The gang's all here!
Two days to go, third row aisle seats. My heart didn't stop pounding for the entire two days. You'd think I had never been to a show before, and you'd think I had never been up front! But it never ever ever gets old and I will never ever ever stop being this excited about it. If I ever become blase' about being up close for a show, someone please check my pulse and make sure I'm still among the living.
I met Edith Saturday morning in Massachusetts and we were on our way to New Jersey. She drove, so we didn't get lost. Funny how that works. We got to the hotel and parked next to someone with Styx-related Virginia license plates - Dixie's here! We met JenRN inside and got checked in. Everyone decided what they were wearing to the show, and we got dressed, packed our concert bags, and went over to the arena!
The doors were supposed to open at 4:00 since the concert was scheduled to begin at 5:00, so we got there a little before 4:00 and got in line at a side gate. The later it got, the more we thought maybe we should be in a different line since we all had tickets to pick up at will call, so Edith went up and asked. They said if we went to the main gate, we could go in and pick up tickets and come back out, so we walked around. I couldn't believe how many people I saw in line that I knew! People who had come from New Hampshire, Minnesota, Virginia, and anywhere in between! When we got to the gate though, they told us we couldn't go to will call and we'd just have to wait. We saw Queenie and Linda at the front of the line - why I didn't arrange a meeting place inside right then is beyond me! Too excited to think straight, I guess! We started talking to Micky and Lizzy, and finally at about 4:40, they began to let people in. We originally thought we'd wait until the end of the line got up to us, instead of walking all the way back. After a little while though, we decided the end wasn't getting any closer, so we did trek on back.
We joined the back of the line, and moved fairly quickly up to the security checkpoint. It was a nice surprise to find that they were allowing cameras! No water bottles though, and we had to wait while the woman in front of us argued and ranted and refused to give up her bottle of water. Finally they let us skip past her, so we made it in to will call and got our tickets. I never quite believe it until I have the ticket in my hand, but there were our third row tickets!