Lightning Fast

I was working a Maroon 5 concert last night. While waiting outside for the show to finish and us to go inside the venue, there was an altercation. One of the road crew came out yelling at a guy. The music from the concert served as background for the scene. The roadie was yelling at the guy telling him he wasn't allowed backstage and his pass was a fake.

The guy plead ignorance and was still trying to get backstage. The roadie pulled the credential off the guy's lanyard, pushed the guy away, and shut the door to the stage. The guy looked at the burly security guy there and said, "he took my pass."

Now I don't know if the guy was ignorant, but his pass was a fake. It looked like the pass that said "ARTIST" but there were some things wrong with it. It was the wrong shape. It was printed on plastic not laminated. It had a hole at the top for the lanyard that was made with a hole punch. But most important, there was nothing on the back. The real pass had the credential on both sides of the pass.

As we stood there waiting for the show to end there were more people with this fake pass trying to get backstage. Security was rounded up and shown the fake passes and told not to let anyone with them in. The angry roadie had people with the fake passes escorted off the property. It was pretty funny to watch 10 people with the passes try to get in. "Tony gave it to me." one guy said. "Fuck you. There is no one named Tony on the crew." was the answer.

So how did  the fakes happen? Someone took a picture of someone with a pass and thru digital magic, made their own version. But like the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark who re-created the head piece to the Staff of Ra, they only had one side to go from from the burned imprint of Toht's hand, and didn't know there were 2 sides to the pass. And since the shape was close, they didn't care...

As we waited a woman asked me to take her picture with her camera. She had the set list for the show and 4 drumsticks in her hands. I looked at her and said, "Your pass is a fake." "What?" she replied. I explained her pass was a fake and I could tell from 6 feet away. She didn't really care because she had already been inside and scored some booty.

If I were to make fake passes I would do it for the Rolling Stones or U2 or The Who. But Maroon 5?

Maybe it's easier to do with smaller shows where they may not be paying attention...