Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

We know some of you guys like hearing what goes on behind the scenes in the Fan Club from time to time. It was like Grand Central Station here one day when we had to straighten out Pat and Spyder erroneously showing up on Rick Springfield’s tour schedule. That got us thinking some of you might like to know how this all works.

Pat and Spyder’s appearances are booked through the William Morris agency. There’s a whole process for putting a tour itinerary together. We’ve posted a web page for that here.

As all that is going on, William Morris puts the booking information into a spreadsheet called a “Grid”. Along with some other people, Maria Hannam and I get a copy of this every time something is updated. It includes the dates of the shows, city, venue, when they’re going to be announced, dates for the various types of sales (Fan Club presale, venue sales, VIP, etc.), type of show (duo, full band, co-headlining, etc.), link to the ticketing site, and contact information for the promoter, marketer and ticketing outlet. We get these quite a bit ahead of time – well in advance of the tour. For example, we started getting the summer tour dates on February 8 this year. At first, this list of dates isn’t very complete. Festivals are typically booked way ahead of the regular shows. Venues with membership sales are next. Then the rest of the dates start filling in.

Maria puts the information into a database on Pat and Spyder’s web site, where it’s invisible to the public until it’s activated. That’s right…we do the tour posting for Pat and Neil now. We send information to Harold Bottomley and Donna Griffith, who put together the posts for our Fan Club Facebook page and Twitter feed, respectively. Some of the arrangements change right up to the last minute before announcing. It can get pretty dynamic at times, as you’ve seen today. We’ve even had to put a special calendar together to remind us when to activate each date for their web page.

Then we have to sit on all this information until those announcement dates roll around. If there’s something unique about a show you may need to plan ahead for, we try to put out a hint or two to help people make arrangements. Otherwise, we can’t talk about anything specific until the right time arrives.

After that, the fun begins. Venues announce early, don’t post at all, and/or post the wrong information. Some venues post a show before the booking has even been confirmed. Announcement dates change. The co-headlining artist lets things slip before they’re ready. In most of these cases, the Fan Club notices the issues before management ever would. With all the artists they represent, they’ve got other things to do. There are over 8000 of you out there. That’s a lot of eyes to do good research in noticing when things aren’t right.

This Fan Club involvement is really appreciated by Pat’s management. It’s gotten us some benefits from time to time. Quite a few of you have gotten to attend the concerts they’ve performed for DVDs. There have been some Fan Club presales put together ahead of regular sales. We may get early insight into the play they’re contributing to. Etc.

For our part, the few of us who deal with this are having a lot of fun. Pat and Spyder get a lot better representation than they otherwise would. We couldn’t ask for better support and access than we get from them and their staff.

 

14 comments on “Behind the Scenes
  1. Mary Murphy says:

    Hi Pat, I missed ur show in May I was so bummed. U don’t know me, But ur my Idol. I Love to SING, The 1st time I saw u I brought my little kids & u were pregnant, So i’m sure that’s been a few yrs. Anyway I’d really Love to do something, to make people Happy. One way or another. I’d Love for it’s Title to be, Precious Time, because Life is to short.

  2. Dave Conrad says:

    My wife and I just saw Pat and Neil in Rochester, MN and we were in awe of the talent and tunes we heard and saw that night. The energy, passion, and chemistry of the “dynamic duo” brought down the house and made all of us crave more and more from them. Pat still has the beautiful , angelic voice that I remember and Neil can play the guitar just like ringing … ! Well, you know what I mean. Thank you to Pat and Neil for making the music live on!

  3. Patricia young says:

    Hello Neighbor

    Im from Lindenhurst and from Hamilton ave.Pats mother use to cut my hair.I remember her in school plays,She was so good. I believe she use to work at Freindlys ice cream.Im so looking forward to seeing Pat and Spyder.Its also important to me because it was my sister and I bucket list to see her together,sadly she passed away suddenly this oct.I would love just to meet her for my sister.Im buying a ticket but cant afford to get a package.Thank You for letting post Patricia Young

  4. Ava says:

    I saw pat in the mpac center in morristown NJ! im only 10. Thank you Pat and Neil for keeping up the music!

  5. Ava says:

    Ur my life hero!!!

  6. Ann says:

    I want to be part of the fan club … help

  7. keith owens says:

    I can’t believe I have been listening to Pat and Neil for 40 years now. I still remember when the guy in the record store started playing “In the Heat of the Night” the week it was released. I bought the album that day, I was 17. I still have that album and all of the others that followed. I have attended many concerts, on the Get Nervous tour I saw her 3 times.

  8. Zach says:

    Pat and Neil!! Your music means so much to me…as do your interviews and just, well, the vibes you put out in the world. Your music has gotten me through the darkest times and I hope so much one day to see you live! Im too disabled to travel far so I hope you please come to nothern California!

    I love your memoir and I have all your albums, including the Japanese ones… they rock!! Thank you for helping me find the courage to fight on. <3 Would love to hear from you sometime 🙂

  9. Stephen Morton says:

    I really like your style. Keep up the good work!

  10. Hi Pat and Neil, me and my friend saw you in Salina Ks on Sept14,2021. You two were AWESOME! Also Neil you were throwing out pic’s to the audience , I tried to get one but everyone else got to them first. I was so BUMMED.

  11. Dan Collura says:

    It’s been a year now since I visited with Mr. and Mrs. Giraldo. Neil and I met by happenstance. We are both big baseball fans. In case you don’t know, Neil co-wrote the song “The Curse of the Rock” which is about the former Cleveland Indians trading away their star player, Rocky Colavito. Our respective family are from the same area in Sicily. Neil and became, what you might say, pen pals. As it turns out, by pure coincidence, we have a lot in common. I won’t go into those things because they are private. I don’t want any of you to misunderstand, Neil is a very private and cautious person. He does not tell you anything that he doesn’t want you to know. Never-the-less, I consider our conversations to be private. I am from the SF Bay Area and Neil invited my wife and I, to his 2021 San Jose concert. Neil had me meet him a few hours before the concert. Unfortunately, my wife couldn’t attend. We sat and talked for quite awhile. He then introduced me to his band. From there he insisted that I enjoy a pre-concert buffet they had laid out. I was trying to be cool, but I was too excited to eat much. We had interesting conversation with his friends, co-workers, stage hands, etc. Neil then brought me to Mrs. Giraldo’s dressing room where we met. I cannot over emphasize what an absolute sweetheart Mrs. Pat Benatar Giraldo is. She and Neil make you feel like you are long time friends. We are all about the same age and you would never know it. Neil is a very handsome man and Mrs. Giraldo is a beautiful woman. Italians always bring gifts to their host and I brought a few things for my new friends. Of course, they are routinely showered with compliments and gifts but you would never know it. Mind you, they are rich and famous rock and roll stars, but they graciously accepted the pitiful few gifts that I presented to them. From here, Neil introduced me to his opening act and long time friend, Mr. John Waite. Mr. Waite was impeccably dressed. He is a very congenial person with a great sense of humor. It was fun listening to Mr. Waite and Neil jabber away about music, sound systems, etc. I think that I spent about 3 hours or so backstage with Neil. He was incredibly nice, well spoken, and gracious. Of course, I had a superb comp seat for the concert. Neil is a superb musician with impeccable skills. He plays several instruments with piano and guitar leading the way. Pat Benatar and Neil put on a killer concert. The place was rockin! For a few months, post concert, Neil and I continued our pen pal discussions but the man is busy. He’s got real friends, family and business matters to deal with. Their concert was also interrupted by sickness. Eventually, Neil stopped writing. That’s cool. I still consider Neil to be my dago friend. My point here is, that these are the kind of people the Giraldo’s are. I forgot to tell you. About a month before their daughter got into a car accident, I got into a bad car wreck myself. I was rushed to ER and put into intensive care for a few days. At this point, Neil had not even met me but heard about my accident. In an effort to help and to show his concern, he offered to call my wife. My wife was too upset to take any calls at the time so they didn’t speak. Again, this is the kind of person Neil is. These people aren’t self absorbed or narcissistic. They are a down to earth couple who actually care about others. Their selection into the RRHOF was WAY overdue. Neil and Mrs. Giraldo are a class act. I will always remember their generosity and kindness.

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