#mardigrasconcert

[thekimmiandjackieshow]

The Night with Shawn Mendes

During the spring time, Universal has continuous concerts in the park in celebration of Mardi Gras. Passholders who weren’t blocked out could attend the concert for free and the listings weren’t always Joe Schmoe and the Nobodies. Early on in my spring program I had heard that Shawn Mendes would be performing there. Due to my lack of radio-listening, I hadn’t really heard of Shawn Mendes before. On a random day during the fall program though, Jackie had texted me saying there was a song I needed to hear that she heard on her Pandora station while she was studying: “A Little Too Much” by Shawn Mendes. It was the first Shawn Mendes song I had heard and it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. I became obsessed with the song and listened to it often, but honestly hadn’t heard much else from him. Dana, my roommate, however, loved him. We had made plans to go together but then we realized she would be blocked out.

The day snuck up on me and I realized he’d be at Universal that night, shortly after I got off of work. I casually mentioned to my coworker Edric that he was going to be there while we were working in the stroller garage, and Edric decided we should go together. I guess he was a moderate fan of Shawn Mendes too. 

We carpooled over to Universal after work, planning on getting there early so that we could beat the majority of whatever crowds were expected. During the ride over, Edric found my name tag in my cupholder and decided to rock it for a bit. 

We had no idea how busy it would be or how popular this guy was. I guess I didn’t realize that “Stitches” was an incredibly popular song and that this concert was a huge deal to a whole lot of people. We got food from the Mardi Gras area and Shawn Mendes shirts. Edric said that if you didn’t get a shirt from the concert, you basically didn’t even go. One of the shirts had his face on it. I asked Edric if that was what Shawn Mendes really looked like. He had no idea. I bought it anyway. 

The sun was setting and we found our place in the grassy area in front of the stage. More and more people filed in, mostly teenagers. A group of girls came in front of us with shirts that said “MENDES 98″ on the backs, baseball team style. I asked Edric if that was the year Shawn Mendes was born. Edric didn’t know. Mega-fans filled in the holes around us until there was little-to-no room. People who knew everything about him, every lyric to every song, and the potential order of his set list, were all around us. We realized we were much older than a good portion of the crowd, and it turns out, Shawn Mendes himself. But, I didn’t care. The concert was free so even if he never played the one song I knew, it wouldn’t matter.

He got up on stage and the screaming began. “Max Capacity” flashed on the screens on the sides and Shawn Mendes sat in the center of the stage on a humble stool. Just him, his guitar, a microphone, and a huge group of fans dying to hear the first song. 

The first note played. “Something Big”, a song I had never heard of, but he sang it well. The chorus was a pattern of “Oh’s” that the crowd was screaming along to. After a chorus or two, Edric and I picked up on it and decided to sing along. Well, I did. Edric screamed along. He got really into it and pretended to be a diehard fan, practically convulsing as he shrieked at the top of his lungs. We really had no business even being at the concert but there we were anyway, holding on to concert shirts and screaming along to songs we didn’t know.

A few songs into the concert I decided I really enjoyed his stuff. Clearly he had made an impact on a ton of people. Then, he started the one song I knew. Instantly, I started recording it for Jackie. The song she introduced me to when we were friends was a song I’d be sending back to her now that we were an official couple. I wished she was there with me. 

The rest of the concert was just a bonus. The weather was pleasant, the music was good, and I was spending some extra time with Edric which we had been meaning to do. It was all worth the extra trip to Universal after work. When the concert was over we ducked through the crowds and passed the long line of people waiting to buy concert t-shirts. It ended up being the only Mardi Gras concert I went to, but I was glad that I at least went to one, and I was thankful that it was a good one.

[sassypirette08]

#throwbackthursday #mardigrasconcert #universalstudios #2011 #goodtimes #21stbday #lifehouse #jasonwade (Taken with Instagram)