With the development of the internet came the ability to buy tickets online. Easy peasie clicks and you're the proud owner of great tickets to the concert of your choice.
I'm not sure exactly what it was that inspired me to get in touch with my friend Syd, but when I heard NK tickets were going on sale I immediately IM'd him and asked him about his "connections" at Wells. I saw the great pictures he got from the Slipknot show and was definitely interested in getting decent seats for the NK show, too. He told me, however, that he has no "connections," he just gets in line early for tickets and usually gets whatever he wants. Next thing I know, I've decided that instead of sleeping in my own warm bed Friday night and doing that easy peasie click thing Saturday morning, I was going to sleep in front of WF arena instead. I checked with Nate and he was cool with it, so the planning began. Sean wanted to come with, so off we went Friday night.
After a hearty meal, Sean and I grabbed our sleeping bags, mp3 players and warmest clothes and headed to DSM. Syd was already in line and his girlfriend Anna was on her way. Another guy and his teenage son came up just a few minutes after we got there. Second in line. SWEET!!
There'd been a hockey game, so we were waiting inside the breezeway (between the two doors). Unfortunately though, some guy with a lanyard on a power trip told us we'd have to take the party outside. Damn! Out we trudged...the first hour went pretty non-eventfully. Anna had joined us by this point and we sat and chatted for a bit. Sean was a trooper and didn't complain too much about the cold - no worse than I had, at least.
About 11:30 or 12, a hockey player and his girlfriend came out and one of us happened to sneakily grab the door before it could shut behind them. Sean had to go to the bathroom, so he went in and walked toward the bathrooms, but a janitor stopped him. While he didn't tell him to leave, he did tell him not to follow him (in a creepy Old-Mr.-Jenkins-if-it-weren't-for-you-meddling-kids sorta voice, I might add). So...Sean came back out, but we wedged a hat in the door so we could get in later, after we knew everybody'd left for the night. Yes, yes, I know how WRONG this is...but I also know how freakin' COLD it was.
As downtown Des Moines quieted down for the night, we watched people walk back to their cars from the bars...we cracked open the little hand warmers and stuffed them in our gloves, shirts, collars and hats...we told stories of concerts past and honestly...had a GREAT time, despite the cold. Syd gave up the first ghost about 1:30 or so and he and Sean took a trip to QT and McDonald's. When they got back, Anna'd had enough so she went home for a few hours. She was absolutely exhausted. About an hour later, Sean and I finally gave up the fight and decided to make a 3am trip to McD's and QT for bathroom and food. The guy and his son had also retired to their van for a little while to warm up.
When we got back (bellies full of McNuggets & fries, I might add), we decided that it was time to migrate inside. Slowly and stealthily, we crept inside the breezeway, keeping close to the outer walls to hopefully elude the security cameras for a while. We managed to do just that. We were so grateful for heat and block from the wind. We didn't care that we were breaking the law. We just knew we were finally not shivering. As time went on, people started to join us...two by two, the breezeway began to fill up. Finally, around 6:00ish, our final "illegal immigrants" joined us...and shortly thereafter, our cover was blown.
Shit.
We all grimaced as a WF employee made his way down the stairs. We were dreading having to go back out into the cold with still almost 4 hours to go. Although me having some cool air around me so I didn't strangle the NK-fan-wannabe who claimed to have been "waiting for this moment for 21 years" probably wouldn't have been a bad idea by that point. The guy was apparently just a peon because he didn't kick us out...just checked the doors after verifying with security that we could be in there. Apparently they didn't want to tangle with kicking twelve of us out into the cold. He bid us happy ticket hunting and made his way back up the stairs.
Ahh yes....the wannabe fan. I knew you'd ask me about that.
This snarky, eavesdropping little snot pissed me off from the get-go. She walked in like she owned the damn place about 3:30 am. First off...don't fuck with me at 3 in the morning. Secondly, don't fuck with my boys at 3 in the morning. So, she's been there only a few minutes before she starts talking about going to the show. Blah blah. Don't care. Then she starts spoutin' off shit about seating for the arena and sound checks and the more she talked, the more I'm thinkin either she's Donnie's fuckin' sister and has insider information.....or she's a complete fucktard without a brain cell in her head. It was at this time that Syd and I had a twin-brain-power moment and texted each other at EXACTLY the same time. He says "What's up with her?" and I tell him "This chick's fullashit. She doesn't know what she's talking about.". Our phones beeped at exactly the same moment. I cracked up.
She's an eavesdropper..which just pisses me right the hell off. So, she's eavesdropping on my conversation with my buddy (and now, my personal savior) Syd about which sections we're going to request when we get to the ticket window, etc...and she pipes up....why aren't you just asking for first available on the floor?
I said "Because you're not going to get anything closer than row 21 and I'm not going to do that when I can get the first or second row next to the stage in the lower bowl." And she starts arguing with me about how it doesn't MATTER if it's some fan club or not...."state law prohibits...." blah blah fuckity blah. I said, "Umm....are you ON nkotb.com AT ALL?" She said "Well yeah, duh. I'm a fan. I've been there a lot."
It's at this point in time I realize that she's NOT Donnie's sister.
So I tell her in the MOST diplofuckingmatic way possible that she's obviously not aware that a company called "I Love All Access" has already bought the first twenty rows for VIP seating. She starts arguing with me again and by now, I'm rolling my eyes and taking a deep breath to keep from killing her. I responded with "Well, obviously you know much more than I do, so I'll request my section and just hope for the best."
Okay...so later on...the heat starts to kick up a little bit as the sun comes up (we're in a glass lobby and the heat's on....we're starting to get warm) so I take off my coat. I'd worn my turtleneck under my old skool black NK tshirt with the street sign and neon foot prints on it. And she starts fucking LAUGHING at me.
"My God, where'd you GET that thing?"
I said "MusicLand in 1990...why?"
She says "Wow, you're not a fan. You're fucking obsessed."
Even Sean giggled and said "you're so dead, man."
She said "Well, I mean you know all the songs, you have 20 year old tshirts...I mean, that's just crazy."
About that time, Nate calls me. His ringtone is "I'll Be Loving You Forever." And lil Miss Know-It-All pipes up "OMG, I forgot they even DID that song!!"
I looked at her and said "Honey...can you even legally buy a beer? Cuz you're done. Seriously. You're done."
I *hate* people who think they know everything when clearly, they couldn't fill up a paper plate with the knowledge they truly possess. This chick had my nerves on end when she walked in the door. I found GREAT pleasure in knowing her request for "best available" seats got her somewhere past row 20 on the floor.
Okay....that little snippet's done.
About 9am, they finally start setting up the barricade thingie to form rows for the ticket windows and we line up. Syd's telling us the protocol for what to do and it dawns on me. I'm FIRST in line for my window. HOLY crap. I've NEVER been first in line for ANYTHING like this!! I tell the guy which section I want...and he finds me 8 seats in the FIRST row of section 103.
GAH!! RIGHTBYTHEFUCKINGSTAGEOMG!
I hand him my CC and tell him to snap those baby's up. He swipes the card and starts processing the transaction. He gets a puzzled look and swipes it again. Hmm...He says "Let me try manually entering the card number." What the HELL?? STILL no good. OMG. What the fuck is going on???? I just transferred money to the account yesterday to make sure there was enough for the tickets!!!! I yell for Syd....I'm PANICKING.
It finally dawns on me....it's a new CC. I didn't activate it. Mother. Fuck. Syd laughs at me, but, bless his heart, put the tickets on his card for me.
So...after nearly freezing my ass off outside for almost six hours, nearly murdering a wanna-be fan and then having a freakin' CORONARY when my payment method doesn't work, I am finally the proud owner of FIVE tickets for the Des Moines NKOTB show in April.
I immediately call my girls (Jen and Sarah - who is actually flying out here the day before the concert from Washington to go with us) and tell them where we're sitting. They're THRILLED!!!! Jen also relays to me the information for our Moline concert on the 2nd. Again..section 103. A little farther up, but still VERY very good seats!! I tell Shelby the good news and she's thrilled too. She can hardly believe it's happening! I finally get home around noon and update my MySpace and Facebook statuses to reflect the killer seats we got for the shows. Kimmi comments "ummm....HOW killer?" Now, she'd already decided that she was ONLY coming to Iowa for the Moline show on Thursday because with her travel plans this year, she just couldn't stay for Monday's show, too. So I tell her where the seats are and tell her I can still get a ticket for her in our section if she wants to go, but she needs to let me know ASAP. She immediately responded, and after a little bit of deliberation, she said "YES. I'm in!!"
So....not only do I get to attend TWO shows this spring with three of my best friends, I get to share it with my daughter, too. August 1989 was my first real concert - NKOTB at the Iowa State Fair. This year...twenty years later, will be Shelby's first concert - NKOTB at Wells Fargo Arena. I'm so thrilled I can hardly stand it!!!!
