Duh Vuh Duh

So, admittedly I'm a concert t-shirt whore and try to find a good deal with the guy selling them in the parking lot if I can. Sometimes I even buy the one in the lot and the one they are selling at the venue (in my defense I only bought both when the guy in the lot got down to $5/shirt at the end of the show).

And I was wondering how those guys get the t-shirts. I talked to the guy last year at the Mraz show at Red Rocks and he said he had to get packed up that night to head to Washington the next day for the further festival and was hoping to make a killing out there, since nobody (except me and my buddy) was buying at the Mraz show (I'm assuming because mostly female crowd). So, with that interaction, I assumed it's just guys that have access to print t-shirts say in a motorhome or have access to order in bulk from a printing company.

However, at Zac Brown Band a couple of summers ago, the guy told me he knows one of the guys on the crew and the shirts he was selling were ones that were officially printed for the band but the band didn't approve of them, so some how this guy ended up with the rejects. The did look pretty official and all of them had a cut through the tag.

So, are those shirts official rejects from the band or just prints that anybody with a computer and a screen print press can make up? Probably both? Any other good stories or deals you got from the concert parking lot T-shirt guy? Were you ever the concert parking lot t-shirt guy to make some extra cash?

Why So Blu?

I have a couple of those parking lots shirts in my arsenal. I doubt the guys selling the shirts are involved in the whole process since some of the people that sell bootleg t-shirts always seemed a bit sketchy. I'm sure they just get a flat sum for their time. At least here in L.A.

rw2516

Bootleg T-shirts have been around as long as concerts. Zeppelin used have roadies beat up the sellers who got caught. There's a scene in Song Remains The Same where they catch a guy selling boot shirts. If the sellers don't have to turn in their take to some official with the band then they are probably bootleg and the band isn't getting any money.

Pizza

I doubt any shirt sold outside of the venue is an official shirt.

mndtrp

I love my Tad Nugent shirt.

tommyp007

Not as much as my Van Helen shirt!

Josh-da-man

I like Led Zeppelin, but am frequently disturbed by the number stories I hear about them having their roadies or manager beat the shit out of people.

They come off like some kind of hippie mafia.

cungar

I'll never forget the Queen shirt I bought at the Long Beach Arena on the News of the World tour (1978). I paid like $12.00 (about the price of a ticket in those days). I got it home and when I put it on, my elbow ripped right through the shirt. Made in India.

Supermallet

Once in a blue moon I'll buy a shirt at a show (the last one was Pulp when I saw them at Coachella, and before that Van Morrison years before that in New York). It's not the price that stops me, it's the fact that I have too many shirts as it is, and most band shirts have shitty designs. If I'm going to get one, I'll spend the dough for the official one.

As for Led Zeppelin, fuck 'em.

PenguinJoe

I bought a wu tang shirt for 10 bux. I wore for about five years then threw it on ebay, sold for $22. God bless ebay.

Numanoid

My best friend works as a tour manager for several bands. I've been with him a few times when he went outside the venue to chase away the bootleg shirt guys. They always complied, no one ever even put up an argument (though I imagine they probably returned as soon as we went back inside), so they obviously know that what they are doing isn't kosher.

Numanoid

And hypocritical considering how many songs they stole off other artists.

Mabuse

I've often wondered what the source of the T-shirts is too. I can't get my head around how it works. Here's an example:

If you go to a USC game there will be people selling bootleg USC merch out in the parking lot. Fake hats, jerseys, flags, everything. Okay, that makes sense. There's 6-8 home games a year, they play every year. Some bootlegger has storage lockers full of this shit and he hires minions to go haunt the parking lots and sell it.

But when I go to a Peter Gabriel concert at The Staples Center there's a Mexican out front selling bootleg shirts. Where do these come from? Peter Gabriel is only in town for one night, one show. I don't think the guy on the street selling the shirts follows Peter Gabriel around the country on his tour. Does someone ship bootleg shirts to cities in advance of the tour's arrival? What happens to the unsold shirts? The day after the concert it's pretty hard to sell a Peter Gabriel shirt. Do they get shipped to the next destination? By who? I've wondered about this for years!

majorjoe23

Aren't the shirts usually for the tour, not the specific show? I would guess there are people who follow the tour and bootleg.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, they're generally for a tour. The exceptions would probably be for big one-off festivals.

They don't just sell tour-specific shirts at concerts, though. The headlining band will usually have at least five or six different shirts with tour dates, band logos, album covers, and other associated artwork.

Duh Vuh Duh

Not necessarily, I picked up one last summer at James Taylor that was specific to the Red Rocks show, so he definitely had to unload all of those that night.

VHS?

Couple years ago, after a KISS show there was a 'parking lot T-shirt guy' and we got him down to $5 per shirt if all bought one (5 of us) otherwise he would have only sold one of us a shirt at his $15 price. He wasn't having much luck as we could see by the bundle of shirts he had as well as seeing about 5 other guys with arms full. Not so sure it was a good night for them.
Anyway. After getting the shirts we notice a couple of them were a little wet on some areas. We asked what was up with that and my Mom asked him if he pissed on them. He said no and that he had to ditch in the bushes but no bushes around and the few that were certainly were not wet by looking at the ground around the. We continued to give him shit about pissing on them while probably in the bush taking a piss. He wasn't too happy with us talking all that shit by the look on his face.

I'm pretty sure he pissed on them. By accident of course but it was gross and funny at the same time. Washed the shirts and they have held up pretty well although not worn a lot. For $5/ea it wasn't a bad deal compared to the $35 price tag inside.
Later that week we got official ones as they were left behind and my Uncle works at the arena

EddieMoney

I bought a Radiohead T-shirt from a guy in a parking lot after a show years ago...washed it once, and the whole print faded.

hasslein

This is funny because a buddy & I just had the discussion, in our many years of concerts, we've only seen African-American men selling the shirts. Why is that?

islandclaws

I usually hit these guys up after a show if they have anything good. I love the bootleg shirts that only have region-specific dates on them, so you can tell which cities these bootleggers hit.

I always get them for $10/piece. Quality, thus far, has been good on all of the ones I've bought.

rexinnih

Better report that seller to the (Karma) Police. Ok, it's Friday.......

EddieMoney

I did, but the cop said, "What do you want me to do? YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF."

Zing.

Mike Long

Saw Stone Temple Pilots in 1994 and all of the official shirts inside looked liked a child's doodlings. The "Parking Lot Guy" had a shirt with the "Purple" cover on the front and the tour dates on the back. Exactly what I was looking for and at a good price. I wasn't 100% comfortable with the fact that he pulled the shirt out of his sock, but I had to admire his skill at efficient packing.

Cyberock

The bootleg shirts are not rejects from the bands. First of all, no one would print that many shirts to risk a rejection. These are just shops and garage guys who print up the shirt cheaply. I use to print shirts years ago, in fact, did a couple bootleg concert ones about 20 years ago. First, blank shirts from wholesalers can be bought cheap depending on the quality. A cheap shirt would be about $2.50. They can even go cheaper which I have seen and buy blank shirts that are imperfections for under $2.00. If you ever seen a label torn on the shirt, it meant that it was not considered a quality t-shirt. Usually, there is a heam not done good or not cut properly. To print doesn't cost a whole lot. Once you create the screens, the most expensive part, it just cost pennies to do the printing. The things you have to watch out for is most of these garage guys are using cheap equipment and rushing it through. If they don't heat the ink properly to dry it, it will wash off quickly. They also tend to go cheap on dark colored shirts and not print that white base first and then overlay it with the color ink to make the image pop more.