So I had to see it for myself, I grabbed my camera and headed off to check out this new VIP section. Here's what I found:
From what it appears, there is only ONE section, the $50 Front of the House VIP Tickets, as the $30 tickets have been crossed off from the banner that adorns the tent where they are selling the VIP bracelets. When I asked the attendants about the $30 tickets they did not know what was going on as they worked for the festival production company and weren't actually selling the tickets, they told me to check back in a few hours.
What I do know is that the stage is not obstructed, there is a single tent in the middle of the space, that's actually in front of the sound booth so that space was already going to be unviewable. Since it appears as though they are only selling the $50 tickets there is plenty of open room for everyone to stand and everyone will have an unobstructed view of the stage.
What I did find though was a lot of angry and upset people. The handful of people I talked to told me that they thought it was "BS that the merchants think that they can get away with charging $50, especially in a recession." Other words I heard were "silly," "stupid," "why?" and more than a handful said that they were "just going to ignore that stage completely" in their silent protest.
While talking with people I actually ran into someone who is associated with Horseshoe Casino who are the sponors of the stage - and they are extremely concerned about the allegations that are floating around that they had something to do with the $50 VIP tickets - they didn't! Horseshoe Casino is simply a sponsor of the stage and when they made this agreement many months ago there was no mention of a VIP section. I think that it's wonderful to have a supportive organization like Horseshoe sponsor a stage at a primarily LGBT oriented street festival, so it's important to know that NAMA were the ultimate deciders to institute the VIP section.
It will be interesting to see how the weekend plays out, will people stay away from that stage?
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