Honeymooner

In my case, we got our merch bags shortly before they had us line up to go inside the gate, so I didn't want to take the time to run to my car. But our merchandise consisted only of what looks like a large bandana with the Endless Summer tour picture on it. It was wrapped inside a piece of construction paper to protect it. But it was very light. I had mine over my shoulder the whole time and didn't even notice it. The girl next to me had hers around her arm and was letting it dangle down in front of the barricade. You're not supposed to put anything down on what looks like little shelves on the front side (stage-facing) side of the barricade, but it's OK to let it hang over as long as you're holding onto it somehow. As far as holding onto the barricade goes, it depends on the situation. When Lana was on stage and not moving around toward the front of the stage too much, the pit was actually pretty calm. I didn't have to hold on to the barricade, but I was leaning on it with my forearms. That helped support my phone to take pictures and videos. But the minute she came farther forward, especially towards my side, the whole pit would shift and surge, and I would grab on to the barricade with one hand. I was also using my legs to help ground myself in place. Sometimes both legs and at least one arm was required. I'm tall enough that at times, I could reach around the front of the barricade and hold onto one of the support rails on the front side, but most of the time, I was just holding onto the top.

Unfortunately, no. I was just barely to the right of the stairs that Lana came down, which were facing to the our left (her right). When she came down, she went to our left, but then when she came back, she went back up the stairs. As she got to the top, she mouthed "I'll be back" to us on the right, but then never came back down. I didn't see this myself, but I heard from a coworker of mine who also went to the concert and had a regular seat (she saw this on the big screens) that security had to lift someone out of the front of the pit. I don't know if that person got totally squashed when Lana came down, or perhaps passed out or what, but that may have had something to do with why Lana went back up on stage. (Perhaps the security people told her to go back up? They may have also forbade her from going down again... I don't know.)

Personally, I don't think she felt unsafe; I think she was just making fun of the fact that there were a lot of gay people in the audience who are fans of Lana. As a straight male, I think I was somewhat in the minority.

@@buster There was actually more to it than that, but she just didn't remember me having told her about this stuff ahead of time, and I did mention it several times. Sometimes things just don't sink in. But I didn't let that bother me the day of the concert; my mind was all on the concert and nothing else. And yes, as you said, nothing can take that away from me. Definitely glad I went.

@@buster It did feel like a bit of a war zone! Thankfully, while I'm not a large guy, I'm tall (6'1"). The 2 annoying guys on either side of me were short, so I had the advantage there (but also had the disadvantage of having smelly-hair-guy's smelly hair right under my nose a lot ). Also glad I was wearing my jacket, since it gave me an extra layer of protection between my skin and the barricade, albeit a small one.

@ Are you in regular seating? Just curious how much the tickets were. Silver VIPs were $250 here. To me it was worth it to get early admission and be in the front row of the pit, although I most likely wouldn't do it again (it was quite the experience!!). I don't remember how much regular ticket prices were here.

Thanks @@buster! Wow, you are definitely a dedicated fan. My wife was also unhappy with me; she apparently didn't remember me saying I had wanted to go early and was annoyed that I was gone all day and wasn't going to be there to play piano with her group violin students in the morning. And she tends to clam up when she's upset at me, so it took a while to drag it out of her. We're fine now, but that's one more reason I probably wouldn't do it again. Happy wife, happy life...

Could be, I didn't see the pictures. Maybe it depends on the venue, and how much security there is (or isn't) around the entrances and whatnot. In our case, we could see where the tour buses and equipment trucks were, but it was fenced off from quite a distance and there was security all around, so there was no way people would've been able to get anywhere near Lana before or after the show.

Thanks to everyone who responded, especially @@buster! Thanks to you, I was well-prepared. Since the lots weren't open yet, I had to park almost a mile away and walk down a hill, so when the time came to take my chair, umbrella, and other extra stuff back to the car, it was a nice uphill trudge. But since I live close by, I drove home and dropped stuff off, then came back and was able to park in the regular lots. It's too bad no water bottles were allowed in the pit, 'cause I was pretty thirsty by the end. We got in the pit at 6:30 and didn't leave until after 11. When we were outside the pit, before we went in, they told us no bottles were allowed, and gave us cups to dump our bottles into. What a joke... like you'd even be able to HOLD a cup in the pit, let alone actually drink from it without spilling it all over yourself from all the jostling... LOL. I finished my water bottle before going in, but then that was it for 5 hours. But I didn't pass out, and no one else around me did, either. (I had heard stories from the group I was with that people had been passing out at the Shrine in LA, but that was an indoor venue and it was HOT. We were outdoors, and I was wearing a light jacket and was comfortable.) Now I know for next time, not that there will BE a next time...

Hope you guys at Hollywood Bowl enjoy the concert!! She was great here in Chula Vista (San Diego) last night. So there's no pit at the Bowl?

Thanks @@VelvetNight! (How many times have you changed your username now? LOL) I did manage to get some rest last night. For the record, smelly-hair guy wasn't the one yelling "Fuck me"; that was the guy on the other side of me. BTW, turns out that my friend had to leave because she had a kidney transplant several years ago and has to take transplant meds every day at 11 PM. Since she didn't have them with her, nor did she have any water in the pit, she had to leave to go take her meds. But at least she got to see most of the show. Another thing I forgot to mention: @ got a shout-out from Courtney Love! He had hoped to get center pit, but was way off to the left side. He had a sign meant for Lana that said he was missing his Prom AND his dad's graduation from SDSU to attend the concert. Apparently, Courtney saw the sign after she tossed a rose out to someone in that direction, and a person right next to him caught it. She then said something like "Don't be an asshole, give it to the guy who missed his prom and his dad's graduation!" So way to go, WCL.

That's a good point. Her shows are somewhat short compared to others. She could do a longer show and have an intermission, not that that would help the pit people... But yeah, Courtney Love's set was almost as long as Lana's, and Courtney was just the opening act! She could definitely stand to do more songs. (Maybe it's a marketing ploy by her label -- leave the fans wanting more so they'll come to the next concert!) If you have an assigned seat and there's no pit that you're trying to get into, then I wouldn't bother showing up early. Well, maybe early enough to avoid some of the parking crowd if you're driving, and if you want to see Courtney, since not everyone will be there to see her. I get the feeling that Lana is pretty much past the "meeting and greeting fans before/after the show" phase of her career. She used to do that when she played smaller venues, but as popular as she has become, she's playing larger venues now and seems to have greatly increased security. I think they try to keep her out of the public's view when she's not actually on stage. At least that's been my experience the last 2 times I saw her.

She did perform 5 songs from UV. I missed "Old Money" though; I wish she had performed that. Since "Florida Kilos" and "Flipside" are both bonus tracks, I doubt we'll ever see those live. FMWUTTT has probably been replaced by one of her unreleased songs. I don't know if PWYC or SG were ever performed live. But some things have to give to make room for the new stuff. She only performed one song from Paradise for this tour so far, which was "Cola." "Summertime Sadness" and "Video Games" are staple songs for her; I'm sure she'll always perform those, as well as "Born To Die." She may eventually dump "Blue Jeans" from the set list in favor of more unreleased stuff, or "Honeymoon" songs after that album comes out (for her next tour, of course, not this one).

Forgot to mention in my recount that I was surprised that she did NOT perform "Old Money." She only started including that song last October, so I was somewhat shocked that it doesn't seem to be in the set list for this tour.

I posted my recount of the concert in the "May 16 - Chula Vista" thread. I will say that I loved hearing Brooklyn Baby live.

I meant to take note of all the songs she sang, but wasn't able to due to the craziness in the pit. I do know she did NOT sing FMWUTTT. I'll admit, I don't know some of her older/unreleased material, so I can't confirm YCBTB. Not sure about UATW either, or if she went straignt from West Coast to Born To Die. There was a short pause before Born To Die, too. Also, she stopped West Coast about 30 seconds in due to sound balance problems, which is when she did an a cappella sound check (which was beautiful -- same one she did last year at Hollywood Forever, but I don't know what song it was; she didn't sing as much of it last night as she did at HF). It was kind of cool that she sat down to sing Chelsea Hotel. I suppose it goes with the more subdued nature of the song. She did NOT sing National Anthem, or (thank goodness) Carmen. No Body Electric, either, which was surprising, so Cola was the only representative from Paradise. Since some people asked, I'll post my personal account of the concert here: I arrived on-site at 8:45 AM. Parking lots were closed, so I parked almost a mile away and walked down the hill with my chair, umbrella, and backpack. I was in line right behind a group of people who had arrived at 8 AM (surprising that no one had arrived between them and me). Everyone was in the same line to start, regardless of the ticket type. I estimated that I was about #50 in line. We did not do the number thing, but the line was very calm and everyone was respectful about maintaining their places. They had portable bathrooms for us, too, although no handwashing station, so I was glad I brought hand wipes and sanitizer. Thanks to @@buster for the tips on what to do, so I had plenty of food and water with me, and the chair was an excellent idea. We were told later that sometime around 2-3 PM, Natalie from VIP Nation (part of LiveNation) would come around to separate out the VIP people from the regular ticket holders. The group I was hanging out with had one Silver VIP ticket holder among them. I had also sold one of my extra VIP tickets to someone else, who arrived around noon or so. Around 3 PM, Natalie came by to find the Silver VIP ticket holders. After confirming our IDs, she gave us all yellow numbered wristbands. She said we would be lining up at a separate location at 5 PM to go in at 5:30. At that point, we no longer needed to stand in the regular line and were basically free to leave or whatever we wanted to do, as long as we were back by 5. The girl who bought my extra ticket had also parked up the hill like me, so she and I walked back to our cars. She went to a store to buy some things, and I ran home (I live close by) to drop off my extra food and my chair/umbrella. I got back to the theater around 4:15. By then, the parking lots were open. I parked and found where the VIP crowd was, and found my other two silver VIP friends and hung out with them. Another friend of mine had agreed to buy my other extra VIP ticket (last-minute extra since my wife opted not to go to the show), and arrived around 4:45 and got in line with us. We were ID-checked again and led inside the gates at about 5:30 or so. We then had to wait inside for security to tell us to proceed. Another 30 minutes, and then we were led to the entrance to the pit, where we waited again for another 30 minutes or so. At about 6:30, we were finally allowed into the pit, and we scrambled for good spots. I managed front-row pit! I was just to the right of the stair platform. The original schedule had Courtney Love coming on at 7:30, and Lana at 8:45. That got pushed back about 45 minutes or so; Courtney was scheduled for 8:15 (she came on closer to 8:30), and Lana at 9:30 (she came out at about 9:45). Courtney was fun, though I don't know any of her music and it was hard to understand the words. She did a good cover of Stevie Nicks' "Gold Dust Woman." In the pit, there was an annoying guy behind/next to me. He was basically behind me and the girl to my left, but he had a hand on the barricade. He kept trying to push his way up to the barricade, and at one point during Courtney's performance, had somehow managed to get up there and push ME back. After Courtney was done, though, I muscled my way back up to the front and held on for dear life. We held our positions waiting for Lana to come out, which she finally did. Every time Lana even got *near* our side of the stage, I could feel the pit crowd surge forward. It was like being moved by current in the water; sometimes I felt like I was going to be picked up and moved. I had to hold onto the barricade and really hold my ground to avoid being pushed back. The annoying guy I mentioned also had smelly hair, which didn't help every time his head got in my face. My one friend that bought my 2nd extra ticket had to leave about 2/3 of the way through Lana's set, another annoying guy that was behind her got her spot. (He was annoying because he kept yelling "Lana, fuck me!" and "Lana, take me backstage!" He was yelling the same thing to Courtney, too.) But it was all good. The concert itself was fabulous. As I mentioned, I was just to the right (stage left) of the stairs. Unfotunately, when Lana came down off the stage, she started going to the left (her right), and when she came back, she stopped 3 people down from me. When she went back up the stairs, she said she'd be back, but she didn't come back down again, so I didn't get my selfie. I also was unable to personally hand her the CD some friends of mine and I had made for her, so I gave it to one of the security guys at the end, who put it on the stage with some other stuff people had given them for her. Other than that, the concert was really good. I liked the covers she performed, and the fact that she sang some previuosly unreleased songs. Courtney Love was fun, too. I'm glad I got to experience the whole arriving early and getting into the pit thing, but would I do it again? No. Not even for Lana. Once was definitely enough. My lower back is not the best, and by the time it was over, it was *really* sore from standing so much. My feet were hurting, too, and my chest/abs were hurting from being pushed up against the barricade so much. It was worth the discomfort one, but I wouldn't do it again. Hopefully, I'll have an opportunity to meet Lana someday, but time will tell.

Did you mean it's pointless to be there early if you *don't* have silver, or if you *do* have silver? It seems to me like if you don't have Silver, you'd want to be there that much earlier to beat the rest of the regular crowd.

Thanks, @@buster, I appreciate the tips!! I wasn't sure I'd be able to park at the venue itself that early; that's why I was thinking of parking far away. But if I can park at the venue, so much the better. The ice chest is a great idea. I'll try to remember to bring a Sharpie along... LOL. And I definitely plan to have plenty of water on hand. Curious, when you mentioned people lining up at 9 or 10 PM the night before and camping out, did you mean for VIP, or regular entry?

Hi all, I'm going to the May 16 concert (tomorrow!!) at Sleep Train Amphitheater. I have the Silver VIP package. Despite being an old guy, I've never done the whole bit where you wait outside for hours and hours to secure a good spot. This is the first time I've gone to a concert where I had a pit ticket, vs. having an assigned seat (except for Hollywood Forever, since there are no seats there). So, I'm looking for a bit of advice from people who HAVE done this before. For example: Presumably, you take food and water to keep you going throughout the day. But what do you do about bathroom breaks? Assuming they have facilities nearby, of course, do you just make friends with people in line and ask them to hold your spot, or...? Or do you just hold it all day?? LOL... As I said, I'm a newb at this. Also, how early have some of you arrived for your VIP packages? I got an e-mail from LiveNation the other day saying check-in at the VIP table starts at 5 PM. Early admission starts at 5:30; general admission at 6, Courtney Love comes on at 7:30, and Lana at 8:45. So presumably, I'll be waiting in line by the VIP table, assuming it's set up when I get there. I was thinking of going down at about 8 AM to see what it's like. I live fairly close to the venue, but it still takes about 15-20 minutes to drive there. I was figuring on parking somewhere away from the venue and then just walking down. I don't mind walking a mile or so. Any thoughts? Suggestions? One person I talked to the other day suggested something like a Camelback for water. I have one that I use for bike riding, so I'll fill it up and have it on me. Other than that... no clue. Thanks!

When is your show? The e-mail I got from LiveNation when I purchased my tickets said I would receive an e-mail with check-in location and other information 3-5 days before the concert. I'm going May 16, so I haven't received anything yet, since it's still 2 weeks away. But if I don't hear anything by the 13th, then I'll contact them.

I like both songs, but I like "Big Eyes" better. To answer your question, though, both my wife and I really liked the movie. It was very well done (who'd expect anything less from Tim Burton? ). And I now have a newfound love for Amy Adams. It's funny, too -- we saw Big Eyes, and then a couple of nights later, we watched the "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," and... Amy Adams again!

Anyone seen "Big Eyes?" I wasn't surprised to only hear a snippet of the title track during the film. The one thing that surprised me, though, was how they used "I Can Fly" at the end. I was expecting to hear some other song at the beginning of the end credits, and then they'd eventually transition into "I Can Fly" and play the whole thing through, especially since there are sound effects with kids running around at the end of the song. NOPE! Instead, they played "I Can Fly" first, but only about 2 minutes of it, and then launched into another song. That was disappointing to me. Just wondering if anyone else felt similarly.

You're all gonna think I'm crazy, but I really hate it when, during live performances of "Born To Die," she changes "Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain" to "Let me f*** you hard in the pouring rain." To me, that's her worst lyric.

Since no one has done this one yet... Once Upon a Dream 1 - I Know You 2 - That Look In Your Eyes 3 - Familiar 4 - I Know It's True 5 - Visions 6 - At Once 7 - Walked With You Once 8 - What You'll Do 9 - Love Me 10 - The Way You Did 11 - A Dream

One thing I didn't get, though: It sounded like he said something about her performing "for the first time" in the U.S. What was that all about?