Pre Show Packages

shredderrrrrr wrote:

macci wrote:

To add to what Jen said for PNC - While we were online in the rain, the band sound-checked Cowgirls & Helter. We all thought they forgot about us. Once inside, my wife & I loved the actual pre-show performance by the band (5 songs from the front row & they sounded awesome), but the rest of it fell a little short of expectations (Started late, hardly any merch available, no vinyl giveaway, it was over very quickly).

Just my 2 cents.

Man, a five-song performance though? That's pretty awesome. I think if they just managed to personalize it a bit (whether taking requests and or talking with/meeting the fans), it would be a no-brainer to do.

We love this band. The 5 song set was awesome.
I should add that I didn't expect to meet them. I guess I just was thinking there'd be a few more perks, that's all.

I wouldn't advise people not to do it - just saying it has pro's & con's.

I really want to take my guitar strap to see if I can get it signed. I know it is a slim chance, but the last time I was there Benny come out to give away drum sticks to someone who asked. I figure it is worth a shot.

I'm still excited, especially after the live stream last night. :-)

I did the preshow package yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. They played five songs acoustic and Brian told stories in between the songs. It felt special to be inside the venue while the crew was still setting up and with such a small group of people. The Simpsons print is great as well.

bt211 wrote:

I did the preshow package yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. They played five songs acoustic and Brian told stories in between the songs. It felt special to be inside the venue while the crew was still setting up and with such a small group of people. The Simpsons print is great as well.

Do you remember what they played?

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with us! I don't think I'll be buying the Phoenix one because I don't know what time it will be at and I'll be driving home from Disneyland the day of the show. Eeek.

Thanks for all the feedback and advice ,lots of pros and cons but decided to go for it @ Corn Exchange Edinburgh and its part of my Xmas box so that is good for me financially .disposable camera sounds pretty rank if your in a venue too far back from the stage and would have hoped you could take pics with a phone etc as surely what harm can that do considering the limitations of a disposable ,the print sounds like its worth the price of the package alone and hopefully the pre show access to merchandise will be an advantage if its set up that early (not holding breath) as it would be nice to get changed before the show as we are traveling up and staying over night from Newcastle .

I registered for the one in Atlanta on 10/7 and they asked us to be there at 3:30. Earlier than I expected, but I can make it work. Sadly, I was supposed to go to the one that was cancelled in LA last night. However, Brian's health comes first!

biggs wrote:

Thanks for all the feedback and advice ,lots of pros and cons but decided to go for it @ Corn Exchange Edinburgh and its part of my Xmas box so that is good for me financially .disposable camera sounds pretty rank if your in a venue too far back from the stage and would have hoped you could take pics with a phone etc as surely what harm can that do considering the limitations of a disposable ,the print sounds like its worth the price of the package alone and hopefully the pre show access to merchandise will be an advantage if its set up that early (not holding breath) as it would be nice to get changed before the show as we are traveling up and staying over night from Newcastle .

I did the preshow package in Boston and I enjoyed it a lot. The one thing I'd skip would be the disposable camera. In our group most felt obliged to use them since they were given to us but I found the noisy clicks and flashes going off somewhat awkward. You probably enjoy the preshow more if you just take things in and put the camera in your pocket.

Do you have to buy a ticket to the actual show to use the pre show package? I know that's an odd request, but the thing is, my girlfriend is very ill and the noise/crowds of a full length show are beyond her these days.

EDIT: Thanks for the info through PM. Hopefully will be able to make it to one of the Manchester dates!

jac185 wrote:

Do you have to buy a ticket to the actual show to use the pre show package? I know that's an odd request, but the thing is, my girlfriend is very ill and the noise/crowds of a full length show are beyond her these days.

EDIT: Thanks for the info through PM. Hopefully will be able to make it to one of the Manchester dates!

nope, you don't. there was a woman at the NJ one who was preggo and didn't want to sit through the whole evening, so she just went to the pre show.

Has anyone bought their pre-show package the day of the show? I'm just curious if that's possible or if you have to buy them at least 24 hours in advance or something to make sure your name is on the list. I didn't see any information one way or the other on the website about it.

- I'm driving to the show from out of state with a friend who has to work that morning, so I won't know until around noon that day if I'll make it in time for the pre-show. :/

bt211 wrote:

biggs wrote:

Thanks for all the feedback and advice ,lots of pros and cons but decided to go for it @ Corn Exchange Edinburgh and its part of my Xmas box so that is good for me financially .disposable camera sounds pretty rank if your in a venue too far back from the stage and would have hoped you could take pics with a phone etc as surely what harm can that do considering the limitations of a disposable ,the print sounds like its worth the price of the package alone and hopefully the pre show access to merchandise will be an advantage if its set up that early (not holding breath) as it would be nice to get changed before the show as we are traveling up and staying over night from Newcastle .

I did the preshow package in Boston and I enjoyed it a lot. The one thing I'd skip would be the disposable camera. In our group most felt obliged to use them since they were given to us but I found the noisy clicks and flashes going off somewhat awkward. You probably enjoy the preshow more if you just take things in and put the camera in your pocket.

Thanks for the feedback about disposable camera and tbh what harm can be done taking pics with a digital/phone camera with flash off as isd the case nowadays clips end up on youtube regardless

So, are all these pre-shows performances accoustic?

flannel wrote:

jac185 wrote:

Do you have to buy a ticket to the actual show to use the pre show package? I know that's an odd request, but the thing is, my girlfriend is very ill and the noise/crowds of a full length show are beyond her these days.

EDIT: Thanks for the info through PM. Hopefully will be able to make it to one of the Manchester dates!

nope, you don't.  there was a woman at the NJ one who was preggo and didn't want to sit through the whole evening, so she just went to the pre show.

That was my wife! (unless there were a few preggo's)

I went to the pre-show last night in Atlanta. There were about 15-20 people. They played Miles Davis, Halloween, Have Mercy and Angry Johnny. I really enjoyed it, but I have to admit that it felt a little strange standing there snapping photos at first. I ended up not taking very many. I wouldn't do the preshow twice, but if you can afford it, I would recommend it. Particularly, if this is your first time seeing the band and you've never seen them from a close distance.

matkins wrote:

I went to the pre-show last night in Atlanta. There were about 15-20 people. They played Miles Davis, Halloween, Have Mercy and Angry Johnny. I really enjoyed it, but I have to admit that it felt a little strange standing there snapping photos at first. I ended up not taking very many. I wouldn't do the preshow twice, but if you can afford it, I would recommend it. Particularly, if this is your first time seeing the band and you've never seen them from a close distance.

If they play those songs, it would be worth double the price for me. Some of my favorites.

Went to the Nashville pre-show last night. They played Halloween, Miles Davis, Mama's Boys, and Patient Ferris Wheel. Brian then took questions and talked with us for a bit. Besides the hour-late start, I was pleased with it. Nothing was mentioned, however, about the soundcheck MP3s. Anyone else know what's going on with that?

bootime wrote:

Went to the Nashville pre-show last night.  They played Halloween, Miles Davis, Mama's Boys, and Patient Ferris Wheel.  Brian then took questions and talked with us for a bit.  Besides the hour-late start, I was pleased with it.  Nothing was mentioned, however, about the soundcheck MP3s.  Anyone else know what's going on with that?

I completely forgot about that. When I went to the Philly soundcheck, Brian mentioned it, but I don't know when we're supposed to expect to get it? Maybe they'll send something out about it at the end of the tour?

Thanks for all the reviews! I think you guys have convinced me (largely because of the songs they're playing). My only question is what has been happening with regards to entrance and lines. Have you been losing your places in line because of the pre show? Obviously it varies by venue but I'm just curious what the experience has been.

shredderrrrrr wrote:

Thanks for all the reviews! I think you guys have convinced me (largely because of the songs they're playing). My only question is what has been happening with regards to entrance and lines. Have you been losing your places in line because of the pre show? Obviously it varies by venue but I'm just curious what the experience has been.

In DC: both nights I showed up around 4ish to no regular line or almost no regular line (aka ten people) and a pre-show line of about 20 give or take. At 9:30 club they let the first 30ish in line into the back bar area about an hour before doors. In this scenario, the club let pre-show people in there first and then the first handful from the regular line. Aka preshow got early admission because of a decision made by the venue.

Philly: there was only a few people in the main line when we got released but it was growing rapidly. We got out just in time to still have a good spot on line.

Boston: this was another issue with venue nonsense. HOB does this thing where if you order food you get to stand in a seperate line that goes in first. They also set up a line for pre-show people to return to AFTER they were released. Luckily for me (first in the 'bought food' line) only maybe 10 people from the preshow realized that line existed. So pre-show got in first again.

I mentioned what happened in Boston to Brian and he seemed concerned about it. He said they have to explain the whole pre-show thing to the venue really quickly when they arrive and then it sounds like the venue takes it into their own hands for the rest because Brian had no clue about what happened. So watch out for venues that already have their own early entry kind of perk.

Can anyone else verify if this kind of thing is still happening?  Especially if you went to a HOB show?

So really any variety of things can happen if you do the pre-show in terms of lining up. Good luck!

shredderrrrrr wrote:

matkins wrote:

I went to the pre-show last night in Atlanta. There were about 15-20 people. They played Miles Davis, Halloween, Have Mercy and Angry Johnny. I really enjoyed it, but I have to admit that it felt a little strange standing there snapping photos at first. I ended up not taking very many. I wouldn't do the preshow twice, but if you can afford it, I would recommend it. Particularly, if this is your first time seeing the band and you've never seen them from a close distance.

If they play those songs, it would be worth double the price for me. Some of my favorites.

Same! I would LOVE that set.

Well, looking like no pre-show for me. If I was going alone I could have made it work, but the friend I found to go along doesn't get off work until sometime between 12-2pm and then it's at least a 3 hour drive, so I don't want to spend the money then not make it.

I really hope they continue the pre-show in 2015, or whenever the next time they come close-ish is. I want to check it out at least once, and I'm going to be really sad if this is a one time only experience -- like when I should have flown to LA to see the Horrible Crowes, but didn't because they were suppose to play more dates later on..... sigh.

Hey guys, as someone who has bought tickets to a pre show later in the tour I have really appreciated anyone taking their time to post experiences in this thread.

I can't wait to see the band in an intimate setting like that. I hope the uk pre shows come off well!

I read some awful pre show "reviews" on TGA's official facebook in the comments section...apparently a lot of people at one of the Texas shows were really pissed off about a few things. Not going to be rude and paste them here, but I hope everyone else has a really positive experience!

azlisa wrote:

I read some awful pre show "reviews" on TGA's official facebook in the comments section...apparently a lot of people at one of the Texas shows were really pissed off about a few things. Not going to be rude and paste them here, but I hope everyone else has a really positive experience!

Thanks for pointing that out! For whatever it's worth, I only saw two negative reviews about the pre show and both were from the same couple. One thing I've learned about reviews is to never trust one particular person (or couple). Hell, my wife and I will go out to eat with her parents and think it was one of the best dining experiences we've ever had whereas her parents would never return. People just have different expectations. The fact the couple complaining's main concerns were having to wait outside longer than expected, not getting something autographed, and not having merchandise available suggests they have different expectations than me. Then again, maybe I'm just being intentionally naive since I am planning on doing the pre-show.

Nevertheless, thanks for the heads up.