I saw musicology tour at 5 different cities and had front row at each but one. Where I had second row, but then the usher lady let me walk up to the front

Closest I've been was on the 17th September @ Indigo2. We were centre stage on the floor no more than 6ft. away from the little man and his Mic. stand. We met two women there, one of which was tiny (and a funky little dancer). She stood behind a couple in front of the stage, my missus and I were behind her. Sort of 2nd/3rd row. We Had a laugh cheering at the 'skinny Bill bailey' that soundchecked Ps' guitar when he couldn't find the opening of the curtain to get back behind it.

Other than P spitting over our shoulders when he started singing it was a Blinding gig, apart from Nine million bicycles! Blinding versions of Girls & Boys, Delirious, Cockeyed Girl... Sod it, the whole gig was red-hot! We had to wait in line for about 2 hours but it was well worth it. (Missus still wets herself at the mention of the gig) Me? "I get De-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh!" . Bought tickets at the box office early September. One of the best nights of my life. Well chuffed when he released IndigoNights and found a lot of the gig was on the CD.

Also, we were in the 5th row for the main show @O2 on the 9th Sept. Great gig. We bumped into Melanie Blatt on the way out who was slaughtered! I asked her what she thought of the show?... "Fckin Brilliant" was her considered reply! She started stroking my ONA T-shirt saying she had one at home. One look at the missus and I realised it was time to go.

We had front seats of the first 'tier' on the 20th September, right by the piano. Yet another goodun, P stood right in front of us playing the blues during 'The One'. Lovely stuff. Bought tickets online, early.

I went VIP (Kings gallery) front and centre for the 14th September @ the Indigo2 as well. Blinding gig and a great view. I couldn't believe he was playing ATWIAD when he came on, played some blinders that night, Beautiful Strange, Party Up etc. Ridiculous bar bill though!! Bought tickets online on the night.

Don't suppose this counts but we had front row seats in the balcony of the Indigo2 on the 10th September too. Another blinding gig! "London can I talk 2 u 4 a second"? Too funky!! Bought tickets there on the night, before the main gig.

jamaicanbob said:

Rolled 7's at Musicology Hartford and Philly via NPGMC. Meeting up with folks and going to Will call to get tix was a trip, he should bring that back.

Also Love for 1 Another @ Electric Factory, Philly and The Roxy, Boston general admission.

Have to say Nokia Theatre was about 5th or 6th row center orchestra behind the pit and that was pretty tight too.

Several ones starting with 1st row center directly in front of him at one concert and one aftershow in 1987.
[Edited 4/4/09 14:32pm]

Was 2nd row center at the Kodak theater show in LA a few years ago. Got there as a member of the music club. Everyone went for the front row, we went for the second, and were about 10 ft from the man for the whole show. The only thing in front was the guitar tech and a batch of guitars.

Utopian

Funny story here. I am 6 foot 4 and waited for hours for a GA concert at the State Theater in Detroit (emancipation). After waiting hours in the cold to get inside I went straight to the front of the stage in front of Princes Mic stand. Well when he came out on the stage I was right in front of him. Picture little ole Prince on a stage looking eye to eye with me. He laughed and slid his stand to the right. I had the same thing happen a few year later at an Aftershow in Grand Rapids at the Orbit Room and he said "you again" and gave me a high five! He was very cool about it and I think he has a good since of humor about his height! Cool thing is he remembered it when I chatted with him a couple years later at another aftershow/party at the Olympia Room in Detroit! Come out and play again ...we miss ya

I wanted to thank you, orgers, for sharing your experiences. I have only been able to attend one live show and that was in Miami in April of '85 - I was 3rd in line at the box office, 3 hours before tickets went on sale and couldn't have had any more of a nosebleed seat Anyway, here's to hoping the Lotusflow3r membership will pay off.
[Edited 4/6/09 20:15pm]

utopia7 said:

So you're the one I always see at the front of the line.

NPGMC was the absolute BEST in giving us the best seats. I hope the new web site does the same. With GA shows, you have to line up very early with comfortable shoes on, and maybe an advil or two. I have been up front many, many times. I love it there.

Ticketbastard, Snub Hub and the beaurocrats snatch the front rows up!

jamaicanbob said:

I went to the Musicology show in Indianapolis at Conseco Field house and got two second row seats at the box office about 4 hours before the show started. Till this day I have no idea how that happened, but I ain't complaining one bit!

Prince grabbed my hand and sang a few bars. The stadium fell silent and the world fell away, just an insane experience.

I was 3rd row at the Nude Tour 1990 at Birmingham and just missed grabbing a tamborine thrown by the man himself, fantastic seat and was just lucky i guess.

21 Nights I was v lucky.

7 nights gold seating once very front row.6 nights paid £31.21. I think its just as good further back though. Sometimes its nice to have some distance

Five nights in one month however I rested my head on stage whilst prince played at the indigo2. I had the same spot every night right hand of the stage.

I was never a big prince fan... but those few nights easily best of my life. I dont know why it felt so cool..Im sad it will never happen again.

I spoke to prince during the 21 nights.

Went to dinner with Marva & shelby in camden cant rember what the restraunt was called. Then the next night went to the pigalle club in leister square.Mr Hayes turned up. He was really so nice to be and made me feel so welcome. Greg was there but I didnt speak to him. Oh and I got Princes pic from 7--09-07

I still have not come to terms with it. It unbelivable

sweetkarmel said:

Lucky you! What happened to you is more common than one might think. New seats in prime locations get added for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it happens when seats originally allocated to VIP's, radio contest winners, etc. get pulled back into the pool of tickets available for sale to the general public. Another way this happens is when, after the stage has been set up, the crew discovers that they're able to add more seats on the floor.

So, if you want prime seats, one tactic is asking at the box office on the day of the show.

Incidentally, I was at that show and was in Row 1, so we may have been seated near each other.

FrankieDJ said:

Trent Reznor made an interesting post to his forum where he discusses this and alleges:

The venue, the promoter, the ticketing agency and often the artist camp (artist, management and agent) take tickets from the pool of available seats and feed them directly to the re-seller (which from this point on will be referred to by their true name: SCALPER). I am not saying every one of the above entities all do this, nor am I saying they do it for all shows but this is a very common practice that happens more often than not. There is money to be made and they feel they should participate in it. There are a number of scams they employ to pull this off which is beyond the scope of this note.

The full post is a good read. I'd heard similar claims before, but until now, I dismissed them as "conspiracy theories."

levis1 said:

Mr. Hayes is a nice guy. I've had the pleasure of chatting with him on multiple occasions before concerts, and he always seemed to remember me. Before the shows, he'd usually hang out on the floor by the soundboard. Most attendees didn't seem to recognize him, but he was very approachable to those who did.

During the early 90's cant remember the tour, but it was during the gold album. I was front row centre at Wembley Arena. Mayte invited me onstage, and I think I danced with another girl on the song 'Billy Jack Bitch' until the stage got raided....was an amazing night, Mayte also handed me a tambourine.

Oh I got the tickets by being a member of contorversy magazine.

matt said:

Yeah lovely guy, met him a few times at o2 gigs and aftershows.

matt said:

sweetkarmel said:

If you saw a very tall black woman with ridiculously feathered hair wearing 10 different eyeshadow colors I was the guity culprit

Being at the very front is like a drug, you just want more! More MORE!!!
I've been very lucky to have been right up there numerous times, regular shows, aftershows etc. I'll always treasure these times

LOVESEXY - 1988
2nd Night of the tour at the Palais Bercy in Paris (beautiful venue, I've also seen Rod Stewart there)

I was 2ND ROW in front of Dr Fink's set up. Bought my tickets "day of show", and I can only imagine that after the first night of the tour they said "hey, we can add a couple of rows and sell more tickets!" We were in metal folding chairs that were not a part of the rest of the venues fixed seating.
When we arrived, Fink saw us from the stage (probably looking very out of place) and asked us where we were from. I swear to you that Prince made eye contact with me during POP LIFE. At the end of the show, Dr Fink threw a towel to my group of four but the guy behind us snagged it. Damn French

I was 3rd row for MUSICOLOGY in Memphis. I remember it being awesome, but I was also drinking ALOT at that time, and was pretty hammered - yeah, what a waste. That's also when I learned the lesson of getting the good seats. There are two things you need to know (1) it's easier to get solo seats than groups. sometimes there is that one extra because someone ordered an odd number (2) well, #2 I'll have to keep to myself so that I don't have to fight you guys for seats!!

88, balcony
97, second level
2000, second level
2004, second row!!!! It was like a dream, I could barely remember the set list. My friend reached up to him but my hand wouldnt move. I was kinda in shock so I talked my husband into going to the next show in Raleigh and sat on the floor but back a ways so I could actually remember the songs the next day. I loved being that close. Who knows if that will ever happen again.

We got the seats as members of npgmc so we were very happy! Im hoping lotusflower will b similar only if he goes to other places besides LA. I have started a fund so that if he never leaves LA maybe I can visit. Ive never been too far away from home except on my honeymoon. This lady at work today said I heard he was gonna b in Atlanta, I of course said hmmmm and as soon as I got here looked to c. I havent found anything yet. lol Peace and Love

1984? 85 i forget.. purple rain...3rd row center superdome, new orleans
once at uno lakefron arena...i forget the tour...1st row center smack dab infront of him.

lovesexy uno...3rd row

and a few more...damn my memory is shot.

Many years ago I was in the 3rd row at the concert in the Fox Theater for the first time after years of going to concerts and years after still going to shows that was the best seat I ever had and it was pure luck I got that ticket because I went alone and not too many people was buying single seats I had the time of my life that year every thing else was the nose bleed section

great thread !
Thanks for your stories

2004
2nd Row Center Stage
When he was up in front, he was about 7 feet away

Front Row on 20/09/07 at the O2, literally right in ront of the tip of the <+O.

To be fair the view was a bit rubbish, I didn't see his legs for much of the show... it was worth it though to be right there at the fornt when he came down to the end singing "OHHHH FUNKY LONDON!" and saw my shirt (which said "OH FUNKY LONDON!" on it.

Got the ticket from Ticketmaster a week or so prior. We all know how crazy those tickets sales were. :/


Have also been roughly 2nd or 3rd row of bodies at a few aftershows, but those were all GA so just patience and stamina.