311 | Backstage Passes

Backstage passes on 311 tours and on all national Tours in the United States for that matter come in basically two varieties, sticky or laminated. The sticky pass can further be broken down into 4-10 types, depending on the tour and the venue that the show is being played in. On the Three-Eleven tour, laminated passes are worn by the band, their crew, the production staff, the merchandiser, and travelling representatives of the sound and lighting companies. Sticky passes generally change color for each city that the tour visits. Additionally the date is written on the colored pass of the day, and then another word or code is also written to prevent counterfeiting, and fraud. Sticky passes are used on the day of show with the following designations in order of importance: Working, Local Crew, Guest, VIP, Photography, and After Show. The After Show pass, only gets you partially backstage after the show. Depending on the promoter, the show , the band and the city, the after show party can range from a group of fans being held in what looks like a detention room by a number of local security, to a half naked orgies in the bands dressing room or buses. On a recent tour, the two production assistants were women. The secret code written on the after show passes, in addition to the date was "TULSA", backwards for "A Slut" . These women were terminally jealous that they were invited less to the after shows than the local fans. Most of the after shows were fun, and respectful parties though.
Laminates and Sticky passes make great collectibles. The art is often some of the nicest representations of the current Cd's artwork.