R5 pre-album release show in NYC 4/27/17

So I was SO excited to find out that R5 was coming back to NYC and their first show back after a few months, almost a year. So I immediately bought tickets and was going to buy meet and greets and saw that they were sold out and I was very disappointed. (I also didn’t mind since I had met them two times before.) But then I realized that only the pre-sale meet and greet’s were sold out. So during the regular sale, I immediately got them and I was so happy they were surprisingly cheap considering the previous time I spent on a meet and greet it was a lot more than $135 dollars. I also got one for me at $130 instead of the original price $150 because I had a fan account on their website and it apparently gave me a discount!

So it was the day of the concert and I had left school early since check in was at 4:3pm that day. I left my house around 2:30 and got there around 3:30ish. There was already a line in front and people said in line that it wrapped around the corner and they weren’t kidding. But it was fine though since I had gotten the upper deck seating with my Aunt. It’s an upgrade you have to buy at that specific theater since they have side seating closer to the stage.

Anyways… It said in the email that either Mark (their Dad) or Andre, (their tour manager) But it was cool that both of them came over. It was also Andre’s birthday apparently which was pretty cool. My they said my Aunt could stay with me since I said she was my guardian so that was nice of them. Around 5 o’clock or so they let us into the venue and the rest of the GA people had to stay outside. (Since they’ve been there for who knows how long, I kind of felt bad haha.)

First was the meet and greet before the pre-album listening party. I was kind of in the middle towards the back of the meet and greet line. And we also had a pretty decent amount of time with them for once since there weren’t too many people and they didn’t have a show to go to the next day so it moved pretty slowly but to me, that was a good thing. Though I was getting pretty nervous, even though this would be my third time meeting them. Haha, I know I sound ridiculous but wouldn’t you be too if you met one of your favorite bands?

So it was eventually my turn to meet them and I asked my Aunt to record me meeting them because what I love about R5’s meet and greets is that they don’t mind you recording videos while meeting them and taking pictures and having other people in the room with you besides yourself. Rydel was standing by the doorway of the room that we were in (as people waited outside behind me. We also in the downstairs part of the theater which is mostly used for VIP’s and meet and greet stuff.) She was wearing a pink wig and a really cool fluffy fur coat. I said “Hi! How are you?” And she replied with “good! It’s lovely to meet you!” then I hugged Ellington then Ross (and he rubbed my back and I didn’t even notice it until I re-watched the video of me meeting them.)

Then I hugged Rocky (who smelled so good by the way) and Riker who was wearing this handsome looking blazer, he looked really dressed up haha. I asked if we can take a selfie and they said sure! Riker touched my phone (for the second time since when I met them for the first time, I also got a selfie with him haha but just him individually that time.) I accidentally stepped on Ross’s foot and I felt so bad since it was a tight squeeze but he didn’t seem to notice or care but I still felt bad (whoopsie lol.)

Then I waved by to them and got to hug Ross, Ellington and Rydel again and it was so awesome. I then went to my seats while people went to the GA area. This venue had both seats and GA so I got seats instead of GA since there was a lot of people already on the floor and I am too short so it was definitely a better choice. Around 30 mins later they came back on stage and they all said they were all excited for us to hear the album. Riker said he just wanted us to “groove” to the songs and then rock out to them later when they played them live. He also said to put all cellphones away so that we wouldn’t leak any of the songs (which we all did respectfully, thankfully haha. There wasn’t any drama or crying lol.)

They said something after each song but I forgot what but Riker said that Red Velvet had a rap with a feature. But I don’t remember him saying who it was but they all joked about it being DJ Kaled haha. But the songs were so freaking awesome. Then they left and we got to stay in the venue, thank god. Also below is my meet and greet with R5, the video, the selfie and the professional photo.

After that, Ryland came on from exactly 8:00pm to 8:30 and my god, I’ve seen him live before but damn, he was so hype. I guess it was cause they haven’t done shows in a while. Ryland’s set was so insane. There are speakers and equipement that went really high and he actually climbed up them and jumped off of them! It was really dangerous and he said “I’m probably going to get in trouble for this.” Which he probably did afterwards since he was sooo crazy.

He also stood up on his DJ table and was going to do a backflip like he usually does during R5’s shows. But this time it was actually only a table so he just stood up on it. It was so lit and the crowd was so into it since he always up to date on popular songs that almost everyone knows and loves. Below are videos of Ryland’s lit and insane set:

R5 went on around nine o’clock or nine ten, I don’t really remember. They put on an amazing show as always. They sang some old ‘classics’ of theirs like Easy Love, I Can’t Forget About You, Did You Have Your Fun, F.E.E.L G.O.O.D., Dark Side and Smile. But they sang most of the songs from their newly released EP New Addictions including Red Velvet, Lay Your Head Down and Need You Tonight. They didn’t play Trading Time which was a little confusing since they sang everything else but I guess they didn’t have enough songs in the setlist to put everything in or they just didn’t want to sing it. I don’t know why but that’s their decision not mine or ours haha.

One of my favorite moments of the night was when they performed Lay Your Head Down because it was Rocky’s moment and time to shine. He played on the keyboard and sang his heart out. It was such a catchy tune and my favorite part at the end everyone was shouting “Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!” And he had the biggest smile on his face and it was truly an amazing thing to witness as they performed this song for the first time.

Below are some videos and pictures I took during the concert! Have you ever been to an R5 concert? What’s your favorite R5 song and whose your favorite member? (Mine is Riker haha <3)