Sounds very much the same as here then. Before gigs we quite often wander around the building/block finding out where the back/side exit and where the buses are parked. After the gig head there and just stake it out until people show.
Find it hard doing gigs without the "stalking"(as my friend calls it) now. Was weird on the Sick Puppies tour cause they would sign and therefore people happy and leave so noone would hang outside and they were very very small venues 100-200 capacity max. Signing is fine but I like to chat etc. Did manage to in Southampton though as was Street Teaming for them and we didn't get kicked out the venue after so we were chatting to other people then left the same time as them after chatting for a while. (Shim ended up kicking a door open was quite amusing though we were on the door opening side so we just saw him coming through it leg up as the door flew open....)
Only done 3 gigs in big arenas since started hanging around to meet the bands (Wembley - finding car park was easy but we didnt hang around very long as too fucking cold, Manchester Central - once again just a walk around to the back of the building and Nottingham NIA round to the side). Luckily the bands we were seeing are good with their fans and do come out I am thinking a lot in those situations wouldn't.