Ben Packard

Credit: Jack Gorlin

VIP Coordinator

Dashboard Confessional / Disturbed / Green Day

CHANGEOVER: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do. 

Ben Packard: My name is Ben Packard and, in a normal world where we're allowed to tour and have jobs, I'm a VIP coordinator. I've been in the industry for about 12 years. Most recently, I've worked with Disturbed, Green Day and Dashboard Confessional. I'm also a tour manager, and have been for a long time, but over the past four years I've worked exclusively as a VIP coordinator.

How did you get into the music industry?

Music has always been a part of my life from a very young age. I love everything about live music, especially how it brings people together. I've got zero musical talent whatsoever, which means I always fell into the role of the manager or the roadie for local bands. I'd help carry gear, make setlists, sell merchandise, pretty much anything I could do to be involved. I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I wanted it to involve touring.

In 2008, I saw All Time Low on their first ever headline tour and was really watching their tour manager throughout the show. It opened my eyes and cemented what I wanted to do for a living. I lived in Orlando for a while and my first tour ever was with a band from that area. It was a right place, right time situation. They randomly took a chance on me and one job led to another, and then everything snowballed into where I am today. I’ve tour managed for dozens of artists but in 2017, I pivoted when I got a call from Warner Brothers. They were looking for someone to start touring immediately, literally within the coming two weeks, with Green Day as their VIP coordinator. That was the first time they had ever offered a VIP ticket package of any kind and needed someone on the road to help bring the program to life. I'd handled large meet and greets before with artists I had tour managed, but I never really realized there was a position dedicated only to handling VIP’s. I figured that with my knowledge from tour managing, and my other previous experience, I could handle the job so I went for it. I was slightly hesitant making the jump from touring clubs to touring arenas, amphitheaters and stadiums so quickly. After the initial curve of the first day or two, I settled right in and never looked back.

Credit: Rafa Alcantara

Let’s talk about being a VIP coordinator. What exactly does the job entail and what's a typical day like on tour?

It’s a relatively new concept and has only taken off full speed over the past eight years or so. Almost every time you go online to buy tickets to a concert, you see an option for VIP ticket packages. This can be anything from simple premium seats and the merchandise bag all the way up to VIP lounge access, backstage tours, sound check viewing or even a photo opportunity with the artist. As the packages get more in depth on larger tours, there needs to be someone on the tour who will handle those logistics. That's where coordinators come in.

The job starts well before the tour is even announced to the public. You're working with the artist team to build the VIP packages based on the tour and what they want to offer their fans. Once tickets actually go on sale, the advance work begins at that point for me. You have to be incredibly detail oriented with this job. Every little movement that fans make on show day has to be planned out in advance and scheduled down to a T. There are multiple phone calls with the promoters and venue staff to hammer out all the details before the tour even starts. Once we're on the road, my job is pretty much the same every day, which is nice. When we arrive in the morning, I’ll do a venue walk through with the promoter to make sure everything we talked about will work. Once everything is confirmed, I unload whatever road cases and merchandise I have from the truck. I usually get to hire two local assistants in every city to help me out so I'll meet up with them at a certain time. We then get to work building the merchandise bags and setting up whatever that specific tours VIP program involves, which could include a VIP lounge or meet greet area.

Usually an hour or two before doors is when the VIP fans are let into the building. From that point on, essentially my job is to make sure that the fans are having an amazing time. I'm always nearby, ready for the chance to help make someone's experience even better. I always carry a few guitar picks in my pocket at all times, just in case I see a superfan or a young kid decked out in the band's merchandise. Once they get in the doors, I'll lead the fans through whatever VIP perks they get with the packages. When the concert starts, I breakdown my gear, load everything back into the truck, grab some dinner and watch the show.

What were doing when COVID-19 hit and how has that affected your job? 

Before COVID, I was gearing up for a busy year with Disturbed, as well as a few other artists who’s tours never even got to be announced. I had taken the last two months of 2019 off after having a really busy year. 2020 was starting to pick up steam. I had worked about ten concerts within a month's time, so things were starting to get busy again. On the day the music industry officially shut down, which was March 12th, I was working a Billy Eilish concert. It was one of the few tours that was actually allowed to finish their show that night after Live Nation and AEG both pulled the plug on touring earlier that day. It was a weird feeling hearing the news while I was there and knowing it was going to be my last time inside an arena for a while. I had no clue just how long it would actually be.

COVID has completely decimated the touring industry and put myself and millions of other people out of work. It really affected my job specifically because, even though there's hope on the horizon as concerts and festivals are slowly starting to be announced, there's a very strong possibility that VIP programs are likely going to be the very last thing to come back in the touring world. Artists will hopefully start to tour again later this year but the last thing they will want to do in any city is come into close contact with hundreds of fans and shake their hand during a photo op. Even though touring is going to make a gradual comeback I unfortunately believe the VIP packages, especially ones with meet and greets with the artist, will probably take an additional year or more to become a regular thing again.

What have you been doing since tours have been shut down?

Credit: Shannon Shumaker

I've been using most of the time to focus on myself and do all the things I've been putting off for years because of my busy touring schedule. I've always been a heavy guy and, with no work for over a year, I decided to use the time to exercise and get healthy for my own sake. So far I've lost almost one hundred pounds. With not being able to leave the house, I really didn't have an excuse not to do it. I'm proud of that and I don't plan on stopping. I'm going to keep going.

On the work front, I'm very lucky that I've gotten myself into a position financially where being out of work for an entire year or more hasn’t really affected me. Just because touring is at a standstill doesn't mean things aren’t happening behind the scenes. I've been consulting for a few artists and have helped put together some incredible tours and can't wait for them to be announced once everything starts to open back up. I've also been working with some other VIP coordinators, and VIP companies, to try and put together an industry standard health and safety plan specifically geared towards meet and greets, and other VIP package elements. Hopefully, no matter what the current COVID restrictions or requirements are, when concerts start up again VIP packages will have a fighting chance of being included as part of those tours.

What is it that you miss the most about touring?

I miss waking up in a new city every day and having my entire day scheduled out in advance. I love living a completely mobile lifestyle. I love knowing exactly where I'm going to be and exactly when everything is going to happen every single day for months at a time. I really miss that aspect of it.