*OFFICIAL* MERCH THREAD

[estrangedtwat]

The whole idea of merch is that it's supposed to be exclusive.  It's an incentive for people to attend the concert.  If ALL the merchandise is available to everyone, it completely defeats the purpose.

It's SUPPOSED to be special.  It's supposed to be an item only for the people "who were there."  Yeah, it sucks that this stuff is insanely expensive after the fact but isn't that the point?

My absolute favorite litho is the Cinci one.  I'll never ever own it.  It's too expensive.  Oh well...I can still appreciate the jpeg.

I love my Japan "swords" t-shirt.  It's a memento of the show I was at and was produced as an exclusive with art just to commemorate the Japan shows.  If it's available on target.com, yeah, I'd be pissed.

I don't think everyone should be entitled to EVERYTHING.  Some things should be just for the fans that were there.

[amaninjapan]

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

The whole idea of merch is that it's supposed to be exclusive.

What? No. The whole idea of merch is to MAKE MONEY.

 

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

It's an incentive for people to attend the concert.

I would think SEEING GUNS N ROSES LIVE would be their incentive to attend a concert. I've been going to concerts and gigs since 1993 and I've NEVER met ANYBODY who ever said the words "I'm going to the concert for the merch"

 

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

If ALL the merchandise is available to everyone, it completely defeats the purpose.

It's SUPPOSED to be special.  It's supposed to be an item only for the people "who were there."

That's not true at all and I reject your premise. Just because something is available to everyone doesn't mean it's not special.

 

Your statement is magical because it doesn't make sense regardless of whether you agree with it or not.

If you agree and you think merch should ONLY be available inside the venue for people with tickets - then believing in your statement doesn't make sense because NOTHING prevents people from still reselling it to people who... surprise, surprise weren't at the venue.

If you disagree and you think merch should be available outside the venue... then believing in your statement still doesn't make sense because the items are still SPECIAL and VALUABLE and COLLECTIBLE. Just listen to what you say next - You want the Cincinnati litho even though you didn't go to the concert. By your rationale, you shouldn't be able to have the Cincinnati litho REGARDLESS OF PRICE because YOU WEREN'T THERE. You sold me a Yokohama litho a couple weeks ago... but by your rationale, you shouldn't have bought extra lithos to sell to other fans who didn't go to Yokohama. Sounds like mixed messages to me. If I felt as strongly as you do about merch being 'exclusive' then I don't think I would sell merch to fans who weren't at the show.

 

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

It's a memento of the show I was at and was produced as an exclusive with art just to commemorate the Japan shows.  If it's available on target.com, yeah, I'd be pissed.

That's sounds FAR too elitist for me. To me that's like saying "The main reason I like this shirt is because I have it and most people don't. I like it because I was awesome enough to have a chance to buy one and other people aren't as as awesome as me."

 

The thing is - I UNDERSTAND what you're saying... but I don't agree all the merch should be like that. That's why I like that SOME items being numbered and limited edition like the lithographs. But not everything has to be so exclusive.

 

You know what I think would be awesome? If merch stands were outside the venue and people could get as many GNR Japan shirts or bandanas or towels as they want. But you had to trade in your ticket for a LIMITED EDITION item like the lithograph. Then the ONLY way you could get a lithograph would be to have been at the concert. AND it would reduce the ability for people to buy ridiculous amounts for resale. Some merch definitely deserves that treatment - but all the merch? Nah. Some people just want a damn keychain or a mug, man. Let them have their souvenir.

 

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

I don't think everyone should be entitled to EVERYTHING.  Some things should be just for the fans that were there.

Agreed. SOME thing should be restricted to the fans that were there. Just not ALL things. By putting the merch stand inside, that's essentially what you would be doing. Many of these items are already hard enough to get hold of yet you want to make it even harder and I disagree. The NUMBER ONE group of people who would benefit from such a thing would be people making massive profits from reselling merchandise.

[estrangedtwat]

Of course it's elitist.  Don't you remember the kids wearing the t-shirt from the show they were at at school the next day?  The t-shirt with the tour dates printed on the back?  Tour shirts are special.  If you could just walk into wal mart and buy the same Pearl Jam or GNR shirt that they sell at the show, but for $20 less...why would anyone buy anything at the concert?

Yes, it's a rip off, but it's one collectors/fans have bought into for as long as I've been going to concerts, which is a long time!

And I really love the city specific and show specific artwork.  It adds to the mentality that the concert you're attending is unique and special, even though they're just playing the same setlist.  It's a marketing gimmick and it always has been, but I'm a sucker for it anyway.

I'm OK with never owning the Cinci litho.  That was for Cincinattians. (Cincinattiites?)  They lucked out and got the best artwork of the tour, maybe as a consolation for having to live in Cincinatti.  If I really really really NEED to have it, there's always ebay.

And I like the fact that the merch booths were available outside the venues.  I still had to go allll the way to Yokohama and wait in line all day, so I feel like I "earned" it.  I totally agree there should be a limit though.  I was disgusted by seeing people walk out with literal ARMFULS and stacks of t-shirts and lithos that were going straight to yahoo auctions.

Bottom line, yes...they sell this stuff to make MONEY.  But if the stuff wasn't at least a little special, "personalized", and exclusive, nobody would bother.  The concert t-shirt is a tradition.  And I think there's always been an element of elitism, and "bragging" to it.  It's a walking advertisement.  You're telling everyone that sees you in that shirt that "I was there!"

Hell, wasn't that the tagline for the Troubadour show?  The bragging was built right in to the design!

[ChristmasFnatic]

 

In wrestling and concerts Ive been to, theres a merchandise booth outside and inside the venue. But yeah, would suck if someone not attending, go there early and buy most the lithos or such. Lol. It is what it is.

[megaguns1982]

1 hour ago, amaninjapan said:

.

 

 

 

 

You know what I think would be awesome? If merch stands were outside the venue and people could get as many GNR Japan shirts or bandanas or towels as they want. But you had to trade in your ticket for a LIMITED EDITION item like the lithograph. Then the ONLY way you could get a lithograph would be to have been at the concert. AND it would reduce the ability for people to buy ridiculous amounts for resale. Some merch definitely deserves that treatment - but all the merch? Nah. Some people just want a damn keychain or a mug, man. Let them have their souvenir.

 

Agreed. SOME thing should be restricted to the fans that were there. Just not ALL things. 

I agree totally, it's such a drag to be a massive fan, put in the effort to get to the merch stand 3 or 4 hours before the gig just to get a limited edition lithograph, but only because they sell out due to pricks buying them for resale. 

But in saying that, I bought a lithograph at the Melbourne gig on the way out, after the concert.  So they weren't sold out at all...

[6lake sa66ath]

Wow, we gettin' deep here in the merch thread! ;-D

For what it's worth, I agree with some points, disagree with some others, but by and large there NEEDS to be a limit on lithograph sales AT LEAST before show time. 

It breaks my merch hoarding heart to hear of tales of genuine fans seeking a memento from the merch stand wellll before show time, or in some cases that I read on the US NitL tour before the gates opened, and some scalping reselling heap of shit has bought the last 10 or 15 in one hit. 

It's bullshit and it needs to be curbed, at least for the '17 US run, because it seems like litho reselling is worst there

[amaninjapan]

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

Of course it's elitist.  Don't you remember the kids wearing the t-shirt from the show they were at at school the next day?  The t-shirt with the tour dates printed on the back?  Tour shirts are special.  If you could just walk into wal mart and buy the same Pearl Jam or GNR shirt that they sell at the show, but for $20 less...why would anyone buy anything at the concert?

Yes, it's a rip off, but it's one collectors/fans have bought into for as long as I've been going to concerts, which is a long time!
 

 

Nah we never had bragging rights like that at my school. In fact, it was actually kinda the opposite! We felt like it was the EPITOME of uncool to wear a shirt of the band you are seeing or just saw. I remember I had to borrow a friend's Dead Kennedys t-shirt because I didn't want to wear my Soundgarden shirt to see Soundgarden Oh man, those were the days.

And yes, I agree tour shirts are special. But I think only selling them at the venue is elitist enough. Selling then IN the venue would just be too mean to fans and too impractical for promoters trying to make mucho bucks.

 

As for the Wal-Mart thing - that's something different. Like I said, selling the tour-specific or venue-specific merch AT THE VENUE is restrictive enough, I feel. But if they sold the same shirt for a CHEAPER price somewhere else, then sure - no one would buy it at the concert. But I think those are two separate issues. As for price - honestly, I think merch prices were pretty damn reasonable! Then again, perhaps perspective changes with age. $40 at my age now seems a lot more reasonable than $25 for a shirt when I was 15 years old haha.

 

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

I'm OK with never owning the Cinci litho.  That was for Cincinattians. (Cincinattiites?)  They lucked out and got the best artwork of the tour, maybe as a consolation for having to live in Cincinatti.  If I really really really NEED to have it, there's always ebay.

Okay, I'm just gonna spit it out - I don't understand why everyone thinks the Cincinnati litho is THAT amazing. Yes, it looks good... but I'm not sure it's the best on tour, nor do I think it's as 'relevant' as some other lithos. I think the best lithos are when "location-relevant" and "great artwork" overlap. Cincinnati is nice artwork (probably elevated to 'great artwork' because of how many other lithos are pretty damn awful) and only so-so relevance. Surely, I'm not the only person for whom "aerospace" does NOT come to mind immediately when I think of the city of Cincinnati.

 

For me... I like the thematic triple set of the San Diego and the two Dodger Stadium lithos. Surfing, BMX and skating definitely springs to mind when I think of Socal. I like the Wellington litho a LOT - I think it's an AMAZING combination of AWESOME artwork and serious relevance.

 

But of course, no surprise - I think Kobe is BY FAR the best litho - the artwork is vicious and awesome. Easily as good as Wellington and Cincinnati. But the RELEVANCE puts it over the top. What's the relevance, you ask? Well, this is why I think maybe the Kobe litho doesn't get as much love and respect as it should. I think most people just think "Japan = Samurai" and dismiss it. But it's deeper than that.

 

Everybody knows the story about the 47 ronin, right? Hell, I think the story of the 47 ronin is the only reason people outside of Japan even know the word "ronin". Anyway, the real life story of the 47 Ronin - which is called the "Ako Incident" in Japanese - took place in Ako, Hyogo Prefecture... which is only a few miles away from the Kobe venue.

 

Thus, in my opinion, the Kobe Samurai litho is without a doubt the best artwork of the tour. Hands down.

[estrangedtwat]

Kobe is probably my second favorite behind Cinci.

Apparently Buhler went with the astronaut theme cause a lot of astronauts were originally from Ohio.  A pretty good choice cause the city of Cincinatti isn't really known for anything special except heightened racial tensions.  (I'm from Cleveland myself, so it's natural for me to rag on our rival city.)

I think Cinci is the best cause it's got so many elements of a classic rock poster.  It really could be ANY city at the bottom.  It's the image that's cool as hell....skeleton astronaut floating in space...revolver and roses just out of his reach.  Really clean, bold lettering.  Striking colors, but not overdone.  I think it's kind of timeless.

BUT...you have an excellent point.  The best posters overlap amazing images AND relevance to the city.  Hard to do for a city like KC which apparently is only known for BBQ?  Ugh.  Terrible poster.  But for a city as unique as Kobe, you get that synergy that resulted in the amazing samurai litho.

Some of my other favorites are Detroit, for incorporating the bullet in a novel way as well as the "car" theme of the Motor City.

Orlando is actually a good one too...kinda dull at first glance but once you look at it a bit, it's clever.

You know what?  Yokohama doesn't get any praise but I quite like it.  Again, it's more of a classic "metal" looking image, not really tied into the city.  If they removed the Japanese fan and the sakura, they could pretty much re-use that image for any other city.

I think Nashville is cool too...very understated.

I love the Tokyo Godzilla one not only for sentimental reasons but I love the old school comic book/movie poster look to it.  The Perth one is really similar and also cool. 

That Adelaide skull with the red wig has to be the ugliest laziest design of them all.  Looks like it was thrown together five minutes before the show by the lighting guy's nephew.

And as for the kids in high school wearing their brand new concert tees to school the next day?  Of course it was uncool!  High school kids are dumb!  But at my school, they all did it.  Even in middle school, if there was a big concert in town, you know the next day the kids that were lucky enough to have rich parents take them would be sporting the shirt the next day.  But hey.  I'll admit it.  I did it too.  Proudly sporting my Pearl Jam shirt at school on March 23rd 1994 to let everyone know I was one of the lucky ones to see Eddie Vedder the night before.

These days I just hang my concert shirts as "art" and don't wear them, but I fully admit I never outgrew that mentality of having the memento to prove "I was there!"

(Except when I saw Guns in 2009...I didn't buy anything cause I thought all the designs sucked.  Come on...the shirt still has to be COOL!)

 

 

 

[megaguns1982]

Does anyone have a used melbourne concert ticket?  

I working up a project to have my 3  concerts I attended lithographs framed together giantly, with a ticket below each, but I only had an e ticket to melbourne.

[amaninjapan]

1 hour ago, Blake Sabbath said:

For what it's worth, I agree with some points, disagree with some others, but by and large there NEEDS to be a limit on lithograph sales AT LEAST before show time.

If it were me, I'd probably limit the lithographs at the venue to like, 1 or 2 per person and anything that didn't sell, throw it up on the website and sell it that way. As rich as the band and promoters are, I'd still rather they have the money than some piece of shit scalper or professional reseller.

[amaninjapan]

1 hour ago, estrangedtwat said:

Kobe is probably my second favorite behind Cinci.

Apparently Buhler went with the astronaut theme cause a lot of astronauts were originally from Ohio.  A pretty good choice cause the city of Cincinatti isn't really known for anything special except heightened racial tensions.  (I'm from Cleveland myself, so it's natural for me to rag on our rival city.)

I think Cinci is the best cause it's got so many elements of a classic rock poster.  It really could be ANY city at the bottom.  It's the image that's cool as hell....skeleton astronaut floating in space...revolver and roses just out of his reach.  Really clean, bold lettering.  Striking colors, but not overdone.  I think it's kind of timeless.

BUT...you have an excellent point.  The best posters overlap amazing images AND relevance to the city.  Hard to do for a city like KC which apparently is only known for BBQ?  Ugh.  Terrible poster.  But for a city as unique as Kobe, you get that synergy that resulted in the amazing samurai litho.

Some of my other favorites are Detroit, for incorporating the bullet in a novel way as well as the "car" theme of the Motor City.

Orlando is actually a good one too...kinda dull at first glance but once you look at it a bit, it's clever.

You know what?  Yokohama doesn't get any praise but I quite like it.  Again, it's more of a classic "metal" looking image, not really tied into the city.  If they removed the Japanese fan and the sakura, they could pretty much re-use that image for any other city.

I think Nashville is cool too...very understated.

I love the Tokyo Godzilla one not only for sentimental reasons but I love the old school comic book/movie poster look to it.  The Perth one is really similar and also cool. 

That Adelaide skull with the red wig has to be the ugliest laziest design of them all.  Looks like it was thrown together five minutes before the show by the lighting guy's nephew.

And as for the kids in high school wearing their brand new concert tees to school the next day?  Of course it was uncool!  High school kids are dumb!  But at my school, they all did it.  Even in middle school, if there was a big concert in town, you know the next day the kids that were lucky enough to have rich parents take them would be sporting the shirt the next day.  But hey.  I'll admit it.  I did it too.  Proudly sporting my Pearl Jam shirt at school on March 23rd 1994 to let everyone know I was one of the lucky ones to see Eddie Vedder the night before.

These days I just hang my concert shirts as "art" and don't wear them, but I fully admit I never outgrew that mentality of having the memento to prove "I was there!"

(Except when I saw Guns in 2009...I didn't buy anything cause I thought all the designs sucked.  Come on...the shirt still has to be COOL!)

 

 

 

The fact it could be any city at the bottom of the Cincinnati litho is a negative for me. Not every band does the whole "different design for different tours/venues" thing but if they do, I think it's nice when they make it venue-relevant.

I like the Orlando too because it's very similar in layout to the Socal litho set. The Dali-like hidden skull is great but then my interest fades away when you look at the individual elements and they're mostly unrelated to each other. I agree with you on Yokohama. It's definitely subtle and has a classic metal look - should've been a litho representing the whole Japan leg rather than just Yokohama in my opinion. Tokyozilla is definitely the ONLY one of the "legendary animals drawn as a comic" theme that is bearable to me. The giant kiwi was seriously AWFUL. Adelaide skull was bad bad bad. Brisbane surfing coffin designs have real potential but just look unfinished. The yellow version reminds me of old Led Zeppelin posters I had when I was young. Melbourne design with the skull of the Tasmanian tiger is beautiful but seemed an awkward choice for a concert in Victoria instead of Tasmania. Yes I know it's just a quick flight away but still - imagine if they used the Jersey Devil design for a concert in New York; just wouldn't make sense.

There's no way I could buy a shirt just to collect it for art's sake - that's what the lithos are for! I love the feeling of saying "I was there" too, but I usually do it with weird things that are not merch. For example, I went to the UEFA Champions League Final many years ago and I collected a lot of personal memorabilia from the visit - stuff like picking up the confetti from the presentation ceremony, keeping the subway ticket stubs I used to go to and from the stadium (I liked that it had a timestamp and datestamp on them), the flag that the supporters group handed out that was never sold - only handed out for free to those in the supporter section, etc.

[6lake sa66ath]

Everyone's banging on about the Kobe or Tokyo merch themes but fuck Godzilla, that's kiddy shit, when Osaka has possibly the coolest theme of all in the Gashsadokuro giant skeleton that eats people! 

Also, who in the hell was the artist behind the alternate Adelaide red head theme as we need to find out what in the hell was the inspiration behind that ?

[amaninjapan]

2 minutes ago, Blake Sabbath said:

Everyone's banging on about the Kobe or Tokyo merch themes but fuck Godzilla, that's kiddy shit, when Osaka has possibly the coolest theme of all in the Gashsadokuro giant skeleton that eats people! 

Also, who in the hell was the artist behind the alternate Adelaide red head theme as we need to find out what in the hell was the inspiration behind that ?

I went to the Osaka gig and bought the litho purely out of a sense of obligation. I didn't think the design was all that great to start with but over the weeks it has definitely grown on me. I know several people who have changed their opinion on it once they realized there were Slash/Axl/Duff skeletons in the design.

[6lake sa66ath]

2 minutes ago, amaninjapan said:

I went to the Osaka gig and bought the litho purely out of a sense of obligation. I didn't think the design was all that great to start with but over the weeks it has definitely grown on me. I know several people who have changed their opinion on it once they realized there were Slash/Axl/Duff skeletons in the design.

It's absolutely awesome and another Arian Buhler stroke of genius!

[Aussie Bogan]

On 22/02/2017 at 6:20 AM, The Holographic Universe said:

Only a 100 for the spider litho? 

Apparently

[The Holographic Universe]

12 hours ago, troccoli said:

I did!

Did you score the spider litho, too? A poster on here said thatblitho was limited to a 100, making it rarer than the Kobe litho. And, what about this one? I didn't see any numbers due to the black outline. Was it numbered?

[troccoli]

24 minutes ago, The Holographic Universe said:

Did you score the spider litho, too? A poster on here said thatblitho was limited to a 100, making it rarer than the Kobe litho. And, what about this one? I didn't see any numbers due to the black outline. Was it numbered?

Yep, got that litho too.  Not sure about the numbering, I guess I will find out.  A few of the Aussie lithos were like that.

[CheapJon]

22 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

I've seen the vest in person and I don't think it's worth the money at all. The "patch" on more or less the cutout of the logo from a shirt and stitched on. Aside from the leather Gn'F'nR's bit, you could probably make yourself a much better, cooler one yourself.

Yeah I was thinking that as well. That was the worry, looks really odd with the "patch". Couldn't remember if it was at John Varvatos? Leather part's cool but ultimately not worth that price.

[6lake sa66ath]

Yup, those denim battle vests were stocked at the JV pop-ups in NYC and LA. There's probably still pics of the NYC pop-up buried somewhere in this thread! ;-D

[CheapJon]

On 2016-07-26 at 9:10 PM, KiernanProud said:

Did anyone get the gray varvatos shirt that had the bullet logo and said Los Angeles underneath? I liked it but couldn't justify $78. 

Late answer, just went back in the thread to look for the vest. But yeah I got that one, didn't notice the price tag. Easily my most expensive shirt but the quality is super good and it looks great.

[WHENEVER]

2 hours ago, CheapJon said:

Late answer, just went back in the thread to look for the vest. But yeah I got that one, didn't notice the price tag. Easily my most expensive shirt but the quality is super good and it looks great.

These are available now at most department stores who sell JV. I got mine online from Nordstroms a few months back. If I remember correctly it was on sale for $50. I've also seen it at Dillards. 

[6lake sa66ath]

2 hours ago, WHENEVER said:

These are available now at most department stores who sell JV. I got mine online from Nordstroms a few months back. If I remember correctly it was on sale for $50. I've also seen it at Dillards. 

Any chance you could post some proper pics of yours?

I love the graphic and '89 date printed on it, my fave tee that was available at the JV pop-ups last year. 

Saying that, I seem to remember from earlier discussion this particular tee was actually available at the merch stand during  certain shows of the nuGuns era ?

[Black Sabbath]

I'm assuming this was/is a new piece of merch?

 

[amaninjapan]

Not sure about the Singapore merch. Someone at the venue said they were selling lithographs but they weren't numbered? Apparently that Merlion design was a for sale but wasn't numbered. Seems weird.

[Black Sabbath]

Looks like this is a new piece of merch also: