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bv
Posted by Posted by The Worst. on the Paris live thread:

Date: October 20, 2017 00:23

Great show, great crowd, great arena, bad organization. Street Fighting Man was again the highlight for me. I had a great time in the pit, standing next to Mr. Jimmy and Harry Potter - but getting inside the pit gave me 1,5 hours of at least nineteen nervous breakdowns.

Those with pit tickets on Sunday and Wednesday should be prepared to have their patience tested. On my ticket it said I had to enter thru gate 14, but I noticed a big banner saying “pit” outside gate 33/34. I asked if I could enter with my ticket, but the guard said I had to go gate 14. So I walked the long detour and lined up outside g

After a long time with nothing happening, I asked a guard what was going on. He said gate 14 was closed and that I had to go back to gate 33. So I did. At gate 33 they told me again to go back to 14. I told them gate 14 was closed, so they let me in after some argument - but I got no wristband. When I pointed this out, they gave me wristband for Fosse Or. I tried to explain that I needed a wristband for the pit, pointing at the map of the venue printed on my ticket, but they didn't understand.

So I went inside and walked up to the pit on Keith’s side and showed them my ticket. They said I had to go back to the entrance to get a wristband. So I went back and talked with 10-12 different security people and no one had heard of the "No Filter Pit" and could only offer me FOSSE OR wristband.

One person said I had to go "upstairs" to the office were wristbands were kept. I tried to get up the only stair I could find, but was soon denied access. Once again, I asked were to get wristband for the Pit. They looked and my ticket and said I had to go out of the venue and back to gate 14.

At this point I’ve had enough, and walked fast up to the pit on Ronnie’s side and explaining my case a bit angry while I showed my ticket. The guard, to my surprise, said “no problem” and let me in. Then I got my wristband and was felt so relieved when I finally stepped inside the pit. But it shouldn’t be like this. I hope all those with pit tickets got inside.

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bv
I kept this thread sticky and separate, because it is a shame they treat fans who paid a fortune - to be close to their band - worse than they treat kettle according to the EU laws of animal transportation...

The main problem is there is only one show in a city usually, this is new to everybody. But in Paris there are TWO MORE shows. The arena management should be ashamed, come up with an apology to the fans, and tell us it will all be sorted out before the next show is due.

Another problem, of course, is the fact that the ticket says "No filter pit". The word "NO" may lead to trouble. Just supply info to all the personel, it should not be that hard.

By Sunday all the new paint should be dry, the arena is no more "new", and I expect the management of the arena having taken care of the entrance and wristband issues.

If someone in the U Arena management do want to give feedback in this matter then feel free to send info to the IORR Editor at the e-mail address:

iorr@arena.no

Thank you, and hopefully things work better on Sunday!

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Rollin92
Do you have to push through fosse and fosse or to get to the pit or is there a separate walkway?

I don't intend queuing all afternoon so I reckon by the time I get there fosse or and fosse will be very packed, will have no luck pushing through.

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Rollin92
Do you have to push through fosse and fosse or to get to the pit or is there a separate walkway?

I don't intend queuing all afternoon so I reckon by the time I get there fosse or and fosse will be very packed, will have no luck pushing through.

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gotdablouse

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Rollin92
Do you have to push through fosse and fosse or to get to the pit or is there a separate walkway?

I don't intend queuing all afternoon so I reckon by the time I get there fosse or and fosse will be very packed, will have no luck pushing through.

No need to queue up, see the details on my PIT experience from Paris I on the bottom of the previous page.

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RoughJusticeOnYa

P.S.: I just don't get the stress so many people seem to have, apparently, about a thing like that. Goodness me - the right entrance...? Really? Síx days beforehand? They're not touring Nambia, you know. This is Europe; most people - including the ones that work at these venues - do have a clue, speak enough English, and thus will be able to help you out within seconds of your question. Just ask when you're there, for Pit's sake!

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gotdablouse
Sad to hear all these horror stories, here's what I posted in the "live" thread the other day to hopefully alleviate some fears for the next shows :

"Pit experience : weird I will say that !

- The good news is that you can arrive at 7.45PM and still get a great spot 5 rows from the rail/catwalk. Like I wrote previously I wouldn't recommend being closer to that due to the height of the catwalk and various obstructions (fans, cameramen shadowing Keith like a friggin' bodyguard, etc...).

- I'd read about the horror stories here so I headed directly to the "Pit" balloon on the left side of gate 33 at 7.45PM. It was off to a good start as there was no one till I got to the scanner. But then I was like, so where's my wristband ? No one knew about a wristband. Then I spotted some kind of random queue in the middle of the hall (there were other queues for food it seems) where they were giving out wristbands. Great, except they were "Fosse Or", the guy gave me one when I showed my ticket and sent me on my way, hum...So I walked to the right side, bumped into the "Fosse Or" checkpoint, showed my wristband and then proceeded to the Pit checkpoint. I showed my Ticketmaster e-ticket, the guy grumbled something about not seeing "No Filter Pit", just "Filter Pit" and gave me a Pit wristband. And that was it, in the pit at 7.52, super smooth, thanks to those who had to fight their way in before that, thanks guys !"

It seems to me that the easy fix is to hand out wristbands directly at the entrance since there is already a separate "PIT" lane at Gate 33, on the left side. One dedicated scanner, a wristband and problem solved !

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little queenie
just looking at my tickets again -- mine say "Filter Pit" and were still rejected despite lack of "no" in the title

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Grichka
Report from the war zone on sunday.
There are good news and bad news :-)

1- Wristband issue for PIT is solved as they deliver it just after scanning tickets.And they knew they had problems because the lady told me "sorry for the mess of thursday"

2- The mess is now outside for those owner of PIT access. There was no way to approach the PIT entrance at gate 33, totally blocked by thousands of people.

Great show, really great and fun with a crowd much warmer than the previous one.

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IGTBA

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Grichka
Report from the war zone on sunday.
There are good news and bad news :-)

1- Wristband issue for PIT is solved as they deliver it just after scanning tickets.And they knew they had problems because the lady told me "sorry for the mess of thursday"

2- The mess is now outside for those owner of PIT access. There was no way to approach the PIT entrance at gate 33, totally blocked by thousands of people.

Great show, really great and fun with a crowd much warmer than the previous one.

For those with pit tickets for Wednesday, you should be able to avoid the huge queues in front of Gate 33 by going well left (facing the arena). Go to the VERY left side of the Gate 33 queues and find a way forward to close to the barriers and find a security person where the barriers start and show him your pit tickets. Then they will let you into the left lines for 33 (which are actually well left of the 33 gate. That should get you in quickly, to get a pit wristband and then when you are ready to go into the pit, go along the far right or left side of the arena floor to where they first let you into the closer standing area, then continue all the way towards the front along either side to enter either pit area. This worked well for us on Sunday, but we had to get around all the people in the lines for 33 and push forward along the left edge to get to a security person who opened a barrier leading into the left 33 arena entry. If you are stuck in a huge line waiting to get into the arena, then keep finding your way left and forward - but this only works for those with pits tickets.

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skyhawk

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IGTBA

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Grichka
Report from the war zone on sunday.
There are good news and bad news :-)

1- Wristband issue for PIT is solved as they deliver it just after scanning tickets.And they knew they had problems because the lady told me "sorry for the mess of thursday"

2- The mess is now outside for those owner of PIT access. There was no way to approach the PIT entrance at gate 33, totally blocked by thousands of people.

Great show, really great and fun with a crowd much warmer than the previous one.

For those with pit tickets for Wednesday, you should be able to avoid the huge queues in front of Gate 33 by going well left (facing the arena). Go to the VERY left side of the Gate 33 queues and find a way forward to close to the barriers and find a security person where the barriers start and show him your pit tickets. Then they will let you into the left lines for 33 (which are actually well left of the 33 gate. That should get you in quickly, to get a pit wristband and then when you are ready to go into the pit, go along the far right or left side of the arena floor to where they first let you into the closer standing area, then continue all the way towards the front along either side to enter either pit area. This worked well for us on Sunday, but we had to get around all the people in the lines for 33 and push forward along the left edge to get to a security person who opened a barrier leading into the left 33 arena entry. If you are stuck in a huge line waiting to get into the arena, then keep finding your way left and forward - but this only works for those with pits tickets.

Exactly, do not line up at gate 33 but go left to the merchandisestand and walk 10 meters to the barriers, then ask friendly a securityguy where the entrance to the pit is and he will open the barriers for you (at least he did for me).

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999
Terrible organisation !
They ran out of No Filter Pit wristband at the main entrance around 19.30 !
How can this happen ?

Anyway GREAT show yesterday...

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ladywilliam
After running out of the Pit wristband, how/where did people get wristbands? Did they just wait for more to be delivered?

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999

Someone from the U Arena staff brought a bag full of wristbands but I heard that before that some people had to wait for almost 20 minutes before they received their Pit wristband !

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IGTBA

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Grichka
Report from the war zone on sunday.
There are good news and bad news :-)

1- Wristband issue for PIT is solved as they deliver it just after scanning tickets.And they knew they had problems because the lady told me "sorry for the mess of thursday"

2- The mess is now outside for those owner of PIT access. There was no way to approach the PIT entrance at gate 33, totally blocked by thousands of people.

Great show, really great and fun with a crowd much warmer than the previous one.

For those with pit tickets for Wednesday, you should be able to avoid the huge queues in front of Gate 33 by going well left (facing the arena). Go to the VERY left side of the Gate 33 queues and find a way forward to close to the barriers and find a security person where the barriers start and show him your pit tickets. Then they will let you into the left lines for 33 (which are actually well left of the 33 gate. That should get you in quickly, to get a pit wristband and then when you are ready to go into the pit, go along the far right or left side of the arena floor to where they first let you into the closer standing area, then continue all the way towards the front along either side to enter either pit area. This worked well for us on Sunday, but we had to get around all the people in the lines for 33 and push forward along the left edge to get to a security person who opened a barrier leading into the left 33 arena entry. If you are stuck in a huge line waiting to get into the arena, then keep finding your way left and forward - but this only works for those with pits tickets.

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Grichka
To avoid the gigantic traffic jam in front of gate 33, what i did Sunday was to use the vip RED entrance on the right (around gate 35) arguing with security that PIT was impossible to reach otherwise.
Worth a try if you are stuck.