06/29/08 Ventura, CA: Ventura Theatre

WeirdAlsBestFriend · Post by **WeirdAlsBestFriend** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:29 pm

I know! Every one at school has been telling me about Al preforming there.

Post by **TMBJon** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:25 am

Hey guys!
Long time, no post (I tend to get bored of this forum for the year or so between albums when there's absolutely no news to talk about).

But I am glad to say that I just got tickets to this show! I wasn't planning on going to two shows for the Straight Outta Lynwood Tour, but a couple of things led me to change my mind:
1) It's one of the first shows in 2008 so I can relatively easily stay spoiler-free and maybe catch one or two new changes for this tour that are different from the show I saw last July.
2) After a bit of convincing (and if I promised to pay), my girlfriend of nearly three years has agreed to come to the show. She has always ragged on my for my love of all things Weird Al, and now I can finally show her the glory that is a "Weird Al" Yankovic concert.

So I'm looking forward to this show, especially for the second reason, but I do have one question for you all - I have never been to a Weird Al general admission concert. I've been to plenty of other GA shows, but somehow I really doubt the atmosphere will be the same. Have any of you been to shows at this venue before? Or if not, what is the typical protocol for an Al GA show?

minnick27 · Post by **minnick27** » Fri May 30, 2008 2:23 am

General admission stinks! If you want a good spot you have to be there early, which means a lot of standing. Then you have to wait in the venue with people who have no respect for personal space. And if you have back problems, you will be hurting the next day. But it is still an Al show, so all the ends up not mattering.

Post by **TMBJon** » Fri May 30, 2008 3:09 am

Well, nearly every concert I've been to other than Al has been General Admission, so I guess I know exactly what I'm getting myself into. Just checking to be sure my experiences have lined up with others'. Regarding the respect for other people's space, I hate to say it but with GA shows it really is everyone for themselves...

Has anyone ever been to this venue before? Is it small and intimate or large (for a club venue)? Is it one floor or is there a balcony? Do they serve alcohol? What is the parking situation? Is there a lot to do in Ventura in the surrounding area of the venue?

Post by **albinodwarf27** » Fri May 30, 2008 7:36 pm

I contacted the theatre about this show and was told that the pit will have seating but not tables (last time I was there, which was five years ago to see another band, they had tables in the pit). So it is possible that we won't all have aching backs... eat your heart out, Minnick, lol. I have friends who were there recently for the Mudcrutch show and they did not have seating, so I guess it varies from show to show. No clue how early we should start lining up, that's the part I dread.

It is not a huge theatre. They do have a balcony, but it was not in use when I was there (again, five years later this may have changed). The pit is a few steps down from the rest of the theater, and if I remember correctly the bar was actually inside the theater itself, not in the lobby.

I don't know what to tell you about parking. We parked at our hotel and walked last time. If there is a lot, it is not big so you'll probably be on the street or in a public lot. You may want to check the theatre website.

Ventura itself is a great little town, we had no problem entertaining ourselves for hours.

Post by **like_im_27again** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:53 pm

I hate General Admission!

I almost want to skip this show just to save myself the hassle. But then I wouldn't get to see you, Jon and Nancy, so I guess I'll quit my belly-aching and just deal.

Jon, that's so great that your girlfriend agreed to go--I hope she loves it as much as we all do!

Do you think the seating in the pit (which I assume then becomes the front row seating) will be those $150 special purchase seats?

Vikki

Post by **albinodwarf27** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:06 pm

Well, the presale tickets did say Pit, but the slightly more expensive tickets (55 vs 45, I think) that were available on Ticketmaster also said VIP Pit.

I'm too old for this lining up early stuff!

Post by **like_im_27again** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:10 pm

Me, too. Maybe we'll just not worry about it that much, and just sit where we end up and hope for a meet and greet, which will make up for not being up-close during the concert.

Vikki

Post by **albinodwarf27** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 3:31 am

Sounds like a good plan. The place is small enough that you can see well from anywhere.

Post by **TMBJon** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:57 pm

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is I can't make it to this show anymore :-(

The good news is I just accepted a job offer where I will be traveling all over Europe shooting a promotional video for a travel camp. So I will get to go to all sorts of crazy places with my girlfriend and it is going to be a wild summer. This, of course, conflicts with the show in Ventura...

So now I have two extra tickets to this concert. If anyone is interested in these tickets, please email me at tmbjon at gmail dot com.

Thanks,
-Jon