I sense it in their facial expressions, JLB and JR the most. MM always looks like he's having a blast and a big reason why I've always enjoyed watching him. Maybe it's just me and my personal preferences and the way I'm perceiving things.
Are you finding yourself becoming bored with a Dream Theater show?
It's funny because I have felt this exact thing at other shows. I used to like Korn, and Slipknot, but I personally got bored with them. I will still see them if they are touring with a band I really want to see, like Babymetal, but I won't go out of my way to buy a front row seat or pit ticket anymore.
I much prefer the more "traditional" setup of standing area in front, and seats in back and/or on the sides. But another hidden "benefit" of seating for the band is probably the extra money seated venue tickets generate. Although they do not see direct revenue from tickets, seated venues tend to charge more for tickets, and can charge even higher premium prices for tickets in the front, which translates to higher guarantees for the band. And if some of those premium seats are sold as part of VIP packages, the band might have it structured in such a way that they do possibly see direct revenue from those sales.
Speaking of which, I wonder why more bands that tend to play standing venues haven't experimented with VIP areas down in front. I mean, I know Metallica basically did that with their snake pit stage setup. But I think there are probably far less elaborate ways bands could do that. For instance, they could have the venue just cordon off a barricade area center stage in front for VIPs. I guess it might get too difficult to police people stealthily climbing the barricades. But I'm sure some great minds out there could put their heads together and come up with something not to complicated that could work.
Yea, the seats will get a nice pay check due to what you are saying. Iron Maiden tried out the VIP GA thing for awhile and then stopped, not sure why though. I liked it because I could guarantee myself a closer experience with a little more cash, which I didn't mind doing for my favorite band. I wonder if it's a venue related thing though, like that requires extra barriers and security to enforce it. I also wonder if for most smaller GA pits, it just doesnt make sense and would mean less tickets sold and less of an active crowd having a barrier on the floor. Might also rub people the wrong way of a band trying to milk the fans. Just some random thoughts on that idea.
I generally get pit tickets when I go see Keith Urban (my wife's favorite) and it's fun. We're usually in the front row or two, we've (not me, I defer to the girls) gotten photos and autographs from him (my Xmas present to my wife one year was a photo with him and her blown up and framed; for one show, he held my daughter's hand while he signed a bunch of other tickets for people). here's the thing, though: they're steeper at the box office (+/- $125 or so) and they generally hover around $400 on Stubhub before the show. You can usually get one for $150 out front if the opening act is on (meaning, you're not getting at the barrier). But the back half of the pit is sometimes wasted space. At Mohegan, the local casino where he's played his last three or four shows (find his interview with Dan Rather; they shot it on the floor at Mohegan Sun the afternoon of the last show), there's anywhere from 25 to 50 feet of space before the floor seats start. I don't know that Maiden is all that interested in that sort of set up. I was second row after the pit for Maiden at the amphitheater in Hartford, and I was still pretty close (closer than the guy that shot that video linked here somewhere).
This is how the pit was at the Nightwish show I went to, and this wasn't VIP. I was behind the mixer, which had two rows behind it closed off. So I was two rows behind the mixer. While the pit, was halfway full. I asked if it could be possible, If I can get down there, and they said, No.
I have gone to shows where the expectation didn't meet the actual sales. And they offered, seats in the lower bowl, at the venue itself on the day of the show and inside had a tent to go to, to pay about $30 for the upgrade, and that included if you bought Lawn. Our biggest venue did that with Mary J. Blige, and Heart. I got some great seats that way.
But being in the pit has helped me get some cool stuff...like a drumstick thrown out by Mario Duplantier of Gojira. Shown at the end of
this video....And at this venue, the only way to get into the pit was to get VIP tickets. Until the cut-off time for the VIP packages, then that venue, if the tickets haven't been all sold, will sell those pit tickets, and they go quick. I didn't buy the ticket, my cousin got the VIP package for me and him, so we got to go into the Slipknot Museum Trailer, that was actually pretty cool and neat to see all their old stuff, and it was a lot of stuff.