I’ve made no secret of my hostility toward Jazz Fest’s VIP package that allows high rollers to buy their way into a special enclosure in front of the stage. It not only takes the front row away from the band’s biggest fans, but it backs those fans further away from the band because of the space created by the pen. It turns out I and fans aren’t the only ones displeased by this development. Onstage, Britt Daniel of Spoon commented on the gulf between the band and the audience, and in Keith Spera’s story today at Nola.com, so did Wilco’s John Stirratt:

Stirratt picked out “tons of familiar faces” in the Jazz Fest crowd. He liked the standing-room-only space adjacent to the barricades, but was thrown off by the premium ticket corral directly in front of the stage.

“The premium area wasn’t very well-attended — not that many people ponied up the premium money for Wilco. It was weird to see faces in this sparse area, then it was jammed behind it,” he said, adding that some guys in the premium area “were moving and wrestling around. Looked like they got their money’s worth.”

 I’ve never had an issue with the Big Chief package, and if I were a business owner, I’d purchase a pair of Big Chief tickets so I could sit comfortably with a client, drink beer and watch the show. Those grandstands aren’t taking prime real estate from diehard fans, so I have no issue with them. but if the VIP pens in front of the Gentilly and Acura stages diminish the experience for fans and distract bands, they’re a really bad idea.