I don’t know what it is, but I think I have this weird penchant to get myself into situations where I find better seats at any public event. It’s not even the fact that I have a better view of what’s happening (I mean the view is always great), but I appreciate the adrenaline that comes from testing the limits. Perhaps, that’s what happens when your life mantra is “It’ll be good for the narrative.”
The streak started back last semester at the UT vs. Alabama game, where a friend and I snuck into the front seats of the game. We also ended up meeting all the players, mascots, and cheerleaders – but that’s a story for another time.
*Anyways* let’s start off with how the night ended up playing out. I decided to go to the concert alone – for therapy purposes of course – which made it far easier to pull off the whole shenanigan that ensued. Since I came a little early, I thought to myself “Why don’t I see if I can get to the floor seating area just for fun? It’s not like I’m going to lose anything right now.” So, that’s exactly what I did. I bought Taylor’s merch and headed straight for the elevator. Once I got off onto the floor level, I followed the little gaggle of girls ahead of me, but then to my horror, there was a security guard scanning tickets to check if we actually had floor tickets. I mean, what was I expecting? This was bound to happen.
So in true Sreeja fashion, I stopped in the middle of the basement-esque hallway and pretended to call my dad so I could buy time on what I should do next. Knowing I had no other option, I walked up to the guard and he hit me with: “Were you on your phone because you actually don’t have floor seats and are trying to get in?” He started laughing, but in my head, I was like “Oh, yeah haha wouldn’t that be crazy.” I knew that I didn’t have the right ticket (keep in mind that I bought an upper concourse ticket so this whole plan was already so far-fetched), so acting confused was the only move I could pull right now. I responded back with: “I think I’m kind of lost, and I’m not sure how to get to the fourth floor.” He looked at me with somewhat of a smirk (he probably knew – I know I’m not *that* slick), and told me to walk down the hallway and take a right to one of the elevators where security will take me to where I need to go. As I began walking, I noticed that if I took a left, I could enter the floor seating area. I also saw that they were checking your tickets again, so once again, I bought some more time by waiting in line for the restroom that was right outside the checking area.
Now, this part of the arc was such a crazy idea, and I almost backed out, but I got this far so I had to at least try. So, I locked myself in a stall and started crafting a new ticket for myself. Everything about my ticket was still the same, except I screenshotted the ticket to edit out the “Upper Concourse” part to “Entry/Floor.” I know, I know. I sound crazy. But the second I finished up the ticket, I went out of my stall to go wash my hands. But then I was hit with the most surreal experience. I saw Bailey from the YouTube channel Brooklyn and Bailey. It was her and a couple of her sisters. I was so confused and was already on an adrenaline high, but I ended up getting a picture with Bailey which was almost unreal because I quite literally grew up watching their videos.
Now, as I exited the restroom, I had to see if the whole ticket would end up working. Walking up to the woman that was checking the tickets, I saw that she wasn’t scanning the QR code. Instead, she took a brief look at my ticket and let me go inside. As I walked in, I literally could not believe that I just managed to pull that off. I didn’t have high expectations anyways, but the fact that it worked was just a matter of a lot of dumb luck that was on my side. I could have been stopped at multiple parts in this process, and I was in awe that I got to where I did.
So yeah, as the night progressed, I was still in shock that I was in the floor area. Seeing Taylor was incredibly dreamlike, and I can fully confirm that I sang my heart out to each and every song on her setlist.
I don’t think I’ll ever recover from how the night ended up playing out from start to finish, but I guess, in the words of Taylor herself “That’s the thing about illicit affairs.”