I'm With The Band
The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, October 23rd, 2015. After the launch of "Cake By The Ocean", it didn't take long for the world to want a piece of their new favorite band. Just a month later, DNCE was scheduled to play the Knitting Factory. Tickets went on sale on October 16th at 10am, and I had my trusty ticket partner, my cousin Danielle, on standby for backup. We've mastered the Ticketmaster game, and there's not a ticket sale that I've conquered without her. Until now.
I was at work and Danielle was at the dentist. I was on my own, and I had to be on the DL at that. I was on the opening shift and the store opened at 10am. Oh, to be in two places at once. I literally prepared for open and then shut everyone out around me. If you tried to talk to me you were silenced. I was not playing around. And for good cause...I reloaded the page maybe 30 seconds after the fact and nothing. Sold out. I thought it must've been a fluke. It couldn't be sold out, no one even cared about Joe anymore until a second ago.
I called the venue. I emailed the GM. Time and again they assured me that even though they typically sell tickets at the door, this event was sold out. To make matters worse, you couldn't purchase a meet & greet if you didn't have a ticket to the show...and even Host VIP couldn't get me a concert ticket! I couldn't believe it. Things had been going so well. I liked it better when the Jonas name didn't mean anything to the general public anymore. I was going to this show, I wouldn't miss it for the world.
The following Friday was show day and I was off at 5:30pm. I took the train straight to Williamsburg in record breaking time, I was on a mission. When I walked up to the Knitting Factory I was greeted by two doormen. I turned on my charm and told them I desperately NEEDED to get into the show. They assured me not to worry, that they would get me in. I posted up at the bar while I waited for my boyfriend and started networking my way into this show. To my right was a fellow superfan who gave me some insider information on tonight's meet & greet, and more importantly the next one coming up. She had a friend at Host VIP who told her next month's VIP package was karaoke with DNCE (I prayed she was right). She told me to ask the Host concierge at the venue if I could purchase a meet & greet for tonight's show, but unfortunately my cash offer on the spot was denied.
I went back to my spot at the bar. To my left was who I would find out was DNCE's playback guy. We hung out until the start of show, when I began to believe that I really wasn't getting in. I was temporarily relieved by the distraction of the Jonas crew including Garbo, ex-Jonas Brothers bassist and now DNCE manager, and his wife Paris Carney. The funny part was, this would have never happened if I had tickets to the show because I would have already had to be inside. For the 10 people that were ticketless at the bar, this was an awesome experience hanging out and drinking with Garbo.
The Knitting Factory has a window where you can watch the show from the bar and they play the audio. Of course tonight of all nights they decided not to play the audio. Now I was really unhappy. Until one of the doormen came over and told me to follow him. He literally just walked us into the show, and when I tried to tip him, he refused. This man restored my faith in humanity that there are genuinely good people in this world. Upon entering the show, I was reunited with the playback who was with his family. We stayed with them for the whole show until everyone got shuffled around because of the pandemonium when Ansel Elgort showed up to support his good friend Joe. The show ended up starting late because they realized they in fact could have sold more tickets. The room was no where near full when DNCE and each individual band member tweeted to buy tickets and come on over...at least I was already in for free😉 I was really loving seeing Joe in these intimate settings with less than 100 people. Starting over with them again proved to be worth it. As usual, when the show was over I wanted more. I couldn't handle the fact that I didn't get to meet them.
So when I left the Knitting Factory and saw people waiting by the exit door, I joined. It was so cold I was almost over it, but something told me to stick it out. My fellow fangirl from the bar was there, and she's such a big Jonatic she used to run a fan site. She had met them even more times than I have, so clearly if she was willing to wait they were coming. I had a decent spot in line, but when security corralled the group I somehow shifted to the front. I hate to be that person, but God put me there and he knows how many times I've been jumped in front of. Joe came right to me and I got my selfie & self-fulfillment that my inner fangirl needed all night. We ended the night across the street at La Bella Mariella Pizza II with a plethora of fancy slices. Now all I could think about was checking the Host VIP app every two seconds for the next meet & greet.
