A Swiftie Tilting World

 Short version- Ticketmaster sucks. The American Dream Mall people do not.

Long version-

When one credit card company's pre-sale opened up for the three Taylor Swift shows at Metlife Stadium in the Meadowlands, bots got in, drained all the tickets, and there were none left for the regular on sale date. 

Unsurprisingly, Ticketmaster owns several of the third party sites the tickets showed up on at hugely inflated prices.

Anabelle was well beyond bummed. Every night of a show, before and after the New Jersey stop, she found people broadcasting live to see what the "surprise song" Ms. Swift performed was. Then she and some friends had highly emotionally charged texting sessions. This continues.

We all tried several times when the venue would do an apologetic ticket dump to see if some at normal prices would be released. At one point there were four devices on the website waiting for anything to show up that did not immediately switch over to a resale site.

Nothing did.

However, due to the jerkiness of Tickemaster, and the loudness of stadium shows, Anabelle started to see reports of venues allowing people to hang out in parking lots and other nearby locations to hear the show "next door."

Information for the Meadowlands was spotty, but by the day of the third and final show, the Sunday before Memorial Day, it was clear options were available.

We had no idea what they were, but that never stopped us before. The three of us piled into the car the afternoon of May 28th and drove towards Parking Garage C. (Garage A was already listed as closed, heralding what we expected to be an enormous mob.)

We weren't sure if we were all staying, if I was going to have to drop them off and return, if I could stay a while and then find a late restaurant, where the target location was...

or really anything else.

For my Grid loving self, it was quite stressful.

We found our way around the mall/ amusement center, dodging the hordes of Swifties pulling into the arena parking. 

I parked at the massive complex, figuring I'd get them set up wherever they were going, and have to leave when the mall closed at ten that night. Then they'd have to call when done and somehow I'd find them. (I know...stellar plan.)

Checking at the Information Desk yielded some happy news. Parking Garage A, directly next to the arena, was specifically closed early to allow fans to listen to the concert. Also, when I asked to confirm the garage we were in (C) closed at ten, the attendant asked if we were there for the concert. When I pointed out we didn't have tickets, she let us know that was fine and we'd be able to leave the car parked until the show ended. Therefore, while we still had no idea where in Garage A we were going, at least we knew we could stay together the whole time. In between everything, Rosa made a friend online during the ticket hunt, also trying to find a seat for her daughter. We expected to meet up on the garage, but the possibility of her needing handicapped access, and the other slight issues of not really knowing what each other looked like, when the other party was arriving, or where we were in the garage relative to each other prevented a meet up.

The bridge over to the arena parking lot was blocked by police, only letting ticket holders cross. We learned later that they allowed everyone to cross on Friday night once the show started, and that led to a crowded mess. Therefore, we were happy to stay on the garage.

Yes, through wandering and watching (and Rosa going up to peek) we determined the premier location was atop Garage A facing the stadium. It turned out that is why that parking section closed early, not due to capacity...

It was quite the reverse, they closed it to get it to empty. There were a few cars that had gotten the information to arrive very early, and a bunch of people in a mix of concert and picnic atmosphere themes. Translation- lots of folks in concert shirts or Taylor Swift dresses, but with snacks, blankets and games to pass the time.

A group of college girls brought a corn hole game, and were juggling the bean bags. Once again, impeccable timing Jeff... thirty years late.

We milled around some of the many open parking spaces in the center of the roof and learned there were two types of people near the edge looking over at the stadium.

Group 1) was very protective of the zone they had commandeered early and rudely defended the entire perimeter from anyone getting remotely close.

Group 2) sanely realized there was far more than enough space for everyone on the roof, and that no one could actually see the concert. They actively made friends and tried to add to the fun atmosphere. 

No credit for guessing which group we ended up talking to.

One woman in her twenties drove in from Long Island after blowing over a hundred bucks at a craft store. With no desire to bring all that crafty stuff home, she was gathering passersby to come to her trunk and make things. Anabelle fashioned what started as a bracelet, but morphed into a hair piece with a mix of colors based on Swift’s character in The Lorax and ones she liked. 

This ended up leading to accidentally having the lesbian flag colors on her hair piece…

just in time to be an ally for Pride Month.

Anabelle also painted all her nails to represent Taylor Swift albums, but stuff like that should be obvious by now.

The woman (Taylor Swift, not the trunk lady or Anabelle) puts on one hell of a show, and that's even counting our "Obstructed View...Literally" viewing area. (as Anabelle dubbed it, and then designed our ticket.) There were two opening acts, which I am certain Anabelle will yell at me for forgetting their names yet again. 

At around this point, in recognition of a roof full of Swifties, the words "The Garden State Welcomes Tay Tay" were projected onto the top of the building with the ski slope in it, next to the mural that looked like many of the modern art museums we've been to.

And that was all the recognition we got. 

At least they didn't throw us out.

Taylor Swift herself put on over a three hour set. Most of the songs I recognized were from Anabelle, but there were some that went back to the ancient times where I would listen to the radio in the car occasionally. They are all supremely catchy. Also, the surprise songs were greatly appreciated. 

It's not like I'll be putting Taylor Swift songs on my playlist, though.

That is because they are already on the playlist, because Anabelle bought them digitally which sticks them on in an unremovable state, much like like that U2 album nobody wants.

Aside- this is why I am not allowed to purchase my music in that fashion. The horror of my music on her device would be too much to bear.

However, I will not be skipping the Taylor Swift tracks when they pop up anymore.

Most of what I learned about the set up and previous nights was from Brian, a Dad about my age who knew someone that worked at the mall and had parked his car early that morning.  I met him when walking to stretch my legs to prevent them from cramping up and making me pitch off the garage. He had a shirt on making light of a horrific cardiac incident from a year and a half prior ("Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Zero Stars, Would Not Recommend") The change in perspective from that event was the reason he decided to spend the day with his daughter at an amusement park after parking early instead of merely dropping her off. We talked shop for a while before returning to our families. 

The three of us did stay till the end of the impressive show. The thinning crowd netted us spaces on the wall, and we were able to see the top edge of the fireworks peeking above the stadium.

 We could also see the hellacious amounts of traffic in and around the stadium lots, including hordes of folks trying to park illegally to pick up concert goers. The cops showed up regularly to chase them off...and then more would file in behind them. The first time one blew their siren to get someone to leave, it was in the middle of one of  the many songs Anabelle likes a lot and she yelled, "Shhhhhhh! we're trying to hear!" getting a big laugh from the crowd.

That's my girl!

The GPS indicated walking all around the mall and garages to get to our car would have taken over three quarters of an hour. Therefore, we decided to see if we could get into the mall over an hour after it was supposed to close.

We got in, WOO!

Then a security guard told us we weren't allowed in. When we told him we were in a different garage, he started escorting us. That is, until another couple said they was also going to "Garage C" and the guard let us all go on our own. The guy in the other couple confessed to us, "I just copied you, I have no idea which garage we're in, but I know how to get there."

It was not "C."

We made it to C, tried to pay for our day of parking...

and the little pay kiosk rejected every credit card we had on us because it had shut down for the evening.

We pressed the help button and The Voice told us we could pay at the garage exit. Then we had to summon her again because all the doors were locked.

She kept trying to explain that we could pay at the garage exit, and we kept trying to explain we were never going to get to the garage exit with the doors locked. Finally, a slight change in wording got our point across and The Voice summoned security to release us.

We were well prepared, and in fact tried at the kiosk, to pay the full day rate. The man running the garage exit gate clearly wanted no part of extending his already far longer than normal day manning that gate, and buzzed everyone through for free.

Previously, returning from a late night concert in our family...

especially when it was a crazy last minute idea like this one that involved not really eating anything all day,

involved a late night Diner stop.

Because of one of the saddest side effects of Covid, this was not possible as all Diners in New Jersey now close between Ten and Eleven at night.

So sad.

Luckily fast food drive throughs were available. Anabelle and I made up for missing our Taco Bell tradition on her final return from college for the year, and Rosa got a strawberry Frosty at Wendy's. We had an insanely late dinner, and then passed out following our bizarre but worthwhile concert experience.