Has anyone done Platinum VIP yet?

I got to bring them my wine, I was so excited!! Jake let me bring them in with no problem, I even gave him a bottle. They guys really seemed to appreciate them and that made me feel great. They even posed for a picture with me and my guitar and they were all holding a bottle. My daughter also gave Barry a TAPS (From Ghosthunters) knapsack and he was so touched by this. He gave each of us a stick at the end of the show. What a night...
Check out this pic of Barry I took...
[url]http://bit.ly/amE8pr[/url]

rock music is the shit sooooooooo of course thats where youre saying is from =)

Hehehe you're right! My motto is "I never grow up, i never grow old, blame it on the love of rock'n roll! :D It's part of a Bon Jovi song! and for me it's so true ;)

growing up is overrated! never gotta happen.... in my family we always say "ya gotta grow old, but growin up is optional" cuz everyone is just a bunch of overgrown kids lol

Thanks for all of the info, we really appreciate it. I paid for VIP parking so I wouldn't have to walk to far to my car. I'm getting so excited!! I feel like a little kid again!! I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP...

Thanks for all of the info, we really appreciate it. I paid for VIP parking so I wouldn't have to walk to far to my car. I'm getting so excited!! I feel like a little kid again!! I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP...

I think it will depend on your venue. At Merriweather Post Pavillion where my show was, I would have had to cross through a lot of woods to get back to where our car was. I doubt I would have had time to go back to our car to get anything before the M&G. It also depends on whether or not your venue will let you in to meet Jake, let you back out and then come back in. They told us that we couldn't get re-entry for anything like that. If we wanted to take our guitars to our cars, they were going to have security specially escort us out and back for that purpose only. But if you can find Jake well before your designated meet time, it may be a possibility. We found him about 40 minutes before the Artist Arena e-mail told us to be there.

As far as how much we missed - we missed all of 10 Years and the first few songs of Sevendust because we stuck around to do the extra signings/pictures with the guitars. We probably had about 25-30 people in our meet & greet group total with 3 platinum VIPs. The gold VIPs got out probably about 15-20 minutes before us.

Yeah, same thing here. I want to see if I can talk to Jake when he collects the people going in for early entry and see if I can bribe him with a bottle!! My friend thats coming with his young daughter said he can't be there all day with a little one so he will probably meet us at the meet & greet. This way he can leave early if he has to also.

We were thinking 3ish, no later than 3:30. What about you guys?

No Abby, you can have whichever one you guys want.

What time are you guys getting there?

ONE MORE WEEK!!!

Thanks for the reply! And its nice to see that Jake is cool about holding on to them. I think that's probably the best option. And it's cool that they had both silver and blue, as I know we'd love the blue. Dave do you have a preference for your color?

Thank you so much for the info, I really appreciate it. Too bad no one else posted this before you went!! I wanted to try to bring the guys some of my Shinedown wine I made, do you think there is enough time between first seeing Jake and getting permission to get them from my car, and then going to the meet and greet? Also how much of the show did you miss?
Thanks again,
Dave

Ok, so I had platinum VIP tonight at the Columbia, MD show. Since I started this post, I thought I would answer my own question. For anyone who is wondering about the Meet & Greet and the guitars....

When it was time for the Meet & Greet, Jake gathered everyone together and checked off our names. For those of us that got guitars, he told us to hang around off to the side after the general M&G and we would get the guitars then, have them signed, take pictures, etc. We went down to the "artist lounge" and all stood in one line. Zach & Barry started at one end of the line and worked their way down signing autographs while Eric & Brent started at the other end of the line. We were not allowed to take any pictures at that time. They signed as many items as we put in front of them. I got a CD, the poster they gave us & the Guitar Edge magazine with Zach on the cover all signed. When they were done signing, the guys all stood in front of a SD backdrop and everyone in line got pictures taken with them. Jake took the pictures with our own cameras. When the Gold VIPs left, the three Platinum VIPs hung around to get our guitars. In my case, they just brought three guitars down to the area. There were two silverburst & one blue. I got the blue one which is the one I really wanted so I lucked out there. Then the guys signed the guitars and we got to have our pictures taken again with them, this time holding the guitars. After that was over, security escorted us back to the general concert area. Jake told us that either we could take the guitars back to our cars OR he would hold onto them until after the show for us. I don't think keeping them at our seats was an option. All of us opted to have him hold them because we were all worried that they wouldn't be there when we went back to ours cars. After the show, we met Jake in the designated spot and picked up our guitars and went on our way. The guitars do come with soft case and are really cool! Hope this helps some people with questions!

Oh thats funny...she doesn't have a say in the matter, I'm paying for the tickets!!! She's just happy to see 5 bands (at least she thought she was going to see 5!) that she really likes.

Well if we're each allowed 1 thing, then you can have both the guitar and the wine label if your daughter doesn't mind.

Well thats good to know what to expect, we can always go to the car between the bands. I'm more worried about someone seeing me put it in my Jeep and have them break in and steal it :(

Does this also mean that that will be our 1 thing to get autographed? I hope not, I want my Shinedown Wine Label signed. lol

Thanks for the info Abby...

Ok, I got a reply really quickly. At least for the holmdel show, we WILL be given our guitars AT the show, and we're going to be allowed to run out to our cars to put them in there after the meet and greet. That's great and all in terms of not having to worry about the guitar during the show, but will the person running out to the car have to miss that much more of the show? I hope that's not too much of a hassle, but they at least have a plan in place.

I emailed artistarena about the guitar issue. I will see if they get back to me at all.

[quote="hmh125"][quote="inked_4_life"]I really want to find out what is going on too! I have heard that the meet and greet conflicts with the starting of the opening band performances, so I am really hoping that they will just give it to us after the concert or ship it to us because I want to be as close as possible to the stage. I have called and left a message with the venue, but I am kind of expecting them to not know.[/quote]

my M&G did conflict with opening bands. I missed all of 10 years performance. I was fortunately able to push my way to the front during the chevelle show and was able to get on the rail for shinedown so i wasnt upset, but if i hadn't made it to the rail, that would be a different story! and fyi my venue staff knew nothing! it was a nightmare, we walked around the whole venue twice b4 someone with shinedown told us what we were supposed to do for the M&G![/quote]

we second on that comment

[quote="inked_4_life"]I really want to find out what is going on too! I have heard that the meet and greet conflicts with the starting of the opening band performances, so I am really hoping that they will just give it to us after the concert or ship it to us because I want to be as close as possible to the stage. I have called and left a message with the venue, but I am kind of expecting them to not know.[/quote]

yep, we had the gold in south carolina. missed 10 years and chevelle

Haha, I realized that after I already typed it. Only problem is the only SD song I can play with any confidence is Simple Man.

[quote="aromaine"] Hmm, wth am I supposed to do with a guitar at a concert?[/quote]
you could always offer to get on stage

Dueling would be fun but you will have teach me how to play!!
I thought about locking it in my Jeep but not to sure how safe it would be there!! I think Zach should just hand them to us at the end of the show.

Hey Dave...we can duel with our guitars! Maybe we can ask Jake to keep them somewhere special? There's gotta be some plan in place.

[quote="shinedownjunkie45"]yeah that is definately a good question to ask it would only be fair for us who purchase vip tix to be in a better position.[/quote] Is there anyone we could ask about this before our concert comes to town? Come on we buy VIP tickets for the greatest rock show out there and pay a premium price. While the regular guy or gal pays what $39.95 for their ticket and gets our front row well not seats but places to stand? Can anyone ask this please? Afterall we are the Nation?

Me too Abby, guess it's a good thing we are up front so we can lean them on the rail. Now we won't have to use that air guitar at the show, we will have the real thing!!

I just got my email for Holmdel VIP. It states that once I get there, I will get my laminate and my guitar. That sounds like I will have the guitar at the concert. Hmm, wth am I supposed to do with a guitar at a concert?

yeah that is definately a good question to ask it would only be fair for us who purchase vip tix to be in a better position.

[quote="shinedownjunkie45"]that's true too, never been to this venue but i would think that perhaps they would be arguing that if you have vip status why aren't you in a better position. so i'm not sure if that would be a great idea in the end. lol.[/quote] I ran into the same situation last summer with a meetngreet with Nickelback. After missing all of Saving Abel's show and almost all of Papa Roach but the time we made it back to the stage all of the General Admission ticket people had taken all of our spots. Now? My Q? When we purchase these special tickets and pay a hefty price for them why do we get put in a general admission spot? Dont you think they would have the VIP's closer to the stage than plain general admission tickets? :?

[quote="hmh125"]i went to VIP in s.c. they give you the VIP laminate and the lithograph, everything else is mailed to you. if you have any more questions let me know :)[/quote]

that's true too, never been to this venue but i would think that perhaps they would be arguing that if you have vip status why aren't you in a better position. so i'm not sure if that would be a great idea in the end. lol.

Yea I dont think holding up your VIP card is going to do you any good,it actually might make it harder for you. Pretty much anyone in GA will take offence to your VIP status.

Lol, the laminate like a badge is kind of a good idea, but it wouldn't do anything here. People here are vicious when it comes to GA tickets. At a concert I attended, I left the floor to go to get drinks and my nephew stayed on the floor with my friends. Well, I was telling people my nephew is right there waiting for me and I would point to him and he would be waving to let them see, and they were like, why is he up there and u are back here? I would show them my drinks and they were like giving me dirty looks.

[quote="hmh125"][quote="inked_4_life"]I really want to find out what is going on too! I have heard that the meet and greet conflicts with the starting of the opening band performances, so I am really hoping that they will just give it to us after the concert or ship it to us because I want to be as close as possible to the stage. I have called and left a message with the venue, but I am kind of expecting them to not know.[/quote]

my M&G did conflict with opening bands. I missed all of 10 years performance. I was fortunately able to push my way to the front during the chevelle show and was able to get on the rail for shinedown so i wasnt upset, but if i hadn't made it to the rail, that would be a different story! and fyi my venue staff knew nothing! it was a nightmare, we walked around the whole venue twice b4 someone with shinedown told us what we were supposed to do for the M&G![/quote]

How hard was it for you to get up to the front? I've thought about just holding up my VIP laminate and seeing how many people would just let me through, lol

by vip i am assuming that you did the platinum? and if they are really mailing the guitars to us, then i know what i will be doing when i get there. please say that they will be mailing the guitars to us.

[quote="inked_4_life"]I really want to find out what is going on too! I have heard that the meet and greet conflicts with the starting of the opening band performances, so I am really hoping that they will just give it to us after the concert or ship it to us because I want to be as close as possible to the stage. I have called and left a message with the venue, but I am kind of expecting them to not know.[/quote]

my M&G did conflict with opening bands. I missed all of 10 years performance. I was fortunately able to push my way to the front during the chevelle show and was able to get on the rail for shinedown so i wasnt upset, but if i hadn't made it to the rail, that would be a different story! and fyi my venue staff knew nothing! it was a nightmare, we walked around the whole venue twice b4 someone with shinedown told us what we were supposed to do for the M&G!

i went to VIP in s.c. they give you the VIP laminate and the lithograph, everything else is mailed to you. if you have any more questions let me know :)

I can't believe no one on this forum went to VIP yet to let us know!!

I really want to find out what is going on too! I have heard that the meet and greet conflicts with the starting of the opening band performances, so I am really hoping that they will just give it to us after the concert or ship it to us because I want to be as close as possible to the stage. I have called and left a message with the venue, but I am kind of expecting them to not know.