So, I missed Pink when she came to Kansas City, due to poor planning, not buying tickets in time, and not having a babysitter at the last minute, the day of the concert. I made a promise to myself that I would go to the concert whenI got a new job. I got the job, but I didn't get the tickets. So, discreetly, I started looking for a backup plan. When I realized I was getting the tickets from my father in law, I started looking in to plans for the year. I discovered that Pink had to delay some concerts due to vocal stress. Score!
If you haven't heard of this, you might try it: airbnb.com. This website is one that I have come across in the past, but never followed up with. When I was planning my trip to DC, I started looking in to this. I actually signed up New Year's Eve. The system works like this: If you have a bed, room or house to offer, you post it online, along with a price. Anyone who joins may make a deal with you to use your location. It is bed-letting, and makes a lot of sense in this wired world. I tried to contact a young woman in Fargo, but she never responded.
The concert was scheduled for January 11, 2014, in Fargo, North Dakota. Tickets were still available, and my wife was wiling to allow me to leave. I left Saturday morning on a flight to Denver, and had no problem getting out of town. I arrived in Fargo around 130 pm, and looked around. There was Subway restaurant in the airport, a television showing the playoffs, and a cab driver. I asked about travel to the concert location: About two and a half miles down road. No sidewalk, piles of snow, and very cold temperatures. I asked about the accessibility of the airport overnight, getting two different answers: One, the airport is open 24 hours from a woman at the ticket counter; the other, a security officer, told me the outside doors were unlocked, but the inside doors, to the ticket counters, would be locked until 4 am. In other words, the vestibule would be open, not the main airport. Enough information gathered. Now, time to buy a ticket: I got online, found a great seat, for a decent price (ok, not a decent price, but compared to the cheap seats at around $50, I paid $100 for seats about 10 rows past the barrier). Apparently, at the last minute, the Dome had opened up a bunch of seats, after having sold out previously. My price was very low, compared to what others paid for seats not as good.
After eating a sub sandwich for lunch, watching some "House of Cards" and "American Horror Story", I decided to move on down the road. Rather than fight the cold and be miserable, I caught a taxi to a McDonald's next to the venue. Perfect. Dinner, movies, and relax until doors open. By six pm, I couldn't wait any longer. I hoofed it over, backpack on, to the concert venue. One of the part-time employees tried to tell me that they wouldn't let me in with a backpack. Little did he know that backpack was everything I had in Fargo.
Gates opened around 645, and I rushed in. No beer for me (wouldn't do well to have alcohol on my breath if I was trying to explain why I'm sleeping in a closed airport). It took a long time for my area to fill up. Eventually, the crowd poured in. In front of me was a mother with two grown daughters. Girls night out. Cool. On my left was a cute blond, mid 20s. I can handle this. . . But not to last. She traded seats with someone else, and I ended up with a middle aged single mother that needed more space than her seat would allow. She kept texting on her iPod Touch, not her phone. There was no WiFi available. Weird. On the other side is a woman who was so tripped out, she made no sense. Her pictures on her phone were 90% (of around 200 I estimate) were selfies. She filmed have the show on her phone. Anyway, why I don't go to concerts. . .
The opening band was from Australia. Nice way to warm things up. Fun, lively, and unique. On to the main stream. Around 9 pm, Pink started her set. What a set. Incredible. She was incredible. And truly live. She did acrobatics, she danced all over the stage, she flew through the air, she truly put on a show. Absolutely incredible. Her huffing for breath at times, her missing words in the song as she tried to change positions enhanced the performance, as you knew it truly was live. She did incredible things hanging from guide wires, twirling on a ball, and just amazing work. It was somewhat of a circus, and showed how much she truly values giving her fans a real performance. I cannot express how wonderful the concert was. Completely worth my time, trouble and effort. So much more memorable than any other I have been to see. In no way was I disappointed. Until it came to an end. The concert ended around 1030, and it was time to move on.
I decided to drag my feet, and they push us out the doors as quickly as possible. As I was walking in the bathroom, women were walking out. The line for the ladies room was apparently so long, women were using the mens room. No fear, just enough beer, and all mores fell apart.
In no hurry to get back to the airport, I headed over to the McDonald's I had frequented before the show. Wow, what a crowd. Everyone seemed hungry. Not me, but I was interested in waiting as long as possible. Found a table, relaxed, emailed, etc, and waited. About midnight, an hour after they were supposed to have closed shop, the store started pushing people out. Taxis were slow to arrive, complaints were everywhere, as were drunks. About 1230, I headed out in the cold, walking toward the airport. I made it to Taco Bell, only to find they were shutting down at 1. It was 1245. I called a taxi, and they told me to go next door to Buffalo Wild Wings, as that was the staging point for the taxi pickup. In no hurry to get to the airport, I sat and watched more drunks, and a little television. Around 2 AM, the restaurant wanted to shut down. I watched wait staff do their closing tasks, watched the last taxi pull away, and realized I was running out of options.
A young waitress I had interacted briefly with in the last hour was on her way out. I asked for a favor. That caught her ear. I offered her $7 for a ride (a taxi would be $10) to the airport. She was hesitant. I told her I'd rather pay her than a taxi. I also offered my ID for her to text to a friend. She agreed. She had never been to the airport before, and here it was 2 am, snow everywhere, and her car wasn't warmed up yet. She was a trooper. She got me there, and the doors were open! Yes.
Found two women that had flown in from Ohio to go to the concert for the birthday of one. They had a rental car, had lived it up, but had already turned in the keys, and were crashing for the night in the airport. Unfortunately, their tickets were misbooked, and they would get home too late. Most of the night was spent trying to figure out a path to get home. At one point, they planned to get a rental car, then buy a ticket from Minneapolis back home. They were looking at spending an additional $3000 to get home. In the morning, after I pulled myself together, I ran across them going through security. Apparently, all worked out.
I made it home to Kansas City around 530 on Sunday night. We went to dinner at Sutera's, and I shared my videos of the concert with my family. What an adventure. For about $175, I got an adventure of a lifetime.
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