Two words: BLACK SABBATH!! The European tour dates were announced today – let’s hope that it happens this time and that Tony Iommi is feeling better and stronger than ever! :))

Tickets go on sale later this week, beginning of next, depending on which show you’re going to, but I went to check out the ticket-options for the shows in Copenhagen and Stockholm…

And there it was again. That thing that has been so common in the States for years, but that we here in Europe luckily have been spared from: Who gets closest to the stage and why.

Here in Europe, it’s simply on a first come-first served basis. Some fans will sleep outside the arena for days, and believe me, if they are such huge fans of a band that they are willing to do that, I don’t have a problem with them being in the front row. It’s only fair.

I’m also pretty much okay with all the various ideas that managements come up with to cash in extra bucks – the VIP packages where you have to pay two months worth of RENT to meet your idol for three minutes and then be thrown out. Very precious minutes, to say the least…

If people are willing to cough up that dough and if they feel it’s worth it, it’s none of my business. It’s their money and it doesn’t affect me in any way.

Some want to buy packages with food or with limited edition merch of all sorts, parking spaces, yadayada…. All good. Doesn’t affect me negatively, whatever people wanna do.

But there is ONE thing that PISSES ME OFF.

When people are being forced to PAY to get in the front row! THAT is NOT okay in my book.

And I discovered that that’s what they’re gonna do for the Sabbath-shows.

“Package 2: You get to come in before the regular ticket holders, and choose your spot (standing). 

And for THAT – you pay TWICE as much as the regular price! Instead of 695 SEK, which is very expensive already – you have to cough up over 1500 SEK to get in “first”. What the fuck…???

What it means is that basically, you will have rich people waltzing right in because they CAN, while the real fans who might not have that kind of money, end up behind the wealthy ones. It’s sickening – I can’t find any other expression for it. It’s like John Lennon’s classic comment:

For those of you in the cheap seats I’d like ya to clap your hands to this one. The rest of you can just rattle your jewelry!

Sell expensive seats for all I care – and all that other shit – but leave the STANDING crowd out of it.

I got just as upset in Manchester last year when I went to see Steel Panther. There were two lines opposite eachother, one to the left and one to the right. I didn’t know why, until I saw them open the door on the OTHER side letting in a shitload of people, while the rest of us were stuck where we were.

The shitty part of it? The people in “my” line – the “poor man’s line”, had been standing there for hours freezing their asses off, while that OTHER line had people showing up in the last minute like they just didn’t really give a crap.
I learned that those other people were “VIP members“. You bought some sort of yearly membership and they let you in before everybody else at specific events.

It’s not okay – it just isn’t.

Of all the things bands come up with to make a buck or two nowadays, THAT one thing should be SACRED. Leave the standing front row people out of the greed, please. Give them a fair chance.

Even the “Golden Circle”-thing is okay. You still get to come in at the same time, you’ve just bought the right to be closer to the stage and it wasn’t twice as expensive, it was just a few extra bucks. I can live with that. It’s when it gets extreme and greedy that I feel like I’m gonna throw up.

Bon Jovi charged people 20 000 SEK for the “honor” to sit on the side of the stage for a few minutes – of course being totally ignored by the band, and then get thrown out. Sure, it’s a choice these people made to pay that kind of money, but 20 000?! That is about 8 months worth of RENT for me. It’s pocket change for mr Bongiovi, no doubt, but it sure as fuck isn’t for his FANS.

I’m just grumpy I guess. I can’t stand injustice.

I was super excited about the news that Black Sabbath are going to give it another try, and that I’ll get to see the legendary, ultimate heavy metal band this year.

But it just kills the joy to realize that I will only have two choices: To pay 700 SEK and not see shit (cause I’m too short – if I’m not in the front, I can’t see a thing), or pay up twice as much to get in “before everybody else” (which honestly wouldn’t feel right anyway).

Just ruins the whole experience right there already. It’s not even a sport.

And don’t even get me started on how bad things CAN be with all the “pre-sales” and shit… (see previous Van Halen ticket hell-blog below….).

Guess I’ll just have to smile and cough up the bucks to get the experience. But at least getting angry about it is still FREE….!

http://lita77777.blog.com/2012/01/10/van-halen-ticket-hell/