Tool recently kicked off their January 2020 North American tour in San Diego, and a fan named Detailsofourending called out a disrespecting fan at the VIP experience that cost $550. A Tool member leaked a massive 2021 new album release recently.
“I did one of these for an LA show on my old account…figured I’d give a more in depth account of Friday’s VIP experience here. This will be extremely in depth and detailed, but feel free to ask any questions.
So…having done VIP once before, I knew to arrive early. I was dropped off by my Lyft at 11 AM. Viejas Arena is on SDSU’s campus for those who are unaware. It’s a small venue–holds 12,400 according to its Wiki. When I arrived, I was fifth in line for the VIP entrance. There was a separate line of people waiting for doors to open at 6 so that they could rush to the merch booths.
First few hours were spent getting to know the people around me in line. Fortunately, there was a bathroom available right across from the arena, in one of the school’s gyms. That was a nice bonus. At around 2, ‘the new guy’ came out and started basically mocking the fans who’d lined up in the front of line. He was all smug and smarmy about how those in front weren’t going to get the best seats.
I kind of figured at this point that he was just on a power trip and trying to amuse himself, but a few others in the line really got into it with the guy. He seemed to get off on arguing with the fans whose ticket purchases pay his salary…from now on, we’ll call this guy wearing a Red Wings hat ‘the prick,’ ’cause that’s what he is. The prick also promised us that this VIP experience would be a lot better than the fall tour. He was mum as to what exactly would make it better. He was just full of shit.
Despite this encounter, we all decided to remain in place. Where else were we going to go? Around this time, we were also told there would be no poster tubes permitted. Then about 30 minutes later, someone else came by and said that we could bring our poster tubes in, and that they would have to be checked before the show. This was a big relief, as 80% of the line had poster tubes with them. At around 3, Juan came by and distributed the waivers we had to sign. Juan was straightforward about the fact that he is no longer in charge of the ticket distribution, and he agreed that the new format is bullshit. He mentioned that he is leaving Tool shortly to join the Deftones on tour in Australia, and that’s why there is a new guy.
At right around 330, they started letting us into the pavilion area that surrounds the venue. We were given a security check with wands, and purses/bags were inspected. At this point, we entered another queue where we received our tickets and merch. We were all watching Juan–he opened the envelopes on top of the pile, shook his head, and then started re-arranging things. The prick came back at this point, and we were all called forward. The first 5 people in front of me (2 guests joined the line, pushing me back to 7 overall) got front row thanks to Juan’s re-arranging. The guy right in front of me and I got fifth row. The prick had clearly put the furthest back seats on the top of the pile to intentionally screw over the fans who got there first. Juan later told us that the prick had bitched him out for rearranging some of the tickets.” Tool fans ripped a ‘late’ Maynard James Keenan last week.
