8 Hours in Line For Maggie Rogers

One of the best things about living in New York City is that there is always something going on. There are events all the time, most big artists make tour stops here, brands like to do pop up shops and there are so many award ceremonies or galas that celebrities attend. If you’re lucky enough to hear about what’s going on and you aren’t busy, you can get some pretty cool experiences out of them. This past Saturday was the most recent of my adventures. Maggie Rogers’ new album came out a day or two before and to celebrate she was doing a small show in NYC. She announced on her Instagram that there were tickets for sale at the box office and for her concert at Madison Square Garden in October. You could only purchase tickets at the box office and there was no resale online for the small show. If you were trying to get tickets for MSG, then there were no fees and reduced prices. As soon as I heard this, I wanted to go. The small show tickets were only $25 and getting MSG tickets would give me something to look forward to. I did some research the night before on the Maggie Rogers subreddit, the all knowing destination. Most everyone was saying that last time Maggie did this if you arrived at eight in the morning then you'd be towards the front of the line. They also said Maggie’s fans don’t typically camp out. Whoever wrote these Reddit posts, fuck you! This was a bunch of bologna! I arrived promptly at 7:43 AM. I walked towards what looked like the back of the line. It wasn’t the back, it was actually the front. I followed the line and was shocked. There were already six streets lined with people. I thought what the hell, I have nothing else to do today, so I joined the line and proceeded to wait. The box office opened at exactly 10:00 AM. I had about two hours til it even opened. I thought I still had a chance for the limited ticket show that night even though there were so many people in front of me. The occupancy of the venue was 1,000-1,250 people and I did a quick calculation in my head. Clearly, as you’ll learn, I’m not great at math. My goal was to listen to Maggie’s album as many times as I could until I met her at the end of the line. I was guessing it would be about eight times. Her album is thirty five minutes long. I thought just over four hours was absurd, but worth it. Fifteen minutes into my line waiting, tragedy struck. The lady behind me had slippery hands in the cold. She was no wide receiver. She dropped her coffee and proceeded to splash all over my foot. My shoe was covered in coffee and my sock was soaked. Not a great way to start. The other tragedy was when my parents conceived me, God didn’t put a ton of weather planning abilities in me. I’m always just putting shit on, not planning for the elements. I need my Momma to tell me it is cold, raining or windy. In this case it was all three. My defense here was that I was wearing three layers. They just happened to be very thin layers. Cold and coffee soaked. About after five listens to her new album, the line started to move. It struck 10:00 AM on the dot and excitement began to ramp up. I was only going to be there for a short while longer. At 10:13 AM, Maggie did a lap around the line thanking everyone for coming. At this point the line wrapped fully around three city blocks. Holy fuck! When I got there, as I said, it was six streets lined, so a block and a half ish. It doubled! The highlight of the entire experience was when Maggie did her lap. She passed by us pretty early on and she stopped to pet the dogs of the people in front of me. I took a picture of her walking by and got a fist bump! I remained in line for six more hours after that moment. Violet delivered me Raising Canes to try and fuel me up, which I honestly believed saved me from death. I was frozen, soaking wet, and my hands started bleeding from being so dry and cold. A little after my lunch, the small venue show sold out and I was left ticketless. I secured great tickets for Madison Square Garden in October though. Before I even made it inside, Maggie left the ticket booth. I never got my picture and I wasn’t able to go that night. Eight hours of waiting and no picture with Maggie. Very disappointing. I would’ve loved to end this post with a great triumph, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. Last week I wrote about how sometimes you have to do it for the story and I followed my own advice. I ended up meeting some really cool people and talked to random people that I’ll never see again. I love that part of life. Part of the fun was being miserable. I was bummed not to go to the show, but it was nice to have the night off to relax. I was mentally and physically exhausted. I ended up listening to her album a total of eleven times in total, nine before my phone died and two after Violet thankfully took my phone to charge it in a Starbucks. I love Maggie Rogers and I would do this all over again. For the story or just for the fun of being miserable! By the way, go listen to the album. I wouldn’t listen to it on repeat for over 6 hours if it wasn’t really good. Happy Monday everyone!