^^ Did you not read about the experiences that were happening in North America. Buddy a lot of us got the same thing but you don't see a bunch of us pissing and moaning about it. Ya orginally it was going to be different but that was before they realized shitloads of people were donating. You guys should have paid attention to us when we posted about the m/gs. Seriously you people are making europeans look like a bunch of whiney assholes. This isn't some big surprise.

^ But the thing is, you weren't paying for the VIP package. It was a donation to Eric's cause, and meeting the band just so happened to be a privilege that came along with it. The NIN camp didn't have to give anyone anything.

I donated because of the cause it was going for, a true cause. This touched me as I have personally been in this situation before. My only issues was the fact on the day we where told different things to what was going on. If it was just going to be a donation then let it - I still would of donated.

tinners2000 posted:

I donated because of the cause it was going for, a true cause. This touched me as I have personally been in this situation before. My only issues was the fact on the day we where told different things to what was going on. If it was just going to be a donation then let it - I still would of donated.

But if you had paid any attention to what people were saying about the m/gs in North America you would have realized this is how it was going. We were all told one thing and it was different due to the amount of people. Why is it hard for you to accept that? You can have your opinion but your bitching about something that was well known in advance if you cared to read about how they were going. Your making it seem like your m/g was the only one that went down that way when it wasn't. That is what I'm saying man...it is silly for you to complain.

Edit: Almost forgot to add you guys had Gary fucking Numan at your show so shoosh.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2009 07:48PM by Calderon08.

And it's not like these staff were hired to look after/organise the VIP thing. Their priority is to put on a show, to make sure people are in the right places and equipment is set up properly - for the show. This is just an extra thing they've had to fit around their schedule because their boss has asked them to at the last minute, and in that situation nothing is a guarantee. People say stuff that they think they can fit in, but then there ends up not being enough time for it. Have you never planned to do something, then had to drop it because something else overran? That's just how it goes.

Calderon08 posted:

^^ Did you not read about the experiences that were happening in North America. Buddy a lot of us got the same thing but you don't see a bunch of us pissing and moaning about it. Ya orginally it was going to be different but that was before they realized shitloads of people were donating. You guys should have paid attention to us when we posted about the m/gs. Seriously you people are making europeans look like a bunch of whiney assholes. This isn't some big surprise.

I would accept your point,but there where only around fourty or fifty of us there,not hundreds or thousands.Also it was as he says the being told one thing then it not happening.Yes getting to meet them and get stuff signed was cool,I had a massive smile on my face even though Id done it before(for free).And even though people keep saying you never bought a V.I.P package you donated to a good cause lets be honest how many people would have just sent in $300.Im guessing nowhere near as many.So lets not pretend it was all about the charity,it was for the package on offer,thats why they created it,thats why so many people donated.It helped someone in need and you got an amazing one off experience,great.Yes things happen,plans change,but it was the being told one thing and another happening two minutes later that annoyed people,if they had told us straight we woudnt be complaining.Plus the no soundcheck happened at both UK shows I believe.That said,you cant fault the gig itself.Amazing performance as usual.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2009 06:36AM by damnation9.

lynnybobs posted:

I got to go to the Manchester M&G ($300) thanks to a very generous donor who offered me a place as their +1. I didn't mind waiting around at all since I was at the venue from 9am anyway. It was a very cool and surreal experience, I only wish I brought something better to sign than a couple of CD booklets. I made the most of the opportunity by hugging Robin though

ahhh I remember, you were just in front of me and asked him for a hug? Nice one.

^ Did you ask for the hug during the M&G, or photos?
'Cause I really want to ask for a hug, but I don't wanna do it at the wrong time >.>

FreeFallin posted:

^ Did you ask for the hug during the M&G, or photos?
'Cause I really want to ask for a hug, but I don't wanna do it at the wrong time >.>

It was just during the M&G .

Looks like there is a lot of cosy reading to be done in here. :9
-------------
ComaViridis and I did the 300 thing in Düsseldorf on June 29. Below are the pics I took. Click them for bigger versions - plus descriptions of what was (possibly) said (between my passed-out body and the guys).




I'll copypaste my RELATIVELY long-ass conversation with the main man in here. Hem hem:

Rat: "O HAI! Thanks for coming!" (AND THANKS FOR 32492093583 OTHER THINGS I WOULD MENTION HAD I NOT BEEN A SOCIAL 'TARD! WITH LIMITED TIME! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!)
Trent: "Hi." *handshake* (Or whatever he said... The moment just happened to be photographically documented by enf2k5!)
Rat: *presents the presence page of year zero's cd booklet*
Trent: *signs*
Rat: "It's for my friend, she couldn't be here because she has a life..." (She probably would have been there if Düsseldorf had been announced before Arvika, where my busy busy friend ended up going and where no meet & greet was held!)
Trent: "A what?"
Rat: "A life."
Trent: "Oh, I thought you said she has an iPhone." (This would of course cut into one's gig budget... *shudder* I'd never let an iPhone do that shit to me!)
Rat: "Heh. Thank you, can I take a picture?"
Any poor fuck to whom the above question was ever posed: *cannot decline*
Camera flash: *blinds*
Rat: "Cool. Kthxbai!" *runs like hell*
Trent (to someone): "Rob made that shirt." (I was wearing Rob Sheridan's "Reading is for faggots!" T-shirt.)
Rat: *splodes and turns back to where trent is telling justin the shirt's history* "I wasn't sure you'd remember them."
Trent: "Yeah, I remember them."

...

Before the meeting I explicitly ordered myself to:

1. Memorize the handshake.
Result: FAIL! At least I know it happened. XD

2. Look him in the eyes. Eye contact is generally not my cuppa, since it feels like standing in front of an approaching train. However, I would be happy to let Trent run me over and maul me against the track until my guts flew in every direction. Wait, wat? Anyway - special eye contact with special people is special.
Result: No idea! 8D *SELFSPANK* So obviously I had to spend 5 WHOLE GIGS staring creepily at him. (Aight, not the entire time.)

Siggies:

Group shot with some more reportin:

snaapz posted:

I consider the last 20 years to be a VIP experience ... so .. it went great.

THOSE TOO!
...
K, I only found them 2 years ago. 2 years then. FML I'm one of the supermegaspoiled n00bs!
2 years today since I read the interview that got the great ninball rolling...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2009 02:14PM by ratexla.

My experience of the $300 donation at Singapore:

Background: I had arranged to attend the shows, and the $300 soundcheck + M&G for Singapore and Taipei shows, flying out from Australia for these. When in Singapore I learnt of the cancelled Taipei show (most sad experience I’ve had at an internet café :-( ). So I ended up just seeing them at the Singapore show (but still, can’t complain! What a treat).

Pre-show: From the start I was torn because I will so anything for rail position, but yet meeting the band may have meant that that wouldn’t be possible. Of course, meeting the band was more important so that was the priority, but I still wanted both (greedy greedy!). My understanding from the initial thing TR wrote was that donors would get in after people with nin.com presale tickets but before the general public. As there was no nin.com presale at this show (but the production companies version of “priority entry”) I held out some hope that we may get in before everyone else, or at least before the people without “priority entry” tickets. I came along to the venue at 11am with my “priority entry” ticket, and had my fingers crossed. However, I was later to find that I should have arrived at 6pm as we were to get into the venue last. The reason for this was that there was no soundcheck, and as a result the band was not at the venue until later than usual (when everyone was already in the venue). It wasn’t a total loss though as the crowd was pretty relaxed and I was able to squeeze into 2nd row :-)

For the first couple of hours there wasn’t many people in line. The Fort Canning Park (where show was) was also open to public, so I was able to walk through, see them setting up the stage etc. I also spotted a few NIN crew (JT, and another guy who was very nice), and saw the lights guy testing things out. I really enjoyed seeing this behind-the-scenes stuff, which usually is not possible to see.

Venue, from outside the gate
Stage being set up
view from the green, looking up towards building

At about 12pm they stopped letting us walk through the park, and got us into more of a line. I must say, sitting in line was quite enjoyable due in large part to the awesome people there. Some of these people I met the night before (as arranged in the Singapore upcoming show thread), and many came from different countries to see NIN.

Soundcheck: As said, there was no soundcheck :-( . We did hear a soundcheck of I’m Afraid of Americans (without vocals), and as the band wasn’t there we are assuming the crew were doing that.

Meet and greet: Jerome came over to check our names of the list, and get us to wait in a certain area before escorting us in (when band arrived). Here we are waiting (with Shruti missing as she was behind the camera. Thanks to Shruti and Casey for the pic).
The donors waiting for the meet and greet

We were walked up the stairs to meet NIN in the building. There were 12 $300 donors and 4 $1000 donors. We were told the $300 donors would go in first, in 2 groups of 6, followed by the last 4. I was in the first group and found myself being first (which I later regretted…as you’ll see why). We were walked into a smallish room where a couple of crew were eating, and turned right into a very small room. The four of them were standing, and looked at us as we entered. I was really happy that it wasn’t the ‘production line’ type approach with them at tables, but also found this incredibly daunting as there was a good 5-10 seconds where no one else was in the room except me and I was overwhelmed, wanting to speak to everyone and unable to think clearly about what to do. I encountered Justin first as he was closest to the door. When I saw Trent standing there unoccupied, looking towards me, I think I rushed through Justin and jumped straight to him. I later regretted this as I realized I didn’t really talk much with Justin at all, apart from a quick introduction, handshake, signing, and thank-you. When I went towards Trent he introduced himself (which is funny, as if we didn’t know who he is!), and shook my hand. I was really struck by the feel of the handshake (strong and slightly rough (manly) hands), and his muscular physique. Because of the small room it felt like we were all very close :-) Conversation went something like this (with me stumbling over my words): “Hi Trent…nice to meet you… I saw you earlier this year when you were in Australia, when you were just starting out as the four of you” (At this point I am regretting not having a pre-planned conversation!) “ohh…(seems to be a bit confused, thinking, then seems to understand what I’m saying) yeah”. “Yeah, there seems to be a few Australians who have made the trip to see you guys today.” “ohh yeah…is it a long flight?” “Ahh, because I’m on the east coast it’s a little further. Maybe about 9hrs or so. (pause..Trent signing). I had also been planning to see you in Taipei...unfortunate it's cancelled.” “Yeah, that was a pity, I was really looking forward to seeing Taipei” (strong urge to ask “what happened?? Why was it cancelled?” but didn’t). He hands back the signed photo. “Thanks, I do hope that we see you back in Australia sometime, in some form or another” “ahh, well I’ll be starting work on some new projects pretty soon…” (Reading this over, it sounds like Trent is a bit grumpy or disinterested, but that was not the case. He seemed very tired (as did all the band members), and despite this was very polite and genuine. I felt like it was a bit of a strange situation, as we are essentially strangers having a conversation and there really isn’t any time to build rapport etc as would occur in normal social interactions.)

Another donor then started chatting with Trent and I felt it was my time to move on, however everyone else seemed deep in conversation so I stayed where I was for a little while (though feeling I was encroaching on the donors time with Trent). Ilan then finished a conversation and I went up and said hi, shook his hand and got him to sign a photo. I said something like “Hey Ilan, I saw you earlier this year, you’re really great. A great addition to the band” “ohh…thanks”. He was pretty quiet, but polite. As I was saying my comment I started feeling silly as he really isn’t an “addition” to the band anymore, he has been touring with the band for so long now. Then I moved onto Robin who was very nice, but it struck me how tired he looked, and I couldn’t help but mention it. He was really nice, signed my photo and I mentioned how much I love the shot (one of Rob’s) and how photogenic he is. Justin meandered over at this stage, looked at the photo and agreed that it was a great shot. I then said to Justin that he too is very photogenic, and Rob has taken some great shots of him too. (At this point I’m kicking myself…complimenting them on how photogenic they are, and not their musical skills, really..WTF!)

Brett started lining people on the wall to get photos taken. I was standing close to Ilan and felt I was meant to stand next to Robin and Ilan (as there was a gap there), but really wanted to stand next to Trent. I said something silly like “ohh, is it okay if I stand over here…I bet everyone asks that he he”, TR: “yeah, everyone always wants to stand next to Robin”, all share a bit of a laugh.

We are then escorted out and the next 2 groups go in. While standing in the hall, the group discusses their experiences, and I am thinking how idiotic I must have come across, I check my photo and am horrified to see the dorky expression I have going on! For your viewing pleasure…

Do I win the award for the goofiest photo with NIN?

We then join the rest of the crowd for the show, which was a really good show though a bit of strange crowd. The crowd was into it, but didn’t seem to unify as I have seen at past shows in Australia (where it seems that everyone is in sync, and the experience is intense and I hate to sound like a hippy but almost transcendent). Ohh, and after the show I got Trent’s pic, which was an added bonus! Will look great framed with my signed photos
Autographed photos, and Trent's pick

Wow…I do tend to write in great detail huh! I know how much I enjoyed reading everyone else's experiences, and I really liked all the details so I didn't want to deprive others of the same :-)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 03:37AM by yvonne_1980.

Just a question to all fellow people that donated. Have any of you received your receipts yet? I have yet to receive mine. Just wondering if there is a delay, or maybe they haven't been sent out yet?

FreeFallin posted:

The photo of your autographed pictures and the pick isn't showing up, though. Sad panda.

^ Fixed.


But Ironic as none of your photos are showing up!! ;-0

Thanks for sharing the stories everyone - great stuff! I don't think it would be something for me though - I've always been too chicken to go backstage and stuff like that.

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to know, did someone get the 300$ group photo that was taken in Paris on the 7th july ?


thanks