07/17 - 07/21/07 Costa Mesa, CA Orange County Fair

Post by **weird_el** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:42 pm

Depending on the cost, I'll probably take advantage of the backstage deal, but I do question the ethics behind it.

Who gets the money? There were charity auctions for backstage passes a few years ago -- that time we KNEW who got the money.

Post by **stupidsurgeon27** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:24 am

okay, don't get me wrong...I love Al as much as the next nerd - but is anybody else at all miffed at this: things that were cheap/free LAST OC fair are now completely unavailable unless you fork over a ton of cash?

Goodness, yes. It's not really fair. Yes, it's cheaper than a normal show it seems already this tour, but the price is gonna murder the checkbooks.

The tickets...I forked over the money...though it was a lot more than I expected.

The backstage thing? I just don't like the idea of be able to buy one like that. Charity...I like that. It's more memorable/special when you don't have to pay for passes like that.

WEIRDALexis279 · Post by **WEIRDALexis279** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:36 am

I don't understand how to get the backstage passes. They're selling them on ticketmaster? I went to the link SquirrlyGirl and Kristine put up and all it says is the date, place and time of the show. Am I missing something?

Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:50 am

It seems like a no-go for my mom. My friend who I want to go with said that she'll ask her mom, so that's a good sign. Her mom seems like a push-over (No offense, but my friend has a mega obsession over Anime and her mom buys her everything for it) so hopefully, she'll take us. The backstage passes seems like they'd be awesome, but I'll have to wait for the prices. They don't come cheap, but eh... I wonder if Ticketmaster would be more expensive than weirdal.com.

Post by **Squirrelygirl** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:15 am

I remember at Oxnard, tickets were sold as Special VIP which included an after show meet-and-greet according to the ad. Apparently, Al wasn't aware of it so it came as a surprise when security attempted to chase us all away and we said we were there for the meet and greet. There were only about 30-40 people who stayed, and of course Al was very gracious (as always) but who knows where the mis-communication happened.

I also remember a private charity event in Southern California for a diabetes related cause which included a meet-and-greet, and tickets for that were around $165.00. WAY out of my budget!

WEIRDALexis279 Posted on Mar 6 2007, 10:36 PM
I don't understand how to get the backstage passes. They're selling them on ticketmaster? I went to the link SquirrlyGirl and Kristine put up and all it says is the date, place and time of the show. Am I missing something? I think backstage passes will be a bit too expensive for me, but still...I'm a curious girl.

If you go to the link under internet presale, halfway down on the very right hand side it says "OCFEC Backstage Pass: Start Thursday, 10am PST, ends Friday 11:59 pm PST. No prices are listed.

Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:20 am

Man, if a venue is going to offer backstage passes, you'd think they'd inform the talent! Lucky for the Oxnard honchos that it was Al and not some "A is for ATTITUDE" artist.

I'm a little conflicted about buying backstage passes too, but I don't know if I'm conflicted enough to not buy one.

Post by **Squirrelygirl** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:23 am

Orthography Enthusiast Posted on Mar 6 2007, 11:20 PM

I'm a little conflicted about buying backstage passes too, but I don't know if I'm conflicted enough to not buy one.

Yeah, me too. I'll have to see what the prices are though.

Post by **Kristine** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:58 am

Well, I think they're charging this time around because WAN struck a chord in the music industry... so they know they CAN charge and make lots and lots of money.
He is now more "mainstream" and paying for your reserved ticket IS mainstream.

Post by **Elvis** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:03 am

Let me offer another possibility. On the OC Fair website there's a link to sign up for the Pacific Amphitheatre "Backstage Pass" Newsletter which offers

For being a loyal subscriber you will not only be informed of upcoming onsales and be provided with opportunities to buy tickets before they go onsale to the general public

and in bright red letters (bold emphasis mine),

NOTE: The Pacific Amphitheatre "Backstage Pass" is an e-newsletter distributed for information purposes only and in no way grants the subscriber access to the venue, seating or backstage areas of the venue.

So, "OCFEC Backstage Pass" is just the time pre-sale tickets are made available to e-newsletter subscribers. There's also the "Early Bird Pre-sale" and "TM.com pre-sale." (Why these start at different times, who knows?) Take a look at other pre-sale events, let's say, The Police, at The Staples Center, for example. There are two pre-sales listed for that, one sponsored by Best Buy, one by the fan club.

As cool as it would be, except for the charity auctions mentioned, Al has never sold backstage passes. The only way to get them is through the promoter, radio stations, or be a special guest of the band.

Dave

Post by **weird_el** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:43 am

Elvis @ Mar 6 2007, 06:03 PM wrote: So, "OCFEC Backstage Pass" is just the time pre-sale tickets are made available to e-newsletter subscribers.

Calling anything a "backstage pass" that isn't actually a backstage pass is even less ethical than selling backstage passes for profit