By Susan
Let me preface this by saying that I?ve been fine with the Pearl Jam thing. I?ve had no gripes about Sleater-Kinney opening for them even though I?m not a PJ fan. I respect them, and I respect and love SK so I?ve been totally accepting of the tour.
Now I?m going to bitch.
The short version is the venue was disorganized and the prices were inflated.
This is the long version.
I was ecstatic to hear that SK was playing in my hometown. I never thought I would be able to see them without driving 4+ hours round trip. I wanted to represent in Birmingham so nothing was going to keep me from the show. I made a point the morning these tickets went on sale to call in that first hour to insure that I got a good seat in the huge venue, and I managed to get 20th row. Completely satisfied with this, I paid the $37 fee for the ticket and the $8 Ticketmaster rape fee. In my frame of comparison, this is an exorbitant amount, but whatever. For my favorite band at home, I would pay it.
About a week ago the venue changes to a smaller one outside of town and the seating goes from assigned to general admission. Aw hell, there goes my cushy seat on row 20. Ok then, I figure I?ll make it there early and fight my way to the front with the Pearl Jam fans.
The venue is outside and as dumb luck would have it, the tropical Alabama climate gets a cold snap and the temperature goes down to near freezing last night with a mist in the air. (Vedder commented that it was the second coldest show they had ever played.) Ok, this isn’t anyone’s fault, but I couldn’t help but think about the nice warm indoor venue the show was originally booked in.
Bundled up in the car, leaving my house 45 minutes before the show is scheduled to start, I?ve still got a good attitude. But then we get within a mile of the venue and traffic is at a stand still. This place has one road leading to it. Imagine thousands of cars trying to filter in through a single lane. As we creep closer to the venue, we hear SK start playing (we’ve been in traffic outside for 25 minutes at this point). THEN we see the parking lot which is unavailable because, get this, there’s a fucking carnival in it! There?s a damn mom and pop traveling carnival in the venue’s parking lot WITH reserved parking for carnival only. I’m pissed as hell at this point. Who’s bright idea was it to move a concert that is attracting 5,000+ people to a venue where the parking lot have been cut in half by a carnival?
The cars are being directed further and further down this road and told to park on the wide shoulders. My friend who is driving is a sweetheart and let me get out at this point to go ahead and get into the venue to try to see at least half of SK?s set. In total we were probably in traffic, directly outside the venue, for 45 minutes. Let me say here that the audience only filled about 2/3 of the venue. Parking should not have been this big of a hassle for a concert that was not even near capacity.
I bust ass to the gate where there are a grand total of 2 lines open to take tickets. As I wait in line for about 10 minutes, I can’t hear any of SK?s set because of the carnival playing their jock-jam music.
Finally, inside the venue, I catch 3 SK songs — Step Aside, Words and Guitar with an excellent extended outro that lead into Dig Me Out. The sound was excellent and the band was giving an incredible performance. I resigned myself to watching from the top of the 2nd tier. I didn’t want to miss any of their set by angling for a better spot.
When they finish, I find my friend and we see about trying to find a closer seat (he’s a big PJ fan). We walk to the front section to find out it’s restricted. What’s this? I thought this was a general admission event. Yes, kind of, except for the front third of the seating that is reserved for PJ fan club and VIP ticket holders. This pisses me off, because it means even if by a miracle I had been able to make it into the venue in time to SK, I wouldn’t have been able to get up close because of these restrictions which were mentioned no where on Tickerfucker’s site. Additionally, the (expensive) tickets I purchased had guaranteed me a seat close to the stage in the original venue.
A couple of more things:
The t-shirt prices were jacked up to $23…re-fucking-diculous.
We stayed through the entire PJ set and 2 encores, There was no mention of SK much less did they join the band onstage for any song, which was a hope I was clutching onto to make everything about that night alright.
I concede that the sound was very good and that the bands performed excellently. However, I hope Sleater-Kinney never puts their fans through this kind of mishandled super-event ever again. The high costs and venue disorganization ruined my experience.
Filed under: Reviews