There is this arena nearby called Yas arena and it’s on Yas island. It’s the same place that has Ferrari World and Ikea along with some restaurants and a Yacht Club and other things. The arena is where lots of concerts happen in Abu Dhabi. Personally, I don’t like the set-up. It’s ALL standing room. They gate off an area that they call the “VIP area” and everyone stands there – right close to the stage and then behind the gate is ALL standing room. No assigned seating. All general seating. So – not a good set-up for someone prone to panic attacks and a enjoys their personal space.
There were a few concerts happening after the F1 races a couple weeks ago and I got a text from a friend the day of the Britney Spears concert, letting me know that she had a couple free tickets and asked if I wanted them. I figured what the heck – I won’t turn down free.
Now then – I like Britney Spears music. It’s poppy and upbeat and fun to dance too. She’s had her own barrel of issues over the years, but like most people – I just wish her the best and hope she comes out good on the other end of it all.
I had a hard time finding someone who wanted to go on such short notice, so I ended up calling a friend who I knew was going to see if I could just join her group. Not a problem.
They picked me up around 5:45 for the 9:00 concert. Yes – I was going with some serious Britney fans who wanted good seats. We parked far away but knew that we would have an easy time getting out when the concert was over. We probably arrived around 6:30 by the time we parked and got to the line.
The line was huge and snaked around – filled with little kids, teenagers, and adults alike. The line eventually got moving around 7:30-ish. We got in and made a quick potty-stop and grabbed waters before making our way into the crowd. We managed to get in pretty far and were probably 4 people back from the gate before it was VIP area. We were off to the side and I could fortunately see an Emergency Exit sign about a “stone’s throw away”.
We stood there until 9:00 when the concert started. We witnessed plenty of people trying to shove their way up front or coming up with some story about being up there a minute ago but they had to step out and just wanted to get back to their place. Please – not falling for that. I did lots of ignoring, turning the other way or just hip-checking people that tried to push through. I got a beer spilled on me and a little second-hand “concert smoke” but other than that the crowd was pretty good. At one point – a gal passed out and I had to yell to people to clear the area and help her to the front so she could be passed over the gate. Goodness people – don’t just stand around and ignore some lady passing out. What is with people sometimes??? It’s like they can’t be bothered when they’re having a good time or something.
As for the concert – I can probably sum it up with “eh”. She looked amazing. She really is beautiful. Looks very pulled together and her outfits were great. Her back-up dancers were AMAZING. They had great moves and were very fit. As for Britney – she looked pretty drugged up and out of it like she could care less about performing. There just wasn’t that spark like she had back in her heyday. She lip-synched the majority of the concert and a couple times didn’t even bother to try and lip-synch. She pulled a few pre-planned audience members on stage for some interaction but otherwise just yelled out – Hey Abu Dhabi how you doing???? a few times and that was it.
I had a blast with the people I went with. They were fun and I’m glad I went.
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