That's a protection racket, isn't it?

I've been to the Roundhouse in north London a few times over the last few years,Paul McCartney,Robbie Williams & Bob Dylan. While I understand that these gig's have been a hot ticket the way the Roundhouse Box office conducts itself while distributing the tickets is not very customer friendly. They seem to start with the preface that everyone is probably a tout. Despite the fact that everyone has paid good money to the venue. You are asked to que for approx an hour to collect the tickets with photo ID and credit/debit card that the tickets were bought with. This takes place hours before the gig is due to start (usually a work day). When you reach the box office they seem to be doing all they can to find reason not to supply the tickets you have paid for in advance. I watched a woman of about forty five be 'told off' as she had travelled from Peterborough with the credit card but forgot photo id . Despit the fact that she had a bag full of other ID. She was told to come back in another hour and they would 'try' to deal with her problem. They need to have a look at Disney and check out how to look after paying guests.
This is disappointing as it is one of the best gig's in London once you get inside.

but then again, I don't look shifty. Was Mark wearing his Santa outfit from his job in Guildford Debenham's?

Did you try "Don't you know who I am?" followed by the air-circle drawn around your face with your index finger.

because rock music fans put up with this crap. Going to a gig at somewhere like the Brixton academy is increasingly unpleasant, what with endless queuing, the curt searches (with the implication that gig goers are gun wielding criminal scum) the grotty interiors, dreadful hellish toilets, crap food, crap beer, surly bar staff and annoying fellow gig goers.

On one occasion I was almost denied admittance to gig as I had spent the time waiting for my friends by buying a pint of milk and a tub of marge (I know not very rock and roll )and put them in my rucksack. Of course I was denied entrance because "you can't bring your own food in". I pointed out even a dairy fiend might baulk at neat marge but they weren't being moved. They insisted saying it's because it "causes mess" (I didn't ask if they'd ever looked at the floor of a rock venue when the lights where up!) eventually they relented but only after following me to the cloakroom to make sure I checked my bag in. On this and other occasion any request to see someone in charge is met with the strong implication that it's put up and shut.

It's not that most gig goers don't know the venue staff have job to do it's the assumption on the staff side that we are all up to no good that grates.

I was going to praise the roundhouse as an example of good practice as they seem to run gigs in a friendly and efficient way but other posters seem to have had other experiences. I'm afraid what we all should do is boycott crap venues until they start treating us the way theatre and classical music goers would expect this obviously isn't going to happen so things will just get worse.

.. have you never been to a football match as an away supporter?

Because you have never been treated like real true scum until you have.

You could have travelled to Edinburgh for tonight's Gil Scott Heron gig only to hear it was "postponed due to volcano".

Which easily beats the previous best reason I remember for cancelling which was Nina Simone. Didn't like the wallpaper in her hotel, so simply couldn't perform the gig that night.

...gig goer these days due to presence of assorted small children, I'm not best qualified to pass comment. But while I was treated well enough at the last gig I went to - Tindersticks at Shepherds Bush Empire (which now seems to be under the O2 banner as well) - I was mildly dismayed at the terrible choice of beer at the bars (which used to be good at SBE) - Tuborg anyone? At over £4 a pint? - and sent into a frothing rage when some guy came down the queue saying there was priority entrance for anyone who had an O2 phone.

The GLW and I were escorting half a dozen teens to see Green Day at the height of Amrerican Idiot tour. Blazing sunshine, 80 degrees plus, and security staff talking all but the smallest water bottles off people as they went in. No explanation offered, no exceptions, no entry if you disagreed.

So, once inside we fought for handfuls of water from standpipes, and bought beer so we'd have something to put water in. Afterwards when I wrote and complained the venue shifted the blame onto Green Day's management, who were concerned about bottles being thrown. Which overlooked the fact that most of us were so far from the stage we'd have needed rocket launchers. And the fact that anyone how wanted to get near to the stage had to pass through another check into a paddock area, which would have made an ideal security check point.

So, I won't go there again: as Chris G says, they can only do it if let 'em. There are a few venues that I know treat you like people - like The Brook in Southampton, Leamington Assembly Rooms, Cox's Yard in Stratford - so I tend to look out for who's on there.

So

I walked into the Islington Academy last nite with mics, recorder n such and taped the gig. Bad dog, I know.

Great gig wasn't it though? Although I can usually barely see Robyn Hitchcock cos Mark Ellen is in the way.

... when the security gorillas confiscated a bottle of water off of me which I had bough from the ice cream van situated right in front of them.

I also got extremely annoyed about the extremely nasty, unfriendly and downright threatening way in which the arena was cleared once the gig was over. Frankly I've never been back.

I've been here a while.. I don't recognise this Mark Ellen person everyone seems to be familiar with. He's not been around here before as far as I'm aware. Do you all know him from down the pub?

About 2 yrs ago a friend of mine,a woman in her forties, was threatened with having an apple (which she had brought along as an appetite suppressant for the train journey home) confiscated "in case you throw it at the band" (the Butthole Surfers, who I'm sure have had worse thrown at them in their time)
To her credit, she stood there and ate the apple, then, with aplomb, handed the core to the idiot doorman.

PS there has been thus far no mention of "cheeky tax". At said Academy gig, I was charged for two tickets, plus booking fee. When I got my bank statement there was an extra few quid over and above the normal booking fee.I queried this with the Academy and they told me it was for administrative costs such as running computers and employing staff. Which begs the question as to what the original booking fee AKA cheeky tax was for!

"that's my mate on stage and he honestly wouldn't mind if I taped him anyway"?

The problem with these jobsworths is that they have so little to do all night that any tiny incident like finding your tape recorder is dealt with in a totally over-the-top manner.

See also police Community Support Officers hounding camera wielding tourists.

whether it's at a venue or at an airport. They are employed for their bulk, not their brains, and then given strict instructions to the effect that their pay cheque at the end of the week will not arrive if they allow any variation to the rules, or exercise anything remotely interpretable as discretion or intelligence. As most of them can't understand a lot of those words, they are then told to treat everyone as scum. They can understabnd that, as it only involves simple words they may have read on the back of a pizza box, or on the TV screen during a weights session.

I will not go back to any venue that allows its monkeys to treat me like that, and I'll go out of my way to use another airport if I experience the same sort of insulting behaviour from a partially trained rhinoceros at the departure gate.

Nothing will change until enough people adopt the same approach.

you should try Ronnie Scotts. Not just the bouncers that are lacking in any form of kindness, but everyone. their whole ethos seems to be one of rudeness and "we'll take your money, but don't like you being here". a very strange place indeed. anyone else had the misfortune to experience this little venue?

We were in a New York comedy club last year. A very drunk woman was chatting away by my right shoulder, firstly I gave her the hacky luck, the international sign of 'do be quiet'. After a couple of minutes I whispered for her to shut it. Within seconds two doorstaff came along, swept her out, so quick were they she didn't have time to react and peace was restored. As soon as the act finished the manager came over, apologised profusely, gave us all complimentary drinks and wiped our slate clean. He was even on hand at the end of the show to apologise again. Best service at a venue ever? Pretty darn close.

I was asked to spit out my chewing gum before I was allowed into Brixton Academy about a year ago. The guy asked if I had anymore but I lied and said no (rebel). Apparently they are concerned at the damage it does to the carpet (as opposed to the lager that gets chucked around). Still saw some dodgy geezers knocking out some moody Hubba Bubba once I was inside, though.

I was turned away from a Morrissey gig at the MEN arena because I was carrying a CD - the reason given being that I could use it to 'try and blind Morrissey'.

It was a Morrissey CD as well, which I'd picked up from Vinyl Exchange on my way to the gig.

Rather than argue I turned round, put the CD in my back pocket and went into the gig through another entrance. Once inside, I used a laser pen to carry out my initial plan, and promptly blinded Boz Boorer.

it's the venues, the attitude, the punters who can't go to a gig without being utterly smashed, the whole shooting match.

I know it's bad form to link to your own posts but it's easier than ranting again. Suffice to say, even in sedate Leamington Spa, something unseemly is lurking...

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/nanci-griffith

Still sealed. Clearly not booze.

"Can't I just hand it in with my bag?" I proffer?

NO.

"Why?"

COMPANY POLICY

"Ok, can I leave it with you then as I have to get a train back later and might be thirsty"

NO

"Why?"

IF I HELD YOURS I'D HAVE TO DO IT FOR EVERYONE

It's not like I'm a hardened criminal. And it's not like A Silver Mt Zion and their post rock ilk are known for inciting bottle throwing insanity. Seriously, where do these people get off? Bah and indeed humbug.

So many jokes ....

I think in Belfast people of a certain age are simply used to the process. There was a time - and for a very long time - when you couldn't walk into a City Centre shop over here without being searched. That's every shop ... so ... into Woolies, searched, out of Woolies and into M&S, searched, out of M&S and into Boots, searched etc.

The first time I was ever in England was on a school trip to Chester when I was about 12, and I distinctly remember walking into a largish shop and stopping, just inside the doorway, with my arms outstretched waiting to be frisked.

I also suspect that because of that background most of the people doing the searching over here are less aggressive that perhaps elsewhere - this of course does not apply to pub bouncers.

I have many. One of them is this:

Maybe not to everyone's taste, but it makes me chuckle.

The staff at Terminal 5 made me remove it, as it was apparently an affront to national security. I genuinely thought they were having me on.

..circa 1971, at The Electric Gardens in Sauchiehall Street,Glasgow, to see Wishbone Ash.
Bouncer: "you got any dangerous weapons in your possesion?"
Me: "nope"
B: "no chibs, knifes, blades, knuckledusters?"
M: "nope"
B: "no shooters, stanley knifes, grenades, teargas?"
M: "nope".
B: "no self propelled missiles, bazookas or weapons of mass destruction?".
M: "nope"
B: "well you ain't getting in"
Me: "why?"
Bouncer: "you need to get at least three of the above..it's damn rough in there".

A few years ago my bag was searched by by a (female) member of Rock Steady while going into a gig in Glasgow. As she started to poke around in my make-up bag she asked me if I had anything sharp in there. I said yes I had a pair of tweezers. They were promptly removed and I was told I wasn't allowed to take them into the gig but could collect them on the way out (I didn't bother)!

I did wonder what she thought I would do with them... never heard of anyone being tweezed at a gig before!

According to the BBC staff magazine Ariel, an audience member had a jar of marmite confiscated by security staff at Broadcasting House as they tried to get in to see a recording of a Radio 4 comedy ...

That Mark Ellen has always struck me as trouble waiting to happen.

A few years before Ronnie's changed owners, I arranged a night out for a small party of friends and myself to the club to see Nigel Kennedy and his Polish jazz compadres (they were bloody good!).

We were treated with disdain by the door staff as usual but with an extra annoyance factor. All of us were forced to part with our coats (and pay to put them in the cloakroom) despite the two ladies in our party complaining they were feeling cold and would prefer to keep them on. We were then allocated a table right underneath a noisy air conditioner blasting out freezing air. Maybe my wearing a Motorhead t-shirt was not a great idea.

The bars were absolutely rammed so we decided to order drinks from a passing waiter, who was clearly disappointed by our small order because he never bothered to return. We saw him shortly after taking another order from a large table of yahoos on the other side of the room. We eventually attracted the attention of a grumpy-looking waitress who took our order and eventually returned. After that none of the waiting staff came near our table and we fetched our own drinks from the bar.

Ronnie's has always had a reputation for rudeness and I had previously experienced milder episodes there, so I was only mildly peeved. A couple of my friends were really pissed off though.
Only 25 quid a head to see two long sets from Mr K and pals and two sets also from the support, the whole thing lasting from 9pm till 3am was pretty good musical value, I thought.
I note that the entry prices are now very much higher and I haven't been there since it changed hands. Have they retained their tradition of rudeness?