Originally Posted by savagehenry

So my wife and I did the VIP at Eugene. We had an amazing experience. Got there about 11. We drove down from Portland where we went to the show the previous night. We waited till about 1 before the let us into the building. We met some cool fans that had drove in from Idaho (my wife and I are from Texas). Even met a cool brother that was following them for there first shows doing all VIP. Anyway it was cool meeting fans from all over and none seemed to be DB's thinking they no more than you and are higher on the food chain. There were a lot of fans. Slightly under 100 of us. When they let us in, they gave us tickets. (My wife and I had front row right in front of Justin.) They handed us black bags with tool VIP logo which contained swag such as beanie, VIP sticker, key chain. When everyone was checked in we went downstairs into a seated room. In front of the room was Adam's guitar, half stack, loop pedal and effects pedal and a small mixing board.
In a few minutes after everyone was seated. Adam entered in the room. It was really a great experience. For almost 2 hrs he went over the process in which TOOL writes. He played songs and explained the origin, the process and the way each member does their part. It was also a free for all forum. Any question you wanted to ask him you were able to. No holds barred. He was really kind. He was as nervous and excited as we all were. He cleared up a lot of misinformation that gets spread and gave some great enlightenment about the band. That session alone was worth the cost. Just getting that real with Adam was eye opening and inspiring. After the session he took photos with everyone and gave us all a signed VIP poster. We also were given a VIP shirt when we got to the room waiting on Adam to show.
Afterward we waited till everyone was done, then we were escorted back to the main floor were we could purchase merch at a discounted price. After that, a bit more waiting then we were escorted down to sound check. We got to say hello to Danny and Justin (no Maynard) and listen to sound check. We were the first group to listen to Opiate with new middle arrangement before they played it for the first time ever live. That was a cool experience. Especially when Adam looked over and said you guys are the first. No ones heard this one. Then they counted off and rocked it. They even flubbed up. Stopped, talked about it and picked back up and finished it out.
After sound check we were escorted back downstairs were Adam had arranged a couple of pieces he had made for the Schism and Porabola videos. We were able to take photos with them and just hang out and kill time before the were able to be let free in the concourse for the show.
Having front row was incredible. Getting to see how animated everyone was killer. Being able to watch Danny in action up close is amazing. Thanks to Juan for organizing us and herding cats all afternoon. Thanks to Adam for an amazing experience. I'd do it again in a heart beat.