So I basically had to beg my Mom to let me go to this signing, especially since it was last minute and I forgot to ask her and my Dad the day before. I had taken the cab to the city to the Barnes and Noble in Union Square since that’s where Joey’s meet and greet was taking place. I arrived at the site around 8:30ish and there was already a line and a half. I honestly didn’t know how long the line actually was since I was pretty much in the back of the line. Some people showed up after me and let me just say that if you ever go to a book signing and want to be sure you have a wristband and its cold outside, make sure you wear heavy clothes. It was so freezing that day, I was basically shivering and I had two layers on.

As the line started to move more and more around 9:00, I then realized how long the line was and it wrapped around the block twice! And for those of you who don’t live in New York, NYC streets are big and long so for a line to wrap around twice at 8:30 in the morning on Columbus Day, is insane. I remember going to Connor Franta’s signing in April of last year and when I went early in the morning, there weren’t even that many people but I think it’s because Joey is more popular than Connor is but it was insane!

I honestly didn’t think that many people would wait in line that early and there were people of all ages. I was also surprised that there were more girls than boys there but it doesn’t really matter since there were a lot of people, including parents there waiting in line. I was by myself the whole time basically and everyone went with someone but I didn’t mind cause my Dad wasn’t going to be meeting me until later.

I finally made it to the front entrance of the Barnes and Noble around 9:20 and I didn’t get my actual wristband until 9:44am. Now, I’ve done book signings before but I haven’t done one at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square yet. This Barnes and Noble was big and had four floors. Originally, I was going to leave and go to where my Dad works and wait until 3 o’clock until the signing started. But then I saw that people with wristbands were going upstairs so I decided to follow them and see where they went.

When we went upstairs, we got our wristbands marked off and the man that was guarding one of the escalators said that once our wristbands were marked, we couldn’t leave the building but we can roam around and get something to eat from the cafe on the floor we were currently on (which was the third floor) until the signing started.

When I went up to the fourth floor, there were chairs there and there were already a lot of people filled in the chairs (because I was confused as to where to go and what was happening.) So I just choose a chair and sat in it. I didn’t really know what was going on so I put my jackets on the seat to hold it and asked one of the people that were working for the event what we were doing here.

She said that when the meet and greet starts, that they would lead us up row by row to meet Joey. It was very organized to say the least and decided to stay on the fourth floor because I couldn’t really leave since my wristband was marked.

I was starting to get really bored within the second hour of waiting and it was almost 11 o’clock later on and I decided to get something from the cafe downstairs. There was even a line down there and they must have even waited longer than I had because they were still downstairs and all of the seats upstairs were filled. So they had to wait until the meet and greet started and more people were able to go upstairs later on. It was very confusing but I was just glad to have a seat and be able to be inside because I was not going to wait in the cold for all those hours.

When I went to the bathroom in the third hour or so of waiting, the Barnes and Noble people took a photograph of the crowd and everyone was around me saying that they see themselves and I was like ‘Crap, I missed the photo.’ Which I usually never do but I was just upset I wasn’t there to be a part of it because the person sitting next to me got to be in the photo and I couldn’t because I was in the stupid bathroom. 😦

It’s around 1 o’clock or so and everyone is getting excited around me that the meet and greet is starting in about two hours. Some idiots shouted ‘Joey!’ and basically everyone jumped up and looked to see where he was and obviously he wasn’t there yet because the meet and greet wasn’t starting until three. I thought he actually was there, along with everyone else and I honestly felt stupid for believing so.

Then an hour later, someone shouted it again and most of us we’re all getting tired of it and people we’re standing on their chairs to see if he was actually there. The security guards there then said that everyone should not stand in their chairs again very politely and thankfully everyone listened. I wasn’t one of the people to stand up in the chairs since I just thought it was stupid but at this point, there was an hour left or so until Joey arrived.

Fast forward to 3:00 and Joey walked in with his boyfriend, Daniel, around 3:05 and including me, everyone went nuts. It was so awesome and he was vlogging on his camera! I don’t know if I’m really in it since I’m in the way back but hopefully when he uploads it, I might be able to see myself. I also got a video of him entering and speaking a little bit before the meet and greet had started! Warning for headphone users: lower your volumes unless you don’t mind the screams of a hundreds of girls, including myself lol.

They led us up row by row to meet Joey and finally, it was my rows turn and by the stage where he was, there were boxes where we could put gifts in if we had them and there were four boxes. One for paintings/drawings, one for food/drink, one for letters and one for toys. I wrote him a letter during the boring hours of waiting and waiting for three o’clock to arrive. So I drop my letter in the box that was labeled letters and soon enough, it was almost my time to meet him. I had to hold my bag with me but at least they didn’t get the bag in the picture.

When it was finally my turn, he said “Hi!” with open arms and I gave him the biggest hug. I guess when I was nervous so when I smiled in the picture, I looked so gross haha. I said I loved him so much and gave him another hug. I then went off and got my wristband cut off and got a signed book with a note of where to get our photos and then I went back downstairs and had left with my Dad who was waiting outside since they wouldn’t let him upstairs to where I was.

Do you watch Joey’s videos? If so, whats your favorite? Is he your favorite youtuber? Also, if you plan on going to his signings on his tour or one any book signings for your favorite youtuber, be prepared for long, boring hours. But at the end, it is totally worth it.

–Zoe ❤

To say that I had the time of my life was basically an understatement. I had used my own money to buy myself front row seats for the first time ever. I’ve had second row before but it honestly doesn’t compare to first. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. Being that close and personal to an artist is like a dream come true for me and I love Alessia with all my heart so it was definitely one of the best nights of my life by far. And now I can check off being front row at a concert on my bucket list off since it has been on my bucket list for as long as I could remember.

Well, let’s start from the beginning, the day of. I’ve been waiting for this day ever since I had gotten these tickets and I spent a lot on them, honestly. ($275 each but who cares. It’s the fun the matters.) My Aunt and I had arrived at the venue earlier than they thought I would and we got there a little bit before six. The doors would be opening at six thirty since the show was starting an hour later at seven thirty. They told us to enter through the side entrance, which I thought was weird since that’s what they made my Mom and I do when we went to see Meghan Trainor. I don’t know what there reason behind it is but I guess it’s more space to lead people in since the front entrance is very small place for thousands of people to stand.

I wanted to get to my seats as soon as possible because I really wanted to see what front row seats were actually like in real life. The staff and people working at radio city are very nice and I’ve always liked going to radio city because of how the staff treats people there as nice as they could possibly be. When we got to the pit area by the front of the stage, I was freaking out and the lady that was escorting us to our seats told us the rules and regulations about being in the pit and how to use no flash on any cellphones or cameras, which I already knew of course.

Our view was incredible and it was so awesome to have a view where no one tall is standing in front of you (since I am incredibly short) and the only person to have standing in front of you is the artist. It was so awesome since I could actually touch the stage and be close to one of my favorite singers, Alessia Cara. Also, this is what being in front row is actually like:

Last minute also, Alessia added another opening act instead of their being two so it took her a little bit longer to get onto the stage. But the first opening act, which she added last minute was Sebastian Kole and I have to say I was really impressed with him even though he only had sung two or three songs and one of them being a cover. But he was a really soulful singer and you can see it in him when he performs. My Aunt really liked him and he almost reminded us of Marvin Gaye and he was really touched that we compared him to Marvin at the end of the show (which I’ll talk about later haha.)

The next artist that came on a little while after was Nathan Sykes and I was actually kind of excited to see him live for the first time. I was never really a fan of The Wanted, the previous band he was in before he went solo (with their rivalry with One Direction and all) but I was pretty impressed by him too, honestly! I was listening to some of his solo songs that were on Spotify while I was in the car on the way there and I only knew two and really liked one of the songs I knew of his. I was also really hoping he would be performing Over and Over (his duet with Ariana Grande) even though it was performed as a solo on piano, I really loved it because I just love that song so much. I also did like one of his newer songs, Give It Up and it’s good acoustic as well as it is with the studio version. And I honestly wasn’t expecting such a deepish/slightly soulful singing voice from coming out such a slim boy. He sang about fourish songs before he went off and they started setting up for the next artist.

The next artist to come on was Ruth B and I have never even heard of her until this tour. She definitely did sing a lot more songs than Sebastian and Nathan did. I think she sang at least 8. I didn’t mind though since she was really talented and wrote her own songs, played piano (like Nathan did) and she said she was a singer/songwriter. One of the songs I really liked from hers that everyone else seemed to know, not including me of course, the words to her song called Lost Boy.

Also, I posted a video of her that I took on instagram and it is my most liked and viewed instagram video I ever posted. Fact: It even has more views than my video of Rihanna performing at the VMA’s which is slightly insane to me.

Once she went off the stage, I was still freaking out over the fact that I was going to be so close to Alessia. Also, earlier during the day (or the day before, I don’t really remember), I had written a letter to Alessia and I had kept it in my shoulder bag that I was wearing and I was debating on when to actually be able to give it to her since I was so close I could actually hand it to her in person.

It wasn’t until 9:05 or so when the lights went out and Alessia was about to come on. The set up and lights were so awesome and the intro was just really freaking cool. Now being in front row, I could understand why artists always sweat on stage, besides dancing and moving around so much and it’s because those lights were so damn hot. Even I was sweating since the lights on stage were facing me a lot. There was also a spotlight on her constantly and I can actually see her sweating a few songs into her set.

I also loved Alessia’s outfit cause she is such a tomboy which I really like about her because I am somewhat tomboyish as well. I was never a girly girl myself so I know where she is coming from.

She opened up her set with one of my favorite songs by her which is called I’m Yours. it is also one of the top five most listened songs to her on her Spotify (fyi lol). Alessia came out wearing a long sleeved but rolled up jean jacket with black pants and sneakers. The jean jacket was designed of course but nothing to crazy.

One of my favorite songs live definitely had to be Four Pink Walls (cause she waved at me), Seventeen (cause she waved at me again), Here (because she added a new verse which was sick) and Scares To Your Beautiful and My Song (for a reason which I’ll talk about later.

One of my favorite parts of the show was when she played the drums during Wild Things (her third song on the set). The show itself was very entertaining and Alessia has an amazing voice. Then during one of her songs, Stone, she has a duet with a female singer but when she sang it live, she brought out Sebastian Kole, one of her opening acts and they were actually really good together. Sebastian’s new EP is out, I think so I definitely recommend checking it out. Below is the video I took of the both of them singing together. I didn’t really get much since I wanted to enjoy the song live but here’s what I got :).

Then after that song, she sang a cover of Troye Sivan’s song, Wild. For those of you who don’t know, she sang a duet with him after it was just his song originally. I honestly like both versions but just her singing the whole song by herself was so awesome. Below is the video I took of her cover of the song.

During one of her songs, Scars To Your Beautiful, they played a video of a girl who wrote a poem or something like that that she spoke about in a video about being brave and being confident about your body image. She had a contest on her website for people to submit videos and become a VIP at her show in New York. I think it was only for the New York show and then she started to sing Scars To Your Beautiful. It was pretty awesome and one of my favorite songs live of the night besides Overdose.

Another one of my favorite songs live was Here, which was the second to last song on the set. She had written a new verse for the song and added it to the live version of the song and it was sick. I hope by the end of the tour, she releases the song again but with the new verse because it just made the song even better.

Then when she went off the stage, we held up these sings that these girls handed out to people that we’re waiting online before they let us into the venue saying “Our Song Will Carry On” since the last song was called My Song. When she went back onto the stage, she started crying when she saw the signs.

A little bit near when she sang the last song, I said to myself “This is my last chance to give the letter to Alessia.” So at the last note of the song, I shouted her name and held my arm up with the letter in my hand. AND SHE ACTUALLY TOOK IT! Not many artist do that when your in front row and I was so happy that she did and I actually got it on video! I didn’t really get her grabbing my note but I have her holding my note until she went off the stage and it was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever experienced! Then at the very end of the show, she went from one side of the stage to the other and touched everybody’s hand, including mine! It was such an awesome concert that I will never forget, especially experiencing front row for the first time!

Also a video below, is a quick video of the project before she came on for the last song. 🙂

If you haven’t heard of Alessia before this post, definitely check her out because you won’t regret it! If Alessia is coming to a town near you, I definitely recommend going to one of her concerts, even if you don’t know her music that well. She is amazing and has one of the greatest voices of our generation. I might be over exaggerating but she’s so down to earth and is one of the nicest celebrities out there.

If you have heard of her, what is your favorite song/songs of hers? Have you ever met her? Then what was it like? Have you ever seen her live? Tell us in the comments below and let me know! 🙂

–Zoe ❤

Well, if today wasn’t a crazy one then I don’t know what the definition of crazy really is. I got to the line out side the popup shop around 12:30. I wanted to leave earlier but the cab showed up late and I had gotten out of class at 10am.

I had gotten in line with a group of girls and two guys who were there a little bit before me and I saw a girl I was standing in line with yesterday and she said I was the 41 person in line (pretty much exactly like yesterday) and we were all happy and whatever that we were going to meet Shawn and to see his performance. They also handed out free waters at one point which was really nice.

After a hour or so, some more girls showed up behind us and they had a speaker with them and started playing Shawn’s music so that distracted us from boredom for a while so I didn’t mind that they were playing music as long as it was Shawn. (But they were definitely not the best DJ’s. They kept changing songs because they wanted to hear different ones when everyone else was jamming out to a song and then they would cut it off lol.)

Then around 1ish they started handing out green wristbands to get to meet Shawn afterwards even though we all were wearing our Island wristbands.

It was around 2, almost 3pm and me and some other girls started to notice that people started to cut in line by the front of the line because the people that were there earlier were saving spots for them, which is not a cool thing to do because its not fair to us since we have been waiting since 11/12 and we were getting pissed off because we were trying to get our places in line.

Now (around 3:30ish or so) they were starting to hand out performance wristbands and they only had a limited amount but had a ton of meet and greet wristbands for those who registered for a meet and greet on Wednesday and Thursday.

We were getting pissed off and trying to tell a security guard and hopefully someone in charge that these people cut us in line and we couldn’t do anything about it because it was not fair that people were showing up right before they let us in. They stopped handing them out because they ran out and the people I was with, including me were pissed because so many people in front of us saw him at the Today Show earlier that day and most of us didn’t get to and we can see most of them with Today Show wristbands.

We were trying to complain to get them to have more wristbands but they obviously didn’t have anymore and we were arguing with a security guard to try to let us in and give out more wristbands but that didn’t end well. I was at the front of the gate around 4pm when they just finished letting people with performance wristbands in. I was at the front of my gate, on my phone and tweeting how pissed off I was.

There were these two girls behind me, who I cut, trying to say to the security guard that I cut them in line after I was complaining about people cutting me in line. I honestly didn’t care at this point and silently told them to “f off” and I said “B**tch, I’ve been here since 12pm and people have been cutting me in line, I’m going in.”

Then they said that they can allow ten more people in since they had more room and I was crossing my fingers at the front of the gate and practically begging the security guards to let me in. And they opened the gate and let me through and the girls behind me to the security guards that I had cut them but I didn’t care and practically said “See ya!” as I looked at them.

Security checked my bag and scanned me and soon enough, I was in. I was looking for a good spot because so many of the people inside were so much taller than me and I couldn’t really see. But I saw that my friends made it in and we were fangirling and I couldn’t have been more happier. But one of my friends was still outside, which I felt bad about but he still met Shawn anyway so it was all good. He really didn’t mind missing the performance since he showed up around 3:00pm but at least he didn’t cut anyone in line.

I was on the side of the stage and the live stream was happening soon and they were setting everything up and I was so excited I was practically shaking. They stopped letting people in because it was full to capacity by now and there wasn’t enough room with all the camera equipment and people that filled the room.

I was shaking and so excited to see Shawn so close and personal. Originally I was in the back of the crowd and saw my friends who were behind me in line and we were all inside and fangirling and we’re so happy. I found a spot on the side of the stage and there was only one other girl in front of me. I couldn’t really see during the q and a because a lady who was the hostest of the Rolling Stone livestream was blocking my way.

But afterwards Shawn went off after a 10-15 minute interview and then a few minutes he cane on and tuned his guitar before he started singing Stitches. He also sang Treat You Better and Mercy.

Then they let us back outside after Shawn left the stage and we went towards the middle of the block and blocked us off in like a pen, pretty much like we were animals. There were a lot of people in with me but they said we were the first group to meet Shawn so I was happy about that (since we didn’t have to go back in line.)

They lead us back inside through the back entrance of the popup shop and let us in in small group of 5-10 people at a time. They took our bags and cellphones from us (though I kept mine in my back pocket, hoping they wouldn’t see it and I can voice memo record meeting him.)

It was basically a picture and bye, only like 2 seconds. When it was finally my turn, I gave him a hug and he said hi and I said hi back. I said I love him so much and just as they were about to make me go I accidentally touched his stomach, instead of reaching for his arm and said “you mean the world to me” and he smiled after I said that.

I collected my bag and smiled on the way out. They wouldn’t let us keep either wristband and they gave us a CD and a piece of paper saying how to get out meet and greet picture. I still haven’t gotten it yet but I can’t wait to see it.

It was definitely a crazy experience I will never forget. Below are some photos and videos from my youtube channel that I took from yesterdays popup show.

And here is my meet and greet with Shawn that came in a few days ago 🙂 

–Zoe ❤

So… Shawn tweeted this thing a few days ago about this #IlluminateEvent thingy for different places around the United States in Canada. Some got a listening party where they got to listen to the album early but other places like New York, Toronto and LA get to actually meet Shawn at the popup store!

I only had two classes today, since one of my classes was cancelled yesterday (which was Wednesday). So my Mom let me go by cab so I could get there early and be one of the first 125 people in line. They had the same thing yesterday, where only 125 people will be getting wristbands to meet Shawn this Friday. So right after school, I left for the city around 111:30am. I got there around 12:15 or so because there was some traffic but I still got there pretty quickly.

There was a lady handing out sticky notes with numbers on them and those numbers were your place in line and I was number 41 and I couldn’t have been more happy. Because for those who had sticky notes, other people weren’t allowed to cut the line for those have been waiting hours before the shop actually opened. I guess they learned  there lesson when people were lined up yesterday, trying to be the first 125 to get wristbands like today.

But from what I heard, since one of my online friends was there, she said it was chaotic. People kept cutting in line and skipping people and she was one of a few people that didn’t get a wristband. She wasn’t too disappointed since she was going to try the next day (which was today, aka Thursday.) I was so happy they were doing it for two days because they know how many fans are in NYC.

So I was waiting in line since 12 o’clock and the store wasn’t opening until 5. But I liked how calm, cool and organized this event was. It was definitely the most organized thing I’ve ever been too because some people like to cut and don’t like to stay in one spot and always want to be with their friends in line and it would be possible to loose your place no matter how early you got there.

But I feel like every event should be like this one. Everyone was so nice and lovely and we all kept our spots in line because of our numbers that we had in our hands. My friends came a little later but they were #61 and #73. I was just reading and reading and going on my phone, even though it was slowly dying because I didn’t charge my portable chargers. (But I’m charging them tonight so I don’t have to worry about it tomorrow.)

The popup shop was so cute on the outside though. It had Illuminate written on the window along with the different song names from Shawn’s new album. It was around 4:30 when they started actually handing out wristbands but once you got inside, someone took down names on a computer that you would use for Friday so you are able to meet Shawn when he comes in that day.

I was just so excited I finally got the wristband, I didn’t really care much for anything else. I still can’t believe I’m meeting Shawn tomorrow! I’ll talk about it in my next post that I will probably post over the weekend. But the shop inside was really cute. It had lyrics written on the wall and they were playing music from speakers, which were some of Shawn’s new songs and I was like fangirling and freaking out on the inside because my Dad was there and I was trying to stay calm, cool and collected, even though I secretly wasn’t.

Then I got my merch  and I wanted to get the hoodie and the t-shirt because they were limited merch just for this event and for the album so I had to get both and you also had to buy the CD so it can go along with the wristband so you could meet Shawn the next day.

The CD was $15, the tee shirt was $30 and the hoodie was $50. It was so expensive but sooo worth it. So I’ll have another post about the meet and greet, the q and a, live-stream and performance later this weekend! It’s going to be so much fun and I’m so excited and I met so many new friends today, tomorrow is going to be just as awesome! ALSO BUY ILLUMINATE TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT, YOU WON’T REGRET IT!!! :D.

Here are some pics I took of the popup shop below! Also tell me in the comments if you ever met Shawn, seen him live and whats your favorite song of his! I just can’t wait for his new album and all the songs on the new album are probably going to be my new faves but anyways, here are the pics! 🙂

–Zoe ❤

God I have so many good things to say about this concert. It was beautiful, incredible, amazing, awesome… all the synonyms of good are what this concert was. Her voice… gah her voice was just so much more amazing to hear in person then just watching her videos 24/7 online. It was just such a pleasure to hear her voice live and in person, hearing laugh and hearing her curse.

She was so funny but also very sweet at the very same time. She loves all her fans and she even brought a little girl up on stage! But I’ll talk about that later.

They let us in around 7:15 when we were actually inside the venue. There was no opening act so people had time to get to their seats. But not many of the seats were filled up until right before she came on because so many people were taking their damn time on getting to their seats that the show started a little after 8, like around 8:15 or so.

Her face was on the screen that was by the main stage. Her eyes were closed when the first note of “Hello” came on, her eyes opened and it was probably one of the most epic things I’ve ever seen. There was also another stage on the other side of the arena which for those who don’t know, is called the B-Stage. I was expecting her to come out on the main stage but then she rose through the B-Stage and started singing Hello.

In the middle, near the end of Hello, she walked down from the B-Stage and walked through the crowd towards the main stage. There were ropes on the floor where people where so they wouldn’t charge at her while she was walking towards the main stage and I love when artists do that because it is literally the coolest thing ever.

Then she went onto singing Hometown Glory and one of my favorite songs, One and Only. There is just something about that song that makes me so happy. Below are my videos I took of those three songs 🙂 :

Then she sang the famous, Rumour Has It. I’ve always wanted to see this song live and everyone was dancing and having fun because she started out with some slow songs in the beginning but Rumour Has It was a more upbeat song compared to the other three. Then after that song, she brought up a little girl up on stage and she was wearing these big headphones because she was young but still old enough to talk and walk, but the concert was probably going to be too loud for her so her Mom made her wear headphones to the concert.

When she was brought up on stage, she seemed a little nervous but definitely excited. The little girls name was Quinn and Adele was so sweet with her and even brought her Mom up on stage with her and her daughter after a little while. She picked her because when she was walking towards the main stage, she saw the girl holding the sign and saw how adorable she was.

She asked where she was from and her Mom said New York but the girl said “Middletown, New Jersey” and she was literally the cutest thing ever. Adele asked who else was with them that night and her Aunt came up on stage and she said it was her husbands birthday and then they took a selfie and then went off. It was a good ten minutes but that girl was so adorable and Adele was incredible.

I think she also mentioned at one point that her husband was at the show but he’s always like never seen but it was cool to know that he was there.

Then she went onto singing one of my other favorite songs from 25, Water Under the Bridge and my all time fave, Skyfall. Skyfall was just incredible live. With the orchestra in the background, it sounded so epic especially that first note of the song just gah… it was so amazing. And the lights lit up all of the venue but it was also kind of dark in a way but also still very cool. Below are the two videos I took of those songs:

(Also I was sitting in the 200’s section, section 227, row 13 seat 14. But my camera has really good zoom which is why I could get good video of her.)

Then she did an acoustic set consisting of Million Years Ago, Don’t You Remember (which is my all time fave of Adele’s. I got decent video but I was singing and my singing voice is so embarrassing which is why I didn’t post it on my channel) and sang a Bob Dylan cover and then sang her most recent popular song, Send My Love (To Your New Lover). I didn’t get a full video of the song because I wanted to enjoy it and dance to it. I only took a minute clip of the song but it was definitely a minute worth watching because I took pretty good video of the song :).

Then she went onto singing Sweetest Devotion. That song I also didn’t record fully because I wanted to enjoy it while I heard it live. It was definitely a lot better than the studio version.

The concert went on and one of her last songs was Rolling In the Deep and it was just so much fun to see live because everyone was singing the song like they have never sang before and confetti blasted at the end and I just love Adele so much. She really knows how to put on a show… Even though they’re expensive to get tickets too… its so worth it. I spent 500 dollars for nosebleeds but I’ll never forget the moment where I saw Adele in concert. It was so magical and amazing and just one of the best nights ever.

Below are some pictures I’ve took from the show on Monday. Hope you enjoy!

–Zoe

I just realized I never posted about my Demi Lovato/Nick Jonas, 5 Seconds Of Summer and Kian and JC experiences that I went to over the summer. I’ll post them after I post about my Adele concert that I went to this Monday. 🙂

DID I FORGET TO MENTION THAT I AM SEEING ADELE THIS MONDAY?! YEAH! THIS MONDAY! I AM SEEING THE ONE AND ONLY (haha, see what I did there?) QUEEN, ADELE. LIKE, WHAT IS LIFE?! The tickets were expensive as hell but I was definitely not missing the chance to see Adele live at MSG.

I am literally so excited for my first Adele concert, I know she is going to be amazing. Even though I have the worst seats, I’m just so happy that she is actually going to be there and I am going to be in the same room as ADELE.

What I am the most excited for is the songs that she is singing. I’ve looked up her setlist from the US Leg of her tour (because I didn’t know if it was different from the UK leg) and she is singing so many of my favorite songs of hers.

My all time favorite song of Adele is Don’t You Remember and One and Only which she is singing on her tour!! When I found out, I fangirled so much over it! She is even singing songs like Set Fire To the Rain, Skyfall (which gives me the absolute chills every time I listen to it), Someone Like You, Rolling In the Deep and Rumour Has It.

The old songs I’m really excited for because I had never heard them live before but had listened to them so many times over the years since they have been released, I can’t believe I’ll be hearing them live for the first time on Monday! And trust me, there will be a post about that concert afterwards!

Of course she will be singing new songs like Hello, Million Years Ago (WHICH I ABSOLUTELY LOVE), When We Were Young, Water Under the Bridge (which is another song I also really like), Send Your Love and many more.

Have you guys seen Adele before? What’s your favorite song/songs of hers? (Cause you know you could never have just one favorite song?) Let me know in the comments below!

–Zoe 🙂

If there isn’t a tour DVD for the Future Now Tour, I am not going to be happy. Because why tease the fans with official live videos when there isn’t going to be a tour DVD?

Besides that, the real reason I made this post was to discuss the two videos and also wish Nick Jonas a very happy 24th birthday! I love him so much and especially his song, Bacon, so this post is pretty much for him. 🙂

I really do love Demi’s recently new song, Body Say, even though it is very sexual in ways. But either way, it is a very catch song and I love when Demi teases us with new songs because I love listening to her so much because she has such an amazing voice and I’ve been a lovatic for so long and just hearing new music is just so awesome.

I also went to see Demi and Nick on tour this summer, in the beginning of July and it was so much fun. It was my second time seeing Demi but it was my first time seeing Nick and it was just an awesome moment for me because I love Nick so much and he was always my favorite Jonas Brother.

But Bacon is also one of my favorite songs off of Nick’s recently new album. I didn’t technically see it live at the VMA’s but it was performed outside and it was shown on the screens inside, which was pretty cool. Though I still kind of wish he performed it inside so I wouldn’t have to miss it but he still did an awesome job on it, including the Future Now video, so I wasn’t really complaining much.

I also don’t know how much longer Demi and Nick’s tour is, but I definitely recommend seeing them on tour because they have such good chemistry together and both write amazing songs so it is definitely a show I recommend seeing, if you have the chance.

Also, Body Say and Bacon are very catchy songs. Every time I listen to Bacon, I always have to dance to it because it is highkey my jam and I don’t hide it from everybody because I really love that song. (lol). I don’t know why maybe it’s because I love bacon just as much as Nick Jonas does or maybe its something else but I don’t know. Wish someone would tell me why I love that song so much so I could explain it better haha.

Anyways, tell me in the comments below what you guys think of the songs! Do you rather prefer Demi Lovato or Nick Jonas? Let me know your thoughts! :).

–Zoe

Now this concert I was probably most excited for. I have never seen Shawn Mendes live in his own concert. I did see him open for Taylor, but he only sang about five or six songs. This was my first concert of his that was actually his concert and I couldn’t be more excited. My Aunt and I got there around 6 but the ticket said it didn’t start until seven so we still had time. When we got inside the venue, it was an absolute mob scene. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like it before. The merch line was the longest I’ve ever seen a merch line before. It took just twenty minutes just to get one tee shirt! They didn’t really let us in until 7, 7:30? I don’t really remember. All I kept thinking was “I’m seeing Shawn… I’m seeing Shawn.” 

They were also playing Shawn’s music from the speakers and everyone was getting hyped. Even when they started to let us in (since everyone was waiting for a while already when we got into the venue), some girls started screaming because they were so excited. I was excited as well but I was trying to save my voice for the concert.

When we entered where our seats were… I really did like them. Even though we were row seven, it was basically row 2. I don’t know why but I guess that’s how the section was designed. When I saw two stages, I immediately knew what was happening and I couldn’t have been more happy. It was still a little far from where we were sitting but just to be a few feet away was absolutely amazing.

On the screens, there was “Illuminate MSG” and it was so cool and in that moment, I couldn’t have felt more proud. And above the B-Stage, there was a big clear ball that was hanging from the ceiling. It was blue, kind of like the album cover and I wasn’t really sure what it was for at first. Here are some pictures I took of what the stage and “Illuminate MSG” looked like :). :

Everyone was getting so pumped for Shawn, it was insane. Also, did I mention the fact that this concert was being recorded?! Yeah! It has been recorded!!! I don’t know when we’ll get the DVD but I really hope it’s soon!!

We were waiting for Shawn to come on so the girls in the section next to me, they were shouting to get a wave started. It didn’t work at first but after a few times, the wave went around at least 5 times, it was pretty cool. The last time I saw a wave at a concert was Taylor Swift’s last summer. After the wave calmed down, they were still playing music and when One Direction’s History came on, I was basically about to bawl. Almost everyone in the crowd was singing the song, including me of course, and it made my heart ache. If the boys ever do come back, they should have shows at MSG just feel like what it is like now from when they were first there back in 2012 or 2013… I don’t really remember the year but I would love to see the boys play there.

Okay, I’m getting sidetracked because even though that was an amazing One Direction moment at a Shawn Mendes concert, we were still waiting and waiting and waiting. I was honestly surprised that there was no opening act because if there was one, they would’ve gone on already. I never really been to a concert where there wasn’t an opening act but the anticipation at this point was killing me.

Soon enough, people started shouting “We want Shawn! We want Shawn!” over and over again because we have been waiting for so long and it was already 8 o’clock. Here’s the video I took of the crowd chanting for Shawn:

Around 8:15 or so, the lights finally went off and the crowd went absolutely nuts. I do have to say it was one of the loudest concerts I have ever been too in a while. When Shawn came on, everyone (including me) was screaming their butts off. When he first started singing, I literally felt like I was going to cry because I felt so proud and everyone in that room felt so proud. There were so many real fans and everyone was singing every lyric to every song, it was a magical moment.

He was so humble and sweet and thanking everyone on stage for coming, it was so awesome. His first song that he sang was Something Big, The Weight and A Little Too Much. I could tell that everyone in the room was so happy and I could see people in the crowd with Canadian flags or flags from their own country, it was amazing. He also sang a lot of new songs as well as old. An awesome part of the concert was when he sang Treat You Better and everyone was dancing and singing along. The light show was also amazing, with green lights and everything and the backgrounds were so cool, as well as the “illuminating” ball that hung above the B-Stage.

There was also a part where he sang a Handwritten medley of I Don’t Even Know Your Name, Aftertaste and Kid In Love. I really wish he sang the full song of Aftertaste and Strings because those are my favorite songs of his but just the fact that he sang old songs as well made me extremely happy.

One of my favorite songs live was Ruin, Mercy, Bad Reputation, Life Of the Party, Three Empty Words and Never Be Alone. Ruin was awesome live because the music video was in an empty arena and this time, it was filled with 18,000 people singing along to the song and it was just so awesome.

He also sang new songs called Lights On, No Promises and Don’t Be A Fool. Whenever he started to play the beginnings of songs that people knew, we automatically knew them and everybody went crazy. It felt like I was at a Marc Anthony concert but I was at a Shawn Mendes concert haha.

Life Of the Party and Never Be Alone seriously gave me the chills. Everyone was practically screaming the lyrics and singing back to Shawn. It was also so pretty and amazing to see all of this in person and to be so proud of him in that moment, it was amazing. Also, there was a B-Stage right next to the soundboard/mix where he sang Life Of the Party on the piano and Three Empty Words on the guitar.

During Three Empty Words, there was a little fan project where fans held up a quote that Shawn had said and the papers said “Maybe one day I’ll play Madison Square Garden” and when he saw it, he smiled so big. I wish they handed out more papers, from the people who created the project, but they didn’t have enough so most of the floor only had the papers but it was still a cool project.

The last song Shawn sang, which was saved best for last, was Stitches. It was so much fun and even though there were only 16 songs in the set, it was one of the best concerts I’ve been too over the summer. Shawn definitely knows how to put on a show and he’s so talented, playing the piano and the guitar throughout his entire set to each song, it was amazing. The concert ended around 9:40 or so, being one of the shortest concerts I’ve ever been too since usually concerts end around 11:00pm. But since he didn’t have an opening act, it wasn’t as long as concerts usual are.

Below are videos and pictures I took during the concert and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

–Zoe 🙂

On this day, August 28th, 2016, was bound to be marked as one of the best days of my life. I had entered a lottery online through a website called 1iota. They give away free tickets for when available, to be in the crowd at TV’s shows and sometimes award shows and things like that. I’ve used that site plenty of times before to get tickets to Good Morning America and I got to see Ariana Grande live in Central Park. But anyways, the day finally came and I was super excited. Though I though we (me and my Dad’s girlfriend), didn’t get the best seats since on the tickets they said, obstructed view so I wasn’t getting my hopes up on getting the best seats in the arena.

We took the bus and the train and arrived at MSG around 5:10ish. Check in wasn’t until an hour and a half or so later, around 6:30 or so? I’m not really sure. Also, every one was dressed up really nice and fancy, like we were all going to the biggest party and we were all invited. It took us a while to actually check in and get our bags checked and things like that. Then they lead us towards where you usually enter to go to your seats through escalators but apparently we weren’t going to our seats yet. (If you been to Madison Square Garden before, you know what I’m talking about.)

About forty or so minutes of just standing (and mind you it was really hot on this day in NYC so it wasn’t really that cool where we were standing either.) Eventually we followed someone as they led our group of “obstructed view” ticket people and they lead us towards the Theater at MSG. I was really confused by this point and it was almost 7:00pm. The show started at 9 so they made us wait for two and a half hours there. Literally. We made some friends and we were also really tired from the heat.

The nice thing was, the people in charge of moving us around to different places, gave out free water which I thought was nice. It would have been better if the water was cold but you can’t have everything in life. I was just grateful we got water and thanked the people who passed them out. While we were waiting, pretty much was watching the live-streams of the red carpet and who was arriving and what everyone was wearing. We watched them on our phones through Facebook and MTV’s website. It was a lot of fun because soon enough we would be in a room filled with so many stars and I couldn’t be more excited.

By this point, I was getting tired and the show hasn’t even started yet. By 8:30, which is thirty minutes before the show started FYI, they were finally moving our group. We were one of the last ones to go and the PIT people and “seat fillers” went into the arena first and we were the last along with another group that was sitting on the other side of the theater. The theater was also really nice by the way. I never been in the theater itself before but the seats were extremely comfy, even though they were slightly tightly put together. There were also clear christmas lights hanging from the ceiling which made the theater look just as cool as it already was. And anywhere you sat was basically a good seat. So I would probably recommend going to a concert/show there even though me, myself, hasn’t been to one there yet haha. Below is a picture I took of the theater:

The funny thing was, I thought we were going to have the worst seats in the house. But I was starting to get confused when we stopped going up the escalators and were in the 100’s section. By this point I was getting really excited but I was trying not to get my hopes up. We stopped at section 104 and I was freaking out because I sat in section 101 before, which was only a few sections away and I wasn’t expecting us to have this good seats as well. We were both freaking out but then just as we were about to go into the section, they led us out of there because apparently there wasn’t enough room to fit us all in that section.

But then, we went to the section next door which was section 105 and my heart felt like it literally stopped. I think we were in the 5 or 6th row of the section? I’m still not too sure myself but I was just so excited to actually be in the same arena as so many of my favorite stars it was insane. Below is my was what my view looked like at the show:

When we sat down, music was blasting from a DJ that I couldn’t exactly tell where he was and on the screens at the top of the arena, there was a countdown, showing three minutes and thirty seconds until show was starting. Just the adrenaline and the vibe of the place was getting me all hyped up and excited especially because it was my first award show EVER. And I’ve always wanted to go to an award show so at least something on my bucket list is complete :).

We could see all the stars in the middle of the stage. There were two runways on either side of where the celebrities were sitting. By this point we were both fangirling over our favorite people that were there at the show. I saw Fifth Harmony (who are one of my favorite girl groups ever), Troye Sivan (who I love to death), Ariana Grande and her brother Frankie, Ansel Elgort… I couldn’t tell who else was there since there was so many and I was freaking out by this point so I wasn’t really in the right mind set to look for my faves. I was just so happy to be there. At one point, I shouted: (since the music was so loud) “THIS IS OBSTRUCTED?!” Like really, there was nothing obstructing our view besides the camera that was either panning the crowd or the stage which I didn’t mind at all since it was an award show after all.

We were also close to where the two guys were who were announcing the next acts and getting everyone excited for the show and talking about different celebrities that were at the show that night. When Rihanna was the first performer of the night and when she first came on, I was freaking out slightly. I never saw Rihanna live and I do like some of her songs so it was awesome, in my opinion.

It actually did feel like we were at our own Rihanna concert, since she performed many times throughout the night. Some parts of the night were somewhat a blur and if I knew they would’ve allowed cameras, I would’ve brought my digital camera to take better pictures. They originally said, while we were waiting in the theater, that there were no phones allowed. But when I had mine out and other people had theirs out as well, I guess it wasn’t really a big deal.

ALSO, get this. One of my favorite singers, Jake Miller, was sitting literally right behind me in the section next to me. I really wanted a picture with him but I didn’t want to bother him because it looked like he was having a good time and he looked so good in his blue blazer. I took this picture of him though but I didn’t want to seem like too in his face if you know what I mean.

The performance I was most excited for was Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj since I love Ari and she was performing her new song, Side By Side, for the first time. It honestly not one of her best performances since she was out of breath most of the performance since she was riding a stand in place bike or whatever they’re called but Nicki slayed her solo. I’m not a big fan of Nicki, but it was really cool to see her live. Below are some crappy pictures I took of the both of them during the performance:

Then a rapper named Future came on and performed. I don’t really know rap music that well but his performance was pretty cool to be apart of. At some point during the show, Kanye West spoke on stage and I was so happy they only gave him four minutes on stage. Of course being the idiot that he is, spoke about Taylor and pretty much shaded her right then and there. I really wasn’t trying to pay attention to is whole stupid speech thing (and sorry if I offend anyone. This is just my opinion and I actually really hate Kanye lol. Please don’t take anything I really say to heart because again, it’s only my opinions and thoughts.) But I did take a picture of Kanye, so here it is below:

Then shortly afterwards, he showed his new music video and then Beyonce came on stage. To be totally honest, I was slightly excited for Beyonce. I had never seen her live before and I’ve heard that she is an awesome performer. To be totally honest, she really is. On TV, it’s not the same experience for when you see it live during the actual award show. I loved watching her dance and her songs were pretty awesome too. My favorite song she was I Ain’t Sorry when she came towards the back end of the stage where I was sitting (and behind the crowd of celebrities) and it was really cool. She had sooo many dancers, my god. It was actually insane. Though, during one of Rihanna’s performances somewhere in the middle of the show, she probably had a lot more dancers than Beyonce. I couldn’t even see Rihanna through the crowd of people that were on stage with her, it was crazy. Here are some decentish pictures I took during Beyonce’s performance:

Beyonce performed for about fifteen minutes or so until Rihanna came back on stage. I got really hyped when she started singing part Bitch Better Have My Money and Work because those are some of the only newer songs that I knew of hers so those were pretty awesome to see live.

Then Fifth Harmony announced DNCE as the best new artist and I was shaky and excited when they came on stage (and was really sad to find out that they weren’t performing) but I was just happy to see them again (since I saw them on the 727 tour earlier that month.)

(Terrible… I know, right?)

Also during some part of the show, I found out that all the food they were serving was absolutely free! FREE! I’ve never had free food at a show before and if I had known earlier, I would’ve ate something instead of eating something before I left. Also, at some point, Britney Spears performed but I’m really remembering when she did exactly. I didn’t even get good pictures so I’m not going to bother posting them. Her performance was decent though, even though it was obvious that she was lip syncing though. And why did she need two microphones? I was so confused but it wasn’t a big deal so it didn’t really bother me.

Then Rihanna performed AGAIN! She sang a lot of songs that I actually did know and Drake gave her the Michael Jackson award or something like that which was pretty cool.

And of course Beyonce won an award, which wasn’t really surprising. I think it was for best music video? I’m not too sure. Jimmy Fallon presented her award and afterwards, as he was going back to wherever it was he was going, he waved at us!!! It was so cool! (Also before the show, Wiz Kalifa waved at us as well, it was so cool! As well as Ariana Grande! I was freaking out.)

Then the Chainsmokes and Halsey performed and I was really excited for Halsey. I wanted to see her live at her own show at MSG during the middle of that month but I didn’t get to go so I was happy to see her live, even though it was only for one song. The Chainsmokers though, I expected more from them but their singing was off and I didn’t quite like their performance as much as I did with Halsey’s even though they were singing together. It would’ve been better if Halsey was just singing by herself with the song but yeah, that’s what I thought of the performance. The confetti was one of my favorite parts cause there was so much of it and I wish I got to have some (since I always try to get confetti at the end of a concert/performance if I can get to reach it haha.) But here are pictures I took of it, it was so cool: (Sorry the pics are sideways, I saved them from my snapchat the day afterwards and never had the chance to change them back to normal.)

I was so sad when it was actually over (when it did end at 11:00pm) because I just wanted it to keep going even though I was extremely tired. It was definitely a great way to end my summer off because it was sooo much fun. If you ever have the chance to go to an award show, whatever type of music it is for, take it. Don’t ever say no because they are so much fun and usually expensive as hell if you don’t get to win free tickets like I did. Also Nick Jonas’s performance was outside, which is why I didn’t mention it during some part of my blog post but it was very good otherwise and I love Nick so much.

Have you ever been to an award show? Tell me in the comments below! Ask me any questions you’d like and I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience to my first VMA’s/award show as much as I did when I was actually there!

–Zoe