Electronic Dance Music (EDM) has been the new genre of music for a little while, and I've taken a liking to it. I listen to a station on my XM radio with those songs. I'll admit, not all are for me, but most have a really good rhythm and they're all mostly upbeat. When we went to Nelson's friend's birthday party at the spin studio, that was all of the music we rode to, and Nelson realized he liked it, too. There's a specific DJ, Marshmello, that he really liked. In his usual stalking of a new interest, he found out Marshmello was playing (is that the right term for a DJ?) in San Marcos, so we talked about potentially going. His friend found out, and before we knew it, we had a little group for the show!
Fast forward a month and the night was finally here! Since it started at 9pm and finished at 2am (!!!) on a Thursday, and I'm 22 weeks pregnant, I knew in advance I couldn't hang and go to work the next day, so I strategically took Friday off :) We met Nelson's friends in San Marcos for a quick bite before heading over to the venue, The Marc.
Side note: I had a couple concerns regarding the night:
- Since we were getting there before 9pm and it was going to last until 2am, would I be able to eat if I got hungry?
- Will there be a place for me to sit? I wore my Converse shoes, but even non-pregnant Holly would've been tired of standing that long.
When we arrived, I decided to address my concerns as quickly as possible. The door girl, upon scanning our tickets, mentioned, "If you leave, you won't be able to come back in until midnight." WHAT?! So I said, "What if I get hungry?" and she said, "You can have food delivered to the door." Concern #1 solved. And just to get it out of the way, I never got hungry, so this wasn't even an issue.
The place was empty. Nelson's friend, Lawrence, kept pulling up pictures of Marshmello's latest show in LA so we could see how packed it was. "Lawrence, that's LA. This is San Marcos." Until things picked up, I decided to address concern #2. I found someone who worked there and inquired if there was anywhere to sit besides the bottle service tables. The guy said sorry, there wasn't. So I casually held my now obvious pregnant belly and said, "Really? There's nowhere?" He took one look and goes, "Oh! Yes, we can definitely find something for you." There was a blocked-off little balcony area between the lights / sound booth and a bar on the lower level, so he put a chair there just for me! He said that if anyone asked, just tell them Hector said it was ok. Here's my VIP (Very Important Pregger) chair:
I went back down to hang out with Nelson and the guys for a little bit. The place slowly started to fill, and Nelson suggested I go sit until it picked up so I'd be better later in the night. I headed up to my VIP chair and did some serious people-watching. Only one employee asked who I was, and I said I was with Hector. My weird choice of wording confused him, and I was standing by now, so I pointed to my belly and he goes, "You're good!" Nobody wants to mess with a pregnant lady. After an hour, I headed back down to hang out. The people-watching was just as good down on the floor.
I look crazy and Nelson looks drugged, but we know we're neither!
One particular girl I noticed come in when I was resting earlier was wearing just spandex shorts and a white sports bra with the Marshmello eyes. She was dancing near us on the floor, and it was very apparent she was under the influence of something (how old am I?!). There's a reason I'm bringing her up. The first DJ came out and it was fun; we didn't really know what to do, so just kinda stood around. The crowd got fuller and fuller, and tighter and tighter. Nelson seemed concerned about protecting me (and Bean) from anyone around us, and it was starting to get uncomfortable with just so many people. I mean, this is one of the reasons I don't go to ACL or stuff like that - I don't really like crowds. So I told Nelson I was headed back to my VIP space until Marshmello came out. It wasn't very easy getting out of the crowd, so I had pretty much figured I was never getting back in, and I was ok with that.
I'm sitting in my chair, enjoying myself, and sports bra girl is suddenly standing next to me at the railing. So many things happened over the next couple hours, and a friendship was born. Here are some of the highlights of my night with Kennedy:
- When she talked to me, her face was about 3" from mine and her breath had a very distinctive smell.
- Suddenly, her arm was around my shoulders, her phone was in front of us, and we took a Snapchat selfie.
- She learned I was pregnant, asked to touch my belly, and also asked if I had a boyfriend or "what my situation was."
- Kennedy came over, again, with her phone ready for another selfie, so I go, "Oh, we're taking another one?" to which she replied, "Oh.... did we already take one???"
- She asked where I was from. This following conversation ensued:
- Me: Austin.
- Kennedy: I live in Austin, too. Where?
- Me: South Austin.
- Kennedy: Do you know where The Domain is? Up there?
- Me: No, south of downtown.
- Kennedy: I used to work at Barton Creek. There?
- Me: Yeah, that's south, but I'm a little further south.
- Kennedy: (pause) Ok, so like San Antonio?
- Me: Too far south.
- I learned that she was a 21 year old student at UT studying Fashion Merchandising. She was working and putting herself through school, so she had 2 more years left. No, her parents weren't helping, and she seemed a little bitter. I told her it'd make it that much more special that she did it on her own when she graduates, evidently the same thing her parents are saying.
- She suddenly kicks her right leg up onto the railing like she's stretching her hamstring. She bends over because she can't stand very well, so I eventually lean over and say, "Sweetie, you should take your leg down because it doesn't look very appropriate from the back." Again, how old am I?!
- I saw some of her designs from a school project.
- Kennedy took amazing selfie Snapchat videos. I don't know if she was sending them or posting them to her story (or whatever), but she would drag her hand down her face really slowly.
- I'm amazed at how well she's texting all of her friends. She's doing all these things on her phone, and I can't figure out how she's able to do this so well, but she's having a really hard time standing against the railing. Then I start to think about the phone I had at her age, and how there wasn't a thing called "auto-correct", so maybe that's why she can do this.
- When the last opener finishes and walks off, everyone knows Marshmello is coming up next. We're all waiting, and Kennedy turns to me and goes, "Are they gonna play another album and we'll all have a good time?" What?
- I notice her screen is getting really dark and I wonder how she can still see as she texts. I should've clued in that her battery was dying, because it did. And then she was left figuring out how she was going to find her friends, her ride home, without her phone. She asked me a couple times if I knew them (she said their first and last names), but alas, I did not.
- At one point during Marshmello, she turned to me and said, "I don't care about the election either." Again - what?
Kennedy finally saw her friends (or so she thought?). The show was almost over, so I asked if she was going to them so they'd be together. She gave me a great hug (smushing my face into her arm and getting glitter all over me, I realized when I got home) and walked out. I turned to watch the staircase down to the show floor to make sure she got down there ok... and I never saw her, again.
Kennedy - wherever you are, I hope you made it home safely. And I hope you felt ok this morning when you woke up.
Here are a couple videos I took so that you'd get a feel for a true EDM show :)
After the show, Nelson and his friends met me by my VIP section. I immediately noticed his hair was wet, although I could see him the whole time and it surely wasn't sweat from dancing. No, people were doing champagne showers - fancy!
We drove home, showered, and went to bed around 3:15am. All in all, it was a really fun night! I saw an EDM DJ I like, I got a couple free bottles of water from staff who had pity on the pregnant girl, and got quite a few stares (#motheroftheyear) from kids. But I think it's something to check off the bucket list, because not sure another show will top the one I saw with Kennedy :)
Note from Nelson: He'd like to try a show in Las Vegas because he thinks they'll be classier there. So who knows if that really was the last one....
