ticket scanned by a woman with a laptop where you'd get wristbanded that apparently generated a random code for pit access. So I'd get in line and as it neared the door, pay close attention to who was getting selected for the pit. If a person too close in front of me got picked, I'd let a few people pass ahead of me and have my friend be a few people behind me so it would be about 10 people between me and the last person to get selected. 100% of the time, one or both of us would get selected for pit access and since you could bring a "second", it was child's play for both of us to get in the pit.

One show I went alone and got selected, and there was a bunch of people standing around just inside the entrance hoping to be someone's "second." I chose some random woman who it turned out had never seen U2 before, we wound up right on the rail on Edge's side and after the show she was so happy, she was in tears.

Really, imo the Springsteen random lottery method is by far the best GA floor system and I'm saying that as someone who *never* got a good number at any of the shows that system was used. Sure, any system has it flaws, even the Springsteen lottery but it seems to work the best and honestly, U2 should adopt it to cut down on this line list nonsense.

Or better yet, do like what they did in Boston during the 2001 tour which resulted in the meltdown of dozens of line nazis.
 
For me it goes like this

Fairest GA System: first come, first served, sit your ass down and wait

Preferred GA System: lottery system similar to Springsteen or Vertigo Tour. Still rewards waiting without making people go crazy about it, because the best spots are still random.

I'm okay with it as long as it's public to all through official band and venue channels: the multi day check in

Horse shit: publishing an official set of rules and not honoring them in order to honor the unofficial fan check in list.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
For me it goes like this

Fairest GA System: first come, first served, sit your ass down and wait

Preferred GA System: lottery system similar to Springsteen or Vertigo Tour. Still rewards waiting without making people go crazy about it, because the best spots are still random.

I'm okay with it as long as it's public to all through official band and venue channels: the multi day check in

Horse shit: publishing an official set of rules and not honoring them in order to honor the unofficial fan check in list.
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This should just be stickied.
 
headache in a suitcase said:
for me it goes like this

fairest ga system: first come, first served, sit your ass down and wait

preferred ga system: lottery system similar to springsteen or vertigo tour. Still rewards waiting without making people go crazy about it, because the best spots are still random.

i'm okay with it as long as it's public to all through official band and venue channels: the multi day check in

horse shit: publishing an official set of rules and not honoring them in order to honor the unofficial fan check in list.
Click to expand...



View attachment 11967
 
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Partyslammer said:
To be fair, I figured out the "random" lottery system to get in the floor pit for the Vertigo tour on opening night. Because they were playing so many shows in SoCal within an hour's driving distance on the first few weeks of the tour and really mixing up the running order of the set, I made it a point to catch several shows in just a couple week's span.

Basically, the system as it was would select about every 10th person as they entered through the floor GA line to have their ticket scanned by a woman with a laptop where you'd get wristbanded that apparently generated a random code for pit access. So I'd get in line and as it neared the door, pay close attention to who was getting selected for the pit. If a person too close in front of me got picked, I'd let a few people pass ahead of me and have my friend be a few people behind me so it would be about 10 people between me and the last person to get selected. 100% of the time, one or both of us would get selected for pit access and since you could bring a "second", it was child's play for both of us to get in the pit.

One show I went alone and got selected, and there was a bunch of people standing around just inside the entrance hoping to be someone's "second." I chose some random woman who it turned out had never seen U2 before, we wound up right on the rail on Edge's side and after the show she was so happy, she was in tears.

Really, imo the Springsteen random lottery method is by far the best GA floor system and I'm saying that as someone who *never* got a good number at any of the shows that system was used. Sure, any system has it flaws, even the Springsteen lottery but it seems to work the best and honestly, U2 should adopt it to cut down on this line list nonsense.

Or better yet, do like what they did in Boston during the 2001 tour which resulted in the meltdown of dozens of line nazis.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the lottery's got to be random, or people will take advantage of that flaw. Well done though, I would have done the same thing, if I was that smart :crack:

I just see the lottery as a way to discourage the unfair check-in system, the multi-day camp out (if the venue doesn't walk to allow it & cater for it with bathrooms), or what could be a dangerous system (if the venue said no arriving before 9AM, first come-first served at that time).

But I think there should be some reward for getting there early, & putting in the time. Vertigo was an interesting layout (as was Elevation & 360), with its pit. As you know, the lottery didn't totally randomise the order that people entered onto the floor. It just randomised (somewhat) whether you'd be in the pit or not. So for those that were initially in the first 100-200 people, you were either at the front of the pit (an amazing up-close experience), or outside the pit, on the catwalk rail (still a brilliant experience with great views).

So there was some reward for those willing to put in the time, number 100 was guaranteed a rail spot, number 500 was not. But it just meant there was no real advantage being number one, over number 50. So no real advantage in camping out for days in end.

But a lottery which totally randomises entry order removes any reward for putting in that bit of effort & getting there early. I'd be very bummed if there was a 4pm lottery & I went from 30th in line to number 500. I'm short, have trouble seeing in a crowd, & that would put a huge downer on a show for me.

If there was a lottery, an early morning lottery, which would have many less people, & offer some reward for those that want to wait & put in the time, would be better in my book.
 
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nbelcik said:
I know about the Phoenix discussions because I was there. Nate worked hard with the venue to be able to line up at the venue. Nate does not want lines to form offsite (although oftentimes line runners who don't know what they're doing aren't able to secure a spot onsite and sometimes venues are just simply uncooperative and no amount of persuading will work). He thinks that offsite lines are more unfair (even if they're well advertised on social media) and that if a random person is walking around the venue they should be able to see the line. I know because I stayed with Nate in Phoenix last tour and was privy to many conversations in the days leading up to the show. Setting the line up on venue grounds required a lot of relationship building with the venue before the show. But so many people here seem to think it's just a dude showing up with a marker (which is what was happening in Chicago this tour before people who knew what they were doing stepped in).
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I wonder what they will do, Nate and Naomi? Sounds like a great love story. When the tour is over I mean? Will they focus this dedication towards something bigger? Or will they just fall back into their trust funds knowing that they helped the privileged line leaders get a rail spot. One wonders?
 
d.darroch said:
Nashville GA line has started. What’s the official policy again? Looks like the usual check-in stuff going on now, :crack:

https://www.pscp.tv/w/bdaS3DI1NzcwMzB8MWRSSlplTVpucHZHQvjt42ANuhOCOV2QATeJifI5M68Tvtnih6TU9x0B9pPf
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That is the official system as communicated by the arena...

Pop Artist said:
unMxB2LMOi1Tl07GK0CazOUq_XIYQI15iJn7XSOV7ue-4ES3xLoPcCH2aWvCtjYzJP1uACiJtqUGNY9B9vhcfDyGkMZPnXnEBmC1tHleDvvHcLHcKZgAUDsO77aVJAApzGStn9DSawUlAKCihpvqtyYv26ca=s0-d-e1-ft
Click to expand...

Which is fine, according to this handy dandy chart


Headache in a Suitcase said:
Fairest GA System: first come, first served, sit your ass down and wait

Preferred GA System: lottery system similar to Springsteen or Vertigo Tour. Still rewards waiting without making people go crazy about it, because the best spots are still random.

I'm okay with it as long as it's public to all through official band and venue channels: the multi day check in

Horse shit: publishing an official set of rules and not honoring them in order to honor the unofficial fan check in list.
Click to expand...
 
nbelcik said:
lol I've never seen anyone have a breakdown because they didn't get rail. Once again, you're making things up.
Click to expand...

Oh dear. I hate to burst your bubble but it is true. It has indeed been seen by mine own eyes.
And on this side of the Atlantic in Croke Park, a complete meltdown because this person got 2nd from the rail instead of at the rail. It was PATHETIC.

How we laughed though....being Irish and cool and all that.
 
cbradfly1 said:
I wonder what they will do, Nate and Naomi? Sounds like a great love story. When the tour is over I mean? Will they focus this dedication towards something bigger? Or will they just fall back into their trust funds knowing that they helped the privileged line leaders get a rail spot. One wonders?
Click to expand...


:applaud:

:rockon:

 
alibee said:
Oh dear. I hate to burst your bubble but it is true. It has indeed been seen by mine own eyes.
And on this side of the Atlantic in Croke Park, a complete meltdown because this person got 2nd from the rail instead of at the rail. It was PATHETIC.

How we laughed though....being Irish and cool and all that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming that people involved in this racket tend to be quite upset when their Machiavellian plans fall through... saw meltdowns in Vancouver and Boston (2) over the years.
 
This in an email from Infinite Energy Arena regarding Monday's show:

"For patrons with a General Admission (GA) ticket: The fan run check in begins at 8AM on Sunday, May 27th and runs for 24 hours at the Infinite Energy Arena General Admission Entrance (venue signage will direct you). GA patrons may begin lining up in the order of their General Admission number at 8AM on Monday, May 28th.

Patrons will not be permitted to line up prior to 8AM on Monday, May 28th. No overnight camping is allowed."
 
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