Ok I'm baaaaaack from my epic weekend. Bear with me cuz this is kinda long I guess.
The first time I had tickets to see NIN was the Fragility tour. I was 13 and a friend from school had failed a test so his parents wouldn't let him go to the concert but (for some reason) my parents were totally fine with me going as long as I had a chaperone. Chaperone backed out.... no show for me.
With teeth comes up, requiring a long ass drive.... driver backs out. No show for me.
Lights in The Sky tour..... I've just move to Vegas and I'm hustling to get my foot in the door as a stagehand. Night of the show? Called in to work. Can't say no cuz then you get bumped off the call list. No show for me. At this point I'm getting pretty convinced I'm cursed.
Wave goodbye tour.... no reliable transportation, I'm in michigan while they are in Nevada, back in Nevada when they are Michigan.... feeling very sad about the whole thing.
Tension tour happens. I've got money, I've got a car, I've got paid vacation... I've got tickets to both Vegas shows plus Phoenix and LA. I AM SO READY FOR IT.
I get my dream job and I leave to go on tour myself... in taiwan. NO SHOWS FOR ME.
BUT WAIT. SHOWS IN TOKYO!!! I WILL BE IN TOKYO!!!! JUST KIDDING MY TOUR GOES TO HELL AND I HEAD BACK TO THE STATES. NO SHOWS FOR ME. CRYING. LOTS OF CRYING. CURSED.

And then... They announced this run of festival dates.
I currently live in Orlando and out of Fyf, Panorama, and Riotfest.... Panorama turned out to be the cheapest overall. I bought my tickets and hotel, etc etc.... started getting anxious/excited.

Panorama was awesome. The show was great, the crowd was fun... people were surprisingly nice considering I was covered in glitter from one of the sponsor tents and I was wearing a shirt that said "Pretty Hate Machine" in sparkly pink and blue letters.... It was an excellent set for someone who had never seen the band before... got me like 90% of what I wanted and while I didn't leave having my mind totally blown, I was so glad I had gone and I was relieved that I had finally seen them and it was no longer this lifelong THING THAT I HAD NEVER DONE looming over my head. I felt beyond happy that I got to see him do the Bowie cover as Bowie is the only thing I've listened to longer than NIN, so that was a transcendent experience that I will never forget. I went back to my hotel happy, spent a few hours winding down and packing my bags to go home on Monday, and went to bed.

I woke up on Monday to the surprise Webster Hall announcement. Somehow I guessed the presale code based off the code for Bakersfield, I got a ticket, and I straight up skipped my flight home.
It was quite literally the NIN sweat lodge experience but it was amazing. All these fans crammed together just so excited that we had managed to get in. Everyone was super friendly and super happy and people were talking and comparing concerts and favorite songs etc etc. And then NIN came on stage and I spent the rest of the set screaming every word along with everyone else there in one giant sweaty human wave. I can't watch the youtube videos from the show without getting ridiculously excited all over again. The room was ON FIRE (also it was literally a sauna). And suddenly in the middle of Head Like A Hole (which ended up being their last song) like... the whole thing just hit me at once and I basically started bawling in the middle of the crowd in the middle of the song and thank god everything was so sweaty that nobody noticed cuz it was super embarrassing. Seriously. Who the hell gets emotional over Head Like A Hole? (me, apparently)

After almost 18 years of wrong place/wrong time I FINALLY was in the right place and the right time, I managed to find a cheap flight out the next morning, I managed to find a cheap hotel for the rest of that night (all three hours between the end of the show and leaving for the airport), everything somehow fell into place and I ended up seeing NIN two nights back to back in two totally different styles of show. By the time I actually got home I had been awake for 28hrs and I was STILL adrenaline high from the shows. I could not have asked for a more magical first experience. (also, if you were at either of those shows and you met me... say Hi!)