famous 467 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Hi guys! I FINALLY got around to writing about this! I had such an amazing time at the artRAVE, I've just been so busy since I've been back. I apologize for it being hella long and soooo don't expect anyone to read this all, but if anyone wants a detailed account of lining up/the show/backstage THEN HERE YOU HAVE IT! :toofloppy: So I ended up flying to see the artRAVE in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 20th. It turned out to be more than I ever expected it to be. My decision to go to this show was made for two reasons...A) the huge congregation of Gagadaily members and mods meeting up at this show, and B) my close friend Christine had gone to the BTWB there last year and were going again this year, so I wanted to go with her! I was only in St. Paul for 3 days and it was a jam packed 3 days, let me tell you. I arrived on the 19th, the day before the show. My friends and I had LMZ tickets, and after considering the the floor layout, it was our game plan to be front row center along the mainstage for this show. While no strangers to camping for Gaga shows, we initially did NOT want to camp out overnight for this show as it did not seem necessary for this tour. However, we discovered around 2pm the day before the show that there was already 1 LMZ and 2 GA people lined up. So, not wanting to risk our spots that we really wanted and not really minding having to camp anyway, we joined them then. It just so happened to be a very rainy afternoon and evening in St. Paul, so we waited inside the venue until 6pm when they locked the doors, then we had to move outside. We initially started waiting in front of the venue by Gate 1, but security told us we couldn't wait on the property so we moved across the street to under an overpass where they had camped for the BTWB last year. Thankfully the rain eventually ceased, but it was still a damp and fairly cold night. Several more people joined the line throughout the night, and for a long time there were more LMZ people in line than GA, which I found funny considering you would think LMZ people wouldn't have to show up so early. Our hotel was close by, so we took shifts to go warm up or sleep for an hour or two at a time. The other mods stopped by and visited and it was so nice to finally meet Nick, Kayla, Zilla, Mittens (Christine), and 4twistedshadows (Adam) in the flesh. I only wish I could have hung out with them some more! We had a numbering system going, both on hands and on a posterboard. It was well respected. At 6am the next morning, we were allowed to move back inside, and we divided the lines between LMZ and GA at that point (though with everyone being numbered people were just kinda scattered everywhere ). We kept numbering people as the day went on, it got a little messy and I think GA got super messed up but I at least know the numbering system worked for LMZ. At around 5:30 pm they start checking LMZ in. You have to *have* your ID, OR a copy/picture of whoever's ID that bought your ticket. They check your name off of a list and give you a wristband, then they bring you into a holding area and you form the line again. When it came time to bring us onto the floor, Bruno...a guy I recognize from the BTWB and who is part of Gaga's touring team, was really awesome in bringing us onto the floor and ensuring no one ran. He lined us up two by two, and said that if anyone ran, he would remove them and send them to the back. He then walked us the whole way to the front row of the stage. It was awesome, I've never had that happen before...normally they take you to the edge of the floor and it's kind of a free for all. But he kept us in an organized line and stayed ahead of us even as we walked onto the floor area, and when we were like 5 ft from the main stage, he said "ok I'm gonna let you go so you can go pick your spots". It was perfect. We got front row center. And IMO, that's such a great spot. She's on the main stage for a large portion of the show, and when she's not, you can watch on the screens or just enjoy the dancers or whatever else. However, I know there are still tons of other great spots, which is the cool thing about the Artrave . I def think for one show I want to go and not even worry about lining up or where I stand, and just like run around and dance. I won't get much into Hatsune and Starlight. I was there to see Gaga and was pretty tired by that point so I didn't find them THAT interesting, Starlight was typical Starlight, and personally I just wasn't too phased by a hologram? Might've looked cool from the back maybe. The artRAVE itself was amazing though! When Gaga rose up during ARTPOP she winked right at my friend Christine and at some point during the show said she missed her (she always recognizes her!). My group of 5 who were all standing together all put on pink hats at one point during the show and she definitley noticed and pointed, I think she likes seeing things like that. As always during a Gaga show there was lots of eye contact and such, she really loves staring down the audience lol, especially if you're in the front. During Jewels N' Drugs the dancers throw little beanie babies, which I thought was a cool interactive part of the show. Though it was kind of hard to catch one if you're front row as they more threw them INTO the crowd. When the end of Aura came along, everyone started throwing things onto the stage. I threw a stuffed kangaroo with a note, but really had no hopes for her seeing it. What happened next though was crazy, all the sudden I hear my friend Jose who is on my left start freaking out because Gaga has picked up his note. She opens his letter and reads his very emotional note about the domestic abuse of his sister and how Gaga and the song "The Queen" helped her be strong. When she was finished the letter, she was looking into the audience to try and find him. We all started frantically pointing at Jose so she found him pretty quickly, then proceeded to sing part of The Queen to him, which I'm sure many of you have seen . Jose was understandly freaking out the whole time and I was trying to comfort him as best as I could. I honestly never thought he would take me backstage with him, as we had just met the previous day lining up, but I was so grateful and beyond surprised that he asked me to be his +1. After Gaga finished reading his note, she threw it down to Bruno, and he gave Jose instructions to wait by the piano by the ARTPOP Zone at the end of the show, and that he could bring one friend. As much as I tried, I could hardly focus on the rest of the show, lol. Which is a shame, as I really wanted to take it all in and enjoy Gypsy especially. Thankfully I have more to go to! At the end of the show, Jose and I made our way back to the ARTPOP Zone, where the other mods were already waiting. They were sure surprised to see me there! I was so happy that basically all of us were making it backstage! We were then escorted backstage and given the opportunity to use the bathroom and clean up a bit. While we were waiting for everyone to finish in the bathroom, Lacee was there and talking to people. They then took us to a room and let us sit and told us it could be a while. We were offered lots of water and basically anything else we wanted, gatorade, pop. Bruno was very accommodating! The other mods were taken away first to give Gaga their gift, and the ARTPOP Zone people were off doing their thing so Jose and I were just waiting on our own for about an hour or so to wait until Gaga was finished with everyone else. Finally it was our time, and Bruno came and got us. Now I've been backstage at the BTWB, and that still remains like the most amazing experience of my life as I got to sit down with her and chat and it didn't feel rushed or anything. But this time thing definitely felt more rushed. And I'm not complaining in the SLIGHTEST, because I'm so beyond grateful she takes the time to meet people after the show, and I'm ecstatic I got the experience . Just thought I might offer a comparison based on my previous experience. Maybe because she just has more people to meet this time around. So we were lined up behind the remaining few ARTPOP Zone people, who had already done the "group" part of their M&G and were lining up to do individual photos now. I saw forum member Haus there, but I don't think I said anything to him as I was feeling pretty nervous about to meet Gaga. After all the APZ people were through, Jose and I were let in together. Gaga was wearing a beautiful long brown wig, sunglasses and some sort of band Tshirt. Lane was in the room and she said hi to us. When Gaga saw us she was like "Hey guys!" and immediately came over and gave each of us a hug, and I remember saying I love you as she hugged me. She's so tiny and perfect when she's right in front of you. She thanked Jose for sharing his letter and said that his sister was an inspiration and that she'd heard that lots of fans were touched by it. She asked us how we liked the show, and we told her it was amazing. She then asked if we should take a picture. Jose went first, they took a photo and then she signed his vest. It was then my turn, and as I was walking up to the photo area I asked her how she was feeling, to which she replied she was fine. I was too nervous to do anything interesting during my photo, but she put her arm around me and put her paw up. I remember distinctly for some reason the feeling of my hand on her waist, it's weird but yeah I put my arm around her and she just felt very small and it felt surreal. I asked if she would sign my TF and TFM booklet, as I already have ARTPOP and BTW signed and wanted to have all of her albums signed. She happily agreed. She wrote something I can't really interpret on my TFM booklet (picture below), I think it maybe says "monster life"? . I could feel things were kind of rushed and that there wouldn't be much talking time, so a lot of things I wanted to say unfortunately didn't get said, but that's okay. I did however mention my friend Christine, as I promised her I would and just told Gaga that she had really helped her through a rough time recently, and Gaga remembered her and said "tell her I love her, and tell her thank you for the skull cross" (which is so funny as that was a gift given to her at the last BTWB in Feb 2013...she remembered!). She was looking right into my eyes as I was speaking, she was wearing the sunglasses at first but then she took them off, and I told her about how she brought my friends and I all together and how we were all from different parts of the world and had done so many cool things because of her and she was so happy to hear that. I was kind of rambling and speaking fast and I don't really remember all that I said or what Gaga said. I told her about how Chrisitne and I are both from Canada but met for the first time in Bulgaria and met her backstage there, idk if she remembered us from that though. I could tell her people were kind of trying to wrap it up at that point, which was fine as I could tell she was tired. I even told her "you must be so tired" (it was like 2:30am at that point), and she was like "no YOU must be tired!", lol! She came up and put her arm around both of us before we left and we told her we loved her and then we were escorted out. After the show I met up with my group of friends, who had been hanging around the venue. After a few minutes, we saw some Suburbans coming. We knew it was Gaga, but didn't really expect her to stop as it was so late and she was tired. She just drove by and waved at first, but then when she recognized us, she had her driver pull over the SUV. We all calmly walked over, and I let my friends go ahead of me as I had just met her backstage. She was really happy to see Christine, and I kinda forget what was said but she said she was so happy that we were all friends because of her. Her security guard Kevin was being kind of crusty, and he said no photos, which was fine. We just chatted with Gaga for a few minutes then she was like "do you wanna take a group pic?", so we handed a phone to Kevin to take a pic with and he couldn't get it to work properly and she was jokingly like "don't you know how to use an iPhone!?". We then saw a few other fans running and screaming from up the street, as they had noticed it was Gaga's cars that had stopped and I guess they had been waiting for her but she had driven past them. We said our goodbyes to Gaga and she rolled up her window just as the rowdy fans got there and then was driven away. I thought it was really special how she stopped for us then, when she didn't have to and was so tired after just meeting so many people backstage and doing a show. And so happy my group got to meet her too. I felt a little bad for the other fans that she drove away from, but they were being kind of inappropriate and like chased her car a bit and were just acting pretty desperate. I think she really appreciates calmness in those situations. Anyway, so that's my experience. At the end of it all, I was EXHAUSTED as I had been up for like....30ish hours? I don't even know. I wish I could remember more of the backstage part. But overall it was SO amazing. I'm so happy I got to see the show, meet some of my fellow moderators and members, and the queen who brought us all together. (I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH OF THIS POST omg. Once I get writing it's hard to stop. I don't expect anyone to read that all, I like to write about experiences for my own reference anyway :) ) Gaga and I backstage: Outside after the show: My albums signed: With the mod team…I forgot my shirt back at the hotel, D'OH. Gagadaily class picture, tho I'm sure you guys have seen this and the one above Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre 10,480 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 ❝Is not blue, not turquoise, not lapis. It's actually cerulean❞. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunk96 2,526 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Awesome story! I'm still bummed I can't do LMZ because I'm poor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vespertine 3 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 slay Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Rogoe 23 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 :worship2: I wanna go to the artRAVE so bad :emo: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillieGOAT 5,175 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Ugh Thats such a good story I just showed up and went home :emo: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd9904 183 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 That's an amazing story :) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
isMusic 629 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 That was beautiful. It made me even sadder that my show was postponed and I'm not going to be here the day it's rescheduled. :cry: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 26,836 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 What a wonderful story!! I really wanna have that experience too but I'm only seated for the artrave so no meeting other fans or getting backstage for me :( It will still be great though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle 345 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Ah that sounds like such an amazing day! So happy for you Ashley :) Your pictures are great too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essence 228 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 So great! :party: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth 450 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I read it all! Sounds like such an amazing experience! :) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FameHungry 146 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 That all sounded amazing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
somechick 1 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatSLAYGUY 68 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 This made the thirst to meet her so much more real! Awesomely written story :) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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