Opinion: Why I hate VIP upgrades (+ UPDATE)

When I started this blog I thought I would include a lot more stuff than just reviews, like opinion pieces, but I’ve never really found the time / energy / inspiration to write some (plus I doubt that anybody cares). However, I’ve always been having strong opinions concerning one thing that’s becoming more and more „popular“ when it comes to concerts: VIP upgrades. I might’ve mentioned it a few times before, perhaps in entries where I talked about shows for which I had actually bought VIP upgrades (Illumishade in Essen in 2024 and Imminence in Cologne in 2024) .

Now today’s the day that I’m feeling the urge again to say a few words on the matter. This post was inspired by Electric Callboy announcing VIP upgrades for their tour this year. As a big Electric Callboy fan – and a just as big VIP upgrade hater – I want to put down a few words.

Don’t get me wrong: I understand the desire of fans to have a chance to meet their favourite band, to be in the front row etc. Only recently I bought another VIP ticket for Böse Fuchs to support their tour and because it already included the concert ticket as well as a tour shirt. I also understand the matter that these days, with rising costs, VIP upgrades might make the difference for some bands to be able to cover the touring expenses or even make a bit of money out of it. Occasionally, I end up buying a VIP upgrade after all, despite my strong dislike. Nevertheless, I have a list of arguments that I want to share why I just can’t bring myself to like them.

1) It divides fans

First of all, there’s a divide based on money: there are those who can afford an upgrade and those who can’t. I’ll come to the money-point later, so for now I don’t really want to elaborate on that, but it’s a dividing factor. Anyone who has ever lived in (relative) poverty knows how big of a division money can cause and how left out you can feel because of that.

But even worse, to me personally, is a divide that happens rather on the emotional side. There have been fandoms where I’ve seen people with VIP upgrades show pretty elitist manners. They were acting like they were the „better“ fans because they were willing and able to support the band even further financially, because they were part of some kind of „inner circle“ that shared common memories of VIP events that others didn’t have access to and – and this one is a little wild – they started acting like they knew the band and were close friends with them because they participated in so many VIP M&Gs that they were recognised by the band and „knew what was going on“ in contrast to the newbies.

I’ve seen the latter group dominate Q&A sessions and even answer questions for the band, which made me and my friends who attended the M&G with me terribly unwell amongst those people. We’re a little bunch of introverts and missed out on our chances to ask questions because the people who had been attending the VIP event several times this tour kept asking questions, or frowning on others who asked questions they might have heard before.

We all know that some fans tend to be a little over the top and honestly, VIP upgrades have made the behaviours of these people so much worse.

2) People with less money are excluded

Most VIP upgrades are really pricey. The cheapest ones I’ve seen were 50€ on top of the regular ticket price. These days, with rising ticket costs, some fans with low or no income are already struggling to pay the ever-rising ticket costs. A VIP upgrade on top of that is difficult if not even impossible for some of them to reach.

The fact that VIP upgrades are often strictly limited (which is understandable) makes it even more difficult to get them because they might be sold out by the time when these fans have enough money to buy them. So announcing upgrades on short notice or putting them on sale immediately when they’re announced can be extra troublesome.

The consequences? FOMO for example. Why some of their fellow fans talk about the super cool Meet & Greet and the acoustic set they enjoyed, these fans miss out on those things. Furthermore, the availablity of VIP upgrades with Meet & Greet options makes it unlikely that bands will also show up at the merch after the show, so these fans are less likely to be able to meet their favourite artists. So while some buy their definite chance to meet the band, others are robbed of that option. And since a lot of VIP upgrades guarantee early access, the people who can’t afford them have lower chances to get into the front row (depending on the band).

3) Buying time with the band feels disgusting

This is a very personal opinion, but I strongly dislike the idea of buying time with the band and forcing them to be with me. I’ve been at one Meet & Greet where you could strongly feel that at least one member of the band really disliked the setting and didn’t want to be there. And I get that: imagine you’re an introvert, but you’re forced to join the group when actually all you wanna do is rest. If you have a bad day, you’re still forced to join because fans have paid money to see you and will be massively disappointed if they can’t.

I don’t want to imagine what it’s like if there’s someone in these VIP groups who oversteps boundaries or acts negatively in any other way, but keeps coming back. Also the fact that people paid for it sometimes makes them feel pretty entitled, which might encourage, in the worst case, abusive behaviour. I found it unsettling when I saw how eagerly people commanded the band for a staged photo that sometimes was really over the top. And I didn’t want to imagine what had prompted the VIP host to tell us before the M&G that we were not supposed to touch anybody’s private parts.

Honestly, I value it so much more to meet the band on their own terms after the show at the merch or whatever. I don’t want to feel like they’re only there because I paid for it.

4) It’s risky for the band

Touring is exhausting. VIP upgrades with Meet & Greet options reduce the band’s recovery time. On top of that, it exposes them to an extra risk to catch diseases. I can vividly imagine that people who bought a VIP upgrade for a show and have been waiting for that for weeks or even months will not miss out on it just because they’re feeling unwell. And whatever they have can easily be passed on to the band while giving hugs and posing for photos.

If there’s an extra acoustic session, it’s an extra exhaustion for the singer(s). While you can still play the guitar when your voice is gone it’s pretty hard to sing an entire show without a voice.

5) What’s included in an upgrade can be very different

There are super cool VIP offers that come with M&Gs, soundcheck or acoustic set, photo with the band and nice goodies. I’ve heard from a friend that Ice Nine Kills sell photo options where you can choose a way how their singer mock-kills you. Nice!

But M&Gs can be very different. I’ve been to one Q&A session which was an introvert’s worst nightmare because nope, for sure I will not dare to ask a single question with about 20 other people listening and watching. Especially not when I became witness to their elitist behaviour before we got in.

The Imminence M&G was amazing because the band really took a lot of time and we got to talk to every member of the band individually, not in a group but either each of us on our own or with the company we came with. That’s nice. But group settings, which are more frequent, are my personal nightmare and definitely one reason why I refrain from buying VIP upgrades.

It gets even worse when the M&G is just a long chain of Hello – Photo – Bye. I was considering getting a VIP upgrade for Motionless in White if they sell any for their upcoming tour, but I’m not sure if it’ll be worth it from what I’ve heard.

And well, if you don’t even get to meet the band for a group photo but paid 80€ or more for it, it pretty much feels like a scam because duuh, just call the upgrade „early entry ticket“, okay?

Also goodies. Typical goodies include tote bags, lanyards, pins and signed posters and yay for tour posters that do not even have the band on them. Yay for yet another tote bag (I don’t know about you, but I have like 50). Why don’t you come up with something cool? I get that the tote bag serves to carry home your poster, but nah. And don’t tell me just that I get a „goodie“ because I’d like to be able to judge if it’s worth the money.

Also another favourite of mine is the „early access to merch“ and the „exclusive VIP merch“ (looking at you, Bad Omens). I’m supposed to pay money to get faster access to spend more money and an exclusive item I have to spend money on? (And in case of Bad Omens, the last VIP shirt was so unspectacular that it hurt me almost physically).

6) The ways of distribution

Scenario 1: we have strongly limited VIP upgrades for 20-30 people maybe that go on sale together. They’re sold out after 10 minutes. During the tour, you see the photos of the people at the M&G or you see the VIP laminates in the front row and you see the exact same people at every damn show while others didn’t even have a chance to grab just one single upgrade.

One could argue that it’s fair because if you’re fast enough you get your upgrade. But some of us work in jobs where they can’t spontaneously log in for ticket sales. Opportunity missed because you were too busy earning the money that pays your concert tickets and VIP upgrades.

I get the temptation to buy more than one because I love being front row. But is it fair that some people get to experience this 5-10 times a tour and others not a single time? Why are there no limits per person? You could even have people apply for the shows they will attend and then have chance decide who gets the upgrade for a specific show.

Scenario 2: the only major advantage of the upgrade is early access. There are 200 upgrades available. The front row is not wide enough for 200 people, so the advantage is goooone. Honestly, if you sell 200 upgrades per show for 90 bucks each or even more … you suck a little.

Update: 8 November 2025

Recently the German band Erdling announced Meet & Greet options for their upcoming Mana tour. It came with a very detailed explanation why the band decided to offer them. In summary, they have noticed at their last tour how „chaotic“ and time consuming it was to meet fans at the show after the merch and with the Mana Tour being the first one with a nightliner, they want to be able to leave faster after the show, so they rather want to spend the time after the show packing their stuff. So they decided to offer Meet & Greets before the show under the following conditions – and that’s the part where it gets interesting:

• They’re free. The only thing you need is a ticket for the show.
• They’re limited to one Meet & Greet experience per tour per person, so nobody can sign up twice and as many people as possible get the chance to meet the band.
• They’re limited to a small amount of people so the band can take enough time for everyone.

So can we please appreciate that there are bands out there who understood how to offer their fans a valuable experience? No „pay to win“, no „first come, first serve x20“. Of course it’s a „downside“ that those who couldn’t get a Meet & Greet spot for the show they will be attending won’t have a chance to meet the band after the merch, but I understand the band’s motivation.

I do understand though that some bands need the extra money to cover their touring expenses – but from a fan’s point of view, most bands could work on the execution of their offer.