Does anyone have any VIP experience reports yet?

[chaunce88]

I'm wondering if anyone out there has taken part in the VIP experience yet. if so, what was it like? Do you have any photos or video?

[976-EVIL]

Seriously?? Nothing???

[charissa]

I'll have something to report for you after 9/12!

[976-EVIL]

Alright I guess I am first. Went to the VIP experience in Charlotte 9/3. It was amazing.

There were quite a few of us and one of the tour roadies "Bob" met us out front after the soundcheck. He explained the deal and we went inside. There was a stack of lithographs on a table and we were told to take one. We chatted for a bit and then the band came out to our collective applause. The guys sat down at two folding tables and we all go in line for our items to be signed. Steph also brought in a small radio and when he sat down he hit play and out came some "Messugah" as our signing music.

The band signed my guitar, lithograph and a CD. Bob the roadie in charge said that this was the biggest VIP turnout of the tour so far and the smoothest as well. People has albums, drumheads, photos and even one guy had a small diecast deftones bike, the guys gladly signed everyhing with a smile and a handshake. After the signing line was complete, everyone took a group photo with the band. The next 15 minutes was spent talking with the band and taking individual photos.

The coolest thing was that all of the guys seemed to really enjoy the experience as much as we did. Chino, Abe and Sergio were very approachable, I can tell Frank is not a big fan of these types of things but he was friendly. I will confirm, as I have read from many on this site that Stephen Carpenter may be the coolest dude on the planet. When the meet and greet wrapped up I could not believe I even debated the $150 cost for this. I would have twice that if I knew how great it would be. I hope all of you who get the chance to do this have as great an experience as I did on September 3rd. It is good to know a band that creates the music I love so much are actually great humans as well.

DEFTONES OWN!!! Cheers!!!!!!!

[charissa]

@976-EVIL, thank you so much for that account!!! I'll be at the VIP in Allentown exactly 7 days from now, down to the hour. AWESOME!!!  Glad you had a great experience and thanks for sharing it w/ us!!! 

[smokeyandbella]

I am so glad we drove the 10 hrs to Charlotte for the Meet and Greet and the show.  I have talked to Sergio on twitter for months now and got to meet him at the New Orleans show on 8/22/10 (Yes, 2 deftones show in a week and a half!)  I asked him in a message if the Meet and Greet would be worth the drive or if it was cheezy and he told me they really enjoy doing them and seeing the fans and that if there were tix left for it to do it. 
I must say I agree with him.  The guys were so sweet and funny, Steph is a trip!  I had pics from the New Orleans show with Sergio to get signed and the rest of the band on stage 
The funniest part is when Steph went to sign the band pic and he wasn't in it.  He wanted to know if there was a reason that I left him out.  So he signed the pic he wasn't in a drew an arrow on the pic  where he was on stage.  So next I gave him the pic of him alone playing and he just looked at me and laughed and said oh i see now, I get my own picture.
Having talked to Sergio previously and having met him before allowed me a bit of an advantge with the whole meet and greet but it was a wonderful experience.  The show in Charlotte had a better setlist and vibe then my home town of New Orleans.  The crowd in New Orleans was mostly douches and I am a female that does not hold her tongue so it was tense at times.  But the crowd in Charlotte was so cool and friendly.  We met many great people and you could tell the band was feeling the vibe by having more fun on stage!

[976-EVIL]

@976-EVIL, thank you so much for that account!!! I'll be at the VIP in Allentown exactly 7 days from now, down to the hour. AWESOME!!!  Glad you had a great experience and thanks for sharing it w/ us!!! 

Excited for you Charissa!!!

I will be thinking about you Sunday and look forward to hearing about your experience as well!

[charissa]

@976-EVIL, thank you so much for that account!!! I'll be at the VIP in Allentown exactly 7 days from now, down to the hour. AWESOME!!!  Glad you had a great experience and thanks for sharing it w/ us!!! 

Excited for you Charissa!!!

I will be thinking about you Sunday and look forward to hearing about your experience as well!

Thanks man, I'll be sure to post details and links to pics!!   Gonna be a blast for sure!

[the same sound]

i got a VIP pass for the Columbus show with them and This Will Destroy You. we got the poster, and waited for them to enter. when they entered, the rest of the band split up into the group of VIP's while Chino just walked around slowly, kinda looked like he was waiting for someone to come up to him. since he was already walking towards me, i called his name and introduced myself. he was so nice, he had a really sweet face. he walked over, said hey, and i asked him to sign the poster and he answered my question, "What does the symbol for Diamond Eyes mean?" and basically said  that the whole band worked on it and it doesn't really have a meaning yet/it's not done. personally, he probably just said that because he either didn't want me to know or really just didn't know. he also asked about my friend's arm (which is broken) and had a conversation with her. we took a picture together, i said thanks and goodbye. i then walked over to Frank and had a conversation with him, he was really nice. i asked him how he was and if he was liking the tour so far and if he was excited for the Euro tour. he told me about the Euro tour in November, and i accidentally made a stupid comment about how November is a good month since my birthday is in November, but then he told me his was too and that he's a Sagittarius which surprised me, i loved that he started talking about zodiac. after i talked to Frank, i turned to look for Stephen. when i saw him, i got a little too excited and scared him a little. he was a little standoffish after than, but he signed my poster and took a couple pictures without complaint. i turned around and talked to Sergio for a little. told him i respected him for filling in for Chi. he seemed really shy and sweet about it.  i can see he's a nice guy.  i went over to Abe and introduced myself, and asked him to sign my poster and get some pictures. he was down-to-earth and really chill. after that, i got to see Frank's tattoo. it was beautiful.

overall, it was an awesome experience.
i want to go again (:

[deftoner664]

HEY! My girlfriend and I were standing right in front of you in line at the show! With you, your friend and your boyfriend?  Glad to hear you had a good time, and they for sure are really nice dudes. Bet it was well worth the drive all the way from Indiana : )

[the same sound]

LOL
i should have known so many people that went to that show has a Sharing Lungs account (;

did you guys have a good time?
you guys were the ones that went to the book signing first and stood in that hot sun with us, right?

[deftoner664]

Yes! haha... we had a great time it was the best show i've seen from them so far... Going to see them in Cleveland tomorrow! Round two here we come!

[the same sound]

haha, i'm jealous.
i'm thinking about attending the one in Lexington...

[charissa]

Allentown VIP experience was fantastic and more than worth it!!! My buddy and I happened to be first in line, so we got to chat with Bob for a quite some time while we waited. That dude was cool. Bob had me pass out the lithographs to everyone as we waited by the bar. Then the guys came in and Chino and Serg approached us first and signed what we had. Chino was very gracious and composed and shook our hands and looked us in the eye, nodded and took this same amount of time with everyone. Serg stayed and talked to us for a good bit which was SO cool! (Thank you to my newest and most fave Twitter buddy for that!    Then Bob told everyone to just start mingling to get the rest of the signatures and photos. At first we thought they'd do signing and then photos w/ us as it was at some other meet & greets, but then we just mingled and got the rest of the signatures and pics w/ the band. Autograph w/ Steph was short & sweet, but he was cool and gave his awesome "cheese" smile in my pic...even though that one came out a little blurry. Aside from Sergio, Abe and Frank were the coolest!!! We chatted with both of them for a while and they were both more interested in chatting w/ us, so I had to quickly interject at the end to get the signatures and photos from them. LOVE love love the way my pics w/ Abe & Frank came out. Wish I could personally thank them for being so cool!!


My buddy who came w/ me is in the music biz himself, so he had a lot to chat about w/ all the guys.

After chatting w/ Abe & Frank we went back to Chino since we didn't get a pic w/ him at first since we didn't know we could at that time. He was very cool, reserved, calm, serene. There was some desperate girl fan clinging to him at the time and he was being gracious about it, lol, and helped me interrupt her to get my pic. Right after that was the group photo. The crazy girl fan grabbed Chino's arm w/ both her hands and was like, "oohh, I'm going to stand next to chino...Chinoooooo." *gag* haha... he was very gracious about the whole thing. I just shook my head and laughed. Still haven't gotten the group photo emailed to me though...hope it's soon!!

After that we walked out chatting w/ Serg.

The whole entire day was fucking amazing and this is easily the BEST day of my entire life.

The show couldn't have been better. We were right up front in front of this bouncer so I got lots of great pics and a few videos, though in all but one of my videos there's a couple blackouts b/c I had to duck for an incoming crowd surfer to the bouncer in front of me. Also, I was more interested in having a good time at the show than getting the best photos, and videos, but got some good ones nonetheless.

I'm charissa218 on youtube and uploaded video of Digital Bath and Diamond Eyes so far...  if you wanna see some pics on facebook, I'm "charissa grandin" but you'll have to friend request me first...just tell me you're from sharing lungs so I can add you. Might put some of the best ones up on flickr for sharing lateron...

Damn, I wish I could go back and do it all over again. Wish I'd bought VIP tix for Camden BDS, but the pit tix should be cool enough.

[kittyy]

haha, i'm jealous.
i'm thinking about attending the one in Lexington...

if you go again, you're taking me with you. again. just sayin'. lol.

[976-EVIL]

Great Stuff Charissa!!!

Really glad it worked out for you!!!

[charissa]

Great Stuff Charissa!!!

Really glad it worked out for you!!!

Thank you so much!!!   Trying hard not to be bummed today now that it is all over...

[people_r_fake529]

I got my VIP tix for the Orlando show on 5-21-11! everyone's experience with the band sounds awesome! I can't wait, when I think about it , I get butterflies in my stomach.  Thanks for your detailed account and awesome pictures Charissa.