Mythbusting The Musician M&Gs

Sometimes people I speak with who follow the mainstream society, or are just not big music followers just don’t seem to understand the purpose of attending a meet and greet with a band/artist I love.

Even though I haven’t met any musicians I idolize yet….and that is yet to change come February 22nd, I still understand why it would be so important for big music fans to take the opportunity when it presents itself.

Some people just don’t see the point because they have these common beliefs about what happens in them based on what the media pays most attention to. Despite my lack of experience with these kinds of things, I’m still smart enough to understand why people like myself invest on this when they can. So here are some myths with meet and greets that I’m going to bust for you, because they don’t apply to every famous person on this planet. It all comes down to how big they are.

1. It’s expensive

Not always, this greatly depends on who you’re going to meet if it’s VIP. If you were going backstage to get an autograph from Taylor Swift then you’ll probably be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to get some signed memorabilia. But that’s not always the case, most of the bands I listen to are much smaller over here than in their home turfs.

So the result from that is, if VIP is offered, I could pay as low as $80 just to hang backstage for maybe 15 minutes. That’s a pretty good deal if you ask me, in fact it’s better than $100 – $1,000 for this kind of thing! Like if a band I really loved was coming to the GTA and their VIP tickets were under $100 I would spend it in a heartbeat. If it was more expensive than that then I would only spend it unless I could afford it.

2. You don’t get to interact with the musician

Since the media portrays meet and greets as a long lineup of fans backstage who have drained their bank accounts to make their dreams come true: M and G’s are often seen as that and that only. In the case of bigger bands and artists they will get a long line of fans waiting so they don’t really have the time to speak to everyone. It sucks but that’s the truth if you’re waiting in line to meet One Direction or Ariana Grande.

However, once again this does not apply to every band and artist out there. Some bands who are smaller do VIP because they want to make more money to be able to tour in other parts of the world more often. If they’re not very big over there, chances are only a few fans will pay for VIP so it’s possible that the band will have more time to converse with their fans. With Lordi, I have no idea how many people will be waiting to meet them but I know for a fact it won’t be in numbers of 50 or 100; so I might get a chance to talk to them for a few minutes, like maybe ask what they think of this country, tell Mr. Lordi my favourite chocolate brand and ask him if he’s tried it, etc.

Yes I paid over $100 to meet Peter Cullen last year, and there was a long line of fans waiting, but I still had a chance to talk to him for a couple of minutes. So I took that opportunity to tell him how much Optimus Prime meant to me, and his agents never tried to rush me out of there.

That’s one thing if the musician doesn’t have the time to talk to everyone because of quantity, but if it’s where they refuse to interact as much because they see that as a waste of time then that’s something that’s just a jerky thing to do.

3. It’s a waste of time

Not necessarily, again this comes back to who it is you’re going to meet. I’ve come across tons of stories on the Internet from fans who waited by the tour bus after the show, or got there early and spotted the band members at the nearest Starbucks. If you catch them there then there is a chance they are more likely to interact with you.

So you may wait and wait whether it’s in a VIP line or outside by the bus, and in the end it’ll certainly be worth the wait when the band members show up. I truly hope that when this happens with Lordi I’ll realize that it was worth every penny to pay extra for this opportunity, AND the long wait of 5 years that I have endured up to when this finally happens.

4. Why should we try to meet them? I mean they’re not going to remember you, you’re not going to become friends with them.

Yes part of this is true, the people you idolize and want to meet are not going to be your friends, especially if they’ve got millions of fans.

BUT with smaller bands, sometimes regular attendance of their concerts in your area can lead to this. One of my friends goes to see her favourite band regularly every time they tour in her country. She also takes a few road trips to see them as well while they are there. At first I didn’t understand the point of that because of my “quality > quantity” belief when it comes to concerts, but over time I learned why that it is important to some fans. Eventually my friend became recognized by the band members every time they saw her at the show. They would wave to her, and I’m sure there was some more personal interactions as well but I will not name them because I suppose my friends wish that to be kept secret.

Imagine it this way: If Lordi started touring here regularly and I showed up to every gig in the GTA, the band members might start to notice me more. If I hung out after the show they might greet me using my name, tell me things like “It’s good to see you again,”, have a more in-depth conversation with me, or hey I might get to share a few drinks with them. And that’s all I want out of it, I have NO desire to go back to their hotel with them.

Don’t assume that your favourite musician isn’t going to remember you because you never know! If they really mean a lot to you you’d come more than once and eventually they will recognize and engage with you more often when possible. I’ve seen it happen, I’ve got friends who have been through that so it’s not impossible. It won’t lead to being BFFs but having your favourite musician remember is something to feel proud of right?

Because of these myths, this is why the mainstream sometimes is reduced to not wanting to meet whoever they idolize, or this is just people in general who aren’t in to music as much as others are. Of course, this can also be applied to meeting your favourite idol at a convention or something.

You know what I say, don’t let these myths back you out of pursuing to meet your idol no matter how famous they are. You won’t know how it’s going to go until you’ve tried. If it turns out to be a disappointment then you don’t have to do it again!

Not everything goes the way your think it does according to the media.

-Emily