With Fashion Week in full swing and the NBA’s All Star Weekend, the past week has been pure craziness in New York City. Sunday night, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the All Star Game. Through the fan ticket website 1iota, I snagged two tickets to attend the event as an audience member for Christina Aguilera’s opening number and Ariana Grande’s halftime show. As I have little taste for basketball but am a celebrity-enthusiast, this was a dream come true.
Though we had to wait in the cold for a little under an hour—on the coldest day of the year, it’s fine—we were quickly escorted among the 400-person crowd into Madison Square Garden. We then were left to wait for our call to go upstairs to the arena and fill the floor for Xtina’s show and the player intros. While making our way to the arena, we were among many famous faces. Nas, Queen Latifah, Ne-Yo and Frankie Grande were within arms length from me and to be honest, I’ve never been less chill. Frankie Grande was a total sweetheart, posing for selfies with anyone who asked, proving that he loves a good duck face just as much as Ariana does.
Christina owned her three minute intro, singing New York anthems like “Empire State of Mind” and Frank Sinatra’s classic “Theme from New York, New York.” She hit every note, and arguably has not looked this good since her role in Burlesque. After Christina’s performance, the players were introduced one by one, coming onto the stage one player from each side at a time. We were then escorted off the court and brought back to the theater where we awaited halftime.
When it was finally time, we were brought back up the same way as before, waiting in the wings for our cue. At precisely 8:38:40, we were ushered onto the court to fill in the space in front of the stage. I was standing one person away from the edge of the stage and witnessed Queen Ari in all of her five-foot glory. She absolutely nailed the performance, even bringing on Nicki Minaj to do “Bang Bang” with her. Both of them looked so stunning and electrified the crowd with the twelve minute set. Ariana did some of her older songs like “The Way” and “Problem,” but also her newer hits like “One Last Time.”
After Ariana’s set, she took a few selfies with fans, and we were escorted from the court. On our way through the tunnel, I noticed a familiar face being led by a bodyguard into the arena: Ansel Elgort. INSIDE SCOOP: he’s ten times more attractive in person than in pictures, but sorry Collegiettes, he’s taken by a very lucky, and beautiful, Violetta Komyshan. Overall, the night was a crazy whirlwind of starstruck moments that I will truly never forget.