Since I didn't pay close attention in 2004, I must ask: What exactly is the difference between the 5 Star and 4 Star VIP Packages?

4 star gave you a ticket inside of 20 rows and a laminate(wow!) for i believe 150 and the 5 star had a pre concert parrty, plus see the band soundcheck and a ticket inside of the first 5 rows for i believe 350. my estimate is the 4 will be 250 and the 5- 450.

what did the "party" consist of, a table full of bottled water and a bowl of chips?

if there's no soundcheck access or meet and greet...i see these packages as a waste.

what did the "party" consist of, a table full of bottled water and a bowl of chips?

if there's no soundcheck access or meet and greet...i see these packages as a waste.

Bowl of chips and salsa is not far off. I think there was a giant taquito platter too. LOL.

Pay for your own drinks.

The backstage tour is a cattle call. Kinda embarassing.

And the 5 star wasn't first five rows guaranteed, it was first ten rows. And this 'ramp ring' looks like it could have as many as twenty rows, maybe more. Who knows, until that first Charlotte date and 5 stars report back for the first time. The best part about that is everyone who's interested in ILAA packages on this tour will have to buy them before ANY reviews come back on how they went down. Classic marketing strategy. Caveat emptor.

'Course, it depends on where you live. Unfortunately for me, I attended what ILAA girls admitted was the biggest 5 star group on the entire tour (Vegas - 160 people). Some Canadian five stars had all of 9 people in their group. Suffice it to say, those folk got lots of band interaction, everybody got everything signed they wanted, picks and loot and so on. 9 people is a lot different than 150 people. I also used ILAA for a Sammy show last October for his onstage cantina experience, which I have to admit, was better than the 5 star Van Halen ILAA in Vegas, but only 'cause the bleacher risers onstage were GA, and you could muscle your way up to front or show up early and get front row stage access, plus there was basically guaranteed interaction with the band and Sam onstage.

Good rule of thumb concerning ILAA is where you're seeing the band. If you're attending hot market nights (the first night, the last night, NY, LA, Chicago, etc), 5 star stands a better chance of sucking outright 'cause more people will sign up. More people equals more suckage, believe me.

Even so, again...not knowing where you're sitting exactly 'til you get your ILAA laminate the day of the show really bites. Total crapshoot. ILAA will NOT tell you where you managed to queue up in the online sales. I tried. So did others. Basically, the first people that register their credit cards in the online sale will get the best seats. It's a clusterfuck.

wow. in 1984 I paid $12.50 and it was "sit wherever you want"

wow. in 1984 I paid $12.50 and it was "sit wherever you want"

I went to UsFest for free and got up to three rows from the stage.

Those days are long gone. Since tours have become bands' main bread and butter these days, premium packages are being offered by all sorts of promotional companies, not just ILAA. Some are being offered by Live Nation and other ticket agencies and brokers, some are venue-specific, some are artist-specific.

Bowl of chips and salsa is not far off. I think there was a giant taquito platter too. LOL.

Pay for your own drinks.

The backstage tour is a cattle call. Kinda embarassing.

And the 5 star wasn't first five rows guaranteed, it was first ten rows. And this 'ramp ring' looks like it could have as many as twenty rows, maybe more. Who knows, until that first Charlotte date and 5 stars report back for the first time. The best part about that is everyone who's interested in ILAA packages on this tour will have to buy them before ANY reviews come back on how they went down. Classic marketing strategy. Caveat emptor.

'Course, it depends on where you live. Unfortunately for me, I attended what ILAA girls admitted was the biggest 5 star group on the entire tour (Vegas - 160 people). Some Canadian five stars had all of 9 people in their group. Suffice it to say, those folk got lots of band interaction, everybody got everything signed they wanted, picks and loot and so on. 9 people is a lot different than 150 people. I also used ILAA for a Sammy show last October for his onstage cantina experience, which I have to admit, was better than the 5 star Van Halen ILAA in Vegas, but only 'cause the bleacher risers onstage were GA, and you could muscle your way up to front or show up early and get front row stage access, plus there was basically guaranteed interaction with the band and Sam onstage.

Good rule of thumb concerning ILAA is where you're seeing the band. If you're attending hot market nights (the first night, the last night, NY, LA, Chicago, etc), 5 star stands a better chance of sucking outright 'cause more people will sign up. More people equals more suckage, believe me.

Even so, again...not knowing where you're sitting exactly 'til you get your ILAA laminate the day of the show really bites. Total crapshoot. ILAA will NOT tell you where you managed to queue up in the online sales. I tried. So did others. Basically, the first people that register their credit cards in the online sale will get the best seats. It's a clusterfuck.

great post...100% correct

what did the "party" consist of, a table full of bottled water and a bowl of chips?

if there's no soundcheck access or meet and greet...i see these packages as a waste.

Don't forget the bowl of M&M's w/out the brown ones :thumb:

Bowl of chips and salsa is not far off. I think there was a giant taquito platter too. LOL.

Pay for your own drinks.

The backstage tour is a cattle call. Kinda embarassing.

And the 5 star wasn't first five rows guaranteed, it was first ten rows. And this 'ramp ring' looks like it could have as many as twenty rows, maybe more. Who knows, until that first Charlotte date and 5 stars report back for the first time. The best part about that is everyone who's interested in ILAA packages on this tour will have to buy them before ANY reviews come back on how they went down. Classic marketing strategy. Caveat emptor.

'Course, it depends on where you live. Unfortunately for me, I attended what ILAA girls admitted was the biggest 5 star group on the entire tour (Vegas - 160 people). Some Canadian five stars had all of 9 people in their group. Suffice it to say, those folk got lots of band interaction, everybody got everything signed they wanted, picks and loot and so on. 9 people is a lot different than 150 people. I also used ILAA for a Sammy show last October for his onstage cantina experience, which I have to admit, was better than the 5 star Van Halen ILAA in Vegas, but only 'cause the bleacher risers onstage were GA, and you could muscle your way up to front or show up early and get front row stage access, plus there was basically guaranteed interaction with the band and Sam onstage.

Good rule of thumb concerning ILAA is where you're seeing the band. If you're attending hot market nights (the first night, the last night, NY, LA, Chicago, etc), 5 star stands a better chance of sucking outright 'cause more people will sign up. More people equals more suckage, believe me.

Even so, again...not knowing where you're sitting exactly 'til you get your ILAA laminate the day of the show really bites. Total crapshoot. ILAA will NOT tell you where you managed to queue up in the online sales. I tried. So did others. Basically, the first people that register their credit cards in the online sale will get the best seats. It's a clusterfuck.


Spot on the mark.

For the Anaheim Pond arena show in '04, we had about 75 to 100+ people with 5 Stars and I think our seats were even more of a crapshoot tham just simply first come, first served as I got a great 2nd row seat and 2 friends who bought their 5 Star tickets at the same time got something like 12th to 16th row seats. For my part, buying a single ticket probably helped me a bit but considering it was a 14+ row difference in seats, I can't imagine it made that much of a difference as the mediocre demand for 5 Stars at that show took a couple weeks to sell out.

And the "party" is actually more of a hassle than any kind of fun if the '04 tour is any example. You're stuck in a conference room, air conditioning is optional depending on the venue, the food is room temperature and may as well be catered by Rubios and at least at the one I was at, the music was provided by a $100 boom box on a table playing one VH cd over and over. I think one of the things that actually pissed me off was when I washed the cheesy ILAA VH tour shirt the first time and the black ink actually washed out like it was water color.

Losing the soundcheck pretty much guts the 5 Star package unless you have money to burn and *must* sit or stand in that pit. Like I said in another post, if it's GA in the pit, I'll probably go for it if the price isn't retardedly high, but if it's reserved and it's a crapshoot between 1st row and 12th row, fuck it.

This kinda shit makes me kinda glad my wife isn't into Van Halen although I think the Springsteen shows she's gonna make me take her to in October will make up for the savings in spades..

T.B.