Horrible Night at TNT Bar and Grille...
Last night, Bret Michaels was scheduled to play a small venue after the Poison concert. Here is how the most unprofessional After-Party ever went down. I have been to raves in downtown Detroit that were better secured than this place... Here's what happened:
We got there at around 7:30p (Tix time was 11p). We wanted to get there early so that we could get a decent spot to see the show. All tables in the room with the stage were already taken or reserved (the whole 8-10 that there were anyhow...), so we had to sit on wood steps on the floor. There were plenty of other steats- but completely on the other side of the bar not even in the same room with the stage and having very poor acoustics. When I asked for an ashtray, the girl told me all they had left were plastic cups with a little water in the bottom (a bar out of ashtrays???). At this time, the place is fairly empty even! The good thing I can say is that our waitress was attentive and the drinks were not overpriced.
There were 4 local bands that played before Bret was to arrive. They were good and that was fun, but after the last band was playing 45 minutes after he was supposed to be there, people started getting restless. The MC kept making announcements that Bret was on his way and had a special guest with him. Around 12:15 or so a girl I knew from last year said that her friend had texted/called her to tell her that CC did a lot of the vocals at the actual Poison concert because Bret was ill. By that time, her and I and my friends figured he wasn't going to come at all.
A few mins later, the back door opens and everyone starts cheering. It's Bret and Sebastian Bach with Big John! Everyone is stoked! Well... Next you know Big John comes onstage with an armful of Bret's personal items from the show and says they are going to auction them off for the Juvenial Diabetes Foundation. My friend that was with me last year ends up buying a shirt for $400. The lady takes her offstage, and I comment to our other friend we brought "Oh man, she's going to meet Bret right now!"... Not... She came immediately back, she didn't even catch a glimpse of Bret- they just wanted her money and back to us she came.
After the auction, Bret comes onstage and this is when the real bullshit starts. Chics start rushing the stage. I am being elbowed in my head and shoved up against the stage. Literally like crushed there. Between trying to shove people back off me, they announce that Bret is going to sign a few autographs and if you have nothing to sign, you can buy a 8x10 glossy for $5. Luckily I'm quick enough to get my cassette cover signed (yep same as last year). At this point, Security is NOWHERE to be found (other than one female "guarding" Bret onstage), and I am getting smashed, so myself and another chic actually jumped up on the stage and took off out of there. There was nowhere else to go but up with all the shoving. About a minute after me and that girl split, the MC asks the crowd to stop pushing that people down front were getting hurt. But this time I have no idea where my friends are. Another girl tells me she just saw "the one who bought the shirt" in the bathroom, so I go over there and thank God it is her. We start searching for our other friend, we just want to leave that hellhole, and we cannot get anywhere near enough to see if she's even down there. So we wait...
Neither Bret or Sebastian performed, period. Bret was on the stage maybe 15 minutes tops, but only to sign autographs. Sebastian didn't do a damn thing after they made a big deal of Bret's special guest. They ran in, made some quick money and took off again. They were in there MAYBE AT BEST 30 minutes total. I feel like that if Bret was sick, his PR people should have had the club be honest with everyone before he got there to avoid problems. Personally I never heard it announced why Bret didn't perform, can you imagine all the confusion of the patrons that hadn't heard any word from the show?
We go outside by the busses hoping to find our 3rd friend. WOW there are a good 4-6 Security people out there! Where were you assholes when I was getting shoved down up front? They start cussing and swearing at people to move away from the bus, but yet they let people get crushed inside their bar? We finally see our missing friend, who did manage to snap a couple of pics of Bret and one with him, but at the expense of having to fight people off her while she tried to get it. Here Deb paid $400 for his shirt from Big John and didn't even get an autograph, nothing.
The ad for the After Party said they were only selling 400 tickets, but there was NO WAY IN HELL that the stage area was made to hold 400. Maybe 150 comfortably at best. The bar's entire capacity may be 400, but I mean that shit was a fire hazard waiting to happen.
This morning, my back is hurt, I have bruising all over both legs (from being crushed into the side of the stage) and my shoulders are killing me. Security was terrible and tix were over-sold for the capacity of the stage area. I have never seen anything so poorly managed in my entire life. I know they were advertising Great White being there on the 12th. That place was just a tragedy waiting to happen.
We got there at around 7:30p (Tix time was 11p). We wanted to get there early so that we could get a decent spot to see the show. All tables in the room with the stage were already taken or reserved (the whole 8-10 that there were anyhow...), so we had to sit on wood steps on the floor. There were plenty of other steats- but completely on the other side of the bar not even in the same room with the stage and having very poor acoustics. When I asked for an ashtray, the girl told me all they had left were plastic cups with a little water in the bottom (a bar out of ashtrays???). At this time, the place is fairly empty even! The good thing I can say is that our waitress was attentive and the drinks were not overpriced.
There were 4 local bands that played before Bret was to arrive. They were good and that was fun, but after the last band was playing 45 minutes after he was supposed to be there, people started getting restless. The MC kept making announcements that Bret was on his way and had a special guest with him. Around 12:15 or so a girl I knew from last year said that her friend had texted/called her to tell her that CC did a lot of the vocals at the actual Poison concert because Bret was ill. By that time, her and I and my friends figured he wasn't going to come at all.
A few mins later, the back door opens and everyone starts cheering. It's Bret and Sebastian Bach with Big John! Everyone is stoked! Well... Next you know Big John comes onstage with an armful of Bret's personal items from the show and says they are going to auction them off for the Juvenial Diabetes Foundation. My friend that was with me last year ends up buying a shirt for $400. The lady takes her offstage, and I comment to our other friend we brought "Oh man, she's going to meet Bret right now!"... Not... She came immediately back, she didn't even catch a glimpse of Bret- they just wanted her money and back to us she came.
After the auction, Bret comes onstage and this is when the real bullshit starts. Chics start rushing the stage. I am being elbowed in my head and shoved up against the stage. Literally like crushed there. Between trying to shove people back off me, they announce that Bret is going to sign a few autographs and if you have nothing to sign, you can buy a 8x10 glossy for $5. Luckily I'm quick enough to get my cassette cover signed (yep same as last year). At this point, Security is NOWHERE to be found (other than one female "guarding" Bret onstage), and I am getting smashed, so myself and another chic actually jumped up on the stage and took off out of there. There was nowhere else to go but up with all the shoving. About a minute after me and that girl split, the MC asks the crowd to stop pushing that people down front were getting hurt. But this time I have no idea where my friends are. Another girl tells me she just saw "the one who bought the shirt" in the bathroom, so I go over there and thank God it is her. We start searching for our other friend, we just want to leave that hellhole, and we cannot get anywhere near enough to see if she's even down there. So we wait...
Neither Bret or Sebastian performed, period. Bret was on the stage maybe 15 minutes tops, but only to sign autographs. Sebastian didn't do a damn thing after they made a big deal of Bret's special guest. They ran in, made some quick money and took off again. They were in there MAYBE AT BEST 30 minutes total. I feel like that if Bret was sick, his PR people should have had the club be honest with everyone before he got there to avoid problems. Personally I never heard it announced why Bret didn't perform, can you imagine all the confusion of the patrons that hadn't heard any word from the show?
We go outside by the busses hoping to find our 3rd friend. WOW there are a good 4-6 Security people out there! Where were you assholes when I was getting shoved down up front? They start cussing and swearing at people to move away from the bus, but yet they let people get crushed inside their bar? We finally see our missing friend, who did manage to snap a couple of pics of Bret and one with him, but at the expense of having to fight people off her while she tried to get it. Here Deb paid $400 for his shirt from Big John and didn't even get an autograph, nothing.
The ad for the After Party said they were only selling 400 tickets, but there was NO WAY IN HELL that the stage area was made to hold 400. Maybe 150 comfortably at best. The bar's entire capacity may be 400, but I mean that shit was a fire hazard waiting to happen.
This morning, my back is hurt, I have bruising all over both legs (from being crushed into the side of the stage) and my shoulders are killing me. Security was terrible and tix were over-sold for the capacity of the stage area. I have never seen anything so poorly managed in my entire life. I know they were advertising Great White being there on the 12th. That place was just a tragedy waiting to happen.