Chula Vista, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre - May 16th, 2015

[FLA to the Moon 137]

Ok! So this is going to be a very long post & definitely overshadowed by tonight's much more well know Hollywood Bowl show:

 

I was freaking out until the last minute about whether I was even going to be able to go to the concert or not. I got to the venue at 12:30 and was #124 in line. I eventually won everyone in line over about the struggle stories I had just finally being able to see Lana, and of course, seeing her, in person, with the LITTLE RED PARTY DRESS on made me even more hyped! The weather kept transitioning from really hot to really windy, and I had overpacked, and I eventually gave away all my sharpies to security. Eventually as thousands more came, our one line was split into 5 lines, and yes, all the non-VIP people were let in at the same time. But even the VIP people got in later than usual due to whatever security delay there was: the VIP people finally got in at 6:30 instead of 5:30, and then everyone else went in at 7:15! 

 

Now call me entitled since I skipped prom night AND my father's graduation ceremony (with his permission!), but I was aware of how crazy the crowd would become. As soon as security made the announcement, people pushed the 5 lines up so fast I almost lost all my stuff. They used multiple entrances too, and while people were sprinting & sneaking their way into the pit, I was stuck in the one mini-line that was slowed down. Presumably because security caught someone in the front with drugs/alcohol. 2 minutes later, I jog my way to the line in order to enter the pit. When I got up to the front of this line, however (AND WARNING TO ALL WHO MAY FACE THE SAME SITUATION) apparently the staff would NOT accept the paper tickets I printed at my home! They told me

"We're sorry but we are unable to scan paper tickets. We need actual hard copy tickets. I'm afraid you'll have to go to the other side of the venue to trade these for hard copy tickets." 

 

After waiting in line that long, I was (understandably) frustrated. I asked the venue as many safety questions as I could 3 times and they never replied to my voicemails. I wasn't fighting them, but I was starting to have a mental breakdown as I scrambled through crowds to this guest services booth. I asked other staff who also didn't know where guest services was. So eventually I just bought my merch (the velvet poster & lyric book! $80) & told some  girls my story. (to be continued)

[ilovetati 15,298]

How are you expected to have hard copies of tickets besides those printer at home if you purchased your tickets online?

[FLA to the Moon 137]

@@ilovetati Well, I'm not the most experienced with concerts, even if I've been to a few. Although I did get hard copy tickets at first, they accidentally got thrown away at one point, and I had to call Live Nation in order to redeem my tickets, which I then printed at home. How I was supposed to know this incident would happen, when they scanned my paper tickets just fine at the actual entrance just to get into the venue, is honestly beyond me

(Continued) After half an hour of panicking, the merchandise lady finally led me to the Guest Services Booth. From there, the lady at that booth doubted my valid tickets & then reluctantly scanned something while she chuckled at my over-worrying. 5 minutes later, I jog back to the pit entrance line where the lady at that line gave me a "Sorry" & by then I thought I would be in the back of the pit. Somehow, I ended up being 2nd row on the far left side.

 

But IMO, the setup of the actual barricade-stage layout was weird. Instead of the magical Lana stairs being close to the center, they were on the end of the right side, which meant rows & rows of people were crowding at the entrance to the pit on the right. It was like half a thermometer instead of like a bell curve shape. Knowing that Lana usually met people on the left side (her right) first, I went to the left side, & later got pushed up to the barricade. ALSO, despite this being 1 of the largest shows on this tour (& the largest concert I'd ever been to), the pit was LESS than HALF full for Courtney Love. Granted, 20k people were seated/on the lawn, but certainly people were either super late due to the HORRENDOUS traffic, or just very disinterested in Courtney. Most people had never heard of her, let alone knew she was Kurt Cobain's ex-wife, let alone listen to some of her songs. Courtney was surprisingly funny & overall aggressively awesome. But she didn't feel safe with not enough gays in the crowd!

The crowd came very close to booing her off for playing "too long", but the following moment alone was worth skipping my prom for:

In the middle of her set, Courtney & her band were throwing stuff at the audience. Courtney stopped playing her guitar and started throwing roses at the audience. Then, she & her bassist came over to where I was. I put up my sign that said "I SKIPPED MY PROM & DAD'S GRADUATION FOR YOU" and simply smiled. She put one finger up in the air & had 2 roses left. She threw the first one too far. Then some Courtney fans started pushing me out of the way. I dropped my poster, & Courtney went REALLY gentle on me & just threw her rose so lightly, but it JUST missed me, and I tried grabbing the rose tight, but it went to the girl who claimed she starred in one of Courtney's music videos when she was 7.

That was when Courtney got upset & screamed into the mic only how Courtney can "Oh come on, don't be such an asshole! Give that rose to the kid who skipped his prom dad's graduation for ME!!! And Miss---Lana-Del-Rey!!!" By the way, the girl never gave the rose to me. She snickered & said "I actually like her music."  And although I don't know Courtney as well as Lana, I just thought how would this fan know?

And thus was the start for what was a bizarre but slightly underwhelming show for me....but perhaps this is too long. (To be continued)

[Creyk 11,699]

@@ilovetati Well, I'm not the most experienced with concerts, even if I've been to a few. Although I did get hard copy tickets at first, they accidentally got thrown away at one point, and I had to call Live Nation in order to redeem my tickets, which I then printed at home. How I was supposed to know this incident would happen, when they scanned my paper tickets just fine at the actual entrance just to get into the venue, is honestly beyond me

(Continued) After half an hour of panicking, the merchandise lady finally led me to the Guest Services Booth. From there, the lady at that booth doubted my valid tickets & then reluctantly scanned something while she chuckled at my over-worrying. 5 minutes later, I jog back to the pit entrance line where the lady at that line gave me a "Sorry" & by then I thought I would be in the back of the pit. Somehow, I ended up being 2nd row on the far left side.

 

HALF full for Courtney Love. Granted, 20k people were seated/on the lawn, but certainly people were either super late due to the HORRENDOUS traffic, or just very disinterested in Courtney. Most people had never heard of her, let alone knew she was Kurt Cobain's ex-wife, let alone listen to some of her songs. Courtney was surprisingly funny & overall aggressively awesome. But she didn't feel safe with not enough gays in the crowd!

 

 

Really good descriptions! It sucks you didn't get the rose in the end.

I'm intrigued, in what way did it seem that Courtney didn't feel safe? Did she act nervous or something?

[Honeymooner 336]

Really good descriptions! It sucks you didn't get the rose in the end.

I'm intrigued, in what way did it seem that Courtney didn't feel safe? Did she act nervous or something?

 

Personally, I don't think she felt unsafe; I think she was just making fun of the fact that there were a lot of gay people in the audience who are fans of Lana.  As a straight male, I think I was somewhat in the minority.

[FLA to the Moon 137]

• Can somebody tell me whether these situations that happened to me are unusual or not? 

 

1.)Lana Del Rey's magical stairs were not in the center of the stage, like I'd assume. Instead, the stairs were all the way at the end of the right side, next to the pit entrance. All the VIP people were crowding in rows there. So I went to the left side of the stage because I figured that's the side Lana usually meets fans on first. In my mind, I was aware Lana would probably not make it all the way to the side I was at. And there were so few people on the left side that I ended up being 2ND ROW! Later, when people did show up, I got pushed up to the BARRICADE.

2.)Lana Del Rey stopped the band moments after starting to sing "West Coast" and did an impromptu soundcheck!

• 3.)Lana throughout most of the show also happened to stay on the right side (her left) of the stage. But for "Born To Die", she came over to the left side of the stage & at one point was 5 FEET away from me! I raised my poster up & I could see her raise her eyes & her eyebrows at me. Also when she sang "my boyfriend's in the band" in "Brooklyn Baby", she looked towards me, raised her eyebrows, and smirked!

 

4.)Lana didn't do the moan for "Serial Killer"!

 

5.)Somewhere in between Serial Killer & the finale, the band just sopped playing altogether and Lana went down the stairs for 5 minutes. But she actually only talked to and signed stuff for 5 or so people and did not move anywhere away from the stairs. One person she met is "@connndom" on Instagram who has the time & the $ to stan her cross-country. Another person is @ramonaflowerss on Twitter, who repeatedly ranted about how Lana was a coke addict. yet it doesn't make sense that someone who'd think that would wait 30+ hours to meet Lana, does it?

 

6.)Lana never danced behind Blake for any song.

 

7.)Lana also had only one moment where she thanked the audience but kept telling everyone to thank Courtney out of respect of course. I just felt like she wasn't really excited to be in San Diego. 

 

8.)Finally, Lana accepted gifts after singing "Off to the Races" that were thrown on stage/handed to her by security, but she did not go down the stairs for the encore. I knew it was a possibility that would happen, but it left everyone around me confused. She didn't even say/wave goodbye.  

I can't expect Lana to do everything and of course all of these events (except the first one really) were all events I could have expected. I am once again still so thankful I got to see her but at the same time I feel like I may have duped myself. 

Could it be the lack of enthusiasm in my crowd? Or the fact that many people got to the venue really late? Could it just be that the Hollywood Bowl show mattered more? Or am I just over-analyzing everything? Let me know what you think!!! I still have been so happy and thankful to have finally see her & Courtney in person!

 

[Honeymooner 336]

• Can somebody tell me whether these situations that happened to me are unusual or not? 
•  
• 1.)Lana Del Rey's magical stairs were not in the center of the stage, like I'd assume. Instead, the stairs were all the way at the end of the right side, next to the pit entrance.

I think that depends on the venue. At Hollywood Forever last October, for example, the stairs were at the far left (stage right) side.

 

2.)Lana Del Rey stopped the band moments after starting to sing "West Coast" and did an impromptu soundcheck!

That's situational. The same thing happened during the Friday performance at Hollywood Forever last year (and she sound-checked with the same a capella song), but not Saturday.  There's also a video of her performing "Summertime Sadness" a couple of years ago in Frankfurt during the Paradise Tour, and less than a minute into the song, her in-ear monitor starts giving her some trouble and she stops.  (She kept referring to it as her "microphone," but it was her in-ear monitor.)

 

 

• 5.)Somewhere in between Serial Killer & the finale, the band just sopped playing altogether and Lana went down the stairs for 5 minutes. But she actually only talked to and signed stuff for 5 or so people and did not move anywhere away from the stairs. One person she met is "@connndom" on Instagram who has the time & the $ to stan her cross-country. Another person is @ramonaflowerss on Twitter, who repeatedly ranted about how Lana was a coke addict. yet it doesn't make sense that someone who'd think that would wait 30+ hours to meet Lana, does it?

 

Can't speak for fans' mentalities... This was the first time I'd seen her (either in person or in a video clip) go down off the stage *in between* songs. Usually, she does it during a song. Last year at Hollywood Forever, she did it twice, both times during songs (once during Cola, and once during National Anthem).

 

 

• 6.)Lana never danced behind Blake for any song.

 

I think she only did that for one particular song. I can't remember which one it was, but I believe it was a Paradise song, which she hasn't performed in a while.

 

 

• 7.)Lana also had only one moment where she thanked the audience but kept telling everyone to thank Courtney out of respect of course. I just felt like she wasn't really excited to be in San Diego. 

 

Who knows... maybe she wasn't. Hard to say, though. Last October when I saw Lorde in concert, she talked for about 3-4 minutes about how much she loved San Diego. Whether or not she said that at all of her shows on that tour, I don't know. My guess, though, is that Lana would probably only talk about LA and New York, since those are the places she considers "home."