Disclaimer - if you dont want to read me rant about whiners here, just move along.....heres your chance....
TO EVEYONE THAT FINDS ANYTHING TO COMPLAIN OR "NOT COMPLAIN" (BUT EXPRESS THEIR DISSAPOINMENT ABOUT ANYWAY), REGARDING THEIR NINJA DONATION VIP EXPERIENCE:
I am really surprised at the lack of some common sense people to convey throughout the VIP thing from Trents first mention, to the actualy experience everyone had.
First, for the record,
I was a 1200 dollar donator for Holmdel on 6-6-09 and ended up being onstage right in the center behind the lights for about 3/4ths of the show till escorted out. here was my view of my camera through the openings:
Then we were quickly told to leave and go back into the venue. Which we did, without feeling we were jipped out of anything mentioned or said by Trent.
The whole thing was AMAZING and the people were all AMAZING. There were no big "dissapointing surprizes" or "let downs" or "CONFUSION". All it took was a little common sense, and perhaps lacking a sense of entitlement.
I would think ALL these following points were common sense...but.....
1. The specific details Trent originally mentioned were stated as sort of "ideas" in an unorganized, spur of the moment annoucement and plan. The statements were made obviously under the impression that there may be a handful of people at a show. I mean, just the fact that Trent SAID you may be able to stand by the FOH sound guy implies theres not THAT many people backstage in his view. Cause you cant have many people in such a tight space like that.
Trent was in the MIDDLE of a tour when he came up with this. And within a DAY, he raised some 200,000 dollars. later up to about 850,000. It seems as the days went on and he capped the total amount of people, it seems there was about 300 or so at each show - somewhere like 200 of the $300 dollar ones and 100 or so of the 1000K donors.
Who in their right mind REALLY thinks when you have over 100 people in a WORKING ENVIRONMENT like a show - that cost a LOT of money to put on - that every detail of his original ideas would still be feasible?
how the hell are you going to handle 100 people running around backstage unescorted and however many wanting to hang with the FOH engineer??
I was a recording engineer and only did studio stuff for years - no live sound - so I would have LOVED to have had that spot during the show but once it seemed there were that many people at these shows - I knew it wouldnt be possible. So what?
Anyone paying ANY attention to the VIP info here after the first couple shows could easily see how many people were attending and come to the conclusion that some of the orig. ideas Trent mentioned weren't going to happen. How would they eat dinner with that many people all wanting their attention, not to mention where would they find the time to meet and greet 300 or so people, AND eat dinner with fans, AND do soundcheck? Seriously people, a little common sense should have told you not to hold trent to every single word he said about this thing. He was OBVIOUSLY throwing out ideas anyway, not writing a fucking list of guarantees that would happen every night.
OBviously he had to decide where to cap it at, wanting to raise as much money as possible and still giving a night to remember to the donors. And he DID - donating MUCH of his time EVERY NIGHT, not to mention the bands time, not to mention money out of his own pocket for all the extra food, and likely people hired to HANDLE THE CROWD. Why ANYONE has still been talking about watching with the sound guy, or being backstage all night, or eating dinner with the band......is beyond me.
Why is it some of you feel you needed to be updated about these changes and I didnt?
2. Sound from the stage. Speakers and amps point OUTWARD towards the audience. As far as I can tell, NIN all used in-ear monitors and so there are no speakers on stage playing sound back to them. So yes, from behind the lights, youre just gonna hear drums. From the side of the stage - maybe youll hear some amp stuff and maybe a little from the speakers - but cmon people - does this even need mentioning as one more thing you are dissapointed in?
3. There are over 100 people backstage during NIN. Every stage is different and thats a LOT of people running around during a performance. Thats a TON of liability NIN takes on. The legalities and liability at these shows - union employees and rules everywhere, is probably tremendously risky!! And a show is a working environment with people doing jobs WHILE the band is performing. Its not like everyone just sits around and watches NIN do their thing. Having 100 rabid fans backstage is a legistical nightmare. Then some shows might not have ROOM for 100 people to watch from the side - so they started rotating groups. At the Holmdel show, everyone could be behind the lights so everyone could watch the WHOLE show. I was NOT the first one in and got lucky to have a space where there was openings in the lights.
I cant IMAGINE how worried people back there were of these donors unplugging something, or knocking down lights. There HAD to be order and control over this many fans.
Its too bad many of you couldnt take Trents orig ideas as just that - ideas of a plan in progress. No one should have needed to keep you all updated on all the changes night to night - that itself would have been quite a task. Trent said he was playing it by ear as it was evolving.
4. Did ANYONE NEED a reason to be escorted offstage when we were? Did anyone notice how fast the whole stage had to change after NIN finished. That whole rear lighting rig was GONE in seconds after they finished. People are instantly running around everywhere to meet set times and end of night deadlines. Bands get charged a TON of money for every minute they go past times they are supposed to finish. And when they DID get us offstage - many people tried to stay on and tried to get more photos and such - which is expected. It was a unique experience to all of us. But you just cant go through all that after NIN finishes. Things had to move quickly and people had to be out of the way. Again - I have NEVER been part of a live tour and this stuff is pretty common sense to me.
posted:after nin's set was over, i stood with another donor in the place where we were led from backstage, and we were like, "welp, trent said we could go backstage after the show, let's go!" and we were told NO by the security man.
seriously?! I am embarrased that you had such a sense of entitlement that you bothered the guards with this. Like you were MISTAKENLY taken off the stage.
posted:the head of NIN security cut him off midsentence, and patted him on the back and said something like "you got your meet & greet, you got your dinner, you got backstage, be happy", and then walked away from him.
my fiance found this man's conduct to be "unbelievably rude and unnecessary, to say the least", especially seeing as we weren't trying to get MORE STUFF, and we WERE happy with what we DID get, we were just either A) trying to get what trent said we would, or failing that, B ) trying to figure out what WAS HAPPENING and why we weren't getting this.
what exactly was so "unbelievably rude and unnecessary". You try dealing with countless people doing what you did. Im sure youd get a bit impatient too.
Trent never said you would absolutely get all these things - and if he had, how to you propose he allowed 100 people to stand with the soundguy during the show? How exactly do you expect 100 people can just run around backstage during Janes set - when they now have their own VIP thing, and their show and set was way bigger. People are working back there. You are sounding like a 10 year old that doesnt understand common sense and cant be happy with what they DO get out of life.
posted:
so, this whole long post culminates in one final point -- keeping everyone on the same page is good. telling people beforehand what to expect is also good. i know its maybe a bit late to say so now, but i felt i needed to say something.
there was quite enough told to you before hand. If you are not smart enough to have common sense and see when Trent is saying how things MAY go - and then things change - like the unexpected response. I mean, he obviously didnt have plans at the start to have to cap the number of donors at every show....This DIDNT "NEED" to be said. Most people had COMMON sense enough to go to their seats - and feel they got quite enough, and appreciate how MUCH that was from Trent and EVERYONE backstage that took the time and patience to deal with that many people. And we didnt feel the need to bother security guards with our sense of entitlement. There were quite enough people there already bothering them without the donors experiencing so much "confusion" cause they just cant be happy with all that was just given to them.
Do you even know who Eric is?
and again, what exactly was SO RUDE to your precious over-sensitive fiance? You have yet to mention any such thing. I think you guys were the rude ones trying to get backstage again when being told it was done.
What makes you so special to have to hassle everyone like that? What if ALL 100 or so guests/donors tried to get backstage after being told to go back into the audience? Where exactly would they put everyone during Janes?
honestly, people like you at the shows make me appreciate EVERYONE BACKSTAGE even MORE for all they did and the time and patience they took to deal with us all, giving tours, fielding questions, herding the crowd, feeding them....etc etc. This was all something they DIDNT expect when they started the tour.
and really people, does it EVEN need mentioning that you couldnt take the beverages on stage. People are slobs and theres all kinds electronics and lights around you. Does that REALLY need to be compared to Trent saying "bevarages will be provided"?
Just goes to show, give a little......
sorry but its been WEEKS of endless whining about photos, backstage, in and out priveledges, dinner with the band, Trents "word" and "promises", dissapoinment, confusion, blah blah blah.......
Do you people realise you contributed to help possibly directly SAVE AN ACTUAL LIFE?
WHEN will you get that kind of chance again? Not to mention the influence being a part of such an outpouring of charity shows the world about people helping others. And all you can do is whine about your dissapointment.
Eric cant even see a NIN show. He cant do much of ANYTHING. If he gets better, NIN tour will be over. You guys got a show, you got to meet Trent, you got to see the behind the scenes to a big show like this, you got fed, etc etc. who the fuck cares that trent mentioned some detail like being backstage later and it didnt play out?!?!?!
longest post ever......
and let the backlash begin....