Better Late Than Never
The Paramount, Long Island, February 8th, 2017. Sunshiny day, and everything's moving ahead of schedule. So proud of myself. Usually living to the minute, but not today - today I would be early. Traffic was a little heavy getting back to Brooklyn from work but I still had plenty of time. Took me a little longer to get ready than I should have but still had more time than I needed to get there. When I left work, I put directions in my phone from my house to The Paramount and it said 1 hour and 4 minutes. Perfect, I was leaving more than that in advance. But how come now that I'm actually leaving my GPS says 2 HOURS AND 6 MINUTES??? Certainly that can't be right. I'll just drive in the right direction and start the GPS once we were coming up to the splits that would take us on different routes to Long Island.
WOW. I was not anticipating this. The traffic was so obscene I had to get off the highway and take the streets as long as I could. I was supposed to be there in 15 minutes and we were still in Brooklyn!!! How was I going to swing this? I tried to keep myself calm by telling myself that Host VIP is cool and they like me so I knew they would make it work...but when a half hour late turned into an hour, and an hour turned into an hour and a half to the point where I was going to get the venue for doors opening to general admission, my heart was sinking fast. i tried emailing, Instagram DMing, submitting tickets through the Host app. I wasn't getting any responses. When I finally got an answer back from a fellow fan that was there saying "You're not going to make it and there's nothing they can do", I tried not to cry. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't get to meet DNCE for the 100th time, but I didn't want to be screwed out of my money too. If I paid for a service, I either wanted that service or to get my money back. There's two policies Host is adamant about:
1. If you're late they can't guarantee you'll be allowed to enter the meet & greet.
2. Meet & greets are nonrefundable, but it is also up to their discretion. It was coming to the point where I was so late I didn't know if I'd even be able to talk to them to convince them to do something.
We pulled up to the venue and I hopped out of the car. I walked right in and called over the first security guard I saw. I told him I was really late for the meet & greet and was looking for Host VIP. When he asked me my name and I told him "Briana Goldman", he said, "Management is expecting you, you can go right upstairs." I almost thought it was a joke. How was that so easy? I walked upstairs to be greeted by another security guard who asked me where I was going. I said, "Management is expecting me, they said I can come right upstairs. I need to find Host VIP." He seemed very confused which was deterring my attempt at moving faster than the speed of light. Thankfully, the security guard that let me upstairs happened to be walking by so I called him over yet again. He conferred with the other security guard that they were expecting me and I need to find Host. Once given the green light, this security guard literally ran me around the entire venue like Mission Impossible. We cut through GA where the fans who did the meet & greet were already in position for the show and who were all looking at me like, "Where is she going?". We ran backstage where I saw a table full of lightsabers and Stormtrooper masks (spoiler alert: that was DNCE's opening). We ran up stairs and down stairs with a measly flashlight and all I could keep thinking is, "Why are we running?!" Finally he asked me, "So what do you need to get from her?" to which I confusedly replied, "I'm late for my meet & greet and we're trying to figure out when I can do it?"
After what seemed like a hike, we reached our final destination of the basement where the Host team and all of DNCE's roadies were having dinner. When I was greeted by my regular Host rep I was relieved. I knew if I'd gotten this far, she would make something happen. She assured me that she knew I was good for it and she would figure out with Moshe (DNCE's bodyguard) when we'd be able to take a picture under whatever circumstances. I told her I didn't care about the backdrop and professional camera, I just wanted my picture even if we had to take it with my phone. We exchanged numbers and I held on to my phone like a loaded weapon waiting for it to go off, there was no way I would miss that vibration. After watching the opening act The Skins, I got a text to meet at merch at 8:35pm. When I met up with Host, they took me backstage to a green room. I was greeted by DNCE's team including their tour manager who claims he told Demi to do "Confident" and their photographers who were waiting around for the show to start. We had 100 random conversations about pets/what the lifespan of a ferret is, chicken wings/what your death row food would be, tattoos, my boyfriend/our living arrangements, Instagram stories/videos of hot guys trying to make it as singers, and I even got to play with a puppy! Moshe appeared in the doorway with his bodyguard face on and asked me, "Why are you late?" Not really having a good excuse, I said, "Life is unfortunate and things happen but I'm here now. I've been doing this with you guys for 10 years, I promise I'm dedicated to the fandom." Moshe seemed satisfied enough with that and simply replied, "Ok." In the distance over the blasting music, I heard Joe and Cole doing "vocal warmups", which Host informed me consists of screaming to Nickelback.
After what seemed like an eternity, we got word that DNCE was ready for me. When Host handed me over to them, they seemed pleasantly surprised to see it was me. It's not every day they do an impromptu meet & greet the moment before they're set to go on stage, as Host even told me they wouldn't do this for many people but "you're cool" (thanks for the street cred Host😎). I burst into the room saying, "Hey guys, sorry I'm late!", and they seemed ecstatic to see it was me of all fans when they said, "Not at all, thank you for coming!". I exchanged hugs with them, and I told Joe the last time I was at this venue was to see him judge the singing competition show The Next. The "Wow." response he elicited seemed like I dug up a skeleton from his past that he completely forgot about. Then Joe asked me if we could take a picture before I go...hello, that's why I'm here, of course we can take a picture! The squad got in position and peace signed it up for a picture with their #1 fan. One of them must have said they liked my shirt, because Host piggybacked saying, "Oh yeah, that's so cute...I didn't notice it was green, I thought it was black!" I was whisked back into my green room to watch DNCE run on stage while Host was gracious enough to ask if I'd like to watch the first song from the side of the stage...uh yes, is that really a question? In that moment I saw what the lightsabers and Stormtrooper masks were for when I saw DNCE running around on stage with them. I was practically on the stage when Moshe told Host I had to go. They tried to fight for me, but I told them it was cool and to leave it alone. They felt bad, but I told them I was already eternally grateful for everything they did as none of this was even supposed to happen. Who would have ever imagined that being late would be better?
