Getting into concerts for free by carrying instrument cases

[Wade Hampton]

Beginning when I was in my late teens and through my 20's, I used to write concert reviews for publication, along with performer interviews and general interest articles on other subjects. I certainly enjoyed getting into concerts for free, and it gave me access to musicians I admire. Getting to talk to Aaron Copland privately for 45 minutes was probably the all-time pinnacle of those experiences for me, but I met a lot of other great musicians and would sometimes pick their brains on music techniques and what they were actually doing on songs of theirs that I wanted to learn.

It helped accelerate my musical education, you might say.

Anyway, sometimes I wasn't assigned to cover concerts I wanted to see, but I figured out if I wanted to go see them that sometimes I could get in for free anyway if I went to the backstage entrance carrying an instrument case and saying: "Hey, I'm here to show this to (whoever the artist happened to be.)" More often than not this would get me waved through.

And I wasn't being dishonest: I would, in fact, make my way to the dressing room and show the instrument to members of the band. (I'd usually bring a mandolin, since it was smaller and lighter.) I never claimed to be on the guest list, never claimed that I was going to sell the instrument, because I wasn't.

But I looked like the musician that I am, and more than once I didn't even have to say a word: "You've come to the right door!" is something that was said to me more than once. I'd just smile my Mona Lisa smile, thank them and walk on through.

Anyway, I was telling a few of those stories to a friend of mine, (including the one where I was backstage when Stephane Grappelli walked up to me, said: " 'Allo, my frien'!" and grabbed my butt.) My friend was cracking up, because breezing his way backstage that way had never occurred to him.

Of course, he's not a musician...

Anyway, I saw him today and he told me that he'd told some of my backstage stories to another, older friend of his. That gentleman had told him a story of his own.

In late August of 1966, this gentleman was on active duty in the US Army, stationed in San Francisco. He and a buddy were in their Class A uniforms and happened to be just outside of Candlestick Park, where the Beatles were playing a concert. (As it turned out, that was the Beatles' last public concert, aside from the severely abbreviated one they played on the roof of the Apple building. Those two soldiers couldn't have known that at the time, though - nobody did.)

They noticed that there was a First Aid station set up in a tent just outside the entrance. They waited until everyone running it was distracted with something else, then grabbed a stretcher with some blankets and other supplies. They walked up to the entrance and told the person taking tickets:

"Somebody's fainted or something, right up front - they need us there right away!"

The folks at the gate said: "Go!" and so they got expedited passage right to the front of the stage.

No one must have accompanied them all the way, though, or checked on their story, because they got up front, put aside the stretcher, sat down on the grass and enjoyed the concert!

So, what stories of your own on this subject do any of you have to share? Given the general level of craftiness displayed by many of you on this forum, I imagine some of you have a few stories of your own to share.

Legal notification: the statute of limitations has almost certainly expired on all of your transgressions, misdemeanors and minor felonies by now, so don't be shy.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Chipotle]

Does it have to be crafty?

I was visiting NYC some years back and went to Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ to see Sonic Youth. Unfortunately, I didn't know it was sold out. My friend and I sat at the bar, disappointed, and got a beer. But who should come along and stand right next to me but Steve Shelley, Sonic Youth's drummer. I recognized him, said hello, and as we chatted a bit mentioned I was visiting from far away and bummed I couldn't see them that night.

No problem, says Steve, come with me! He took us back into the venue area with him, and we not only got in but didn't even pay. And as it turns out, that evening's show was the entirety of the as-yet-unreleased Daydream Nation album.

[Bridgepin]

Wade, I had type out some of the fun I had while working at two different concert facility's in the 80s. Then I read it and thought it's better if I just let that dog sleep.

I will say this Thank God for Rock and Roll.

[Wade Hampton]

Chipotle (and his pal Habañero) wrote:

Originally Posted by Chipotle

Does it have to be crafty?

Very cool.

No, the stories don't have to have elements of stealth and craftiness to be worth reading. You have a good story right there.

I have a similar story: I was at a point in my life where I was seriously questioning whether to continue playing music in public, or at all. I'd gotten good at playing mountain dulcimer (I'd eventually win the US Mountain Dulcimer Championship at the Winfield festival, but that was still in the future at that point,) but I'd become discouraged and wasn't gigging or playing out much.

One pleasant afternoon I was walking along Broadway in Kansas City, just north of the old (since demolished) trolley bridge over the street, when I saw a couple of guys with garment bags over their shoulders. "Hey," the one with the mustache said: "Do you know where the Uptown Theater is?" "Oh, sure," I said. "You're headed in the right direction. It's on this street at 36th Street."

"Thanks," he said. "We're playing there tonight."

That's when I recognized them: it was Jeff Hanna (the one with the mustache) and Jimmy Fadden from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

I had covered their concerts before, and even interviewed Jimmy Fadden at length. For once he had an interviewer who wasn't interested in hearing about drug consumption or groupies - I'd asked him about his harmonica techniques. He'd responded with enthusiasm. In the article I mentioned that, and also wrote something to the effect that the Dirt Band couldn't be all that enthused about playing "Mr. Bojangles" every night, but they were pros and their audience expected it, so they played it.

So once I knew who they were I mentioned that I had interviewed them the last time they'd passed through KC, and Jimmy said: "I remember that! I read that interview: that was a good article! Hey, come to the show tonight - we'll put you on the guest list."

So I walked them to the Uptown Theater, ran the three miles home to get my dulcimer and ran the three miles back. Good to their word, they'd put my name on the guest list, and I got to hang out back in the dressing rooms and play some tunes with them.

I played some music for them and then with them, and we had a great time. They knew what mountain dulcimers are, but weren't used to seeing anyone chord them and play them the way I do. "It's like watching Thumbs Carlisle play!" Jimmy Fadden said, referring to the great Nashville session cat who played with his guitar on his lap and his fingers on top:

Thumbs Carlile

Jeff Hanna told me: "That's great. You're the best mountain dulcimer player I've ever seen." Jimmy Fadden chimed in: "I've got a friend near my house in Colorado that I play music with when I'm around. He plays dulcimer, and he's good, but you're better."

I thanked them and told them that things had been pretty discouraging for me for the past few months. Hanna said: "Don't give up. You've really got something there," and Fadden said the same thing. "Keep playing. Keep at it."

Those guys gave me an incredible boost when I needed it the most, so I shall always be grateful to them.

And their concert was great, too. I've never seen the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band put on a bad concert, and I've seen them many times.


Wade Hampton Miller

[jklotz]

Oh man, I could tell some stories. As was posted above, I think I'll let that sleeping dog lie. Probably best that way. I will, however add this - when I was 7 years old, I went to my neighbors house. She had a 45rpm of "Bye Bye Miss American Pie". I must have listened to that thing 20 times before they told me I had to go home. That was the event that defined my life. A lifelong passion for music, which included (allegedly) posing as the PR director from my college radio station, which got me into a dizzying array of the "who's who" of bands shows. I was friends with the guy and still am. He still ribs me about it, many years later.

[Wade Hampton]

Come on, you guys: I seriously doubt that Homeland Security will be coming after any of you for your youthful indiscretions: the chances of ending up in Guantanamo Bay for anything you might have done are vanishingly remote. You don't have to include any graphic depictions of some of the adventures that might have ensued. (As it happens, I did meet an attractive, slightly older female photographer backstage at the Uptown that night, making it a memorable evening in more ways than one.) But we don't need any sex or drug revelations that will get you in trouble with the authorities or (more importantly) your spouse.

Just tell us how you pulled it off....


whm

[dspoel]

My brother used to be a screen printer back in the 1980s and he regularly got assignment to print tickets for concerts. At some time he printed tickets for a concert with Klaus Schulze, a german synthesizer player. Since there was some ”spill” from the printing we could use that to go the concert. Unfortunately Schulze was drunk and managed to play his synths out of tune [emoji33]

[phcorrigan]

In the sixties, there was a folk music club in Berkeley called the Cabal. I was eighteen at the time, and I made friends with the owners, and I was able to get in for free if there was room. Even when they sold the club the new owner let me in. Among the people I saw there were Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Barbara Dane, The Kentucky Colonels, The Chambers Brothers, and many more. When the Chambers Brothers played there I would drink white port and Kool-Aid with them in the back room. One night they needed a place to stay, so I was able to find space for them at the rooming house I lived in.

It was quite common after the show for someone to have a party, inviting the musician(s). I went to quite a few of those as well.

[Bob Womack]

I never pulled these stunts but I had a friend who grew up in Virginia Beach which used to have a city venue called "The Dome," oddly enough a geodesic dome. My friend found out that a certain venue manager always cracked his window to get a little air and was never in his office during the shows. My friend would wait until just before curtains, pry open the window, climb into the office, exit it,e and walk purposely out of the office wing to the concert. He didn't miss a concert in the period, including Jimi Hendrix, the Allman Brothers with Duane, and all the others from the period. Now, I lived ten hours away and didn't meet this friend until both of us were in our mid-twenties and I moved to Virginia Beach.

And now the kicker: My friend eventually got a moderately-successful band together and toured dives on the "B Band" circuit in the South. Every fourth week brought him back to the TravelLodge on Papermill Drive in Knoxville, TN. This happened while I lived one mile away. I never saw my future friend's band but another friend worked there and took me to the lounge once to pick up his paycheck when my future friend's band's gear was there on the stage from the previous night's show. It is an hilariously small world.

Bob

[musicman1951]

Not much of a story: Janis Joplin was performing at a nearby state university. My bass player (now my brother-in-law) and I didn't have tickets and tried to pay at the door.

No one seemed to know how that would work and told us to stand over by the bleachers and wait. We were there waiting until the warm-up band started but nobody approached us - so we walked under the bleachers and up the other side, sat down and enjoyed a free concert. Summertime did send chills.

[difalkner]

I never went to many concerts so no stories from my own experience. But around 1974 a friend, who is a great artist and musician, went to a small college concert to see a new artist, Dan Fogelberg. Home Free had been out and Souvenirs may have just been released.

Fogelberg's mixing board quit working during his warm up session and since my friend had gone early to the concert he was close enough to hear Dan discussing his options for playing the concert without a sound board. My friend could see the board and decided to speak up to let them know he had the same board at home and since he lived about 5 minutes away he could run home and get it. Dan told him to hurry!

When my friend got back with the board Dan set it like he wanted and asked my friend to run the board for him. At the time Dan traveled without a crew, at least for small venues like this college concert.

I always thought it was a neat story about helping someone out early in their career, especially since it was Dan Fogelberg.

David

[RP]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

...Anyway, sometimes I wasn't assigned to cover concerts I wanted to see, but I figured out if I wanted to go see them that sometimes I could get in for free anyway if I went to the backstage entrance carrying an instrument case and saying: "Hey, I'm here to show this to (whoever the artist happened to be.)" More often than not this would get me waved through.

And I wasn't being dishonest: I would, in fact, make my way to the dressing room and show the instrument to members of the band. (I'd usually bring a mandolin, since it was smaller and lighter.) I never claimed to be on the guest list, never claimed that I was going to sell the instrument, because I wasn't...

Wade Hampton Miller

It sure worked for Paul Reed Smith...

I remember hanging out at the local concert arenas for six or seven hours before a show to make friends with the roadies. With a backstage pass in hand, I’d peddle my guitars to the stars. One night in ten I’d make a sale. Carlos Santana, Al Di Meola, Howard Leese, and other well known players agreed to check one out. I made deals. If someone gave me an order, made a deposit, and then didn’t love the finished guitar, I’d give them their deposit back even if I couldn’t make my rent the next day.

[Ludere]

not necessarily a crafty means to get into a concert ... but it was by happenstance and turned out to be a significant musical event in my life ...
as I have related in previous posts, my older brother was six years my elder and was my main influence in music (and actually my first guitar teacher) before circumstances and substances took him from us far too early ...
well, back in 1971 when I was just an early teen, he found himself with two concert tickets and the buddy he was supposed to go with dropped out ... I still remember the look on his face when he resigned himself to having no one to go with but me ... “ well I guess you’re it”, he said (and then gave me a little smile to let me know maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing after all) ...

and that is how I got to see the Allman Brothers live at the Fillmore East ... one of the two shows that resulted in the album of the same name ... and a definite milestone for me!



...

[MikeBmusic]

Not much of a story...
In the winter of 76/77, Dizzy Gillespie played at McGill, in the Student Union Center, I think. A couple of friends were members of whatever student group had sponsored the concert. They got me in the door by saying I was working 'coat check'. There was no coat check, just a couple of coat racks in the hallway that I pointed people to. I watched the show from the side of the room. Man that guy's cheeks could puff out!

[emtsteve]

OK so here's mine. Was about 1979 and I was 13-14 and we lived just blocks from a State University campus. There was a concert that night at the stadium and me and a few friends were hanging around the venue. About 9:30 or so a van pulls up to the back entrance and 5 or 6 guys roll out laughing and obviously impaired. I recognized them as the headliner that night - The Outlaws - and I said "Hey, you guys are The Outlaws." They started laughing and said "we sure are." Then they asked us if we wanted to come inside for the show. We said Sure! so they said come with us. We were provided spots to the side of the stage and watched the whole show from there.

The part I remember most was my curfew was 10pm and of course I didn't make it home till after midnight. My Dad was a stickler and my story and pleas of "But Dad, it was THE OUTLAWS" didn't work and I was grounded for the next couple weeks. It was worth it though.