This past week my friend Courtney and I ventured on a trip of a lifetime to NYC to see The Saturdays at their show at the Highline Ballroom. Due to a high amount of requests for every detail of the trip, I decided to dedicate my weekly post to our amazing trip.
About 3 weeks ago, I was casually scrolling through my Twitter feed and came across a tweet from the 'Chasing the Saturdays' account announcing a contest for a trip to see The Saturdays at their sold out show in New York; a show I would have immediately bought tickets for had I lived on the East Coast. For those of you who follow my blog, you possibly remember that I had just done a feature on them that week and for those of you don't follow my blog, check out the post for a little background on the group (http://bit.ly/VRKlCa). The Saturdays are a massively popular girl group from the UK, often compared to the Spice Girls, who are making their move to the US. Thinking I had nothing to lose, I entered the contest. The sweepstakes were being monitored through their 'Chasing the Saturdays' page on Facebook and it was restricted to residents of the US only. As I began to read everything that the trip had included, the more I wanted to win. So, I entered all of my friends who had had been victims of my artist spamming: when I send my friends a message saying 'You have to listen to these guys!' and I send about 10 links to their songs and performances. Obviously, I had spammed about 4 of my closest friends with The Saturdays music beforehand and when I had entered Courtney into the contest I accidentally had put my number for her entry. The contest allowed for everyone to have one daily entry, so I entered myself and my friends everyday for the entirety of the sweepstakes. The whole time, I remember thinking, there is no way I will win with so many people entering and all these fans spamming their Twitter to pick them to win.
Monday, January 7th at about 10:00 am, I received a call from a Texas number and because I get spam calls all of the time, I did not answer. Around 12:30pm, they called again and this time I answered. A lady named Stephanie from Kaleidoscope Promotions introduced herself and asked for Courtney. Immediately, it clicked that this was for the contest and they had drawn Courtney's submission. After answering a few initial questions (i.e- are you a resident of the US, do you have any family relation to E!, etc) Staphanie informed me that we had won the Grand Prize trip to New York City! Stephanie informed me that trip would include airfare, ground transportation from the airport to the hotel, a hotel for three days and two nights, tickets to the show, a limo to the venue, meeting The Saturdays after the show and $1,000 in spending money. As she was explaining all the terms and conditions to me, it all went one ear out the other and all I could think about was this could not be real. One thing I remember her saying was they had to background checks on us because we were going to be "hanging out with the girls" so they had to make sure we would not "shoot up the place." I actually said to her "Omg, you just said I was going to hang out with The Saturdays. What?!" I was in total, utter disbelief. I got off the phone with her and immediately called Courtney at work, which I never do unless its important. I remember telling Courtney we had won and feeling tears go down my cheek because I was so in shock and so happy. Courtney was in disbelief and had no idea what I was saying at first. We were both just in disbelief.
Because the trip was the next week, we had to move fast and get background checks and notarized statements to Stephanie within two days. Courtney was leaving for a family vacation the next day so once she got off work (930pm), we immediately got everything taken care of; there was no way we would screw this up. Stephanie had sent us a pre-paid package slip to overnight the paperwork to Texas so all we had to do was somehow find a way to find to get things notarized that night. Because we were going to be meeting the girls, they needed to do background checks to make sure "we would not shoot up the place" and sign papers agreeing to all the terms and conditions of the trip. We ended up finding a mobile notary and got everything shipped out that night.
That week and the few days leading up to the trip, we would receive daily emails from Stephanie informing us of some new details of the trip; flight information, hotel reservations, show day itinerary, etc. We got extremely lucky that this trip was during "Syllabus Week" at school because otherwise, we would have possibly had to decline if we were not able to reschedule exams and such. Courtney and I were honest with all of our professors and told them about the trip and they were all completely understanding, so it was a good sign of a smooth sailing trip from the beginning. The week leading up the trip, countless people confronted Courtney and I about our trip and even professors would call us out in the middle of class to ask us about the trip. It just did not seem real that this had really happened to us. Who do you know that has ever won a contest like this? How did we get so lucky?
From the start, we thought this was too good to be true, so they would fly us out on the cheapest flights (red eyes presumably), put us in a crappy hotel in BFE (butt effing Egypt) and throw in some curve ball in the trip. We were so wrong. Stephanie had booked us on the earliest flight out of Denver Airport on Wednesday so we could get into NY and have half the day to play around the city and flew us out at 4pm on Friday, leaving us more time in NY. She had also booked us at the Marriot Marquis Hotel in the heart of Times Square; a hotel that goes anywhere from $400-$700 a night! When Wednesday came along to finally head out, we could barely keep still.
We arrived at the airport at 6am to take the 8am United flight to LaGuardia. The luck continued as there were many open seats on the flights so instead of us being squished in a middle seat, we were able to spread out and take the aisle and window seats, having the row to ourselves.
Food babies in our bellies, we headed off to the theater to see Newsies. We sat in the orchestra, 3 rows from the stage over to the right. The show was incredible! Filled with amazing dancing and a fun soundtrack; the super hot lead man did not hurt either.
The next day, we got up bright and early to start our day. Because we both had been to New York before, we decided to avoid doing the touristy things like Ellis Island, The Freedom Tower, etc, so we headed to SoHo to do some damage with our spending money. We knew we had to go to Top Shop and then the rest of was just played by ear.
When we went into Billabong, we ended up chatting with some of the employees and eventually asked for some lunch suggestions. They suggested we go to this place called Prince's Kitchen, actually named Mercer's Kitchen, so we did. The place was super cool, with a naturally lit, modern upper level and a warmly lit, kind of trendy atmosphere basement level. We went down to the bottom, only waited about 10-15 minutes and then were seated. The place was packed so we knew we were at an awesome spot. Courtney had a margherita pizza and I had a burger, both incredibly delicious, leaving us both incredibly satisfied.
Ahead of time, we had already planned out to get back to the hotel with plenty of time to get ready for the show and also to have some down time so we would not be tired for the show. So we headed back to the hotel, took a nap and then it was finally time to get ready for the show. We had to be in the lobby by 730, so we did final checks at 715 and headed down. We were the first ones down and somehow, the rest of the contest winners (4 more groups of 2) congregated around us. One group from Boston, another from Utah, a girl who came by herself was from Las Vegas and the last pair was from the city. Courtney and I were definitely the youngest with the rest of the group being primarily in their late 20s, some in their 30s. We were also the more relaxed fans of the group, as all of the other groups spent their time in New York following The Saturdays, meeting them outside their appearances and going to their signing at the NBC Store, while Courtney and I decided to go enjoy the city. We were also the most outgoing and talkative of the group, naturally because Courtney and I are normally always ones to start up a conversation. Anyways, we then waited for this mysterious David Moore to show up; the man Stephanie had told us to meet in the lobby to show chaperone us for the night. In the meanwhile, we got a picture in the lobby before heading out.
David and another lady named Barbara showed up at 730 sharp and we headed down to the ground level. We knew we would be getting a limo according to Stephanie, but to our surprise we actually got a full blown party bus to take us to the venue! (Below is us outside and inside the party bus and one pic is with all of the contest winners!)
We got to the venue around 8pm and arrived to a huge long line of people waiting to get in outside the venue. David and Barbara led us to the entrance, completely cutting the whole line. We heard numerous comments like "Who the hell are these people," or "Why are they so special that they get to cut the line." To answer their questions: we were winners, you are losers, deal with it (joking). The venue, the Highline Ballroom located in the Meat Market District, only held about 200-300 people. It included a lower level that combines a standing room that holds about 100 people and also tables that surround the room for those who choose to sit and eat during the show. There was also an upstairs level that was for VIPs; this is where the E! cameras placed themselves to film the show and the band's friends and business executives were also up there. So in total there was about 150 people downstairs and probably another 100 upstairs. We stood about 5 rows back, dead center for the show. We had time to kill before the girls went on so we went and got T-shirts, took some pictures and chatted with the other winners.
A girl apparently named 'Curly' opened for the girls at 845 and she was joined by a DJ that we named DJ Tiger because he was wearing a tiger shirt. She actually had good music that got everyone pumped up for the show. However, she was wearing this pink, sheer leotard that kind of revealed everything so to cover it, she had streamers covering her front side, but that did not really help. So like any show, there is a break before the opener and the headline act and that's normally 15-20 minutes. Poor Courtney really had to go to the bathroom, but she did not want to miss the show. The Saturdays did not end up going on stage until 945, but when they did, it was epic!
Here is a video of the opening. Not my video, but it's from the same show!
'Notorious'
'Ego'
'Up'
Here is a video I got of 'Forever is Over'
'30 Days'
The girls started the show with 'Notorious,' followed that with 'Ego,' 'Up,' 'Forever is Over' and '30 Days' and then slowed it down for 'Issues' and 'Chasing Lights.' There was a really hilarious moment while they were setting up their acoustic set when Rochelle was drinking a glass of coke and all of the girls wanted a sip of it. At one point, Mollie was like "What is that Rochelle?" and Rochelle responded, "It's a coke. I'm pregnant!" It was pretty funny; kind of had to be there. Anyways, for 'Issues,' the girls were supposed to sing the instrumental version of the single, not the acoustic version of the song, even though the stage manager brought out Una and Mollie's guitar to the stage. There were some technical issues and they ended up playing the single version, with their voice and everything so 10 seconds into the song, Rochelle and Vanessa stopped the song and asked to get the right track on. Una then just said, let's do it acoustic even though they had not rehearsed it.
Here is a video of the whole incident playing out including the song! Again, not my video, but the same show!
Then Mollie brought out her guitar and joined Una for 'Chasing Lights.'
Here is a video I got of 'Chasing Lights'
They speeded things back up again and performed 'Get Ready, Get Set,' a number they did on their All Fired Up Tour.
Here is a video I got.
Then the girls did 'All Fired Up,' a number that Una and Frankie said is their favorite to perform.
They closed the set with 'What About Us' and I knew something was up because they were using the version with Sean Paul in the background. Next thing you know, Una introduces Sean Paul and he comes out to perform with them!
Afterwards, they were hilarious and awkward and were like "Well, that's the end of our show. Goodnight" and they just walked off. A minute later they came back to do their encore, which was 'Higher.'
Here is a video I got of 'Higher'
Their exit was super cute. They seemed so genuinely appreciative and overwhelmed by the crowd and the support they got. The whole time, everyone was singing the words to the song and some people were doing their choreography. They definitely seemed surprised by the turnout and the amount of people who knew their music. It was a pretty short set, only lasting about 45-50 minutes, but it was one hell of a show. Not one of them ever sounded out of key. There was an insane amount of love for Mollie at the show and it wasn't coming from the VIP area, which could have been her friends. Rather, it was coming from the floor. The amount of people screaming her name was probably a good 60-70% of the audience. The guy in front of us even had her as his screensaver on his phone. She remained very professional the whole time and did not really give in to the people screaming for her, while if Rochelle or Una heard their name, they would wave or something. Frankie and Mollie both remained professional and carried on with the show. It was just very interesting because Frankie and Rochelle are both clearly well-loved in the UK, but over here, Mollie will probably receive a lot of attention.
After the show, the room cleared out and all the contest winners gathered in the center of the room to wait for further instruction for the meet & greet. Courtney and I primarily talked with David and Barbara while the rest of the group mingled. About 15 minutes after the show, they called us over and told us to line up single file against the stage. Courtney jumped on getting in the front of the line so we were the first ones to meet them. They then told us that they would be taking one group at a time (so one winner and their plus 1), only 1 picture with all of the girls (no individual shots) and only 1 autograph.
They called us in and Courtney led us back. They took us back to this very small, dark area behind a curtain, right next to the stage where the girls went before they went on stage. I made the initial move and started to introduce myself to everyone, Courtney shortly followed. I had to awkwardly shake Mollie's hand through the hands of Courtney shaking Una's hand, so I awkwardly said in that moment "Ooop let me just get in there." Good one, Allie. Rochelle was missing for some reason, but after we shook all of their hands, Una was like "how are we supposed to take a picture in here? Can we just move outside?" and all of the other girls quickly followed with "yeah, can we go somewhere else?" So we moved outside of the curtain back to the area so everyone could see us now. We all piled in for a picture and Courtney was loving life because she got to stand next to Mollie. But shortly, Rochelle ran in and squeezed in between them.
I wasn't going to just leave without getting to say any words to the girls so after the picture, I turned and took a step towards Frankie and talked to her about something very personal to us both and she gave me a hug. Apparently, nobody could hear me and Courtney wasn't talking to them so everyone was awkwardly watching me, including Mollie, who was right next to me, which made me nervous. This conversation lasted maybe 15 seconds. So then their manager or whoever he was, was pushing us to get our t-shirts signed and I hadn't noticed that he swiped my t-shirt from me when I was talking to the girls. So when Courtney was getting her t-shirt signed I was freaking out because I didn't know where my t-shirt was. Making an idiot of myself, I wondered around the area looking for my t-shirt, but then I put the pieces together and realized that the guy had snagged my t-shirt off my bag when I wasn't paying attention. While they were signing t-shirts, Mollie asked "Can I get one of these?" to their manager and Rochelle asked for one as well. After they were done signing, we both said thank you and I said "You guys are going to kill America, we are so excited." And they all erupted in thank yous. You could tell that they were genuinely humbled by the comment and just the whole night. Courtney and I then walked out, both of us incredibly high on life. The whole interaction lasted about 5 minutes, but if you thought that was short, the rest of the girls only got to get in, get a picture and something signed and get out. Our luck the whole trip was ridiculous. I was pretty excited for those next 10 minutes afterwards and all I wanted to do was go out! Courtney was the opposite; she was really amped all the way up until we were done meeting them and crashed once we walked out. So then all the groups had met them, we headed back to the party bus and went back to the hotel. Courtney and I both hit a wall on that bus and realized there was no way we could go out or do anything because of how exhausted we were. We got back to the hotel and Courtney and I gave Barbara and David hugs goodbye, while the rest of the group just shook their hands. We said goodbye to the group and headed back up to our room. I put on my t-shirt and we called it a night.
We got up early again on Friday morning, packed up our bags and checked out of the hotel. With time to kill before our flight, we ventured down to 5th Avenue and walked around the stores. Of course we had to go into Saks and the faces we got as we wandered around the designer areas were priceless. We then went down a street where there were a bunch of random little restaurants and we decided on a place called Global Market. Afterwards, we decided to head back to the hotel to just chill before we had to leave for the airport, but I wanted to explore a little more so we went down different streets to get back to the hotel. Poor Courtney was shivering she was so cold so instead of walking more we just went straight back to the hotel after walking two blocks out of our way. There was a super cool bar area in our hotel that had floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking Times Square so we sat there for 45 minutes just soaking in the city.
Our trip was sadly over and we jumped in a taxi to head to JFK. This truly was something we will never forget. The whole time we were there we kept saying "this is not real life" and we also quoted Mollie all the time, "OMG, now we're actually hereee.' (See video for reference)
But really. Who do you know that this happens to? We just could not believe we were in NY and just two weeks ago we were planning on just being in class. It was literally the perfect trip, nothing went wrong and everything went so smoothly; flights, hotel check-in and out, everything with the concert. Not to mention the incredible luck we had everywhere we went. I was a bit bummed for a second about the whole meet & greet thing because our itinerary said the meet and greet was from 1030-11, but then I slapped myself in the face and was like "ALLIE, YOU JUST MET THE SATURDAYS!" It is quite weird that I just did a feature on the group a couple of days before we won the contest, wishing there was some way they would come to Colorado or miraculously have a show in LA when I was home. Then two weeks later, we were seeing them perform! I don't know what we did to deserve this, but I guess we did something right to get this good karma. Thank you for all the love that we have received on Facebook, Twitter, etc. It was seriously the greatest/coolest thing that has ever happened to us and we do not ever want to forget it!!!
