The best concerts are at 12:30am...or 3pm on a Tuesday

When Taylor Swift's Midnights came out, I had the extremely controversial opinion that Carly Rae Jepsen's The Loneliest Time (released on the same day) was better. So when Parker told me she was coming to New York City (greatest city in the world, btw), I leapt at the opportunity and bought a ticket right away. Plus it was at a pretty fantastic venue, The Roof at Pier 17 (which surprisingly doesn't have its own Wikipedia article).

Cue Monday night. Throughout the day the forecast called for thunderstorms, though it kept slipping from 6pm, to 7pm (when the concert was supposed to start) and then to 9pm. I brought a rain jacket, but it seemed like we might just miss the storm. We got in right as doors opened and accidentally went up the VIP elevator (whoops) and ended up with a pretty great spot, pretty close to the stage.

The opener, Poolside played his set for an hour-ish and then Carly came on, the atmosphere was electric. Right as she started her fifth song (Joshua Tree) a giant streak of lightning appeared overhead. Moments later she paused the show, and then the screens said that the show was cancelled and we were to evacuate. (This is the second concert I've attended that was billed as "rain or shine" that was cancelled because of inclement weather.)

Dejected, we went to a nearby bar that filled up with other concertgoers and was playing her music with people singing and dancing. It was a good time, but still sad. One of the people in our group was regularly checking her social media and saw her announcement nearly immediately: first 150 people in line at Rockwood Music Hall would get to see her in a special pop-up show that night. We rushed there, and found a quickly growing line. We were probably 170-180, but we stayed in line (it's the law! they have to let you vote!), got some drinks and churros and had a good time with the people next to us.

Someone came by and told us that she was going to do multiple shows, and we would be in for the second one starting at 12:30am. We stayed in line. The person who checked our tickets and IDs told us they were all set to go home for the night and then their manager told them they had to stay for some more shows. Oops, but they said they were having a good time!

We got in closer to 11:30pm, and the venue was TINY. Like, 150 people was probably the fire code limit, not how many people should comfortably fit in there. It was tight, but it didn't matter, I was in the thirdish row of people and FIVE FEET AWAY FROM HER.

It was truly unreal, being in such a small space, listening to such a big pop star. She didn't have a setlist, it seemed like she was just playing whatever. At one point she asked what she should play next and someone shouted "Store", a somewhat obscure song from Emotion: Side B. She said she wasn't sure she remembered the lyrics, and her piano guy didn't know it either. Someone handed her their phone with the lyrics pulled up and the piano guy just...played something. It was great. And then she finished with Cut to the Feeling, which was just amazing to hear live for the first time.

And then it ended and I was stunned. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event and easily my favorite live music performance ever, and I don't know what could even beat it.

The story doesn't end there though. To make up for the cancelled performance, she scheduled another show the next day (Tuesday) at 3pm. I know a bunch of people couldn't make it because of work, but I took advantage of the privilege I have and went to work, dipped a little bit before doors opened at 2pm and then went back to work after the concert. It was good fun and you could tell the energy level was higher than normal because of the circumstances. I've never actually been to a daytime concert like this, so my pictures actually turned out better than expected.

On that note, it's a fun game(?) to go to an event, see what famous person will be there, look at their Wikipedia infobox picture and see if you can take a better photo. For most people it really isn't that hard! It's pretty doable with just a phone camera; as I write this, my photos are in the articles of Glass Animals, Allison Ponthier, Hayley Kiyoko and Tessa Violet, and that's just musicians/bands.