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A Sixteen Hour Journey
Waiting in line to see Lady Gaga on Today
We would have taken an actual photo of her, but we couldn’t get close enough. (Photo: NBC.com)
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A timed account of waiting to see Mother Monster on Today
4:30 p.m. I arrive at Rockefeller Center and head over to 48th and Rockefeller Plaza. The first person in line looks exactly like what the first person in line for a free Lady Gaga show should: Extremely thin, torn pants, fashionable and holding a scorched-looking sign that says, “Waiting for our Mother Monster.” He, and the rest of his companions, either arrived that morning at 11 a.m.—or the night prior at 11:30 p.m. There are conflicting stories, and it remained a hot topic throughout the evening.
I take my place at the current end of the line: 48th and 5th Avenue. Predictably, I’m surrounded by underage girls and their mothers (I only saw about two fathers with their children my whole time there). My line companion, Nadia, won’t arrive until 7 p.m.
5:05 Although I didn’t live in New York City when the Backstreet Boys were at their peak, the scene in front of me is what I imagine it must have been like—with less Carson Daly, though. Think about it: I’m about the 150th person in line, and I arrived roughly 16 hours before the concert’s scheduled to begin. According to the Today show producers, the crowd would eventually swell to 20,000 people, breaking a record previously held by Justin Bieber.
5:07 A middle school-aged girl behind me says to her friends, “Look, there’s Sephora!” If the store stayed open all night and had a bathroom, they would make an insane amount of money. Alas, they closed at 8 p.m., so girls were left without makeup and everyone had to pee in the disgusting restroom of a nearby deli.
5:25 The high regard the Monsters, as Gaga’s fans are called, have for their “mother” is pretty impressive. A way-too-old-to-be-mocking-young-girls bicyclist yells, “She just called. She not coming, Lady Gaga. I know her.” The man was immediately met with scorn, and one girl responded, “And I know the Queen of England!” Not much of an insult, true, but the effort’s there.
5:45 An extremely disturbing mother—the type who probably wants to go to the Gaga show for herself, even though she’s in her 40s, but uses her kid as an excuse—is a part of a group being interviewed by a local news station, and she jokingly lifts up her shirt. Luckily, she’s got another one underneath, but the “what if?” feeling still resides.
6:30 The line condenses and we move closer to the site of the concert, Rockefeller Plaza between 48th and 49th streets.
6:42 And we move even closer. Part of 48th Street is barricaded for the Gaga fans (which is where I’m seated), leading to a lot of awkward exchanges between 3 a.m. truck drivers and the teen girls, who were showing way too flesh. I don’t mean that in a prude way, but I’m not sure how some of the mothers left their daughters out wearing only pants and a garbage bag-shaped bow over their breasts. And there were the 16 years old who went old-fashioned: They simply wore a more subdued rhinestone bra, also with no shirt.
It’s quite uncomfortable.
6:47 The first sing-a-long comes (“Bad Romance”) and goes (no “Bad Romance”) without anyone really knowing why it started in the first place. Much like the Wave, which will get a two-minute appearance later in the evening, it just kind of happened.
6:54 A woman gets tired of her People magazine, and decides to throw it into another part of the unsuspecting crowd for another person to read. The magazine hits someone in the back, and I make a “hard hitting journalism” joke to myself.
7:00 I may as well talk about the clothes. That’s probably why Lady Gaga’s Lady Gaga as much as anything else. In the crowd I see: The yellow flower dress, lobster hats, this incredibly uncomfortable looking thing, cigarette glasses and enough makeup to put even Ziggy Stardust to shame.
One of the things that I respect most about Gaga is how she embraces a DIY attitude that’s largely missing from today’s pop stars. We all know her rag-to-riches (bedbugs-to-bitches) fairy tale, so I won’t bother re-telling, but what most people don’t realize is how much she inspires her Monsters. Instead of buying a t-shirt with Gaga’s likeness, her fans instead spend hours either replicating outfits she’s worn, or creating entirely new ones that she should.
7:02 “Where’s our pizza and water?” Early in the day, “ladygaga” tweeted “My little monster sweeties are already camped outside today show! I love u! Will be sending u pizza and water all day! And a surprise 2moro!X” This is the time all evening I’ve heard anyone say anything even remotely negative about Gaga.
Five seconds later “I love her shoes.” So much for negativity.
7:05 Out-of-context quote: “Justin Bieber was huge!”
8:10 In nearly every photo taken tonight, the group in the picture will inevitably mimic the “monster claw.” People like to claim music videos don’t have the same effect as they once did, and maybe they’re right, but don’t tell that to the Monsters, who know every single dance move and hand gesture from “Bad Romance.” Some of it is pretty similar to “Thriller,” yes, but outside of “Single Ladies,” Gaga completely owns the music video scene. Also, Nadia arrives, so I’m feeling slightly less of a creep.
8:53 A security guard is clearly hitting on a mother and attempting to impress her kids by boasting, “I’ve met her.” To this group, that’s like telling a Yankees fan, “Oh, Mickey Mantle? Yeah, sure, we used to hang out all the time.” According to him, “She’s a nice girl.” Those were the only details he provided.
9:01 PIZZA AND WAT—Well, PIZZA AND SOME KIND OF BAD TASTING PINEAPPLE BEVERAGE. The pizza comes from Famous Original Ray’s, and the people in line are ravenous in both getting a slice and snagging the box. After all, this is Gaga Pizza!
9:35 I seem to be the only person in line who cares about LeBron going to the Heat. Screw that guy.
10:05 After the pizza and pineapple rush, people begin to chill a little (partially because the news teams for NBC and MTV are no longer there), and will continue to do so until the morning. Don’t let anyone tell you differently: Waiting in line sucks. Everyone around us was extremely pleasant, but you’re still sitting in the middle of 48th Street, hours away from the reason you’re there.
10:07 To attempt to cure the boredom, Nadia and I begin playing War.
10:11 War sucks, and she wants to play Chinese Poker.
10:13 She doesn’t remember how to play, so we go back to War.
10:45 Wristbands are being handed out now. The crowd is separating into groups and each group gets a different color band. Group One, where we’re located, has orange, Group Two, green, etc.
11:45 Drama. An extremely flamboyant Gaga fan is walking around wearing nothing more than a body suit and black underwear. He keeps pacing back and forth, like a runway model on speed. At one point, he stops, goes up to a nearby cab that’s stopped for the traffic light and says “hi” to the people inside. They begin to close up the window, and while doing so, the speed model screams, “Call me a faggot again!” and hits the taxi window. The crowd cheers in approval.
Another thing that should be said about Gaga and her fans: They don’t give a shit. She talks at length about acting and looking different from most and how that shouldn’t get you down, and her fans talk this advice to heart. Why else would they parade around NYC with Coke bottles in their hair?
12:15 a.m. People begin to fall asleep. Although we only came with our bags and garbage bags to sit on, others have brought coolers, lawn chairs and other items that make the wait seem more bearable. One thing no one seemed to remember, though, is a portable speaker, for better or worse. If someone had, the crowd probably would have subjected to “Poker Face” about 253 times.
3:30 I’ve been asleep for the past 45 minutes. It’s an odd feeling waking up in the middle of the street with the large buildings hovering you, and you’re not drunk. The pavement is not nearly as uncomfortable as one might think.
4:00 A teen asks, “What does AOL stand for?” Ah, youth.
4:30 The crowd has begun to stir. People start packing their stuff and everyone begins looking into the cars driving by, in the hopes that one of them is carrying Gaga—or that’s at least what the people on 48th Street are doing. I walk down 5th Avenue to see how far the lines goes and I’m amazed to see it continue for nearly 13 blocks. The people at the end won’t be able to see the show, but they’re also having a better time than we are now, complete with bottles of booze and more sing-a-longs.
4:45 Indeed I do:
5:15 We’re so close to being admitted into the plaza that tensions are beginning to run high, including one particularly angry security guards vs. a “Let Us In!” chant, and people trying to cut the line. They immediately get caught, though; not by the police and guards, who are mostly useless, but by other fans. Power of the people.
6:03 After roughly 14 hours of waiting, we’re finally let in! Our campgrounds for the previous evening are disgusting; there are papers and posters and coffee cups and raggedy blankets everywhere. But none of that matters: We’re about see Gaga!
6:05 “See” is too strong a word. Like I mentioned earlier, the actual concerts take place in Rockefeller Plaza, a flat ground surrounded on both sides by skyscrapers, meaning there’s not much room to stand. The set-up has the stage up front, obviously, followed by a VIP section, which is separated from the general admission section by metal barriers. When Nadia and I make our way into the crowd, we’re in roughly the third row of the GA section—and can’t see shit. I’m 6’2, so I can maybe peek at a head or two on the stage, but Nadia, all of 5’3, has no hope. The stage is barely elevated, so really the only people who can see are those in the VIP section, the ones who have been waiting for only five hours, maybe.
6:10 The GA is not very happy. People begin chanting, “ Monsters can’t see!” and “Monsters got screwed!” A class revolt of sorts breaks out when the rich (VIP) start raising their posters, further obscuring the view of the poor (GA). Luckily, instead of Molotov cocktails (although someone did mention wanting to fire one of those into the people ahead of us), the GA begins to sing and (just) dance to “Bad Romance.” The worst part about all of this: There’s room enough for at least 150 people in the space between the end of VIP crowd and the beginning of the GA. If the barriers could either be moved or taken away completely, more people would be allowed in and the ones in the back would at least have a chance of sneaking a peek at Gaga.
6:30 Speaking of, her she is! Gaga comes out for a sound check and mostly ignores the crowd. Not in a negative way, though; rather, she’s entirely focused on her performance, which includes being raised up 30 feet in the air by a platform that looks like a white picket fence. This makes the GA ecstatic, as they can actually see their idol.
8:30 Over the past two hours, there’s been more waiting, fighting, name-calling, and physically pushing people into sneaking through the gate. No one knows who Ann Curry is, and even if they did, they don’t care. Nadia and I ignore as much of it as possible because we care more about just being able to experience Gaga, rather than spending all of our energy on attempting to move 10 feet in front of us.
One more thing about all the drama: Today needs to do a better job of handling crowds this large, as the police officers and security guards weren’t prepared and the barrier situation was ridiculous, not to mention all the previously mentioned sight situation problems. There was a lot of hate for Today in the crowd (none of which was aimed at Gaga) and even talks of spamming fan boards with how bad the show was.
But no more on that. Music! Gaga begins her performance with Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” segued into a jazzy “Bad Romance.” The horns are an interesting touch, and something I hope she continues with on her next album, due out in 2011. Literally, the second the song ended, the rain started falling and it was soon pouring. Gaga kept going, though, singing two songs from The Fame Monster, “Alejandro” and “Teeth,” and the brand-new “You and I,” which Gaga described as more “rock ‘n’ roll” than her previous material. The videos for all can be found here.
Although I could barely see what was happening on stage (until I watch the video online, I had no idea she rolled around), I had a good time. Say what you will about her music in general, but Gaga knows how to put on a damn good show, and there’s no denying the pop greatness that is “Bad Romance.” Just one piece of advice: Gaga, never play Today ever again.