Maroon 5 Live on Letterman
Katie Even before we got to New York, this event was a bit of a roller coaster ride. Maroon 5’s fanclub S.I.N said they were doing a giveaway for Late Show with David Letterman tickets and Live on Letterman concert tickets as well. (2 different things. Letterman’s show and a concert at Letterman’s studio) 3 winners would get to attend both and 47 additional winners would get Live on Letterman tickets. Then a few days later I got a call that they accidentally included the Late Show tickets with this contest and weren’t supposed to. This was a bit of a bummer because seeing a band I like on a late night talk show (in person) is on my bucket list and I thought I would finally be able to cross it off. However, to make it up to the winners, we will be getting tickets to see Maroon 5 on their 2013 tour, so I am of course looking forward to that.
With the switch in what tickets I had, I also had to switch who I was going with. My brother was going with me only to see Letterman and basically was going to be dragged along to the concert. With no Late Show tickets anymore, I ended up going with my cousin Britt instead.
We were going to take the 4:07 train to the city, pick up the tickets and then head over to the theater for the show. We ended up making the 3:46 train somehow instead (awesome!) and were glad for the extra time. Our first mistake was trying to take the subway instead of cab to get the tickets. We got to the ticket pickup with MINUTES to spare (6:22) and saw that the tickets said to be in line by 6:30… and it was a few blocks away. We got a cab and then jumped in the line that was wrapped around the block.
The line finally started moving a little after 7 and we made it in to the lobby and only about 3 more people behind us got in too. Then we waited in the lobby for a while and I was hoping the fact that we were in the building meant we would be in for the show, but the line was NOT moving and a bunch of VIP people kept going past us while we just waited for whatever it was we were waiting for.
When we finally got through the doors, they yelled at people to stop going upstairs to the balcony, and at this point I was a little concerned. We were going in to the floor of the theater – but all the seats were taken. First we were told to line up against the wall and that it was standing room only. (I was really annoyed at this point I didn’t think to ask for handicapped accommodations and I really, really needed to sit.) Then we were told there was no room against the wall anymore and to stand on a rail. Except a bunch of girls ran to the rail and blocked us and if I was expected to stand for another hour or more, I would need a rail to hold on to. We moved to the middle of the theater, thought we had a good spot, but then once more were told to move because “we’re coming in this way”, so we moved again and then some guy waved us down and said they had 2 seats they needed to fill… and somehow we were FIFTH ROW CENTER. I am not really sure who was looking out for us at that point to make it happen… but definitely a big thanks to whoever it was. We got to sit and relax for about 15 minutes before the show started (which of course we stood for).
At first I put my phone away and turned it off. But when the announcer said to “feel free to text and tweet” that apparently was secret code for “and take lots of photos with your phone”. At first I thought I’d just enjoy the show not keeping track of a setlist or taking photos – but it was so strange to me that halfway through I grabbed my phone and started snapping some photos. My phone camera is actually pretty good! I grabbed some screen caps from the stream as well for my scrapbook. The tickets we got were pretty neat too and we got to keep them!
The guys came in from the back of the theater – and the guy saying “we’re coming in this way” then made perfect sense. I don’t know if they let the rest of the line in or not, but the standing room did seem to be a lot more people than it was when we were over there. I hope everyone was able to get in!
You can watch the stream here: http://www.cbs.com/late_night/liveonletterman/maroon_5/video/ I can actually spot us in it quite a lot, but the quality of the stream makes it difficult to get decent screen captures.