Last year it was announced that Niall Horan- "The Show: Live on Tour" would be playing Madison Square Garden. He is Anabelle's favorite singer. Following the Taylor Swift mess, she and Rosa did much online jiggery pokery (mostly Rosa, she excels at that) when the tickets dropped and first scored her a 100 level seat in the stands for Friday's concert, but then a floor seat for the Thursday performance. The Friday ticket was sold off at list price, because we are not evil.
Aside- It is fortunate that this is written text, as I have proven continuously that I am incapable of pronouncing "Niall Horan" correctly. (Heck, I only spelled it right because I told Anabelle I started this post and she fixed it.)
We figured a year in advance would be more than enough time for Rosa and I to cover whatever was needed, and spend an evening together in New York City. This would prevent Anabelle from having to travel back alone from Manhattan late at night.
I had forgotten a very important planning feature... "It's us."
Rosa had other responsibilities. They didn't fill the whole night, but most of it. After a bit of trying to figure out if it was possible to enter the City separately and find each other, or travel back and forth twice, we realized that would make things far too complicated. I was also kind of wiped out from the end of a nasty cold, meaning I had neither the desire nor the ability to wander around New York for multiple hours.
Rosa's excellent digital shopping skills were a success again, and she found me a last minute cheap seat in a "nosebleed" section. Having been a poor college student when we saw the Moscow Circus, I figured "nosebleed seat" meant my back would be to the arena wall with the crowd sloping below me, and I'd have no problem with it.
My life continues to be an endless source of comedy material.
I didn't want to embarrass her, and asked about what to wear. She suggested my four color high tops, as the opening act "Del Water Gap" (Note- I did not make that name up.) has a song called "High Top Chords." I suggested my Daredevil shirt, since the Garden is in Hell's Kitchen. Anabelle approved as Niall has a song called "Seeing Blind."
See? There's always a good reason for superheroes.
I found a garage with mostly five star, "They were well mannered, clean and fast," reviews, mixed in with the very rare one star "I had to bribe the valet and my car looked like they drove it into a wall repeatedly the whole time we were gone," reviews.
Spoilers- The good ones were correct.
As much as I dislike busses, I would have been more open to using them this time if I didn't misunderstand when they stopped running. I thought it was only about an hour after our guestimated concert ending time. It was significantly later.
However, I still do not like them.
Due to Peruvian Clown PTSD perhaps?
Instead I drove us in, first removing the "Italian Hand" keychain from my car as it is the only thing I have ever had stolen from my vehicle...
THREE TIMES!
Once at a car wash, once at a public valet garage, and once at a mechanic.
People are weird.
Normally, I am a much bigger fan of the George Washington Bridge than the Lincoln Tunnel. However, I knew the Tunnel would spit us out right next to where we needed to be. However, I forgot that we were going against rush hour traffic, meaning the Tunnel only had one lane open in the direction we needed. The "Blue Line" predicted hour and fourteen minute drive expanded to an hour and three quarters. Luckily, I know Manhattan. We left early enough that travel time was not an issue.
Anabelle's phone was plugged in for navigation (the "Blue Line") to allow her to educate me about Niall Horan and Del Water Gap on the way in using her playlist. As I was busy trying to have us not die when we went from eleven lanes down to one,
and then deal with the truck behind us blowing his horn every three seconds because I could not hover over the tunnel traffic...
and the truck behind him blowing a train horn to scare the crap out of everyone,
my education was likely less than effective.
Once we were in Manhattan it was a straight shot and a right turn into our chosen garage. After they took the car we looked around and an attendant asked, "Are you here for the show?" When we answered in the affirmative, he replied, "Go out that way," pointing to the exit opposite where we pulled in.
Yes, the parking cost was a little pricier than other garages, but we couldn't complain about the location.
The home of some of the greatest boxing matches in history, including Marciano - Louis, and Frazier - Ali 1: "The Fight of the Century!"
The Mecca of Professional Wrestling!
The choice KISS made for their final concert.
And I was the one and only male on the entire entry line, which included several women who complimented Anabelle's shirt. This seems to be my destiny for this famous location. Not counting Ringling Brother's shows as a kid, I've only been here for several Stars on Ice figure skating performances with my sister, the trials for a horse show, (mistakes were made) and now this concert.
At least they had upped the number of ladies' rooms to significantly outnumber the men's rooms since the skating show days. When those lines wrapped all the way around to the next women's rest room and I had to cut between them to reach my facilities, those women had NO sense of humor.
Neither of us had dinner, given the extended length of the trip. Anabelle and I got some famous New York cuisine, a hot dog and pretzel respectively. Then we had to find our seats. We asked how we could meet up afterwards, and the helpful New Yorker Security woman said we could choose the same tower to leave from. (And that Tower Number Three made the most sense given where we were sitting.) While she looked at our tickets she pointed Anabelle to the stairs down to the floor level and told me, "Oh... you're up on 'the bridge'." Anabelle decided to let me unpack that on my own and went down.
I went up...and UP AND UP. Then I circumnavigated the Garden nearly twice, because the less helpful New Yorker Security guy (illustrating an important difference between men and women) told me I could walk around the arena in a way that clashed with the "behind the stage is closed" section and I had to walk all the way around the other way. "The Bridge" was singularly unpleasant. It hung above the nosebleed seats I expected to occupy and a bit in front of them. It contained only a single row of chairs and the barrier most likely to trigger my fear of heights, a chest high glass wall. For most of the opening act, I had the row to myself, and contemplated laying down on the floor to rest and hide from the view. Del Water Gap did play the high top song. Good call Anabelle.
("I told you they would play it *shakes head* because I knew their set list." - Anabelle)
Watching the opening act in an arena was just the same as it was when I saw Slaughter open for KISS on their first "farewell" tour. (twenty years before the recent one) You could tell the guy was completely overwhelmed, awestruck and giddy that he was playing the Garden. It was kind of adorable as he did his best to fill the huge space with his small, club sized, set up.
While he was on, two groups of women, one on either side of me, filled the row. Apparently, this is the kind of concert I should have been attending when young and single... who knew? (Likely, everyone.)
The ones on my right had chicken nuggets which smelled amazingly good. Luckily (for health reasons) my absolute terror concerning plunging to my death helped my will power, preventing me from buying any. The ones on my left arrived in separate groups. However, they immediately bonded over being huge "1D" fans. (This is how those with far more clue than me refer to One Direction.) They became a single group as they discussed which members of that band they had seen live. Their conversation was prompted by our sitting area hanging off the ceiling next to the Harry Styles banner.
Niall Horan came out and gave a outstanding performance. True, I knew none of his songs, but I'm a sucker for the magic of live music. Everyone in the crowd gets that feeling of unity which is always cool to experience on such a large scale. Also, it was clear Niall appreciated the history and power of the place and was genuinely taken aback by being able to perform there. 
Most of the songs filled the arena with their energy and power, but he also pulled back a bit to do a nice acoustic set "in front of the curtain." Emily Kohavi killed it on violin in both parts. The rest of the band members were excellent as well, and all clearly knew how to play this size venue. As with the best performers, Niall Horan owned the stage while singing, but also highlighted the musicians when it was their turn to shine.
I may have been the only one in the Garden who didn't get up and dance, partially due to "me" but mostly due to clinging to the arms of my chair in terror as the dancing of others caused our precariously hanging section to shake and sway. I did ask the newly combined group of women to my left if they wanted to move over to stand closer to the stage since, I'm awful with heights and wouldn't mind sitting at the end of the row. They were highly (ha!) appreciative.
Anabelle bonded with the woman next to her who had been to an insane amount of concerts. She was the only one besides Anabelle in her vicinity who had come ready with friendship bracelets for trade.
Niall had a healthy amount of crowd interaction, including a short section with no songs where he talked to members of the audience, and clearly showed how thrilled, and humbled he was to be able to play Madison Square Garden. He read a few signs, hugged an eighty year old woman who came there for her birthday (awwww) and generally delighted in the fact that he made it there. There was a famous tweet from a fan saying if he played Madison Square Garden she would be in the front row. He read her sign which said she wasn't in the front row but they both made it. This was odd to me at first since she was right next to the stage. Niall had found out she would be at this show and made sure she got upgraded to front row tickets. How sweet. She was a short way in front of Anabelle. She and nearby fans got excited when they realized the tweet author was there. I obviously couldn't see her from my upper perch, but I thought I got a photo of her with the original WrestleMania memorabilia when I was trying to focus on Rowdy Roddy Piper's boots. 
Nope, I was wrong, Anabelle told me I got a picture of a different Tiktok person, not the Tweet person.
Just imagine, until only ten to twenty years ago that last sentence would have been utterly meaningless.
Anabelle had several thrilling moments. Unlike the concerts I had been to in the past, set lists change fairly regularly for the current acts. She was delighted he did play "San Francisco," one of her favorites. He also played "Seeing Blind" which I and my Daredevil shirt will take full credit for. You're Welcome.
The One Direction song he chose that evening was "Night Changes." I kinda guessed where it was from by the screams coming from the rest of the bridge gang. Anabelle confirmed the source, also pointing out it was one of her favorite or their songs. Therefore, it showing up on his highly malleable set lest nearly sent her into a coma.
At one point he was calling out to random audience members wanting to see them dance. Anabelle felt like he was looking right at her. Then my daughter, who has been formally trained in multiple artistic styles of performance dance, panicked and shook her butt a little bit...
And then Niall did it back to her.
She pretended this didn't happen to be able to make it through the rest of the concert without passing out.
He "finished" the show with the very pretty, but sedate, "Still." Knowing that encores tended to be far more animated and visual, and that Lincoln Tunnel traffic is unpredictable at any time of the day or night, I chose that moment to run to the bathroom, ("Because you stink." - Anabelle) as I could still hear in there.
Every other male in our section of the arena had the same idea.
All four of us.
I returned well before the bombastic and highly energetic two songs of the encore.
("You still stink."- also Anabelle)
The show ended, providing me with an entertaining evening, and Anabelle with a near religious experience.
The lights came on, we all stood up...
And I slammed my back against the wall staring at the fully illuminated chasm like drop below. The combined "1D" fan group and the chicken nugget fan group filed out past me, shaking "The Bridge" with each step.
I worked my way toward Tower Three and saw the woman who had been standing on the other side of me from the groups during the show. She was closer to my age than most of the kids in the audience. I complemented her voice, since she was one of many who sang along to the whole concert, and did so very well. She thanked me, and said she loved to sing and told me she and her daughter both liked him so they came together. I explained I brought my daughter as well, but she had a floor seat, and I got mine last minute...
though I didn't do well with heights.
Her response- "I could tell."
She told her daughter about Anabelle on the floor and that I faced my fear so she could see the show stating, "Because that's what we parents do." Then she patted me on the arm like I was a five year old and said, "You were very brave."
Moms gonna mom.
Anabelle was ahead of me, as she started off on the ground, several atmospheric layers below where I did. We coordinated to the side of one of the giant rooms at the exit level, and found each other easily.
The "easily" continued as we crossed the street to the garage, my car was brought out in under five minutes, and unsurprisingly we did not have to bribe the valet and the car did not look like they drove it into a wall repeatedly the whole time we were gone. By using the exit we walked out of, it was a right turn onto a street that led directly back to the Lincoln Tunnel.
The "single lane on this side" converted back to morning mode, meaning a second giant merge for the day. Aside from that there was no traffic. The only thing that marred our drive home was a sad after effect of the Plague Times that got lost in the shuffle of more important tragedies. All the 24 Hour (and other late night) Diners close much earlier now. What was once the grand New Jersey tradition of the Post Concert Breakfast and Dessert Foods Diner Stop was no more. Alas.
We returned home, and Anabelle gave Rosa a complete play by play of the evening's excitement.
I provided key commentary such as-
"I managed not to wet myself while looking down at where Anabelle was sitting."
and
"During the encore, when the camera for the big screen cut to the crowd, it was full on Anabelle midway between screaming and cheering for about two seconds."
Anabelle- "I'm glad I didn't notice that, or I would have thrown up."
I told two of the younger women at work I had seen the concert and that it felt like it was a cool thing. Then I asked for confirmation. This is why they said "Jeff, you were so cool because you went to that concert," whenever they saw me for a couple of weeks.
Never forget, an engineer's first language is always sarcasm.
Set list
Nice to Meet Ya
Small Talk / Edge of Seventeen
On a Night Like Tonight
On the Loose
The Show
Seeing Blind
Save My Life
Night Changes (From One Direction…apparently)
(Acoustic set)
Black and White
Science
This Town
You Could Start a Cult
Heaven
If You Leave Me
San Francisco
Meltdown
Mirrors
Still
Encore:
Heartbreak Weather
Slow Hands
2 comments:
This was very fun to read! Somewhat surprising for me, because I'm not into going to concerts nor reading about concerts. But I am a fan of the McGinley family adventures and the way you write about them.
Many thanx. Glad you're enjoying the ride. Luckily my life is a never ending source of comedy material.
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