I have to start from the beggining to really do justice to the story. It all started with news that my favorite band, They Might Be Giants, was going to be coming to my town. SWEEEEEEET!!! I was excited. We are lucky to get them every two years and I think we had waited that long or longer to get them to come this time. I have gone to every show I could, since I was 12. When I was 12, I went with my sister to my first concert of theirs. I was not tall enough to see the band. I had to stand on a chair and my sister convinced security to let me. I was 12 and that was back during better times. It was a life changing experience, but not the one I mentioned before. To wrap up this sub story, as the entire band was leaving the stage, I found myself in their path. I was a small 12 years old and was prepared to get moved aside, but that was not the case. The band stopped and shook my hand. The whole band! Then to my wonder and awe, my sister asked them to sign my shirt. I was expecting them to shoot her down. Nope, again I was amazed. The whole band signed my shirt. I wore that shirt into the ground. Not a good idea, in retrospect, but hey I was 12. This experience is what solidified my never ending love for this band.
Well, back to the main story. My favorite band is coming to town. YEEEEEESSS!!! Wait, there is even better news. The concert is free. Wow! The concert is FREE!!! I would gladly pay a pretty penny for tickets, but FREE!!! This is all too good to be true. Sadly, that was the case. It was too good to be true. The tickets to the concert were being distributed by a local radio station, 101.9 The End. I did not have anything against them, going into this whole thing. That would soon change. How hard can tickets be to get? It is a free show I just have to show up and get tickets, right? WRONG!!! I soon find out that in order to get tickets, I would have to perform insane tasks and getting tickets would be next to impossible.
You see, there are people who love to jerk people around. Maybe they don’t have a choice. Maybe they do it because they enjoy it. We have all been around it in some fashion or another. In our personal and work lives, we are always going to have to deal with these people. Then there are the people who take this whole process to the extreme. The term for them, is radio DJs. The worst of which, are those with 101.9 the end. Sure you can get tickets, just come on down to our remote location. Oh, you want to know where the remote location is, too bad. You must listen to our station. Okay, that is annoying, but I don’t care I will do anything for tickets. So I am off to Mordor, to get tickets. Oh, sorry you cannot just get tickets. We need to enter you into a drawing because we have a limited amount of tickets, but thanks for coming to Mordor. That sucks! Oh, you should easily be able to get tickets. We have plenty and everyone who enters into this drawing will get some. We will call you if you win. Okay fine, as long as I get tickets.
Wait, wait and wait some more. No call. No tickets. Listen to the radio more. There has to be another way to get tickets. Radio is terrible. The DJs are terrible. I wanted to hurt myself several times. Okay, not a big deal. Hey, anyone that wants tickets plays our games and wins them. Keep listening to our ridiculous show and you can win. If you can swallow a gallon of water while tap dancing on a 3 inch wide pole, you can win too. Crap!
After all of this and still not being able to get tickets, I gave up. Yep, I gave up. Yeah, I know. You say that if I really am such a true fan I would go through anything. Well, I had to draw the line somewhere and I reached the line. I consented to not being able to see my favorite band when they came to town. I had one last act to admit everything was over and come to grips with my situation. I posted a comment on the TMBG MySpace site and told them what I thought of the situation. How I probably would not be able to go to the show. Whiney? Maybe, but I am not one to whine. Just getting the facts out and pleading my case. I did not post it with the intention of getting anything out of it, or even expecting them to care. I seriously did not think I would get a response at all. It was just my last way of giving in to defeat.
A week passes and that is when things take an interesting turn. I get a message back from the TMBG MySpace people. They ask simply what is happening with the SLC show. I reply with a little more description than what I put in the MySpace comment. Again, I don’t feel I am being overly whiney. Another week passes and they reply that I need to send an e-mail to one of the main TMBG accounts. Of course I am not going to give it out here and if you asked I would not give it either. I email this new account, copying information from my last e-mail, and send it on. Within a day or so I get an e-mail that says something to the effect of “you are on the list”. Okay, but I have never been “on the list” and what is this all about. I reply back just asking for a little more info. They tell me that if anyone gives me any trouble at the show, talk to the tour manager and tell them that I, plus one guest, are on the list.
This is pretty sweet, but I am still pretty skeptical given the entire process I had gone through. Several weeks pass by and the day of the concert arrives. I am traveling with a friend who happens to be listening to the above mentioned radio station. What to our wondering ears would they say? Oh, we have a lot of left over tickets that we are giving away. We did not give away enough of them so there are plenty of extras. ASS HATS!!! You put everyone through all this shit, claiming that you would not have enough tickets, only to find out you poorly miss managed the whole thing and now have excess on the day of!!! Did I already say ASS HATS!?!
Quickly I call my friends and family that have been suffering along with me, so they are aware of the situation. They hurry and go to the location, as I am still far away from the area. I tell them to get my wife and myself two tickets, because I want tickets in hand, in case “the list” thing does not work out. Besides, they have plenty of tickets left over. I arrive at the venue and they were able to get two tickets for us. Sweet, we are going no matter what. We are hanging with our friends in line and are just happy to know we get to go to the show. Then another twist. The band is about an hour late and we are all still standing in line. Crap. Well, should we test the list thing? What is the worst that can happen, since we already have tickets in hand?
We walk up to the VIP line, which had just barely cleared out. Go up to the desk there and tell them that we are “on the list”. The lady at the counter looks at us kind of funny and like we are from another planet. She starts checking lists and asking us if we are from the media or part of the band crew. We say no and she keeps looking. Then I say, “They told us to talk to the tour manager and let them know we are on the list.” She says, “Oh, you must mean the BAND list.” She turns around and gets a small list, maybe four to five names on the list, and asks for my name again. There I am! Top of the list! The lady completely changes. All smiles now. Here is your VIP pass. “Would you like to attend the meet and greet with the band?” Uh, yeah!!!! Gives me a special sticker to meet the band and hang out until they arrive.
We get to sit in the private bar and eat tasty food. The owner of Ken Garff auto comes and shakes our hands and thanks us for being there. My wife and I are having an awesome time. We are on cloud nine, but that is not even the best of it. After waiting about a half hour to forty-five minutes, the band arrives. They announce to everyone in the bar that if you want to meet the band, then to go to the room next door. We go in and they have several gifts for us, including a TMBG foam finger. After we get our gifts and hob knob with the pretty people, it is time to get autographs. The band signs the said foam finger and the VIP passes we got. They also allow us to take pictures with them. My wife pulls out the trusty camera phone; thank goodness we had that, and she snaps some photos. Flans put his arm around my wife. I sat next to Linnell and he told me not to spill his coffee. Did I hear that correctly, Linnell told me not to spill his coffee? WOW!!! The band was great. They were really nice and patient as everyone badgered them for photo shoots and autographs. They were real champs about the whole process.
After the meet and greet, everything else was gravy. We could not come back down from our high. The concert was incredible. They did not disappoint. I had my doubts given the free concert status, but they rocked the house. The venue was great. We were so dazed from our VIP experience that we did not even sit in the VIP section. We stayed with our friends in the back of the venue and had a great time. I would have probably liked that better than the VIP section anyway, but it did not matter, we got to meet the band! They played all of our favorite songs. I don’t think they left a single song out that I wanted to hear. Great stuff! So great, that I have since purchased the concert from the TMBG website. I can relive the experience. Well almost, since I cannot meet the band again when I listen to it.
Jealous does not even describe how everyone felt about our experience, but I did not rub it in anyone’s face. Nothing could taint that night. Nothing could make it less of an incredible time. To top it all off, I used a trick that Flip taught me and was able to escape with a set list. SWEEEET!!! After the concert we bought our shirts, CD’s, etc… Flip and I took a moment to do some weird poses outside the venue and then it was off to home, so we could soak in the greatness of what just happened. Here are the pictures of the stuff we received. Also, I have included the pictures of us with the band.
Thank you TMBG!!! Thank you TMBG MySpace people!!! Thank you TMBG crew and tour people!!! Thank you sponsors for paying for the free show!!! You all came together to make this a great show and a once in a lifetime experience. I went from thinking there was no way I would be able to attend this concert, to getting the VIP treatment. I will never forget this and you have further solidified my love for this great band. Thank you!!!
- Dr. Worm
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1 comment:
I remember all of this! You had us run to where the radio station was to try to get you tickets. We played thier little game but werent able to get you any. Good thing because you got something better and we got ZZ-top tickets:)
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