well, here we go again

so almost as soon as we got home from vegas, the old lady alerted me to something that had just been announced:

and so of course you know we went through the calendar to pick a date for a vegas getaway.  she only gets every other saturday off, so we had to make sure we chose the right date to buy tickets for.  and then on the morning that the first presale was scheduled, i was sitting at the computer just before 10.

and then right at 10 the screen refreshed and i had about 300 people in front of me in the virtual queue.  luckily, it moved pretty quickly and the seat selection page popped up.  i picked seats that looked pretty good and weren't insanely expensive (even though i would have loved the front row seats that were $550 apiece, heh) and then i was here:

later that evening, it was the bean's turn to sit excitedly in front of her laptop...waiting for this:

her beloved BTS was doing a live listening party in burbank, and we'd tried really hard (and unsuccessfully) to snag tickets.  but they were going to livestream it, and while she said it wasn't the same she was still pretty happy that she wouldn't miss it completely.  when they walked out onto the stage she was practically glued to the screen in bliss.

as it turns out, the event lasted for all of 30 minutes.  she was so dejected when they all got up from their seats and waved goodbye to the fans:

and then it was over.

but while we were at dinner the next day, i found this announcement on twitter:

and before i showed it to the bean, i made sure to register to receive a presale invitation code.  she was over the moon excited, and so all we could do was wait and see if we were one of the lucky ones who'd get to buy tickets before they went on sale to the general public.  and then i got to thinking - i've been lucky with receiving those invitations the last few times i've registered for one, and wouldn't it be terrible if my luck ran out for this one? there were a couple of hours left in the day before registration closed, so i texted the old lady and asked her to register her ticketmaster account too.  the invitations went out last night, and i don't know if i jinxed myself or what, because i got this:

ugh.  and because i know the old lady is terrible at checking her emails, i shot her a text to ask her to take a look and see if she'd had better luck.  and look at what she sent:

the sale starts today at 3pm, which i thought was weird considering ticket sales usually go live at 10.  but then i got to thinking that the majority of BTS fans are probably school-aged, and pushing it till 3 gave them a better chance of keeping the tickets out of the hands of scalpers.  do we think ticketmaster goes that deep with their planning?  who knows.  maybe i'm overthinking it.  whatever.

the hub is going to pick up the bean from school today while i sit here at the computer, probably with my heart pounding like mad and shaking fingers like i always do when trying for highly sought-after tickets.  think of me at 3PST and send me good luck vibes, will ya?  i can't disappoint the bean for this one.  we managed to come through for the old lady back in the days of operation downsize...now it's her turn.  heh.

i'm a sucker for you

after what seemed like forever, the day of our jonas brothers concert was finally here.  they'd done one show in anaheim at the honda center a couple of weeks ago and the old lady and i both suffered from some major FOMO that night, so we were really excited to head out to the hollywood bowl for what promised to be a great evening.

we picked up her OG BFF, stopped at urth caffe to pick up some grub, and then made our way to the park & ride structure to board the bus that would take us straight to the venue.  the bean actually was excited despite the look on her face here.

she spent most of the bus ride watching BTS videos on her phone.

and then in no time we were pulling up to the hollywood bowl.  yay!

the first stop was, of course, the merchandise tent.  we were fairly early, so we knew it would probably be best to hit it up at the beginning and get it out of the way.  the line was long, but it moved quickly and we were able to pick up what we wanted without having to wait very long.

there was a fun photo op with giant blowups of the brothers' heads at the KIIS-FM kiosk, but none of us really wanted to stand in the long line that had already formed for it.

as we got in the security checkpoint line, we were pretty amused at the group in front of us who all wore matching shirts.

my friend nanette texted me and said that she could see this from where she was - a message from the boys to all of us:

we'd splurged and bought box seats for this show, which we were all pretty excited about.  no bench seats for us tonight!

it turns out that we could have just come here and ordered food that would have been delivered right to us in our seats, but that's okay.  we still needed drinks and dessert, so that's how we got it.

besides, i was pretty excited for my favorite pizza - burrata, prosciutto and arugula.  three of the best things in the whole world.

as we munched on our food, we took in the sights, listened to the music and did some great peoplewatching.

the bean and i had ordered a big bottle of water and the girls had chosen some wine to share, but because they couldn't serve it to us in the glass bottles the beverages came like this:

and then we shared the brownies and chocolate cake while the old lady enjoyed an ice cream sandwich from coolhaus.

they headed off for a quick bathroom break before the show started, and the bean and i just sat back and relaxed in our comfy seats.  i'd busted out my fun shoes for the evening:

it was funny to watch the bean sit there holding her sister's wine while we waited for them to come back.

the first of the two opening acts took the stage right at 7 - jordan mcgraw.

and while we watched, i cracked up as i realized that my kid had popped her earplugs into place.  now i know this is a wise decision on her part because it'll save her hearing, but it was just so funny to me.

the second opener was bebe rexha, whose music we actually recognized.  the bean provided the entertainment again as she sang along in her silly, exaggerated way.  too bad it was too dark to get video.

her set was maybe about half an hour, and then the stage was set for the boys to make their grand entrance.  we knew from social media that they usually pop out of an elevated floor, but because of the way the hollywood bowl is set up they had to switch it up a bit.  instead, these boxes were brought out and then when the lights came up the brothers were inside.

the playlist was a great mix of songs from their newest album and old favorites that we loved hearing again.  it was just like old times.

they came out into the audience a couple of times, walking the platform that separates the pit (which used to be a pool) from the first row of boxes.

and then they took it even further, making their way through the crowds and popping up onto a stage behind us.  this was really cool, because it gave the fans who were in the very back a much better view.  they sang a few songs here before heading back to the main stage.

these pictures of joe crack me up.

we were having such a great time, dancing and singing along, and it all went by so fast.  before we knew it they were already at "burnin' up," bringing out a surprise guest:  big rob, their former bodyguard who was featured on the original song.

and then after the last song - "sucker," of course - there were fireworks and confetti and their final farewell.

we managed to get back down the hill and onto the bus that took us back to the parking structure in pasadena.

it was such a great night.  i wish we'd have been able to go to the second night too, like we used to do - remember how we'd go to every single show they played locally?  but the hollywood bowl is such a pain in the ass to get to and from, not to mention the second show was on a monday night.  they come back in december to the forum, but it happens to be on a cheer competition weekend as well as the old lady's special friend's birthday.

that's okay, though.  this show was pretty awesome, and well worth the wait.