So, I went.
I went.
I went.
I WENT.
I can't even express in words what a surprise it was, how amazing it was, and how amazing I feel right now. Honestly, I was going to make this post earlier but I couldn't because I got home really late but I definitely knew I had to so this is it!
Shawn Mendes Concert Experience
Location: Best Buy Theater, Times Square, New York City
Time: 7PM-9PM (Doors open at 6PM)
Number of People: 2100
Morning
I was freaking out in the morning. I still didn't have the confirmation that I would even get my ticket yet and I woke up ridiculously late (around 9) and I got a text from this woman from Craigslist who I had found the previous night at the last moment who was selling 4 tickets for 40 dollars each, which was insane because the price for one ticket if you bought it when it went on sale was $37.50 and everywhere else on the web if you were looking for a ticket it was like $250 or something ridiculous. I had given up on going to the concert but I got a text in the morning saying she was going to pick up her tickets and would make the exchange and I literally flipped out because that was insane. So we arranged to meet up around noon in Times Square and make the exchange and it felt so surreal because I was seriously considering to just purchase the $245 one from StubHub before and now I could actually go for the original price.
I finally got out of the house around 2 and she called around 2:30 and said she was got the tickets, so I took the taxi to Times Square and waited in the Starbucks for her to arrive. We made the exchange and I got my ticket. The venue was right across the street so I verified the ticket at the box office before getting in line. Let me just say, for a relatively small concert of 2,100 people compared to 17,000 people concerts (like Taylor Swift's or someone super famous), the line was insane. It stretched down the block and around the corner and down the block again. There were girls sitting in lawn chairs and wrapped in blankets sleeping, and I remember seeing a photo on Twitter of the first people who got in line last night and slept in a tent. It was freezing, like thirty degrees last night and I do not know how they managed to not get sick. I met up with my friends Charlotte, Callie and Leila (shoutout if you guys see this lol) who were already in line but towards the back at that point and I got in line with them. It was already freezing and it was at noon, which was basically the warmest few hours of the day. By that point it was around 3:15, so we had about 2 hours and 45 minutes to wait until the doors opened and another hour until the concert actually started, making the total wait about 4 hours.
Afternoon
it was so cold. I can't even explain how cold it was.
In the beginning it wasn't that bad actually. We stood for the first twenty minutes, talking and fangirling over Shawn. I had never met Callie before so we got to know each other better throughout the night. We had so much stuff to talk about. Then our legs started to hurt, so we sat down. Let me just say that New York City sidewalk is mad nasty. Like really nasty. It was gross but we didn't really have choice. The other girls that were standing blocked the wind though, but eventually they sat down as well. It was cruel, the weather.
After an hour, the others decided to get some food. Our legs had grown numb and I'm pretty sure my leg cramped and fell asleep at the same time but I couldn't even feel it because I couldn't feel my legs anymore. They got off line to get food and I held their spots. When they came back, this guy and a group of girls came up to the girls who were standing behind us and he said, "Hi, I work for Best Buy. I was wondering if you girls could just squeeze these girls in with you guys? You're all Shawn fans and they reserved a spot on this line."
First of all, that is just wrong. My friends were yelling at them to say no don't let them get on and eventually they didn't let the group of girls into the line and the group all gave us dirty looks while they walked to the end. Working with Best Buy doesn't mean you have any association with the theater, you idiot. You think just because we're teenage girls that we are stupid or some shit because we know that the theater is sponsored by Best Buy but it doesn't have even moderate association with connections to employees in the stores. Also, you don't "reserve" a spot in these lines because you can't, and because there have been girls who have been waiting for hours before you came. We were vicious and we know it but we are going to defend our chances of getting as close to Shawn as we can get and you have no right cut lines, period. I know I might have cut the line when I met up with my friends but at that point there were only ten girls behind us so it practically didn't even matter; we'd all be in the same section anyway.
That honestly really pissed me off. A friend of Callie's came around then and she gave us some Hot Fingers hand warmers because our hands were legitimately numb by then. It was four something and the sun was setting, which meant that the temperature was going to drop even more and we still had two hours to go before the doors even opened. We started taking turns going inside the restaurant because it was warm inside but the restaurants were getting seriously crowded so at one point we couldn't even go inside anymore. There were these girls that passed out neon pink hearts that had lyrics from "Life of the Party" on them and told us to wave them when Shawn performed the song, which we thought was a really cute idea but we didn't end up waving them at the end, we ended up waving our phones lol
Evening
Finally the doors opened at 6. Well actually, the line began moving at 6:15 but we didn't even get inside the venue until 6:40. It was really disorganized and while walking up the line it was really disgusting because people just left all their trash and blankets on the floor and people even abandoned their posters, which I thought was a total waste of time. I remember there was this girl right in front of us who ran back and was crying because she lost her ticket and I can't even imagine how depressing that is if she didn't find it (she probably didn't) because she waited for so long just to not even be able to see him, which is really sad. We got into the venue and went down the escalator. Security was screaming at us to not run otherwise they'd kick us out. It was so insane. By the time we got into the theater it was already packed.
Best Buy Theater is actually a really small venue. There were a few rows of seats in the back, an elevated area in front of the seats, then stairs leading down to the main floor area which was actually pretty small. I think we got up to sixth or seventh row and we stood right in the middle so that if you drew a line to split the stage and reach the back of the arena, it would've gone straight through me. We managed to stay together although people starting squishing even though the concert hadn't even started yet and there were all these crazy moms yelling at other girls and it was so annoying, especially when people began to chant "WE WANT SHAWN, WE WANT SHAWN" when we all knew that he wasn't going to come out anytime soon. In the crowd, we met these two girls who were on Shawn's bus on Tuesday and one of them had the cutest selfie with Shawn and her phone was signed like <3333 I would do anything for that.
Around 7:00, Jacquie Lee came onstage as the opening act. I had never heard of her before the concert because I wasn't much of a television viewer. However, she was flawless and her set was simply amazing. She is so pretty and her voice just travels and I screamed so much for her because she was literally amazing :) Her cover of "Chandelier" by Sia was incredible live. Watch her recorded cover here~ Either way, it was an amazing opening to the concert although there were a few disrespectful fans who were commenting things like "She should just get off the stage and let Shawn sing" and "We paid money to see Shawn, not her." Look, Jacquie is freaking amazing and y'all better respect that. She has every right to be an opening act and Shawn was an opening act himself and you should respect people who are singing for you and doing an amazing job at that. Honestly, some people are so stupid.
Then Shawn came on
I can't even express how loud the screams were when he came onstage and said "Hi, I'm Shawn Mendes." It was SO INCREDIBLY LOUD I DIED. I was going to film his entrance but I am glad I didn't because it was so loud. The crowd also began shoving and pushing like crazy and I was smack against this girl in front of me and it was so uncomfortable. Basically, it was freezing outside so I had on this jacket and it was pretty big and in order to get a good spot, we had ditched the bag and coat drop-off lines at the entrance into the theater so we all had on our coats. The floor area got so hot and I tied my coat around my waist because I was literally sweating.
He sang "Show You" first, which is amazing and it was soo good and he is so perfect live like argghhh just thinking back about it gives me feels ;;-;; Everyone was singing along and just seeing him smiling while he played guitar just killed me because he is literally so attractive and in his signature Shawn flannel & guitar and I couldn't. He played us so many new, unreleased songs and I got a few of them recorded but there was literally no space on my phone so I had to delete everything off my phone to video xD "Something Big" was amazing and he performed it so well and everyone was singing and he loved it and then he performed songs like "Aftertaste" and "I Don't Even Know Your Name" an "Kid in Love" and I died because he was so perfect. When he sang "The Weight" I literally cried so much but I was stupid and didn't record the performance like the stupid thing I am so I am really for that. He also did "Summertime Sadness" and "Bring it Back," which is honestly such an amazing song and I can't wait for it to come out.
After what felt like forever, it was the End
So, it came down to the last song of the night which was really depressing because I just wish that it lasted forever, and he sang "Life of the Party" because he always sings "Life of the Party" and I have seen fancams of him singing it everywhere but when he sang it live, I was so moved that the tears started to flow yet again. I couldn't even hold back my feels and he was such a perfect human being up on that stage, twenty feet away, strumming his guitar and singing. Then The Vamps appeared and my ears were attacked yet again. It was literally the greatest ending ever. I love him so much and he was such a wonderful performer and his set was amazing and he is literally the nicest guy. After he left the stage, the lights turned on and people began exiting the venue. My friends and I just stood there because we were hoping that he would come back once more but he didn't which was depressing. There were so many girls around us crying and hugging and people were throwing the little paper hearts onstage but the janitor dude came with a trash can and began throwing them away, which I thought was really rude. We eventually went out of the theater to the merchandise place just outside the doors but it was so crowded and literally impossible to buy anything but we smushed ourselves into the crowd anyways. Leila got to the table first and then I did, and I purchased the concert shirt with the sold out shows on the back and his bracelet because why not even though I am essentially a broke teenage girl ;;-;;
And finally, after a long day, we left.
Just being able to see Shawn in concert was amazing. It was his first headlining show and I am so grateful to have been apart of such a milestone in his life and seeing him live makes me realize just how much love this guy deserves. He's more than just an infatuation and a pop singer- he's a guy and he's honest with his music and someone I want so support and to continue helping him achieve and be what he wants to be. It just made me love him all the more and willing to defend him and willing to support his decisions and I consider myself to be a pretty strong-willed fan, and he is someone I want to see shine even brighter because he deserves to.
If you want to see my video recordings of some of his performances including Life of the Party, please check it out HERE~ or check the sidebar for the redirect to my YouTube channel :)
Check out Shawn's YouTube channel HERE~
Around 7:00, Jacquie Lee came onstage as the opening act. I had never heard of her before the concert because I wasn't much of a television viewer. However, she was flawless and her set was simply amazing. She is so pretty and her voice just travels and I screamed so much for her because she was literally amazing :) Her cover of "Chandelier" by Sia was incredible live. Watch her recorded cover here~ Either way, it was an amazing opening to the concert although there were a few disrespectful fans who were commenting things like "She should just get off the stage and let Shawn sing" and "We paid money to see Shawn, not her." Look, Jacquie is freaking amazing and y'all better respect that. She has every right to be an opening act and Shawn was an opening act himself and you should respect people who are singing for you and doing an amazing job at that. Honestly, some people are so stupid.
Then Shawn came on
I can't even express how loud the screams were when he came onstage and said "Hi, I'm Shawn Mendes." It was SO INCREDIBLY LOUD I DIED. I was going to film his entrance but I am glad I didn't because it was so loud. The crowd also began shoving and pushing like crazy and I was smack against this girl in front of me and it was so uncomfortable. Basically, it was freezing outside so I had on this jacket and it was pretty big and in order to get a good spot, we had ditched the bag and coat drop-off lines at the entrance into the theater so we all had on our coats. The floor area got so hot and I tied my coat around my waist because I was literally sweating.
He sang "Show You" first, which is amazing and it was soo good and he is so perfect live like argghhh just thinking back about it gives me feels ;;-;; Everyone was singing along and just seeing him smiling while he played guitar just killed me because he is literally so attractive and in his signature Shawn flannel & guitar and I couldn't. He played us so many new, unreleased songs and I got a few of them recorded but there was literally no space on my phone so I had to delete everything off my phone to video xD "Something Big" was amazing and he performed it so well and everyone was singing and he loved it and then he performed songs like "Aftertaste" and "I Don't Even Know Your Name" an "Kid in Love" and I died because he was so perfect. When he sang "The Weight" I literally cried so much but I was stupid and didn't record the performance like the stupid thing I am so I am really for that. He also did "Summertime Sadness" and "Bring it Back," which is honestly such an amazing song and I can't wait for it to come out.
After what felt like forever, it was the End
So, it came down to the last song of the night which was really depressing because I just wish that it lasted forever, and he sang "Life of the Party" because he always sings "Life of the Party" and I have seen fancams of him singing it everywhere but when he sang it live, I was so moved that the tears started to flow yet again. I couldn't even hold back my feels and he was such a perfect human being up on that stage, twenty feet away, strumming his guitar and singing. Then The Vamps appeared and my ears were attacked yet again. It was literally the greatest ending ever. I love him so much and he was such a wonderful performer and his set was amazing and he is literally the nicest guy. After he left the stage, the lights turned on and people began exiting the venue. My friends and I just stood there because we were hoping that he would come back once more but he didn't which was depressing. There were so many girls around us crying and hugging and people were throwing the little paper hearts onstage but the janitor dude came with a trash can and began throwing them away, which I thought was really rude. We eventually went out of the theater to the merchandise place just outside the doors but it was so crowded and literally impossible to buy anything but we smushed ourselves into the crowd anyways. Leila got to the table first and then I did, and I purchased the concert shirt with the sold out shows on the back and his bracelet because why not even though I am essentially a broke teenage girl ;;-;;
And finally, after a long day, we left.
Just being able to see Shawn in concert was amazing. It was his first headlining show and I am so grateful to have been apart of such a milestone in his life and seeing him live makes me realize just how much love this guy deserves. He's more than just an infatuation and a pop singer- he's a guy and he's honest with his music and someone I want so support and to continue helping him achieve and be what he wants to be. It just made me love him all the more and willing to defend him and willing to support his decisions and I consider myself to be a pretty strong-willed fan, and he is someone I want to see shine even brighter because he deserves to.
If you want to see my video recordings of some of his performances including Life of the Party, please check it out HERE~ or check the sidebar for the redirect to my YouTube channel :)
Check out Shawn's YouTube channel HERE~
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