I got in the car early Saturday morning feeling both nervous and excited. It hadn’t hit me yet that I was driving 4 hours from South Jersey to Virginia, to have one of my biggest dreams come true.
As my boyfriend and I drove down the highway, we decided to put Linkin Park’s newest CD “LIVING THINGS” into the CD player. As soon as that amazing sound and Chester’s sweet voice came out of my speakers, I began to get butterflies in my stomach. Here I am, almost 24 years old and finally meeting the band that I have loved since I was about 11 years old.
Meeting the band that got me through so much of my life, both the good moments and the bad. The band had gotten me through the tough teenage years, my grandfather’s death, and even brought me some sunshine when my mom was fighting Ovarian cancer.
I never thought that this day would come, I always thought it was just something that happened to other people and I would see pictures or read about it with envy and wish I was one of those lucky girls.
When we finally got to our hotel, my excitement started to build even more. At check in, the woman at the front desk said “are you here to see Linkin Park?” I squealed and nodded my head, she then said to me “oh you just missed some of the band or their crew, a nice man gave me some guitar picks” and handed me two of Brad’s guitar picks. I practically almost fell to the floor! I must have thanked her a million times.
We left the hotel and got to the parking lot of Jiffy Lube Live, at this point I was practically jumping all over the car. We got out of the car and waited in line for a couple of hours, waiting for the doors to open. Right away, I saw a young man advertising for the Linkin Park Underground. I turned to my boyfriend and said “Oh my goodness, that is Adam!” I ended up talking to him and even getting a picture with him. It was amazing to be able to talk to someone who spends so much time with Linkin Park. I didn’t know whether to be in awe or feel jealous.
The gates opened and we rushed in, I quickly spend hundreds of dollars on Linkin Park merchandise and made my way over to where I had to wait to meet the band.
While waiting for quite some time I was able to meet other fans and Underground members who were almost as obsessed with Linkin Park as I am. The longer we waited, the more anxious and excited we became. Finally, we saw them…I can’t even explain the emotions I felt, watching them walk to the meet and greet area. It was one of the most unreal and amazing feelings I have ever felt, to have one of my dreams just come true right before my eyes.
As I got closer to them, my hands were shaking and I felt as if I was going to cry. It was so unbelievable.
And…just like that…I found myself standing in front of Phoenix…He smiled at me and said “How are you doing?” I replied “Well, I’ve wanted to meet you guys since I was around 11 or 12 years old and I’m almost 24”, then he replied “Well, its great to finally meet you after 12 years”. I almost died. I awkwardly shook the hands of each band member and I’m pretty sure a smile never left my face. When I finally got to Chester, he was smiling at me. I laughed at myself for having so many things in my hands and stuck my bag full of Linkin Park merchandise between my legs. Chester laughed at me and said “Oh you know just pulling a bag out from between your legs, no big deal” I blushed, and giggled and shook his hand.
After I met them, I stood there taking pictures. Being a photographer, I usually have no problem taking pictures but on this day my hands would not stop shaking and practically every picture I took came out blurry. Everything felt so unreal.
And as soon as the meet and greet was over, we went right to the show.
Just like the meet and greet, I can barely express my feelings and emotions as I watched Linkin Park on stage. I felt as if I was on cloud nine. They were amazing as expected, and I felt myself overcome with emotions. As I watched them on stage and sang along with every song, I began to cry. This day was more than I could imagine, I had one of my biggest dreams come true and even got to watch the band perform onstage from only a few feet away from the pit area.
I will always remember this day for the rest of my life. It is one of the most memorable and amazing things that I have ever experienced and I wouldn’t trade it with anything. My only hope is that I can someday soon experience it all over and meet the band again.
-Kristina Kanakis
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