"I always forget my lyrics; welcome to the show!" Darren Criss at Irving Plaza, 6-15-11
OH MY GOD. Okay, so there are only about three people on LiveJournal who will care to read about this, but I don't care; you should all read it and then all fall in love with Darren Criss. All the cool kids are doing it.
When this concert was announced, what, two weeks ago? I knew I wanted to try to go. It was a Wednesday, which meant I probably wasn't working, and it's easier to get a seat during the week anyway. I checked my schedule to make sure, and I saw that I had a red-eye scheduled for Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, so that I was off when we landed in Atlanta Wednesday morning. I listed myself on the next flight leaving for LaGuardia, booked a hostel, and had a minor heart attack while buying the actual concert tickets. (I told a friend about it, and she said, "I can literally see you doing that." I hate ticketmaster and I hate not remembering passwords.)
I basically slept all day Tuesday so that I wouldn't be too sleep-deprived Wednesday night (sleep-deprivation leads to me doing stupid things in the name of fun). Of course (OF COURSE) we got delayed an hour leaving Milwaukee, so we were late getting into Atlanta. I couldn't sleep very well on the plane. I almost missed the subway stop while on the bus, and then ended up walking away from the giant elevated tracks. (I always do this, which is why I hate taking buses.)
I was going to get my tickets printed out at the box office at Irving Plaza, but when I checked, they said they couldn't print until doors. I got there around 12:30 and there was already a line stretched out almost to the corner. I pretty much didn't sleep at all, not for lack of trying, so I finally got up at 2 and got ready. I took a walk to get myself awake, ate, and had my ticket printed. By the time I got back to the venue at 4, the line was wrapped around the corner and halfway to the next corner. I really didn't want to stand there for three hours; I was in flip-flops and I've got that tendonitis, so I knew I wouldn't be doing my feet any favors, but I figured in the name of getting a halfway decent concert experience, I would bite the bullet and do it. Within about 10 minutes, I had met the girls right behind me. They were all in college; one girl was by herself, had had a three-hour bus ride, and hadn't yet met the person she was buying her ticket from, so we all helped her keep an eye out; two girls had come in from Poughkeepsie and were together; and the other girl was waiting for her sister to meet her. We chatted the entire time, and I ended up standing with the two girls from Poughkeepsie for the concert.
Because I did not set up camp outside the door at 7 AM (I'm not even kidding), by the time we got inside, the balcony railing was full and the floor was at least twenty people deep. I managed to get a pretty good place right behind the sound booth, which was nice because I do prefer seeing shows from the balcony, but it wasn't too good for getting nice pictures, but I think I managed a handful of good ones with the limited point-and-shoot I had. (Sidenote: if you want to shoot a show that doesn't allow SLRs, the Nikon Coolpix P7000 does an AMAZING job. I actually had too much light for the lens at 200mm and f5, which is something I've never had to deal with before. I had to underexpose like you wouldn't believe.)
Highlights:
beingothrwrldly talked about the kids at Glee Live being awesome concert-goers, and we must have had some of the same ones there. All up and down the line, especially, there were a lot of "I love your shirt!"s and "Awesome sunglasses!" The girls from the street team were walking through the line taking orders for pizza, and some random girls came down handing out blow-pops. If I had to be in a line for three hours, it would have been that one. (You know your line is epic when you get New Yorkers stopping in the street and getting up from their dinner tables to take pictures of the crazy fangirls.)
The only thing that would have pushed the night into pinching-myself levels would have been being able to thank Darren for giving up a day off to play that show. The London dates were announced pretty close to when we knew the UK Glee Live dates, and this was pretty last minute, so I don't know if he wanted to originally and couldn't get a venue, or if it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. I know I get sick of traveling, and when I get a day off I just want to stare at the wall for awhile, and for him to play the show on top of being sick means a lot to me on a personal level. A lot of the kids there didn't get it, complaining that he didn't come out afterwards (I don't know if he ever did; they told us he snuck out the front, but I don't know if that was security just trying to get people out of there), saying it was very diva-like behavior. It was a very young, naive mindset, so I didn't say anything, but I wish I could have told him that we did appreciate it.
On the way back to my hostel I stopped at Duane Reade and got a bag of Doritos since I hadn't eaten since 3 (and it was midnight by the time I left the venue), and when I got to the room, I pretty much inhaled the entire thing. (It was a snack-size bag, but still.)
Waking up this morning I reminded myself that it hadn't been a dream; that was a pretty amazing experience, and I'm so incredibly happy that I was lucky enough to go.
My flight didn't leave until 2:20, so I had a little time to kill before heading to the airport. I went to an Italian market/cafe/restaurant on 5th Ave called Eataly, and if you're ever in New York, it's worth a trip just to look at all the fresh pasta and meats and vegetables and imported goods. I went to the subway station on the wrong side of the street, and managed to walk in the opposite direction of the bus stop AGAIN for the transfer. I swear I'm a pretty good public transportation rider, I just get confused easily.
All in all it was a fantastic trip; I still prefer Chicago to New York for a lot of reasons, but being there made me want to stay longer.
Finally, a recommendation: if you're looking for a bed (and just a bed) in midtown Manhattan, the American Dream hostel is pretty cheap ($75/night). The bed was rock hard (and no mattress pad) and the room was tiny but who cares when you can stay in Manhattan for that cheap. When I do New York by myself, that will be where I stay.
I DON'T KNOW HOW I HAVEN'T USED CAPSLOCK BECAUSE THAT HAS BEEN MY BRAIN FOR THE LAST THREE DAYS! CAPSLOCK AND DARREN CRISS ALL THE TIME!!!!! MY POOR FACEBOOK FRIENDS HAVE BEEN HEARING ABOUT THIS CONCERT THAT THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT FOR DAAAAAAYS!!!
I will probably make a picture post after I sort through the 3000 pictures I took. Literally.
When this concert was announced, what, two weeks ago? I knew I wanted to try to go. It was a Wednesday, which meant I probably wasn't working, and it's easier to get a seat during the week anyway. I checked my schedule to make sure, and I saw that I had a red-eye scheduled for Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, so that I was off when we landed in Atlanta Wednesday morning. I listed myself on the next flight leaving for LaGuardia, booked a hostel, and had a minor heart attack while buying the actual concert tickets. (I told a friend about it, and she said, "I can literally see you doing that." I hate ticketmaster and I hate not remembering passwords.)
I basically slept all day Tuesday so that I wouldn't be too sleep-deprived Wednesday night (sleep-deprivation leads to me doing stupid things in the name of fun). Of course (OF COURSE) we got delayed an hour leaving Milwaukee, so we were late getting into Atlanta. I couldn't sleep very well on the plane. I almost missed the subway stop while on the bus, and then ended up walking away from the giant elevated tracks. (I always do this, which is why I hate taking buses.)
I was going to get my tickets printed out at the box office at Irving Plaza, but when I checked, they said they couldn't print until doors. I got there around 12:30 and there was already a line stretched out almost to the corner. I pretty much didn't sleep at all, not for lack of trying, so I finally got up at 2 and got ready. I took a walk to get myself awake, ate, and had my ticket printed. By the time I got back to the venue at 4, the line was wrapped around the corner and halfway to the next corner. I really didn't want to stand there for three hours; I was in flip-flops and I've got that tendonitis, so I knew I wouldn't be doing my feet any favors, but I figured in the name of getting a halfway decent concert experience, I would bite the bullet and do it. Within about 10 minutes, I had met the girls right behind me. They were all in college; one girl was by herself, had had a three-hour bus ride, and hadn't yet met the person she was buying her ticket from, so we all helped her keep an eye out; two girls had come in from Poughkeepsie and were together; and the other girl was waiting for her sister to meet her. We chatted the entire time, and I ended up standing with the two girls from Poughkeepsie for the concert.
Because I did not set up camp outside the door at 7 AM (I'm not even kidding), by the time we got inside, the balcony railing was full and the floor was at least twenty people deep. I managed to get a pretty good place right behind the sound booth, which was nice because I do prefer seeing shows from the balcony, but it wasn't too good for getting nice pictures, but I think I managed a handful of good ones with the limited point-and-shoot I had. (Sidenote: if you want to shoot a show that doesn't allow SLRs, the Nikon Coolpix P7000 does an AMAZING job. I actually had too much light for the lens at 200mm and f5, which is something I've never had to deal with before. I had to underexpose like you wouldn't believe.)
Highlights:
- Towards the beginning of the show, after he'd forgotten the lyrics to either Human or Status Quo, he stopped and gave a little "Darren show 101": "I always forget my own lyrics," and "I sweat a lot." After that was met with a lot of screaming, he said, "No, no, it sounds cool, but it really isn't."
- (Oh, the screaming. At one point I think he was actually plugging his ears. Naya even basically told everyone to shut up, which, you can imagine how effective that was.)
- After stopping the intro to One Fine Day to re-tune, he stopped and added, "I also tune mid-song, and then I realize that no one cares, so I just keep going."
- Drumming. I've never seen a drummer bounce so much. I'm not talking about the natural movements from the kick pedal, I'm talking about putting extra bounce in his seat. It was probably what Tigger would look like if he ever became a jazz drummer.
- He moved to the piano for Not Alone and The Coolest Girl ("I'd say this one's for the ladies, but it's not really a sexy song, it's just a nice song.")
- Oh, Warblers. Cue crazy rabid screaming. You'd have thought Darren coming out on stage was maximum decibal level, and then the guys stepped out. They sang harmony on Sami (and Teenage Dream and Don't You), and Jon and the new guy came in waaaay too early. Darren stopped and kind of laughed, then said, "It's okay, they don't rehearse anyway."
- The girls in front of me had run out during the opener, and came back five minutes later yelling that they had just gotten pictures with Lauren Lopez, so I was waiting for Granger Danger, and getting Gotta Get Back To Hogwarts was just icing on the cake.
- I take it back about the Warblers getting the rabid screaming; it just kept escalating through the night, so by the time Naya walked out, I think I lost my hearing for about thirty seconds. Ugh, Naya. I just...Naya. The end.
beingothrwrldly talked about the kids at Glee Live being awesome concert-goers, and we must have had some of the same ones there. All up and down the line, especially, there were a lot of "I love your shirt!"s and "Awesome sunglasses!" The girls from the street team were walking through the line taking orders for pizza, and some random girls came down handing out blow-pops. If I had to be in a line for three hours, it would have been that one. (You know your line is epic when you get New Yorkers stopping in the street and getting up from their dinner tables to take pictures of the crazy fangirls.)
The only thing that would have pushed the night into pinching-myself levels would have been being able to thank Darren for giving up a day off to play that show. The London dates were announced pretty close to when we knew the UK Glee Live dates, and this was pretty last minute, so I don't know if he wanted to originally and couldn't get a venue, or if it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. I know I get sick of traveling, and when I get a day off I just want to stare at the wall for awhile, and for him to play the show on top of being sick means a lot to me on a personal level. A lot of the kids there didn't get it, complaining that he didn't come out afterwards (I don't know if he ever did; they told us he snuck out the front, but I don't know if that was security just trying to get people out of there), saying it was very diva-like behavior. It was a very young, naive mindset, so I didn't say anything, but I wish I could have told him that we did appreciate it.
On the way back to my hostel I stopped at Duane Reade and got a bag of Doritos since I hadn't eaten since 3 (and it was midnight by the time I left the venue), and when I got to the room, I pretty much inhaled the entire thing. (It was a snack-size bag, but still.)
Waking up this morning I reminded myself that it hadn't been a dream; that was a pretty amazing experience, and I'm so incredibly happy that I was lucky enough to go.
My flight didn't leave until 2:20, so I had a little time to kill before heading to the airport. I went to an Italian market/cafe/restaurant on 5th Ave called Eataly, and if you're ever in New York, it's worth a trip just to look at all the fresh pasta and meats and vegetables and imported goods. I went to the subway station on the wrong side of the street, and managed to walk in the opposite direction of the bus stop AGAIN for the transfer. I swear I'm a pretty good public transportation rider, I just get confused easily.
All in all it was a fantastic trip; I still prefer Chicago to New York for a lot of reasons, but being there made me want to stay longer.
Finally, a recommendation: if you're looking for a bed (and just a bed) in midtown Manhattan, the American Dream hostel is pretty cheap ($75/night). The bed was rock hard (and no mattress pad) and the room was tiny but who cares when you can stay in Manhattan for that cheap. When I do New York by myself, that will be where I stay.
I DON'T KNOW HOW I HAVEN'T USED CAPSLOCK BECAUSE THAT HAS BEEN MY BRAIN FOR THE LAST THREE DAYS! CAPSLOCK AND DARREN CRISS ALL THE TIME!!!!! MY POOR FACEBOOK FRIENDS HAVE BEEN HEARING ABOUT THIS CONCERT THAT THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT FOR DAAAAAAYS!!!
I will probably make a picture post after I sort through the 3000 pictures I took. Literally.