The Killers - If your name's not down you're not coming in...

...And even if your name is down, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're coming in either!

So I was working on The Killers show the other night and was in charge of administering the guest list. Now that doesn't mean I get to say who goes on the list and who doesn't, I simply get given the list and then have to dish out the tickets / passes to the lucky souls who are on it. All nice and easy - or so you'd think. But with this being the NME Awards Tour it meant that I had guest lists from four bands, plus the promoters / sponsors to deal with. Okay, so that still wouldn't normally be a problem, but unfortunately - with the gig being a total sell out - we only had sixty tickets available to allocate for guests... and a lot more than sixty people who'd been promised tickets. Whoops! Put it this way, we'd given out all sixty tickets by the time the second band came on stage... so, take note: being on the guest list does not automatically mean that you will get into the gig!

Five handy hints to improve your chances of getting in:

1. Get there early! If the venue can only let in say the "first sixty" people on the list, then don't arrive when the main band are already on stage.
2. Be ready to back up your claim - make sure you have the name of the person (and company) who told you that you were on the list; if you can get confirmation via email then so much the better.
3. Have a contact number for the above mentioned person - just in case there is a problem and you need them to confirm your validity.
4. Be persistent - but remain polite and friendly. You won't get anywhere if you start shouting and swearing at people.
5. Always have some cash on you - you never know when the bands / promoter are suddenly gonna enforce a paying guest list in aid of some worthy cause. If you don't pay, you won't get in.

As for how you get onto the guest list in the first place, well that's a whole different story.