backstage passes

[tinkerbell23]

how does anyone get these?? meet and greet etc?? xxxx

[boxtops]

Do you apply to the venue where the event is being held?

[tinkerbell23]

possibly boxtops ill go on and look at the site!

[mike11111]

Living at Buckingham Palace normally gets you to the front of the queue.

[saxy_jag]

You usually have to be staff, press or invited guests, in which case you don't need to ask.

[Answerprancer]

By knowing one of the performers or techies in my experience.

[andy-hughes]

It depends on the popularity of the band in some cases.

Bands like Take That will do a formal 'Meet & Greet' which will be arrange for comp. winners and be strictly timed and supervised in advance.

Most bands who are simply touring don;t do casual backstage access for safety and security reasons. Backstage can be quite dangerous, and crew don;t like strangers wandering about getting in the way.

As a writer, i often get access, but it's to do an interview, and when it's over, out i gto, i don;t get to 'hang out' with the band - it's just not the way it works.

Afterwards, selected family, friends, guests and so on, can come back for a drink and nibbles if the band are not straight off to the next venue, and they often are, but again, that's done by invitation only.

[saxy_jag]

***"Most bands who are simply touring don;t do casual backstage access for safety and security reasons. Backstage can be quite dangerous, and crew don;t like strangers wandering about getting in the way."***

I can confirm that. They don't even like it if you are working there but happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You tend to screw up their carefully worked out and very tightly scheduled system. And it *is* dangerous. Great big, wheeled flight cases full of amps, cables and lights rolling across to the loading dock at thirty or forty miles an hour are something you don't want to get in the way of.

I've been lucky enough to work backstage on some great shows, but there have been times when I've just been allowed in because my bloke was on duty. He always made a point of introducing me to the tour manager before going any further, simply to establish the fact that I was quite used to the environment and wouldn't be a nuisance.