How to get past this guy

Kate Wilk, 20, was on the wrong side of a heavy steel door that would soon separate her from Hanson, a band that had been on her mind since 1997 and the days of "MMMBop." Once the three blond Hansons got off their tour bus and moved quickly past the horde of girls who began lining up at the door before dawn, Wilk, of North Adams, hoped to squeeze through the mob, bypass security, and, somehow, evade Avalon nightclub staff to get backstage at a show a few weeks ago.

Backstage was where Hanson would be living and breathing and touching things that she could potentially touch, too. Wilk wanted in. And she had a plan.

"I've been flirting my [butt] off, basically," she said, sweating with her friends near the club bouncers guarding the door. She was able to sneak backstage for just a few moments before the show, but didn't catch a glimpse of the band.

It happens all summer. Women and men, self-described "super fans," try to get backstage at concerts. For some, the goal is simply an autograph. For others, it's the chance to say something, anything, a thank you. Many cling to the hope that if they get backstage, the musician of choice will meet them and want to become a friend, a husband, a wife, or an employer. Christin Hedman, 22, a Hanson fan from Stoughton, described it as the need to see a private space that few get to see, to witness the artist existing, living, and breathing right before your eyes.

"It's like, you're right there and you're like, they're right here, in front of me," said an excited Hedman.

"It's a fanaticism of meeting the band," said WBCN local music director Shred, who also does booking for the Middle East in Cambridge and O'Brien's in Allston. "It's almost like the mysterious unknown with the sirens singing, luring you back."

But getting backstage isn't as easy as it used to be. Security is tight. Gone are the days of sneaking under a velvet rope or through a back door without clearance. Today, clubs and concert venues have multiple backstage passes that allow stars and their managers to choose who gets backstage and how far.

Club managers cite a variety of reasons for the access crackdown: stalker fans, the Station nightclub fire in R.I., and even the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

For some, the decision of who gets backstage has always been simple. "You don't get in if you're not on the list," said Katie Dennis, a concert promoter with Clear Channel Communications in Boston who used to monitor the backstage rooms for artists performing at Avalon. Others admit that even with increased security, access is not categorically denied. A pair of prettily batted eyes or a well-told story are (very occasionally) still known to get people close to the musicians they adore.

"There's still an art to it, and people are still good at it," said Jeff Marshall, director of live music operations for the Lyons Group, which oversees the Paradise Rock Club, Axis, and Avalon. Marshall said that while people such as Richard Chambers, head of Paradise security, keep tabs on every corner of a venue to keep acts and guests safe, those who are in the right place at the right time can still wrangle their way backstage. "It's part of rock 'n' roll. I can't imagine it will ever go away."

Short of sweet-talking your way behind the velvet rope, the best way to get backstage, regardless of the venue, is the radio- or fan club-sponsored meet-and-greet, club staffers say. Almost all bands schedule meet-and-greets with fans before or after a show. Some bands have street teams that get devotees to hand out fliers and posters during album promotion time. In return, team members sometimes get tapped for backstage visits during tours.

Seventies disco star Harry Wayne Casey, lead signer of K.C. and the Sunshine Band, recently met with about 20 fans at the Cape Cod Melody tent during a meet-and-greet after a July performance. He gave fan club members and radio contest winners about five minutes each and was generous with autographs and photos. The meet-and-greet may not be as romantic as sneaking backstage, he said, but bands prefer it. "Sometimes, I would get a little [peeved]," he said of fans who managed to get backstage without permission.

A meet-and-greet was enough to satisfy Godsmack fan Janine Clark, 33, of Milton, N.H.

Clark sketched a portrait of Sully Erna, the lead singer of the Boston band, and tried multiple times to get backstage for his autograph. "I even tried to get security to bring [the portrait] back, get him to sign it, and then bring it back out," she said. "No one would do it."

Last May, Clark paid $365 through the Godsmack fan club so that she and her husband could get a special pass for a Portland, Maine, show that allowed them to tour the backstage, meet the band, take home a used drumstick, and watch the show from the wings with the band's families. Most important, Clark got her portrait signed.

"It was much more than I imagined," she said. "It was worth it."

Fan clubs aside, sometimes the trick to getting backstage is being in the right place at the right time. Brighton resident Iva Ziza made it backstage at a Beastie Boys concert when she lived in Prague eight years ago. Ziza, 26, is Yugoslavian, and at the time of the Beastie Boys show, her homeland was in the midst of a civil war. The night of the concert, an American Beastie Boys crew member heard her haggling at the backstage door, speaking English with a Yugoslavian accent. He approached her, wanting to know how far she had driven to get to the show. She didn't disclose that she lived in Prague.

"I said, `Two days.' He thought I had driven two days through a war-torn country," she said. "He took us right back." Ziza was able to watch the show from backstage and meet the band.

While her dream came true, other fans feel disappointed when they finally get face to face with their icon. Shred recalled taking a Soul Asylum fan backstage to meet frontman Dave Pirner during the band's heyday. Trouble was, Pirner appeared to be less than sober, he said.

"It was anticlimactic," Shred said. "She was disappointed that she didn't find what she was looking for back there."

Even those who do may find the realities less than ideal. Shred warns women who have romantic aspirations that even if they get backstage and meet and hook up with a musician, they might, at most, become what's best described as a regional girlfriend.

"There are band [members who] have their girlfriend in every city," Shred said. "They're the `band girls.' "

But sometimes fans get the real happy ending. As Taylor Hanson, 21, sheepishly admitted before his Avalon performance, "I met my wife at a show."

His management won't disclose the details, but according to VH1, Natalie Anne Bryant, Mrs. Taylor Hanson, was once one of the many screaming fans in a crowd.

Now, while the Hansons get ready for their show, she waits. Backstage.