the JoBros love runs deep

we did it! we survived our first general admission concert!

i happened to check ticketbastard for last-minute tickets, and did a happy dance when i got my hands on an extra ticket so that we could take BFF along. we'd felt so bad when i was only able to buy two tickets, and just didn't mention it to her. and so the teen was stoked - "i like going with you, mom, but you know..." heh.

the teen showed me a note on the jonas brothers myspace page that listed a crapload of street closures in the hollywood area. i thought that was a nice touch - awww, the jonas brothers CARE! so schweet. it wasn't until later, when we were taking detour after detour towards the palladium, that i realized what was going on - the hollywood christmas parade was that night. oy vey.

our jaws dropped when we cruised up argyle towards sunset and saw the line. THE LINE! oh mah gah. it wrapped around the entire fucking block. at that point, we realized that we should have left home much, much earlier. we also noticed that a lot of them were sporting colored wristbands, which didn't bode well for us.

luckily, once we turned onto sunset, i found that the car wash across the street was selling prime parking spots for $20 - $10 less than the lot just behind the venue. i pulled in, was directed to a great spot right in front of the driveway, and was totally excited at the knowledge that we'd be able to simply cross the street, hop in the car, and cruise right out onto sunset and towards the freeway and home. whee!

having gotten the runaround from our nearest retail outlet for ticketbastard ("we can't print tickets for same-day events. you'll have to go to will call." "why was it an option, and one that cost me $1 extra, then?" "i don't know, you'll have to contact customer service."), we made our way around to the front of the line to pick up our ticket. it was pretty easy, and we noticed that the ticket from the box office was cooler looking than our crappy ones.

we followed the line all the way around the entire freaking block and found out that it had gotten so long that the end met the front. so, yeah. we ended up walking around the block just for fun, and would have to follow it around again when the doors finally opened. grrrr. oh, well. we made the best of it, did lots of peoplewatching and chatting, and killed time pretty easily. and we cackled our asses off at the girls who strolled by in strapless dresses, prom hair, and 5-inch stiletto heels.

"maybe we'll be next to them, and when we jump up and down, we'll smash some toes."

the girls were convinced that this car contained nick, joe, and kevin. perhaps, but we'll never know.

the line finally started moving. yay!

as we wound back around the block, the smell coming from these carts was absolutely tantalizing.

a lot of posters advertising demi lovato's upcoming show were carelessly tossed on the ground.

closer...closer...

we finally got to the doors, where i was surprised to note that no one was checking for weapons or bombs or some kind of destructive shit. AND that meant that i could totally have brought the DSLR! dammit! as my piece o'shit little camera went on to take blurry ass, shitty pictures and video throughout the concert, i was really bummed.

inside, it was utter chaos as thousands of girls scurried around, trying to get up close to the stage.

we found out that the wristbands (which had run out probably 200 fans before us) designated which section of the floor you were allowed to stand on. our original plan of elbowing, pushing, shoving, biting, kicking our way through the crowd was officially DOA - if you didn't have a wristband, you weren't getting anywhere. and no amount of smiling or sweet-talking was making the staff budge an inch. damn. luckily, we somehow managed to get past the first barrier and ended up just a little off-center, about halfway back.

we tried to maneuver our way more towards the middle, but we were stopped by a man who was there with his daughter, who looked about seven years old. "that's rude, you don't just push past people like that!" [eyeroll]

and as we stood there, chatting with other fans next to us, we were continually pushed around by people behind us. captain idiot kept bellowing at everyone about how rude they were and questioning his daughter as to whether she could see the stage or not.

um, she's 4'.5", asshole. of COURSE she can't see. hell, we could hardly see as we were stuck behind a couple of amazon teenagers ourselves.

not long afterwards, he finally yanked his kid back and they headed towards the rear of the venue, where there was less jostling and crowding. i led the crowd in cheering loudly as they left. i suppose that makes me an asshole too, but i'm okay with that.

right at 6:00, the opening act burst onto the stage to get the crowd warmed up (as if they needed warming up - there was tons of screaming and cheering, and i was already sweating my ass off). it was the same band as the san diego show two weeks before - honor society.

it seems that most of the recent renovations which were done at the palladium went into snazzy lighting. the rest of the interior looked just as faded and tired as it did three years ago, when i was there for another event.

despite the warmth and general uncomfortableness of being squeezed in the crowd, we agreed that it beat the "VIP section," which was on the balcony. the teen told me later that she looked up there and a lot of people were sitting down during the show. booooring. the floor was mucho better!

not long after honor society left the stage, the boys made their entrance amid even louder screaming and cheering than before.

the show was pretty similar to the other concerts we've already attended, minus a few songs. i'm guessing they cut it short(er) due to it being a school night. maybe? i don't know.

i totally cracked up at this.

the last song of the night.


and then it was over.

we were sweaty piles of achy muscles, but we'd had a great time. being on our feet for four hours straight, plus dancing and jumping up and down, made for quite a tired trio as we made our way out of the club.

it was quite fabulous to walk right out the front door, cross the street, hop in the car, and be on our merry way to the freeway within ten minutes of the jonas brothers' triumphant exit from the stage. fantabulous.

we were home by 9. pretty nice, again considering it was a school night. oh, those JoBros. so thoughtful. heh.

and thus ends the jonas brothers extravaganza 2008. their next show is in mexico city, and there's no way in hell i'm finagling our way into that one. all in all, we saw their show a grand total of six times - seven for the teen if you count wango tango back in may.

shouldn't we get some kind of prize for that? i think so.