#anyway hgkjsgh i just loved this so much. everything about it

[bilbao-song]

well!!!!!! phoenix photos. (finally!!!!!!!!) it was a positively magical experience in like 700 different ways. extended ranting below the cut if ur interested

(warning: SUPER long and half of it i wrote just for my own sake tbh so i can reminisce someday……but i tried to divide it up at least a little in case u want to read about the concert but not all the trials and tribulations that were involved in actually Getting to the concert. whatever take it or leave it here u go)

so <3 this whole entire thing was insane. <3 i expected this to be a really lowkey sort of thing. like, this was supposed to be a low-maintenance, laid-back concert experience........and then it somehow turned into the absolute most chaos i have ever gone through for the sake of attending an ELO concert (MAJOR statement due to the fact that my life somehow revolves around enduring chaos in the name of jeffrey-based tourism) or just any concert ever in general (finally something to beat narrowly avoiding missing elton john in nashville). i have rambled at length about it in various forms over the past week or so but to recap:

i was in phoenix last week-ish (as of when i started writing this shgdsgh) <3 from the 17th-22nd. the concert was supposed to be on the 21st. we flew like 3.5ish hours to get there and made a whole entire experience of it

we got up early on the 21st, drove downtown, went thrift shopping and record shopping etc., and then went to the venue only to be told at the parking garage that the concert was postponed until the 29th. as far as i know, nobody knew about this until like 4:00 pm that day. someone was apparently sick (nobody will ever say who other than Not Jeffrey. shoutout to the problem child [affectionate] whoever they may be but i’m glad all is apparently well now)

after all the planning/scheming/gallivanting etc. this was like……..shocking information. genuinely the next few hours are a blur to me lol but to give you a general impression we drove like an hour back to the hotel and i had black eyeliner streaming down my face bc the crying was just nonstop. we went to panda express and i don’t even remember what i ordered. we stopped at ross and i bought a christmas gift for my mom and i forgot that even happened until i unpacked it at home. i know this sounds insanely dramatic but truly this is like, the second most brutal emotion i have ever experienced in my life which probably is a bold statement about what my priorities are but it was SO bad. i guess particularly bc it was potentially our last chance ever (i still hope not…but well………you know.) and we had to go home the very next day, so at the time actually getting to go seemed ummm nearly impossible.

we went home which was a shitshow in itself bc we got stuck in traffic for so long we were actually at risk of missing our flight. we made it but we ended up LAST in line to board the plane, so we had to just sit wherever we could. i ended up by myself and wedged between some random people. worse things have happened obviously but it sucked <3

once home it was ummmm narsty. throes of despair. i shan’t elaborate lmao

tbh at first it was just like…outside the realm of possibility that we would come back (or so it seemed). but then eventually………..against all odds……….we figured something out. like i truly even now cannot believe this even happened at all lmao

soooooo after even more scheming and conflicting emotions (idk if this is relatable or not but changing plans makes me so anxious. like even if it’s a good thing i start getting like, actual paranoia-level nervous about it) we got everything lined up to go BACK to phoenix on the day of the concert. by the time we decided to actually do this (!! omg like. it already happened and i still can’t believe it.) i had already refunded my original tickets, but that was honestly a wonderful decision bc i discovered that prices had dropped (presumably due to the kerfuffle…the show was totally sold out before this happened) and i was able to get tickets in a much better area for almost the same price. delicious

the direct flight was truly unacceptably expensive but we got a vastly better deal by instead having one layover each way. seems kind of counterintuitive to me but idk that's why i'm not responsible for running an airline i guess

our flight left at like 1:35 PM local time which left pppplany off time to get there and deal w everything. or so we thought

we had a layover in houston which was supposed to be pretty short. but then they kept delaying it and delaying it and delaying it until i was losing my mind bc i had just flown like 2.5 hours AGAIN and it eventually started to seem like we actually wouldn’t be there in time. at one point it said our next flight was supposed to LAND at 8:05. the concert was supposed to start at 8:00 and we also had to like, have time to get off the plane and go get the car. there were no other flights available so it was like…keep this one or give up and go home lol. we got chinese food which was really good but i stopped eating like halfway through bc i kept getting flight updates and just got way too nervous to keep eating. rip. that was some good broccoli tho

eventually the estimate started trending in the opposite direction so i gradually felt slightly less dire, but it was still really pushing it. at one point in my head i was like “well they could probably push the arrival time til 7 PM at the latest and we could still manage it.” when we boarded the plane the estimated landing time was 7:31 PM lol

we got tremendously lucky!!!!!! and got the very first row of seats!!!! which i would highly recommend btw bc that was a massive amount of leg room, but most importantly we were able to get off that plane the very second the doors opened. bye!!!!!!!!!!!!

we fortunately planned this super strategically and brought nothing that couldn’t go in carry-on luggage, so we didn’t have to go to baggage claim. this probably saved the whole endeavor tbh. our next challenge was getting on the tram to the car rental place. this was lowkey intimidating but fortunately some really nice people who worked at the airport were walking in a group in that direction anyway and just kind of led us there. then we rode the tram which took like ten minutes and thank GOD there was no line at the car rental place, presumably bc it was like 8:00 by the time we actually got there and i guess that isn’t a popular time

we got our car impressively quickly and then drove to the parking garage, which in itself was an Experience bc once again against all odds we managed to get a parking spot that was like…….honestly so good and easy to access i was scared we did something wrong and would be towed or something. it was cräzy. by this point it was 8:23 (per my ugly photos i took so we could have a point of reference to find the car again). throughout all of this i was getting EVEN MORE nervous bc i remembered that some random person at one point had been like, "haha this [the rescheduling] means phoenix will be the only concert without an opening act." and i knew that made absolutely zero sense bc like...why? nobody ever said that lmao. but it was just enough to make me be like omg what if......what if they actually start at 8:00. positively maddening

(now begins the part that isn’t strictly about me competing in the concertgoer olympics)

we walked across the street to the venue and i started losing my mind bc well......all of this was truly insane. i could tell a ton of people were still just standing around looking @ merch so i knew we were Safe. tbh i was so happy that given the opportunity i would have gladly gone over an intercom to make a public announcement about how happy i was to be there. idk sometimes u just want to scream about these things. especially after the sheer turmoil idk i feel like this is one of the best feelings i have ever felt. we made it!!!!!!!!!! somehow!!!!! positively bananas to have been on a plane less than an hour prior. i'm still kind of in disbelief tbh

i think maybe the opening act was late? don’t quote me on that but it seemed like everything was pretty quiet until like 8:30-something which is definitely late for them. i was kind of okay with it bc i lowkey wanted to hear them too (i like them!!!!!! opinions seem divided overall but i am very pro-rooney [at least live??? still haven't listened to their albums or anything]. i'm sure the way i have now been practically brainwashed into associating them w/ good times is a factor tho) and this just made things easier…although if i’m right on that they definitely played fewer songs than before (which would make sense i guess? due to time constraints?). idk. whatever i was there in time for jeffrey and that’s the most important thing 💕

the concert itself was exquisite. they have all been amazing so it’s hard for me to draw comparisons and i struggle to even know what to say tbh but it was truly soooo good. all of this was very worth it. to make things even better i finally i got to witness firsthand my favorite autumnal phenomenon (jeffrey w/ a nice little scarf). he sounded wonderfullll (his voice is just so lovely.........like. experiencing this in person just truly never gets old to me [more please i am begging]) and everything was pretty much perfect. my mom was like "he seems like he's having a good time" and i definitely agreed 🥺💕 very adorable and nice to see. sigh

one of my faaaavorite parts of the whole thing was just everyone screaming and clapping for him for soooooooooo long. it went on for a really long time (like, significantly longer than at the other concerts i’ve attended lol) and i loved that bc frankly much of my whole entire life is dedicated to that exact sentiment (jeffrey appreciation). it felt wonderful to be a part of that :’) i love him so much (not that u didn’t know that). it was all just really heartwarming and ummm. absolutely precious 🥺🥺🥺 a very nice outlet for about 1/100000000th of the adoration i have for him

overall it was a very emotional experience…….like, i was already kind of losing my mind a little before the whole postponement fiasco just bc of the whole “potentially the last time” factor. like before anything even went wrong i was already kind of secretly crying in the car. so anyway i got through like a little under half of this concert before losing it yet again. it’s just so crazy to me how alllllll of this has like, dominated the portion of my life i’m actually capable of remembering. like the point at which my memories of life become pretty consistently clear coincides kind of perfectly with the point at which the whole ELO thing intensified for me and my life just totally changed from there……..so. needless to say it's all really important to me and i’m super sentimental about it. not to mention, again, how crazy all of this was!!!!!! still cannot believe it even happened but i'm so so so so so glad it did

also i just hope so desperately that SOMETHING else does eventually happen bc um <3 i’m not sure what else to do now lol. this was supposed to be the ~*~last US show~*~ (originally that was going to be one of the ones in CA but phoenix getting postponed changed that hehe) but i'm still eternally crossing my fingers for some kind of loophole on that. obviously i'm 100000% thrilled to have done all of this BUT......it will just never be enough for me and i never want it to be over :-( @ jeffrey......................please please please i will jump through any hoops necessary

tl;dr it was super good and i am so glad it all somehow worked out. also most importantly: i love jeffrey. so much

oh btw eat @ thai esane inside arizona mills mall and also say sushi in maricopa. u will not be disappointed