So for any of you guys in NJ who happened to get a Platinum Package, what happened? Heard the show was spectacular, and very glad and looking forward to it!
Well..we went on a backstage tour at around 3:00 pm. We were divided into 2 groups of around 100 each, so you couldn't hear what the people who were showing us around were saying if you ended up in the back of the group. We saw the dressing rooms..peeked in Roger's, but no pics were allowed. (I'm sure someone got one, though.) The band wasn't there, btw.. After the 15-20 minute tour, we were led to the "Winner's Club." There we could buy merchandise at a 30% discount. Then we were given the tea and cookies we had been promised..;-) I was wanting a cold drink, but no luck. Shortly after we received our goodie bags, which consisted of the ROTC DVD (good, don't have to buy it), a promo tour CD (really cool!), a limited edition poster (awesome..only 650 made), the ROTC CD (had it already), and a signed program (always a great thing). The so-called "boxset" wasn't a box set. It was all of the stuff put into a silver lunchbox..(dvd didn't fit, though.) Yes, I said lunchbox. On the plus side, we did get a pack of stickers to put on our lunchboxes to make them look like something having to do the Q+PR tour... Hmmm... After that, we were allowed to wait in the bar area till we could get in the venue. Worth $600? Probably not... However, I got the VIP package solely for the purpose of guaranteeing a spot close to the stage. So, was it worth it to me? Yes. :-)
My lunchbox: link
(Why was there no Roger thermos?)
Oh...we did get funky, shiny laminates that made us feel important..at least for a few hours anyway. I scratched mine up at the show rockin' out..;-)
So from what i gather, the VIP Package deal was not too good.
I seem to get the impression that it was a rip off...true?
I saw some of the fans who came out after the first batch of folks went through. They came back out into the parking lot to rejoin the Tailgate Party and some of them had a rather glum look on there faces. They had the old stunned look that says "was that IT?". I'm sure this was'nt the case with everyone....but from what i have heard so far makes me think fans in general were not happy with the VIP Pack deals in general.
So i'll ask you all flat out...WAS it worth it? Was it worth it to pay what you did? Did you feel you recieved your "money's worth"? Did you feel cheated, or was it all well and fine?
I'd like to hear some feedback.
Deacons 1st Choice wrote: So i'll ask you all flat out...WAS it worth it? Was it worth it to pay what you did? Did you feel you recieved your "money's worth"? Did you feel cheated, or was it all well and fine?
I'd like to hear some feedback.
As far as what we received, no it wasn't worth it. I feel like, at the very least, they could have had some sort of cool party instead of just tea and cookies. I didn't really expect the band to turn up, but I WAS hoping for a surprise. We did pay a lot of money, after all.. The backstage thing could have been better. I thought we might have had the chance to walk on the stage. I guess they didn't want to be liable if someone fell off. There could have been a photo opp. with the Red Special, like at the UK convention one year...or SOME sort of other cool photo opp... It was slightly disappointing, however, I don't regret it. The ENTIRE reason I wanted to do the vip package was to ensure myself a decent seat. I know some people lucked out and got really good seats last minute, but I can't deal with that kind of stress..;-) This was really, really important to me, since there is no guarantee of a tour next year. I'd do it over again..
I am hoping for some sort of miracle. It sounds like it could have been alot better. The reason I got it was because we wanted to get good seats, same reason you did. I mean it does come with a lot of stuff, but when you think "backstage" you think "Oh meeting the band". Maybe they'll change it up a bit, probaly not but I'm still really looking forward to it, but I'm not complaining.
I think that the fact the Artist Arena used the term "meet and greet" raised fans hopes falsely that you may actually get to meet the band. Paul Rodgers manager was there but that was about as close are we were going to get.
The main thing that surprised me was that when eating our cookies was that they played Paul Rodgers songs for nearly 3 hours without playing any Queen. There were also numerous plasma TVs all over the place that they could have played vidoes or the new DVD on, but instead they showed sporting events. Eventually somebody gave them a Roger Taylor CD to play.
I enjoyed it. Seeing backstage was pretty neat although the tour was way to short and you could not hear the lady talking if you were near the back of the crowd. Seat location was great, right at the catwalk. Was it worth $600? Nope, but I don't regret it.
The "box set" is a joke. They could have at least got something made that said Queen + Paul Rodgers on it. The promo CD is neat and so is the signed program. The poster is nice also. We ended up sticking some of the stickers on one of our lunchboxes to make it look more Queen like.