Aging fangirls represent
I'm happy to report that I have survived the Jonas Brothers concert, and The French Kid's life dream has been fulfilled.
It was really fun, but I'm completely wiped out today. We left earlier than I'd originally planned because I was worried about the crowd. Good call. The concert started at 7, and we got to the amphitheater at about 3:30. They weren’t going to open the parking lots until 4:30, but they let us in at 4 because there were thousands of cars just cruising up and down, blocking the road. We’d parked along the side of the road and lucked out with our herding instinct-when the car in front of us suddenly dove back into traffic, we followed and ended up in the first wave of cars let in. Then we had to park and hurry up to the gates to get in the line. TFK held our spot in the ticket-holders line while I went to get our tickets at Will Call. Fucking Ticketmaster. They claimed to have sent the tickets on 7/31, but I never got them. So that was added stress. Along the way there, I got stopped by a security guy who told me I wasn’t going to be allowed to bring my backpack in. So after I got the tickets, I found TFK in line and we rearranged all our stuff and I hiked back to the car to dump the backpack.
Blah, blah, blah. An hour and a half in line to get in, half an hour of which I spent in line for the one functioning porta-potty they had for 50,000 people waiting to get in.
We were in the first hundred yards of the mile-long line for lawn seating, so we got a spot in the middle about a third of the way up. The crowd was exactly what I expected-three to five screaming girls between the ages of 6 and 18 for every middle-aged escort. The dads were the funniest-all looking good natured, mildly bewildered, and stoic. We had a great group next to us-three women my age with something like nine kids with them-and a really obnoxious set of kids behind us. The opening acts were frankly terrible-exactly the kind of crap you'd expect from Disney-pop-sensation acts. But the Jonas Brothers themselves were quite good, considering their market-they managed to be unabashedly fun pop music without being nauseating; they have good poppy voices and are decent musicians (one of them appears to have actual talent and was really good on guitar, piano, and drums) with great stagemanship. And it was just cool to see so many kids having that much fun. TFK had a blast.
Adventures were had on the way home, in the form of a bathroom emergency. Poor TFK had (unbeknownst to me) been crossing her legs since 7, and of course after midnight all the McDonald’s and gas stations along the highway were closed except their automated/drive through services. A nice homeless guy quickly comprehended our situation and gave us pointers on places to try, and then as we were coming off our failure at Burger King, he came running across the street to tell us the Jewel on the other side of the highway was open until 12:30. As we thanked him, he asked if I could help him get some food, and I just couldn't dig out my wallet right then-TFK was practically in tears and ready to wet herself. So once we got the situation taken care of, I tracked down a fiver and then we cruised the parking lots until we found the guy at a gas station and thanked him properly. Honestly, I wouldn't have thought the Jewel would have been open that late, and we were considering the scary alley behind the Burger King.
We got back home at about 12:30 and I spent a half hour of unpacking and making sure I had everything I needed back in my purse and then collapsed into my bed and slept like the dead.
Anyway, that was the adventure. My karma is so golden right now.
It was really fun, but I'm completely wiped out today. We left earlier than I'd originally planned because I was worried about the crowd. Good call. The concert started at 7, and we got to the amphitheater at about 3:30. They weren’t going to open the parking lots until 4:30, but they let us in at 4 because there were thousands of cars just cruising up and down, blocking the road. We’d parked along the side of the road and lucked out with our herding instinct-when the car in front of us suddenly dove back into traffic, we followed and ended up in the first wave of cars let in. Then we had to park and hurry up to the gates to get in the line. TFK held our spot in the ticket-holders line while I went to get our tickets at Will Call. Fucking Ticketmaster. They claimed to have sent the tickets on 7/31, but I never got them. So that was added stress. Along the way there, I got stopped by a security guy who told me I wasn’t going to be allowed to bring my backpack in. So after I got the tickets, I found TFK in line and we rearranged all our stuff and I hiked back to the car to dump the backpack.
Blah, blah, blah. An hour and a half in line to get in, half an hour of which I spent in line for the one functioning porta-potty they had for 50,000 people waiting to get in.
We were in the first hundred yards of the mile-long line for lawn seating, so we got a spot in the middle about a third of the way up. The crowd was exactly what I expected-three to five screaming girls between the ages of 6 and 18 for every middle-aged escort. The dads were the funniest-all looking good natured, mildly bewildered, and stoic. We had a great group next to us-three women my age with something like nine kids with them-and a really obnoxious set of kids behind us. The opening acts were frankly terrible-exactly the kind of crap you'd expect from Disney-pop-sensation acts. But the Jonas Brothers themselves were quite good, considering their market-they managed to be unabashedly fun pop music without being nauseating; they have good poppy voices and are decent musicians (one of them appears to have actual talent and was really good on guitar, piano, and drums) with great stagemanship. And it was just cool to see so many kids having that much fun. TFK had a blast.
Adventures were had on the way home, in the form of a bathroom emergency. Poor TFK had (unbeknownst to me) been crossing her legs since 7, and of course after midnight all the McDonald’s and gas stations along the highway were closed except their automated/drive through services. A nice homeless guy quickly comprehended our situation and gave us pointers on places to try, and then as we were coming off our failure at Burger King, he came running across the street to tell us the Jewel on the other side of the highway was open until 12:30. As we thanked him, he asked if I could help him get some food, and I just couldn't dig out my wallet right then-TFK was practically in tears and ready to wet herself. So once we got the situation taken care of, I tracked down a fiver and then we cruised the parking lots until we found the guy at a gas station and thanked him properly. Honestly, I wouldn't have thought the Jewel would have been open that late, and we were considering the scary alley behind the Burger King.
We got back home at about 12:30 and I spent a half hour of unpacking and making sure I had everything I needed back in my purse and then collapsed into my bed and slept like the dead.
Anyway, that was the adventure. My karma is so golden right now.