Going to Pittsburgh was not in the plans when the DNA World Tour started in Washington, D.C., but thanks to Stephanie asking me to join her, I ended up going to one of the last shows of the tour.
And it was a weekend to remember.
The weekend started that Friday, the 13th of all things, when Stephanie and I met at the airport and it was so good to finally hug her after all of this time. We headed to the hotel, walked around downtown a bit and headed back to the room. Stephanie’s bag was lost during the flights, so instead of heading to see “The Lion King” that evening, we waited on her bag and then just chilled in the hotel room, ordering pizza, and getting a good night sleep.
Because we didn’t get any the next night. LOL!
The next started with us heading to the Andy Warhol Museum which was absolutely fascinating. I had always loved his work, so seeing a lot of it in person was pretty damn great.
Then we went to Target and ate lunch at Applebee’s before heading back to the hotel to get ready. Just before we were ready to go, Emilia (@KaosOnline) joined us and it was so good after all these years to meet her in person, too. We headed to the venue and got situated because we not only had Backstreet Boys VIP, we also had VIP for Baylee.
We were two of the six in VIP and they did something a little different – watching Baylee’s soundcheck. It was pretty cool, but one thing I noticed is that when it came time to ask questions, Stephanie and I were the only ones that actually asked something that had nothing to do with his Dad. He’s a really good artist in his own right and I think he appreciated us talking about something other than the Backstreet Boys.
Next, we headed toward Backstreet Boys VIP and meet up with Melly and Medina and got ready to do what we were going to do at VIP. Stephanie would get her solo photo, then for my photo, we were doing a group photo with Me with Nick, Melly with Howie, Medina with AJ, and Stephanie with the KFC (Brian and Kevin).
Stephanie goes in first and I guess she tells Nick she had a surprise for him after they take their photo and I pop around the corner and his eyes go wide. Then it just kind of kept going until AJ was like “The whole crew is here!” It was really good to see the guys one more time this summer and gave me and Nick time to talk a little while everybody was getting situated for the photo.
We went into the VIP lounge after and just kind of hung out. Emilia had to go ahead to pit since she had pit, and we just hung out, drinking, taking photos and talking, which was really nice.
We ended up going to our seats (Melly and Medina had towards the center of the stage) and Stephanie and I had front row, so we were able to stand at the barrier.
But before I get into the concert, let me say that the venue security was HORRIBLE. I sent in feedback complaining to them after I got home. When the boys came on, people rushed the stage and the security did nothing. Every other concert I had been to, they made people go back to their seats. It wasn’t a general admission show (unless it was pit).
I had some girl that kept coming up between me and my seat and I finally told one of the security guards that he could do something about it, or I would and he would not do a damn thing to me when I did.
I tried not to take too many pictures, but I did take my bigger camera this time (I didn’t in Birmingham). The show was just amazing … so much attention from the guys from Nick to AJ making little cat ears to me, to love from Brian and Kevin. It might have been my second favorite show on the tour behind Washington, D.C., except this time I was standing beside someone I knew who was a true friend, not a fake one.
After the show, we hauled ass and headed to the club where the after party was.
Nick was supposed to go to the after party, but didn’t due to not feeling good, so I was a little sad, but if he didn’t feel like it, he didn’t feel it. AJ and Howie were there and more than made up for it. I mean, do you know how many times I’ve seen AJ with a fake penis (inflatable or not)? Him performing “Hey Mr. DJ” was the highlight of the after party for me.
That song is my jam.
To say we didn’t get any sleep that night, well, we didn’t. I didn’t sleep until I got on the plane to come home. It was an amazing weekend with good friends and that’s all that mattered.
The only sad thing is, I don’t know when I’ll see the boys again. I’ll be seeing Baylee again soon, but the boys? I don’t know and that’s the part that makes me sad.
Check out the videos and photos below from the trip!
