The Chainsmokers

Forest Hills Stadium, New York, June 9th, 2017. So nice had to do it twice. What are the odds that I would win tickets to night one of the two part finale of the MDNO tour? Better yet, that I had a meet & greet for night two, but still no concert tickets? I was supposed to get free tickets to night two for being a Sirius XM subscriber, so I went ahead and got myself a meet & greet forcing Adventures in Wonderland to sell it to me without a concert ticket. A week out from the concert, it didn't look like I was getting those free tickets and the prices on StubHub were out of control. For something that was supposed to be free, this was about to become super expensive.

In the umpteenth hour when my friend won not one, but two pairs of tickets off of two different radio stations, the ones she put in my name ending up being for night one. That didn't help my situation for Saturday, but nonetheless I was closing this tour down in style two nights in a row. Forest Hills Stadium was a dream, I was so impressed that it was the closest you were going to come to feeling like you were at a festival. The college town esque neighborhood was beautiful and they had the best stadium food I have ever had. Who needed chicken fingers deluxe when you had buffalo chicken rice balls, giant mozzarella sticks and empanadas? Plus my drink that tasted like flowers, and I felt like I wasn't even in New York sitting in the grass watching the sun set.

This was my first ever EDM concert and I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I had always liked The Chainsmokers' songs, but it wasn't until Drew started singing that I was intrigued to see them live. From start to finish, I couldn't stop thinking about how awesome it must be to know that people came out just to party with you. It was like being at a club but 10 times better. A night of fun and a bunch of Instagram stories later, I went to sleep to wake up and do it all over again for the real deal when I would get to meet Drew and Alex for the first time. I had to be at Forest Hills Stadium by 2:30pm, and we all know how getting ready for a meet & greet is a worldwide epidemic for me. I was also coming down to the wire to get a ticket for the actual concert when I had no choice but to spend more than I would have liked to.

Still up until the time I was on the way to the stadium, I was looking for a less expensive ticket for my boyfriend to come to what he was getting me as my early birthday present. While switching between any and every ticket app including my new found love Flash Seats, a banner notification came across the top of my phone saying The Chainsmokers commented "❤️". I thought this was strange, because though I do get notifications from them, what's the heart for? Then I realized the heart was for me. What? I clicked on it and my DM's opened to The Chainsmokers responding to my Instagram story from the night before. I was about to meet The Chainsmokers and they just DM'd me on Instagram. Is this real life right now? My day was made, it really didn't matter what happened from there on out. I've had my fair share of experiences, but social media wise that has to be the coolest thing that's happened to me. I was at a loss for words, I didn't even know what to say back now that I had a window to speak to them. I wanted to say something to them about it at the meet & greet, but I couldn't think of an inventive way to thank them for sliding into my DM's and I was low-key dying from heat stroke.

I waited out in the sun so long in 95 degrees that by the time I met them, they probably though I was so disinterested but I was really just dehydrated. I truthfully don't even know what I said to them. I was a total failure after all the buildup. I went blank. When Drew asked me if I was ready for the show tonight, I think I said "thank you". My brain shut off. I don't know what happened, I haven't been that star struck in a while. I'm going to say it was the sun, but I think this really just gives me an excuse to redeem myself and meet them again one day. I faired better at soundcheck when I proved I knew the words to every song and got a shout out from Drew when he pointed to me while singing "You, look as good as the day I met you" (or so I think anyway, like I said I was suffering heat stroke). Whatever the case was, soundcheck was a hell of a time between dabbing, Saturday's are for the boys, and some insider Chainsmokers gossip about their girlfriends and their time at Marquee the night before (uber jealous that they were able to get McDonald's delivered to a club).

I was thoroughly impressed how different the show was both nights. I've been to multiple shows on many different tours where it's exactly the same spiel, but this really was like going two different shows. The songs were done in a different order, they did different shticks in between, they had new graphics and boy if you thought there was a lot of people there the first night, damn there was not a space to be had the second night. New York shows are always the greatest, especially when it's a hometown show and even more so when it's the last night of the tour. They really went wild and took the party to a whole other level Saturday night, and it was a really special experience to share with them especially having experienced the difference from the night before. If there was a third night of the MDNO tour, I would do it all over again. My first time at Forest Hills Stadium and my first time at a Chainsmokers concert was the best summer kickoff and I wish I could live it over and over again. Until next time The Pack!