You can’t always get what you want, I know, but when I read on Twitter Saturday morning that the Rolling Stones were playing at the Echoplex the same night, I was first in denial, then got super excited, then in a where-do-I-get-a-ticket-mode… At the El Rey, I had to go all the way to the El Rey to buy a ticket for a show that is so close by? Anyway I thought there would probably be a million people online already, so what were my chances?
I decided to give it a try, since the show hadn’t been announced much in advance, only through social media, Twitter and Facebook. When I get to the El Rey, there was effectively a long line of people waiting under the bright sun and they let us wait and wait…. I bet some of them had slept there on the sidewalk, as there are always people in the know!
After a few hours, the line was stretching down the adjacent streets, some kids wearing Fucked up and Wavves t-shirts were selling 'dollar water' (smart opportunist guys!) and many people (myself included) were saying they had wished they had known this earlier! Well, it wasn’t necessary, soon there were rumors it would be a random ticket lottery, but nobody knew exactly what was going on… how many tickets would be available? The Echoplex is a small club with a variable capacity, some websites say 300-400, others 700!! It turned out it was a real lottery, they gave us numbered tickets and I got number 311,831. People were friendly and talking to each other, a young guy behind me obsessed by his twitter feed was getting impatient, and many were walking up and down to the front to get some news… ‘It’s natural selection, the struggle of the fittest’, said a man behind me,… not at all, I thought, natural selection is anything but random, natural selection would have been to let the first ones in!
By the way, the Rolling Stones are still very hot, I expected to see a lot of 50-60 something in this line, and if there were many, the majority of the people were young, probably the Twitter/Facebook announcement had something to do in the crowd demography. They finally announced the winning numbers, all in the 312,000, meaning they had picked people who got in line after me!! I was mad, but I don't want to imagine what the first persons in line must have felt at this moment. Who got this crazy idea? Huge disappointment after the high of the hope to get in,… I had to go home without a ticket. And it was only $20 to see the Stones in such a small place. I am still mad, there will never be another chance like this one in my life!
Furthermore, I don’t know if this method is the best one, when I was leaving I was already seeing people who were trying to buy or sell tickets with the winning numbers, and I heard outrageous prices of course. I pass, I don’t have a few thousand dollars to spend, even for the Stones. You can’t always get what you want indeed.
Update: What did I say about hysteria? I just found this on Craiglist:
The Rolling Stones @ Echoplex, ticket/wristband, comes with my wrist! – $1000000 (Hollywood): One in a lifetime opportunity for the both of us! The Rolling Stones at the ECHOPLEX… tonight! Yup, I got one of the magical tickets/wristbands, and for the small price of $1,000,000 cash, you'll get the ticket, my government issued ID, and of course my wrist. Think about it, you'll be the only one of your friends to see the Rolling Stones in such a small venue and when they ask you how you pulled it off, you can show them my bloody, decaying wrist.
I went to the Echoplex to see people getting in, pretty lame I know! People on line were super happy, you can imagine, and there was this cute couple that almost made everyone cry: she won the lottery, her boyfriend didn't so she gave him the ticket,…aaaww that was really nice of her, and she gave him this big hug before he got in.
However, not too much Rolling Stones sighting, I just saw their four limos leaving the place after the show! But, there were tons of celebrities! I saw Bruce Willis, Johnny Depp, Maria Shriver, Gwen Stefani and another guy from No Doubt, the Olsen twins, James Wood, Skrillex getting out after the show… plus all the people I didn't recognize. No wonder they only sold 350 tickets for a 700-capacity place! Half of the place was filled with 'industry' people. Anyway, only James Wood was nice enough (or drunk enough) to hang out with fans and sign autographs. By the way I hope the twins and Skrillex had some kind of elevation inside, because they are all so short!
Also here is the setlist of the show
