Most people who know me well are aware of my total obsession with Kanye West. So months ago when he released information and dates for the Saint Pablo tour, it was no surprise to my friends and family that I would be going. What may be surprising, however, is that Saint Pablo was going to be my first Kanye concert ever. I’m not sure that I can explain why I’ve never seen him live before – what with being so utterly encapsulated by him – but regardless, I was not going to let this tour go by without me.
Flash forward to Saturday, June 18th: the day the tickets went on sale. Between the six of my friends in three different states, two younger siblings, one older sibling, many computers, an equal amount of cell-phones and one iMessage group chat, we managed to purchase nine tickets to the September 3rd show at TD Garden.
At that point in time we had no idea what Kanye West would put us through in the months to come. First of all, our tickets were all in different locations – three sets of three around the arena. Second, we accidentally bought too many tickets (all on our friend’s parent’s credit card – sorry!!) and for months searched for people willing to buy them at the steep price that we did. Third, I received an email halfway through the summer telling me the tickets we bought were actually double the price, a price I would be willing to pay for my one true love but also understood why others would be extremely disheartened.
Any of these issues would have sucked on their own, and all three put together was horrible. But this was Kanye West. This was the artist whose work inspires me and so many others daily. My friends and I would not miss this. We perservered all summer long: reaching out to countless people trying to sell the extra tickets, picking up tons of shifts at our summer jobs to pay off the extra money we spent, and eventually the situation was completely under control.
Or so we thought…
Skipping ahead to a week before the concert, my friends and I all moved back in at UConn and were starting to get really hyped for the concert. All of the problems we had with the tickets had been solved and the only concern I had at this point was what mascara would hold up if I sobbed from beginning to end. Just our luck, my friend received a call from her parents saying earlier in the summer when we first realized that we bought too many tickets they had tried canceling the order on their credit card and that they just received word from LiveNation that we had “lost the tickets.”
Lost. The. Tickets.
It was at this moment that I really thought I had done something to deserve this torture the universe was serving me. My mind was racing through my whole childhood trying to think of every mistake I’ve ever made and why I would be getting punished now. I was beginning to accept defeat. This was worse than any emotional or physical pain I’ve ever been through: not getting into my top choice school, being dumped over text, even that time I had to get stitches in my eyelid. I seriously would’ve taken any of those alternatives over hearing that we had “lost the tickets.”
Miraculously (literally, a miracle!!) LiveNation realized they were at fault and not only gave us back our tickets but gave us amazing front section loge seats at the same price as our balcony nosebleeds. Now all we needed to do was get through the week. Well, we did just that with only minor hiccups. For instance two cars that we needed to drive to Boston in were deemed unsafe to drive. Oh, and the fact that when we got to the venue they wouldn’t let us in because we didn’t print the tickets so we had to leave TD Garden and pay $10.00 for black and white sheets of paper. Did I mention that we missed his entrance and Stretch my Hands part 1 and 2!!!???
But even though it really was a dark, twisted road to this concert, I would go through it all again if it meant I could watch my idol do his thing. The show was the best I’ve ever been to; the set design not only had great aesthetics but was also inventive, the vocals were out of this world, and the energy was something I can’t even begin to explain with words. In the middle of the show, Kanye gave a speech about self-love that CHANGED me and will truly remain in my heart for the rest of my life. I would not trade the experience for the world.
The moral of the story is always do THE MOST if something is really important to you. I’ve never been more stressed or upset than during this Kanye journey but the end result is what matters and let me tell you, it was glorious. If there is something that you really want to do, somewhere you really want to go, someone that you really want to see, something that you love as much as Kanye loves Kanye, do whatever it takes to get to that end result. You know that’s what he would do. Like he said, “the good outweighs the bad even on your worst day.”