It's Gonna Be: "One of Those Nights"

Well yesterday was an interesting day!!

Thomas and I awoke at 4am to head out to the MN State Fair grounds to stand in line for some Tim McGraw tickets!!

I did have to push him quite a bit to go with me...

But he came!

You see, a couple of weeks ago, I received an email from the Fair about three concerts that had been announced: Depeche Mode, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and the one and only Tim McGraw!

Tim McGraw is their showcase concert this year, closing the Fair on it's last day, Labor Day, September 2. 

Now, I have been an avid Fair goer my entire life. 

I have such fond memories of these times!

Back when I was a wee little child, my whole family would pack up the van and off we'd go bright and early (like, we're talking 6am or so) and get our front row seats at "Kare at the Fair."

(If you're not a Minnesotan, Kare 11 is a local news station).

We'd watch their morning program, interact with the show (one year they interviewed our family because we were so big, and always sitting in the front every year! They gave us a recording of the episode! :) )

My family would then stay at the Fair from sun up till sun down!

Oh what fun!

Sky rides with my dad!

Food galore (the cheese curds have always been my absolute favorite)!

The Lumberjack show!

So much to do and see!

So, naturally, as I got older, I continued to be an avid Fair goer.

Because, let's face it, it's almost a law:
If you live in Minnesota, you must go to the Fair at least once a year. 

As the second biggest fair in the country (Texas is the first), how can you not?!

Now me, sometimes I go a couple times during those twelve days it's open!

I just can't get enough!

So anywho, Thomas and I already knew we'd be going to the Fair at least once at some point at the end of the summer.

So when they announced Tim McGraw as their closing concert on Labor Day, 

Um, yeah. I needed tickets. 

If there's anything I love as much as the State Fair, it's country music and country life!

I had made up my mind: I was camping out to get front row (or as close as possible!) seats to an amazingly awesome country singer. 

Thomas, making the comment, "the music sounds the same no matter where you sit..." was not so eager to sit out for hours on end with me.

But, after several weeks of begging (and playing the pregnant card a couple of times...) he finally agreed! 

(Which left my mom off the hook from having to go with me!)

Now, in the email, they had explained how to get these coveted tickets:

Now, doesn't this email make it sound like the box office will have a special in-person pre-sale for tickets before the go online? 

It says online sales start at noon, or a special limited time opening from 10am to 1pm. 

So! I wanted to get in line bright and early to be ready for that 10:00 pre-sale!

I woke up at 4.

Packed some snacks, sleeping bags, ipad, book, all that jazz. 

Woke Thomas up about 4:15. 

By the time he was up and ready, we were out the door about 4:45.

Stopped at McDonald's for some breakfast on the way.

Got to the fairgrounds and in line at about 5:30am.

Alright! That meant only about 4 and a half hours waiting!

It was freezing!

At least the rain had stopped (thank goodness!).

But we were actually quite cozy huddled up in our sleeping bags!

Thomas much more so than I:

Things were going great!

We were chairs 13 and 14 in line!

I was feeling sooo good about this!

Now, one thing I should mention: those three concerts they had announced were all going on sale that same day.

So the people in line ahead of us (and behind us) were all there for different concerts.

Which put us even closer to the front!

We were happy!

Until about 9:30am...

The security officer started passing out flyers for how the distribution of the tickets were going to go:

They were going to sell the three concerts in three different one hour increments:

Depeche Mode: 10-11.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: 11-12

Tim McGraw: 12-1

I was devastated.

Thomas was pissed.

This meant that when we had thought were finished standing in line for five hours when it was only 30 degrees and windy, we actually had another two hours to go...

AND that the box office was actually selling the tickets at the same time as they went on sale online. 

We had zero advantage for going to the box office instead of doing it at home...aside from avoiding convenience fees...

Oh dear...

On the bright side, it was at the point of day where it was starting to warm up.

So Thomas, to blow off some steam and to feed his extremely hungry preggo wife, went to Subway and got us some lunch to tide us over for a couple more hours.

Well, the moment had arrived!! 

It was 11:45!

We packed up all our stuff.

And waited.

They opened the doors five minutes early.

I was the sixth person in line, Thomas seventh.

We had decided to split up and each get two tickets, in the hopes of bettering our chances for great seats.

In the previous concerts, people in line in front of us were getting like row 40 for their tickets!

I was praying we'd get something better...

I got the window, told the young lady I wanted two tickets on the plaza (on the floor seating).

She fiddled with her computer, looking bored, then smiled coyly at me and said: "Dear, I just got you row two!"

I literally squealed (made the person at the window next to me jump!) and my eyes welled up!

We got row two!

I was ecstatic.

The lady helping me laughed and said, "Thank you for making my boring job a little more rewarding and fun this morning," because I could not stop ranting about how awesome it was and how excited I was!

ROW TWO!

Thomas and I (and our 8 month old fetus ready to pop!) will be enjoying the awesome music of Tim McGraw on a sweet summer night at the Great Minnesota Get Together from only the second row. 

Oh yeah, and we are on the Plaza, section C. 

Wanna know what that means??

Here's the seating map:

Literally front and center.

I could not be more excited!!

It will most likely be our last big event before the baby, and what a fun one! What a great way to end the summer! I am just ecstatic!

I can just picture Thomas and I rocking out to "Felt Good on my Lips" and swaying together to "One of Those Nights." Gah!!

September 2 is going to be a day I'll remember for a long, long time. 

I just already know it.