My Jesse McCartney Concert Experience II
My Jesse McCartney Concert Experience (II)
Location: House of Blues Chicago
When: July 28th, 2014
Where do I even begin? I suppose I should start from the moment I woke up to the moment I laid down to rest and replay the entire experience over and over in my head.
I was anxious and excited about the fact that I was going to be meeting Jesse McCartney again and seeing some #JMacers that I know from Twitter that I literally bolted right out of my sleep and got up. I paced the floors a bit too waste time until it was actually time to get ready. As the time came around, I practically harassed my sister and kept checking on her to see if she was getting ready as well. And for the first time in a long time, I was already set and ready to go. I wore my 'In Technicolor' shirt that I got from his shop online, black skinny jeans, and grey, white, and black shoes to sort of match.
My sister was getting frustrated and having hair issues and I kept repeating to her that she look fine and that we need to go ASAP before we miss the city bus to get to the Intermodal Station. We packed everything that we needed (of course I forgot my memory card) and walked at a fast paced to the bus stop and nearly missed it. Thank God for stop lights :D - We finally made it to the station, got our round trip tickets, and waited for a good hour and 30 minutes. We boarded the bus, got situated in our seats and enjoyed the ride. This time around, the bus wasn't packed and there were plenty of empty seats and best of all - WIFI! I sat alone, stalked my Twitter timeline and my favorite #JMacers accounts and listened to Jesse's album on repeat. Hah!
I was planning on meeting up with #JMacers so of course I got the usual "Where are you?" and "When are you going to be here?" questions and I kept estimating when I will be there and an awesome #JMacer informed me that the VIPs are allowed to go into the building as they arrive. When the bus finally pulled into the Chicago Greyhound Station, instantly my heart began pounding, I was weak in the knees and shaking just a tad bit. I went to the bathroom and as soon as I walked in, two girls smiled and pointed at my shirt and said "Oh my gosh, I'm going to that concert." I looked down at my shirt as if I didn't know what I was wearing and smiled back at them and laughed. I was wayy too nervous to socialize and get to know them only to turn out those same two girls would be boarding the same bus with me going home.
After the bathroom scene, my sister and I hopped in a taxi and arrived at the House of Blues Chicago. There was already a long line formed outside and wrapped around the building and when I got out of the taxi, I got stares and smiles and people pointing at my shirt as I walked by them to go into the building. And as I expected, there was a long line for the VIP as well mixed with the Silver, Gold, and Diamond. I knew for sure there were some girls that were there since 10am-11am waiting. I looked around and saw a #JMacer I knew and waved and she motioned me to come over. I went over, said Hi and the friends she was with said Hi too. She asked how to pronounce my name and I told her then a friend of hers said, "I only knew her as "JMacDaily"" and we laughed and no more than 10 minutes later, I met another #JMacer that I knew. I talked to her for a bit before her friends arrived. For some reason, I wasn't really in the mood to socialize and instantly felt out of place. I went mute and the #JMacer I knew noticed that including my sister and I told them that I was just too nervous and anxious. Last year I was practically a social butterfly and the loudest one in the line. I don't know what came over me this time.
While waiting, two staff workers loudly announced and insisted that the Diamond VIPs go to the front of the line and only two people went to the front. After 10-15 minutes, a guy with a megaphone said "I have a surprise for one lucky fan. Will Molly Mills please come to the front," which happened to be the #JMacer I met when I walked in and waited in line with. Immediately she walked to the front and I smiled and fangirled a bit for her because we all knew that she's the one who won the Diamond contest.
After that, it seemed like we were waiting for HOURS.. and we were. Everyone was getting tired of waiting and complained, including me. The VIP was supposed to start at 2:30. I arrived at 2 and the line didn't start moving until 4:00ish. They told us (staff workers) as we were going upstairs and they were going downstairs to have our VIP confirmation e-mail ready to be checked while scanning our concert tickets. When I arrived to the top of the stairs, a lady asked for my name. I told her and she handed me two colored bags that had "JMac" written on it in bold and in a simple logo form. The bag felt light but there was something it. My sister and I and the girls that were behind me was rushed along and stopped by another lady who greeted us, gave us our VIP wrist band and told us that her name is "Piper". I remembered a fan telling me that she was Jesse's photographer so I asked her to be sure that it was her and she said yes. Her attitude seemed off and she seemed to be annoyed. I ignored it and asked if it would be okay if I asked Jesse for a selfie and she told me that it was up to Jesse whether or not if he wants to take one. A fan who overheard was not pleased by that answer for some reason and said that it would be rude if Jesse said no when I walked into the long line that was forming for the meet & greet.
Ahead there was a white backdrop that had VIP, JMac, and In Technicolor sprawled all over it and a professional lighting thingy. Off to the side was the merchandise store that had his opening act Guinevere merch and his. As we were waiting for Jesse to come out, I saw Sherry come around the corner. I waved at her and she came over and hugged me and asked how I was doing then walked off. The girls around me asked who she was and I told them it was Jesse's manager. She walked by again and I realized that I didn't take a picture with her last year so I stopped her and if she could take one with me. She said she wasn't looking her best and I told her that she looks fine and we took a picture.
(I know I don't look enthusiastic but I'm just really awkward when it comes to taking pictures with people because I am super self-conscious, but I wanted this picture since it will be a while before I get to see her again.)
After she took a photo with me, I asked if it would be okay if I took two photos with Jesse since my sister didn't want to take one with him and she told me yes and to let Piper know. The girls that asked who she was wanted to take a picture with her too. I stood off to the side opposite of where the line was because I wanted to see Jesse come out and out of the blue, Jesse popped out and stood in front of the white backdrop. He didn't wave or anything (he seemed to be rushed), but the girls in line screamed and a few were crying and of course phones instantly went in the air. I didn't fangirl or anything but instead smiled and laughed at everyone else. I got back in line as it started to move along. When I made it to the front, I told Piper that I get to take two photos. She said okay and I walked over and stood next to Jesse and put my arm around him. He said Hi and we posed for the photo. I forgot that I asked for two photos that quickly because I wanted to make sure I get a selfie with him too until Piper said "One more!" and soon after she snapped the photo, I asked Jesse if he could take a selfie. I was shaking a bit as I was holding the phone and he politely declined with his hand on my back and pointed to where I needed to go and where my sister was standing. I walked over to my sister and told her that he said no to the selfie. I was sad but then overheard a few other girls talking about trying to get a selfie with him but he said no as well. I immediately got over it.
We were stopped by a lady that snipped off our VIP wristbands (she asked if we wanted to keep it and I said no) and told us to walk straight ahead onto the floor in front of the stage. Phil and Jesse's guitarist was sitting down and a chair with a microphone stand in front was between them. Everyone rushed to the front and took pictures. Not too long after, Jesse came out and sat down. He performed some classics, Superbad, answered questions, took a selfie with a fan :( and sang Happy Birthday to a fan's friend.
After all of that, he left and the stage was cleared. Out of nowhere I saw people running up behind me and surrounding me and pushing their way to the front. This is when I noticed that they were letting everyone in that was waiting outside that didn't have VIP. I panicked and looked around for my sister so I left where I was standing and literally pushed my way out of the crowd. I found her at the bar getting food and told her I wanted to go up to the balcony instead since I already lost my front row spot and didn't want to be on camera and squished by everyone. We went upstairs and got a decent spot where we could see the stage and waited for the show to begin and the building as time went on was getting packed and full.
Photo of how high up I was:
After an hour and a half of waiting and singing along to the song that was playing through the speakers, Guinevere (his opening act) came out and got the show going. She performed for a good 45 minutes of original songs and covers. There were a large number of fans that were being rude and booed and said "Noooooo!" everytime she would announce another song she was going to perform but she carried on like a pro and still did a fantastic job!
When she was done and left, the stage people rushed on and took down her set and brought everything out for Jesse. In 10-15 minutes, Jesse came out and graced the stage. I don't remember in order of the songs he performed but he sang his new songs (except for Goodie Bag and Catch and Release) and some classics (Leavin (?), Body Language, It's Over, She's No You, and Beautiful Soul).
What was funny to me that everytime he performed a new song, the crowd around me stopped singing along but continued to dance and scream and I was the only one in the 1st balcony that sang along to EVERY song. He would pause to chat before he announced a new song from his new album that he was going to perform. He also asked everyone to turn around and take a selfie with him while he's on the stage posing with his backup dancers and to tag the photos with #InTechnicolorSelfie on Instagram so he can look them up and like them. Since I was too far up, have short arms, and a bad zoom on my iPod camera, I took this photo of him posing with his back-up dancers with my digital camera..
He ended the show with Beautiful Soul and that was it! My sister and I left, flagged down a taxi and went back to the Station to board a bus back home.
Here are more photos that I took. I didn't have my memory card so I couldn't take as many as wanted to. Also below I will list all the merchandise that is available for purchase and what you will receive if you are a Gold VIP.
A white t-shirt with a screen print of Jesse from the Glamaholic shoot. ($35)
A black shirt with a screen print of Jesse walking in black suit. (A photo from his shoot with J-Squared for Back Together)
A grey 'In Technicolor Jesse McCartney' t-shirt. ($35)
A washed-out blue and grey shirt of his record label Eight0Eight (808) - They showed a picture of Jesse wearing it since it's his favorite one. ($35)
Wristbands
Sunglasses with Superbad written on along the side.
His album 'In Technicolor' ($10)
A poster of Jesse.
If your show is far away from now, you can order this all online here: http://jessemccartney.shop.musictoday.com/
Bag (different colors)
Autographed poster of Jesse
Earphones
Gold VIP badge
stormborns
dededos
snowghoul
vaporwave
andulkaphoto
annaxmalina
prguitarman
gummygunk
baratheonpilled
