Blogging My Concert Experience: Darren Criss

houseobsessed14 is about to make you really, really jealous. —Sparkitors

Sparklers, I'm the luckiest person in the entire world. Why? Because I live 20 minutes away from New York City. NYC is home to some of the greatest things in the world, including Broadway, Times Square, The Sparkitorial Headquarters—and sometimes, Darren Criss. For those of you who don't know who Darren Criss is, he's the amazingly talent actor and singer who plays Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical, and he's going to have a part on Glee this season. I. Absolutely. Love. Him. So you'll understand my excitement when I heard he'd be doing a show in New York. I waited anxiously for it for weeks, and when it finally happened, I had a total blast. It was probably one of the coolest things ever, and I want to share it with you guys. Here's how it went down.

12:45 PM: Frantically run about the house, making sure I have everything ready to go. Then wait for my mom as she takes far too long to get her keys and wallet. Come on, mom! We're gonna be late!

1:00 PM: Mom is ready, and we drive to my friend Sarah's house to pick her up. She knows nothing about Darren Criss aside from what I've told her, but she wants to see him because of his upcoming role on Glee. Added bonus: she brought me chocolate brownie things! Darren Criss and chocolate: what more could I want?

1:05 PM: We drive. And we drive. And we get confused by directions and exits and things. And we drive some more. At some point along the way, I realize I don't have my camera (ughhh! I knew I was forgetting something), so I start deleting phone pictures to save room for Darren.

2:00 PM: At this point we've gotten lost so many times that I decide to never to trust the GPS again. My mom estimates that we'll be there in about half an hour. I pray she's right.

2:35 PM: Finally! We drive up to the street where the club is and I see a line of fangirls forming. It's not too long yet, though, and Sarah and I take our place at the end while my mom goes to look for a parking spot.

2:45 PM: My mom comes back from parking and we wait in line for what seems like forever. Somewhere towards the front of the line, people are singing Goin' Back to Hogwarts, but not very well. Sarah and I talk about Glee and fangirling and how many more gay couples there are in the city than in suburbia.

3:30 PM: My friend from Long Island, Emily, meets us in line, which now stretches all the way around the block.The next hour or so is spent talking about how bad the girls at the front of the line sound, introducing Sarah to Emily, talking about how much we hate teachers, and discovering that the answer to "Redvines, what they hell can't they do?" is "taste good." I swear guys, they taste like red cardboard with sugar on top!

4:00 PM: This is the time the doors are supposed to open, but of course they don't. We continue chatting.

4:45 PM: Yayyy!!! Doors are open. We go in, get our hands stamped, and wait in line to buy a copy of Darren's EP, Human. We also get autographs and pictures with Joe Moses (Snape in AVPM/S) and Jim Povolo (Goyle in AVPM/S and Firenze in AVPS.)  I feel absolutely tiny standing next to Jim Povolo; he's like, 10 feet tall, and I'm only 5'1".

5:15 PM: Darren, late per usual, is finally up on stage and ready to start his show. He opens up with "I Still Think" and pops a string in the first minute, then two more by the end of the song. Oh, Darren, you and your guitar strings... Luckily his friend Charlene Kaye has an extra guitar—but, oh wait, he pops those too. He plays all of his show standards, some new songs off his EP, and some Starkid favorites. I sing along and take lots of pictures. I check up on Sarah, and she's glad she came; she thinks Darren's really hot. 45 minutes later, Darren closes with his version of "Stutter" and then there's a break for Charlene and her band to set up.

6:15 PM: Now it's Charlene's turn. I don't know much about her music, but I stay anyway because as it turns out, she and her band are really good. Charlene is just as quirky and talented as Darren, and I really enjoy her music. At the end, she invites Darren up again to sing a song called "Dress and Tie" and which is really fun and gets me pumped. After that, it's time to wait on the super-long line for autographs!

7:30 PM: After slithering through people much larger than me, getting separated from Sarah and Emily several times, and getting nearly-trampled once or twice, we've made it to the front! I hand Darren my CD to sign, and then give him the card Emily and I made for our friend who's got a concussion. We tell him how much we love him, and how excited we are for him to be on Glee. He sees my University of Michigan t-shirt and pink sunglasses and says he remembers me. OHMYGOD YOU GUYS HE REMEMBERED ME!!! Someone standing in line behind us takes a picture of the 4 of us. I'm on a huge adrenaline/Darren high right now, and I don't want to leave. But it's a school night, and we have to get a move on because it's a long ride home.

7:45-9:00 PM: We drive home, and talk about how excited we still are. Sarah remembers she didn't study for a math test tomorrow, and I tell her she shouldn't have to take it because she just met Darren Criss. We drop her off at her house, and then drive back to ours.

9:15 PM: Once upstairs, I collapse onto my bed; even though it's still kind of early, I'm exhausted. I don't want this day to end, but sadly, it must. At least I still have my signed CD! And the awesome memories of a totally awesome Darren Criss concert.

What a night! Admit it: you wish you'd gone to the concert, too!

Related post: Blogging My First Concert Experience: Paramore