Travel goal update: The day I saw the Queen

March 24, 2014

By: Shayla Martin

Queen B!

You didn’t seriously think I was referring to the Queen of England, right?

Before I moved to Spain, one travel goal I set for myself was to attend a concert in a European city with some sort of major headliner. I had no idea who I wanted to see or in what city, but I knew that I wanted to make this dream happen while I lived in Europe. I wrote the goal down under the travel goal section of my blog and left it alone. I knew I had to write it down if I really wanted it to come true! I am a MAJOR Beyonce fan and had never seen her alone in concert (I’ve been to concerts where she showed up and performed one or two songs and I went to the last Destiny’s Child concert) because it’s literally impossible to get tickets to her shows in the states. This past summer I tried to get tickets to her Mrs. Carter Show tour in four different cities in the US and the website crashed each time. I basically gave up hope of ever seeing her perform live. Mistake number 1. Never give up hope.

meep.

So here’s how it happened. One day back in December I was in a tornado of self-pity and confessed to my friend Alex that I felt like I had no friends here in Madrid. She was like, “you’re crazy. Come out to meet my friends”. So I went to this restaurant down the street and met up with Alex and her four girlfriends and after about 15 minutes I realized they were all my spirit animals. We were casually talking aka falling in love with each other, when Mel mentioned “today we bought tickets to the Beyonce concert in Dublin”. I stopped all conversation and demanded that Mel repeat what she just said. I was in a state of confusion. I had no idea that 1) Beyonce was going on tour 2) that she was coming to Europe 3) that human beings could actually purchase tickets to her concert instead of hacker computer programs that snatch up all the tickets like in the states. The girls then told me that they all had Mastercards that allowed them to get the tickets on pre-sale and that they purchased floor tickets. At this point I started to hyperventilate. Then like words from the Gods, Kiara says “if you want to come with us, I can just buy your ticket and you can pay me back whenever”. SO, here I was sitting with girls I had just met and they were offering to buy a concert ticket for me to see one of my favorite entertainers ever in life. I can’t remember, but I may have started to cry. I probably did.

At the 02 arena, pre-Beyonce, pre-life changing concert.

Fast forward to March 8, International Women’s Day, and we are standing in line outside of the 02 arena in Dublin waiting to go in to see Queen B. We literally flew to another country to see Beyonce…I don’t think it gets more International Women’s Day than that. As you can imagine, Beyonce did not disappoint. I kept turning to my friends and asking “Is she a robot? I don’t believe that she’s actually a real person.” The combination of dancing, powerhouse singing, costumes, video production, dancers, instrumentalists…GAH it was almost too much for me to handle. We were packed in on the floor like sardines and it was hot and sticky and people were passing out (amateurs), but I could not have cared less. Nothing is better than seeing one of your favorite singers give their all and sound just as good live as she does on her cd. In fact, she sounds better live. We left the show covered in gold confetti, voice-less, exhausted and absolutely elated.

Beyonce during “Run the World (Girls)”. The opening song and clearly a nod to International Women’s Day.

The whole trip was worth every missed hour of sleep and every euro. What was even better was that I got to explore a new city and have the perspective of meeting other Beyonce fans in another part of the world. I obviously know that Beyonce is a world-wide celebrity, but I didn’t really understand the magnitude of her reach until I was standing next to some Irish girls singing and dancing as loud and hard as I was. It was such a cool feeling to share that level of excitement over the same entertainer with an arena full of people that weren’t Americans! It was such a fantastic experience and gave me a set of memories that I will keep with me for the rest of my life! Check out more pics below.

Have you ever gone to a concert in another country? Who did you see? What was your experience? Did you meet and become friends with some foreign fans? Let me know in the comments!