On April 30th, 2011, my mom had bought me regular, non-VIP tickets to Britney's "Femme Fatale" tour at the show in Uniondale, NY on August 2nd. So, our plans were just to get to the arena, buy some Britney stuff, watch the concert, and leave. Little did we know, what was to come.
Britney was holding a contest on her official website. The object of the contest was to guess the correct list of songs that would be performed on the tour. I sent my playlist to Britney's official website. Then, about the second week of June, I opened my email and found an email from Britney's website. The email read, "We'd like to congratulate you on winning Britney's
Guess The Set List contest." I was in awe. I told them the show I'd like to attend and asked a couple questions I had. I kept in touch with them over the summer.
Finally, August 2nd rolled around and my mom and I rode into New York City on a bus. Around 1:00, we caught a train over to Uniondale, then caught a bus who let us off about 3/4 of a mile away from Nassau Coliseum. We walked the rest of the distance.
When we got there, we saw a line of tour buses and trucks. On a bench, we saw a lady spraying silver shoes with silver spray paint. Hmmm, could they have been Britney's? Maybe! We got into the arena and asked if my tickets had arrived yet. They said "No, not yet. They're arriving little by little. Just check back every so often." So we checked in here and there. They still didn't arrive. Then I got a text message from one of Britney's website workers, saying the tickets would be arriving at 6:00. I made a few friends while I was waiting. I started talking to a couple girls who were major Britney fans like me. A radio station was playing Britney music outside while more and more people rolled into the venue. 6:00 finally rolled around and my tickets still hadn't arrived. So, the nice lady at the will-call window wrote down my name and phoned Britney's assistant, Felicia, who sent a woman, Stacy, up to meet me. Stacy came up and I showed her all the printed emails between me and Britney's website workers. She asked me some questions and I explained each and everything. So, Stacy took all my information and went down to talk to Britney's dad and management. She came back up and said "Okay, you're confirmed for everything. Here are your tickets...and you can meet me at the tunnel by the left side of the stage at 8:15 for your meet and greet with Britney." She handed us the tickets and my mom and I walked to our seats. We had a pretty good view.
Now that we knew where our seats were, we went to buy some stuff at the vendors. Once we bought some stuff, we went back to our seats and sat for a few minutes. A security guard then walked up to us and asked to see our tickets. He examined the tickets and said, "These aren't your seats, you're down farther." Pleasantly surprised, my mom and I were guided to our real seats, which had an
EXCELLENT view of the stage.
Nervo then arrived on stage for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then Jessie and the Toy Boys showed up and performed for the same amount of time. Then, the room went dark, the crowd roared. Nicki Minaj then took the stage. Around 8:05, we left our seats to go meet Stacy for the meet and greet. We finally got down on the floor level and went towards the tunnel. Security guards started giving us a hard time. I then texted Stacy and told her we were having security issues. She came and met up with us where we were and brought us over by a curtain. She told us, "Wait here." We waited as she went behind the curtain for about 5 minutes. Then, a nice security guard brought us over to another curtain which lead backstage.
We went behind the curtain where a group of people were waiting. They lined us up and brought us a little farther backstage. I saw Britney's friend/ assistant, Felicia. She talked to a few people then came over to me. "Zachary," she said. "I am so, so sorry. They are so disorganized." She apologized quite a bit and carried on a conversation with my mom and I for a minute or two. She then handed me a pen and notebook. "Write down your email so we can email you the picture," she told us. "If you don't get it in the next two days, just email the address on this card" she said as she handed me a business card with Britney's picture and an email on it. Then, it was time to hear the rules. Felicia nicely explained the ground-rules and said, "Don't ask her for an autograph guys. She doesn't have enough tour books to give out and she's really pressed for time. Also, don't take anything out of your pockets, because security has no clue what you might be bringing out. There will be a table outside of the room where you can put all your stuff because you can't bring anything in with you. And finally, don't act nervous, because if you're nervous, she'll be nervous. Just tell her something that you've always wanted to tell her. Tell her how ...Baby One More Time changed your life or how Email My Heart turned you onto the Internet. Other than that, have fun guys. I know this is like a dream come true for y'all." She then walked down the hallway, out of sight.
Security brought us even farther backstage. We stayed lined up against the wall next to wardrobe cases and racks of clothing. I started seeing everyone on Britney's management and new we were close. I saw her manager, Larry, her security, Edan, and even her boyfriend, Jason. Then, I saw Felicia standing by a door (which was labeled "Friends and Family") talking to people. They started bring fans into the room and that's when I knew I was only moments from meeting Britney. I was very nervous. I started dropping stuff and laughing. I was a complete goof.
We were finally next in line, up to bat. We set our stuff on the table and talked to Felicia for a quick minute. Once the people in front of us had come out of the room, Felicia said, "Go on in." We entered the room. The first person I saw was Brett, Britney's other assistant. Then, I saw the Femme Fatale backdrop. Then, finally, I saw Britney. The biggest smile overtook my face as she looked directly at me. She was a little shorter than me, wearing slippers and her white robe covering her outfit for "Hold It Against Me." My mom and I walked over to her and I said, "Hi, I'm Zach." She smiled and said "Hi." "Okay, picture," the photographer said. We posed and the camera flashed. Then, my mom said to her,"It's really nice to finally meet the other woman in my son's heart." "Awwwwhh, thanks," Britney said with a smile. Britney then looked at me and I said, "It was really nice to meet you." She smiled, nodded her head and said, "You too." We then walked out of the room, my heart still pounding. We grabbed our stuff from the table. Felicia apologized again for the confusion with the tickets. "It's totally okay" I told her. "Thank you so much" I said. "Have a good time tonight," she said as we made our way down the hallway. "Thanks, you too," I yelled down the hallway with a big smile still imprinted on my face.
We walked up a set of stairs which brought us into the hallway of the arena, where all the vendors and food sellers were. It was during the intermission so it was packed. It was very hard to move. We went outside for a few minutes and talked to some girls. Then we headed back to our amazing seats.
The concert was absolutely amazing! Britney was on fire and the crowd was nuts.
But meeting Britney, something that I had been waiting for since 1999, finally happened to me. And I must say, it was the best minute of my life!
I would like to give a HUGE thanks to Felicia Culotta and Stacy for helping us through the whole thing. And another GIGANTIC thanks to Britney, for making my dream come true. And one more ENORMOUS thanks to my mom, for coming with me and putting up with all the bullsh*t!
