About three weeks ago, I half-jokingly entered the Adele Live In New York City sweepstakes through Adele’s website. Adele is one of my musical idols, and seeing her live would be a dream come true, but I never thought that I would actually win… but I did! Thus, I must tell this beautiful story the only way I know how: in gifs.
Me, standing outside of Radio City Music Hall waiting to see Adele! (Photo By: Olivia Katharine)
So here are the stages of winning tickets to see Adele Live in New York City…
Stage 1: Entering The Sweepstakes
This stage was casual, I mean, of course I was excited, but not in a million years was I expecting to win tickets. I know everyone says “oh, I never win anything,” but it’s true, I actually have never won a contest or sweepstakes in my life, and though my hopes were high, my expectations were not.
Stage 2: The Waiting…
I waited, and waited… and waited. Eventually I forgot that I entered the sweepstakes (sounds insane, I know…) but with school and the end of the semester approaching I just had to put it out of my mind as I waited for that fateful email.
Stage 3: Getting The Email!
By the time the email finally loaded into my inbox and I opened it, revealing that I had ACTUALLY won two tickets to the concert I was about to fall asleep. Firstly, I did not believe that the email was real, and secondly I was in such shock that I basically just laid in my bed and smiled to myself until I fell asleep.
Stage 4: Telling Everyone I’ve Ever Met That I Won
This stage was FUN. The reactions of most people ranged from amazed and excited for me to possibly wanting to murder me and take my tickets (which I understood). In the end my friends and family were almost as excited as I was, but honestly, I don’t think anyone was as excited as my roommate, who started screaming and crying simultaneously while jumping up and down. However, I didn’t announce that I’d won on social media just yet, as a small part of me still thought that the tickets might be fake.
Stage 5: Finding Out That The Tickets Were Completely Real
My parranoia about the tickets was so real that I had my Dad call Columbia Records and double check that the tickets were actually real… and they were! He called me on my way back from class to tell me and I screamed into the phone. I may have gotten a few weird looks, but hey, this was literally THE single coolest thing that had ever happened to me, so I didn’t care. After I hung up I double checked the email, filled out some forms that had to be sent in and waited for the final confirmation!
Stage 6: The Morning Of The Concert
The day had finally arrived! I left school on Monday night (the concert was Tuesday), attempted and failed at getting a good night’s sleep, woke up bright and early and drove into the city with my parents. My mom and I were going to go to the concert that night, and it was obviously ALL we could talk and think about all day long in the city.
Stage 7: The Line
My mom and I had a great day in the city, but when 5:45pm rolled around we were more than ready to pick up our tickets from will-call at Radio City Music Hall. Unfortunately, so were a LOT of other people. I had underestimated exactly how long it would take to get thousands of excited fans inside the building, and it ended up taking about an hour for us to get in and get our tickets. It was cold, I was tired and I witnessed one line brawl, but obviously it was totally worth it.
Stage 8: Waiting for the concert to start
We finally made our way inside the beautiful theater, and I audibly squealed when I saw the giant orange curtain with ‘ADELE 25’ projected onto it. My mom and I were in the third mezzanine, so Adele herself was going to be pretty small, but it didn’t matter, I was HERE and it was just about to begin!
Waiting for the show to begin! (Photo by: Olivia Katherine)
Stage 9: Jimmy Fallon!
The announcements were read, the lights went down, and then someone walked out on stage… from as far away as I was I couldn’t tell who until he started speaking, but then I knew immediately, it was Jimmy Fallon!I screamed, I swore, I laughed. Jimmy talked for a few seconds about Adele’s amazing career, and then, as he left the stage… the curtain started to rise!
Stage 10: Hello… It’s Adele
As soon as I heard the first beautiful notes of ‘Hello’ I knew I was in for an emotional rollercoaster of a night. I screamed, cheered and smiled as the curtain rose and Adele walked towards us in an amazing floor length gown as her image was projected onto the ceiling of the theater and beautiful pre-recorded videos of her played in the background on stage. Then she started singing and I almost immediately started crying. However, these were not normal tears, these were deep, intense tears that came from the recesses of my soul, a place that only Adele could reach…
Stage 11: Hearing New Music From 25 For The First Time
I wasn’t sure what the set list was going to be for the show, but I was assuming a mix of old and new, and luckily I was right. Almost immediately Adele started singing new material. Songs like “Water Under The Bridge”, and “When We Were Young” (my new personal favorite) were amazing, and each new tune was better than the last. After hearing the new songs that I heard at the concert, I firmly believe that 25 is going to not only be a fantastic album, but probably one of the best albums of the decade (if not all time).
P.S. Here is Adele’s live studio version of “When We Were Young.” Listen once, or on repeat for 15 hours an an inappropriately loud volume- no one will judge you.
Stage 12: Watching The Concert & Trying Not To Hyperventilate/Die
Now this was the hard part. Adele was so amazing both vocally and personally. She spoke so beautifully about her songs, lighting up when she spoke about her inspiration (her son and her boyfriend), writing her music and staying true to herself throughout the process. Her authenticity combined with her many jokes and goofy moments (at one point she proclaimed that she had gas because she was so nervous) made me feel close to her in a way that only a true artist can cultivate. I laughed as much as I cried and I couldn’t stop smiling. The entire show was transcendent and practically magic, and watching it only made me love Adele even more.
Stage 13: The Encore & End Of The Concert
Adele’s encore was actually three songs instead of one, which was great because even though she sang for an hour and a half straight (I still don’t know how that’s possible, is she of this earth?) I found myself craving so much more as she left the stage beforehand. The last song she sang was “Rolling In The Deep”, which is arguably her signature song, and also my “lucky song” that I have sung for every audition, recital or open mic night I’ve done since it came out, so I was over the moon. She was jamming out as much as we were, having the absolute best time with her closing tune. But alas, eventually we “played it to the beat” and the concert was over. I sat in my seat for a few minutes processing what had just occurred in front of me as I simultaneously cried and laughed uncontrollably. It might have been awkward if everyone else hadn’t been feeling the same way. In the bathroom after the concert I heard more than one person talking about how they just “couldn’t keep it together” throughout the show, same here girl, same here.
Stage 14: Hello From The Other Side…
When I got in the car to go home after the concert I couldn’t even express all of my emotions, it was just too much. Thus, I consumed a pretzel the size of my own head and took a nap, which was exactly what I needed after what was one of the most exciting experiences of my life to date.
Post-Adele my life is pretty boring. Let’s be real, I literally witnessed a #goddess performing the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard for free… how does anyone move on from this? Is there a support group? There should be. Honestly though, the concert was perfection, and luckily we can all re-live the experience (or experience it for the first time) on December 14th when NBC airs a recording of the concert called: Adele Live In New York City. I will definitely be watching, and in the meantime, I will be listening to 25 which comes out on Friday, November 20th.
Overall, this experience was amazing and one I’ll never forget.
Thank you to my personal Queen, the incomparable Adele, for blessing me with a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and for giving all of us the gift that is her talent and her music.