Saul and Chelsia: Over the Moon and Back: Beyonce in the Rain

We had been waiting months for this day. Really, we (especially Chels) had been waiting our whole lives (maybe an exaggeration), but it didn't become a real wait until we got the email saying that my mom purchased tickets and that she hoped we would be in LA for the concert all of those months ago in Samoa. At the time we weren't supposed to be in LA, as we had already bought tickets to New York that left before then, but Beyonce was well worth flying back across the country for a week. As a bonus, it also provided a last chance to see my family before we left to Spain.

The concert didn't start until 8pm, but due to the extreme traffic warnings from the Rose Bowl we decided to head over at around 2:30pm. We parked in old town Pasadena and killed time walking around then grabbed some lobster rolls to eat at a trendy little restaurant on Colorado Street. There were signs for Beyonce all over town. One local bar had a sign up that said "all hail the queen" and advertised "Beyonce Shots." It was very clear that this was a Beyonce show featuring Jay Z, not a Beyonce and Jay Z joint show.

After we ate, we searched for the best way to get to the Rose Bowl. We settled on taking public transportation, as the bus was $0.75/person compared to the obnoxious $10/person to take the concert shuttle bus. I definitely recommend this to anyone going to an event at the Rose Bowl.

When we got there, we still had a lot of time to kill, so we hung out at the picnic in the park area on the lawn outside of the Rose Bowl. It was a pretty cool set up for the concert. They had a DJ booth, bars, food stations, and a few games (including a giant beer pong type game). We stayed there for a while before heading inside about a half an hour before show time.

I remember the moment of relief as soon as our tickets were scanned and we got inside the venue. Things just got real. There was no stopping us at that point. We were actually going to see Beyonce perform, live and in the flesh. There was a bit of rain before and during the concert, but it didn't bother me too much. If you ask Chels and Alex they will definitely tell you a different story though. Oh the advantages of being male.

Beyonce is all she is cracked up to be. Her live singing sounds like a recording, and she looks like she stepped right out of a magazine. Her dance moves are ferocious, and she never sounds out of breath. The collaboration with Jay Z was perfect, and she even sang the singing portion of his songs that she wasn't featured on (my favorite collaboration of this type was Holy Grail).

After the concert we had to take the free shuttle back to old town where our car was parked. This turned out to be a bit harder than anticipated as the line was extremely long. We were able to cut a substantial portion of it though due to Alex's clever shoe tying trick and a horde of other people trying to cut with us at the same time. They ended up letting us stay in line, and we only took one hour instead of two to get on the shuttle bus, which whisked us away back to the car and eventually back home.

Cheers to the Queen!

-S

Ballin' with my $12

Finally in the gate! Asked a group of people to take our picture and the drunkest of the bunch jumped forward and volunteered. Pretty good picture considering :)