It Will Cost You $128 to Meet Stryper in Malden This Summer

This post originally appeared on Vanyaland.

Stryper / Courtesy image

It’s been an oddly busy week for Stryper, the still-at-it Christian hair metal band that made its name in the ’80s with their yellow-and-black striped spandex and feel-good, teacher-friendly albums like To Hell With The Devil and In God We Trust.

First, the Internet started wondering if presidential hopeful Ted Cruz was actually Stryper frontman Michael Sweet, as the two share a striking facial similarity (Sweet even went along with the joke, offering to cancel tour dates to focus on his “campaign”). Then, the band got caught up in a petty catfight with members of Faster Pussycat, who found the time in their busy schedules to talk shit about Stryper for whatever reason (Sweet took the high road, calling the verbal assault “disturbing”).

All this press attention certainly helped get the band back in the news, which bodes well for their upcoming summer tour in support of October 2015 album Fallen, recorded at Sprinthouse Studios in Northampton. And the sudden buzz may explain the price Stryper have attached to their official meet-and-greet before their June 10 gig at Mixx 360 in Malden.

As noted online last night by Brian Coleman of Good Road, you want to meet Sweet and company, it’ll set you back $127.77. But that doesn’t include the actual ticket price (a reasonable $20), and there’s a $10.61 service fee.

To hell with the discount. Here’s what you get:

VIP Package Includes:
* Meet & greet and individual photo op with the band
* Stryper VIP exclusive commemorative laminate and lanyard
* Special limited edition 4-D Stryper collectable
* Exclusive VIP limited edition band photo
* 1 Entry for a chance to win a Fender guitar and back stage access for the band to autograph it
* On site VIP host
* VIP front of line entry into venue (ONLY where available)

Not bad, not bad. And the “4-D Stryper collectable” sounds very promising. Unfortunately, however, there is some fine print, and the real kicker comes right at the end: “Although every effort will be made for participation of the entire band, band member participation in Meet & Greet and photo opportunity can vary by market.”

So if guitarist Oz Fox is feeling a bit under the weather come June 10, he might not make it out to shake your hand and take a photo. But that’s a chance you gotta take. There should at least be a guarantee that Sweet shows up. Maybe that’s what they mean by “participation of the entire band.”

Here’s the rest of the “important details and disclaimers”:

IMPORTANT DETAILS & DISCLAIMERS:
> Purchase of this Stryper VIP Meet & Greet is ONLY exclusive to this package through Stryper and is NOT affiliated with any Meet & Greet packages the venue has for sale NOR does this purchase give you access to any of the venue’s VIP events. This MUST be purchased SEPARATELY.
> Stryper M&G purchase does NOT include admission into venue’s show or VIP areas.
> The Stryper Exclusive VIP Meet & Greet Package is limited to ONLY (30) people per city/venue.
> Meet and Greet start time and location TBD. Details will be emailed directly to you through the email address you provide with this purchase.
> The winner of the Fender guitar will have access to meet the band back stage ONLY where permissible by the venue. Alternate location TBD if back stage access is not authorized by venue.
> The winner of the Fender guitar MUST be present at time of drawing.
> Exclusive VIP laminates are for commemorative purposes only. The VIP laminate does not gain or authorize access to the venue, VIP, or any backstage areas.
> Although every effort will be made for participation of the entire band, band member participation in Meet & Greet and photo opportunity can vary by market