I don't have time to post a full review right now, but since somebody brought up the surprising ease of getting to the stage, let me comment. (Forgive any poor grammar, spelling, etc. - I'm tired & hurrying.)
I have never been to a show with security like this.
The aisles had no guards whatsoever. The guards stood chatting with one another on the sides the entire time.
Anybody on the floor could come go up to the stage & take pics - in fact, when asked, guards took pics of anybody and everybody who wanted. Cameras were out in the open, & the guards looked delighted to help.
We got there early & took our seats right by Stevie's microphone. When a very large group of VIPs arrived at around 7:30, they stood in front of us & told us to come stand behind them. They were nice, but obviously those of us in the front row found this set-up strange & infuriating. Especially us, because we'd been sitting the whole time so that anybody could take pics at the stage without our blocking the view. In a blink, people from the rows behind us jumped in front as well. I was stunned - every time I've been in the front row, we had to wait for the guards to cue us when the lights went down before we could stand at the stage.
When the guy next to us had a fit that people were in front of the first row, I went over to security & asked why people were already allowed in front of the people in the front row. Guards told me - I am not making this up - that anybody in the first
26 rows (!!!) could go to the stage at any time - even 40 minutes before the band came out. They said it was first-come, first-serve, and policy is policy. (That's what I heard from security - concert-goers around me told me they heard it would be the first 12 rows or the first 20 rows.)
I returned, & my friend & I actually squeezed into a great spot at the stage (the VIP people were sympathetic), but otherwise I would have been pretty mad.
The absence of security enforcement was problematic. I know it is a Ledge tradition to complain about guards being too strict, but this was the other extreme.
A few songs in, one large, drunk woman shoved everybody out of the way - I mean SHOVED! - and screamed that she paid 300 bucks & wanted to be at the stage, & nobody was going to stop her. She made it all the way up (through many, many people) until she tried to shove me, and I wouldn't move - so she made it up to one person from the stage (me), just by hitting & shoving everybody else in front of her. (I guess she felt more comfortable fighting with women, because she backed down off of me pretty quickly.) She was screaming & dancing around when there was no room for that. Meanwhile, for the duration of two songs, she continued to fight with some of the VIP women around me (& constantly groped me pretty aggressively, rubbing my hair, back, thigh, rear end - not funny), screaming and arguing with the women behind me that she would kick their asses outside, and that she bet they couldn't name the song ("Tusk" that was playing). Then she suddenly left for the bathroom & never came back.
Later, a woman shoved through everybody & told me to squat down so she could jump on my back & get up on stage. I was so deaf from the music & screaming fans, I had to get the people behind me to translate. Later, the woman again shoved through & tried to force me down.
One strange woman from the VIP group literally jumped up on my shoulders a few minutes before the show started - I don't mean she sat there, but while I was talking with someone else, she sprang up from behind like I was a pommel horse - and I have a bad back. What the hell.
Most of the people around me were very nice, but there are always nutjobs at shows. In this set-up they were completely unfettered.
If anybody thinks I'm being overly sensitive about a few enthusiastic concert-goers, let me say that I've been at shows before where the constant shoving & jockeying for positions made things unpleasant. This was different - this was people throwing other people out of their way because they could, jumping on strangers, etc., & it was not cool.
Oh, the show was great; more on that later.
- Jake