This Saturday night, you can pay $25 to see the mischievous and mesmerizing Dutch drummer Han Bennink in the close quarters of the Byron Carlyle Theater. Or you can pay twice as much to sit even closer, along with “priority entrance.” Think of it as the presenter Tigertail‘s version of the velvet rope.

Make that 3X more and then some than you might have paid for general admission if you were quick enough to take advantage of the “two-day sale” Tigertail offered last Monday and Tuesday, with general admission only $15, and senior/student tickets a steal at $10.

VIP seating and priority entrance might make sense for the Super Bowl or a U2 concert, but why shell out the extra cash to sit up close in the Byron Carlyle, where even the balcony seats can feel like you’re sitting in the performers’ laps?

Is it the prestige of being a VIP? Somehow, in the whimsical world of Bennink and Tigertail that doesn’t make sense either. You think you’re better than the rest of us? Too bad for you.

But then maybe I’m reading VIP all wrong. Sure, VIP might mean Very Important Person at the Shore Club or even the Arsht Center’s new Barton G. restaurant, Prelude. But when it comes to the avant delights consistently presented in tiny venues by Tigertail, I’d like to think that VIP stands for something else, like Very Inspired Patron or Very Inclined to Participate.

Because the only real benefit I can see to paying 2 or 3 times the general admission price for a Tigertail show is that the extra cash will go into the coffers of this wonderful nonprofit so it can keep bringing us Very Intriguing Programming. And that’s Very Important indeed.

Tigertail Productions presents Han Bennink and Third Man Trio at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 24; Byron Carlyle Theater; 500 71st Street, Miami Beach; Tickets range from $15 – $50; 305-545-8546; Tigertail.org.