My lady friends and I had an incredible experience, one of the most fun of my life, I dare say! One not to be soon replicated. THAT kind of cool scenario that just doesn't come around too often...
So, because I'm all about not reinventing the wheel, I'm going to let my dear bestie, Jessica, (who is ever caught up on her blogging!) tell the story...don't worry, I'll put in all my
asides in italics...'cause you know I can't ever keep my mouth completely shut..!
I'm pretty sure I'll never do this post the justice it deserves - it's just
impossible to convey the right kind of emotion!
Devoted Maroon 5 fan and serious Adam-admirer, Jessica, stumbled across a performance about to take place in Vegas and decided it was perfect for a girls' trip! It ACTUALLY HAPPENED!
Last Friday afternoon, Leslee and I drove to St. George to stay at my parent's place for the first night of our adventure. A quick stop at Target, dinner at Outback followed by a movie, then home to talk and eventually fall asleep, anxiously awaiting the following day. Cami and Emily were already in St. George so we picked them up at their hotel Saturday morning and went to Bear Paw for breakfast. We were a pretty giddy group of girls. Much more like 16 year-olds than mid-30-year-olds! But is that really so bad? After breakfast it was off to Las Vegas. We pulled into Fashion Show Mall about 11:00 and got started shopping right away! A little Nordstrom (shoes and boots all around), a little Lululemon and a few other things too. After we exhausted that mall, we walked to the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace. Anthropologie and H&M were the main stops there. Finally, around 4:00 we couldn't stand it any longer - we were literally wilting with hunger.
We ate a very early dinner at Max Brenner and it was heaven! I loaded up with as many Cokes as I could hold so I could make it through the night ahead.
I wasn't about to load up on anything except that Max Brenner chocolate! To.die.for. By the time we finished eating it was time to get back in the car and drive to the Palms, our destination for the night.
I'm telling you, when we saw this sign we went crazy! (And it's not because of 10 years of the best paying slots.) By the time we checked into our room it was after 7:00. You can imagine the frenzy with the four of us getting concert-ready in one bathroom! We worked up a sweat getting dressed, ratting hair (not mine), piling on the eyeliner and jumping up and down shrieking that it was finally time!
The concert didn't start until 9:00, but the doors for general admission opened at 8:00. We sauntered in about 7:50 to find a huge line of fellow general admission fans. This is where things got interesting. I had called the Palms two times earlier in the week to make certain how things were going to work. Both people I talked to said that security wouldn't acknowledge a line, so even if one formed we didn't necessarily have to wait in it. I was told it would be perfectly fine to cut to the front of the line when the doors opened. HHmmm. What to do. We were pretty set on getting as close to Adam, I mean the stage, as possible so I approached the security guard at the door and relayed what I had been told on the phone. She corroborated the story, and simply asked that I wait off to the side. We waited just a few feet away from the door behind a big pillar with our hearts pounding in our chests.
I was waiting for Jess to pass out and Cami to bolt as she was VERY worried about the grand butt-in-line we were about to attempt! We knew this was either going to work beautifully or all Hell was going to break loose. Just before the door opened, one group of girls called us out on cutting in line, but I told them what the guard had said and they simply slunk back into the line. After being warned at least 25 times about not running, they opened the doors, walked us very orderly down a hallway, stopped us and lectured again about not running, then opened both entrances and let us go . . .
. . . and look where we ended up! That's right - front row! All of four feet in front of the stage.
I have never seen my friends speed-walk with such gusto! We were beyond ecstatic! So, for the next hour we chatted with the photographers and security guys while we waited (hearts still thudding away). We learned that MTV was filming the show, and I mean huge cameras everywhere! Hhmm, still very curious about what it was for - they wouldn't tell us. We're crossing our fingers for something good, preferably with us in it since we had cameras in our face for half the night
. Thanks to Jessica's bulldog searching, we watched ourselves premier on MTV World Stage several weeks later screaming our guts out in pure joy!
After Matt Nathanson got things going, we had another 30 minute wait before Maroon 5 finally took the stage at 10:00.
You can see Emily and I were loving the proximity! I actually can't believe Leslee convinced us to turn away from the stage long enough to take a picture.
And then the lights dimmed, the strobes began swaying, the black silhouettes floated on stage...and there he was! With Jess's point-n-shoot camera, I couldn't stop clicking all night! Love some of the cool shots I was able to get FROM THE FRONT ROW!! (Did we mention that already?!!)
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| The play list (which we neglected to steal from the stage when the night was over! Dang it!) |
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| My favorite shot of the night (I put it on T-shirts for me and Jess) |
At one point in the concert Emily even caught a pick Adam tossed out. That darn girl. I almost had it! Oh well, she said she would let me look at it sometimes.
When it was all over, it seemed too good to be true. We had the best time EVER!! We were pretty wired, but yet exhausted at the same time. And Cami's poor pregnant feet were about twice their normal size!
At the concert break, Johnny (who coincidentally had tickets as well), pushed his way through dozens of people to get to me. My back was turned and I could hear someone shrieking, "But that's my sister up there!" They were good sports to let him through!
After socializing with Johnny for a bit in the lobby, we eventually made our way back up to our room and crashed on the beds, reliving every single second of the night. At 3:00 Emily and Cami were out, but Leslee and I were still going strong. We must have looked at the hundred pictures on the camera a dozen times!
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| Modeling my newly purchased proof I was there! |
The next morning, I hooked up with Johnny for breakfast while my girls entertained themselves elsewhere in the hotel. We had a really good chat, I hugged him goodbye and headed upstairs to pack. We just HAD to take a shot of all us in our new tees before packing up the car and heading home. I love these girls! We had more fun than anyone deserves to...well, maybe we do!
