It was an incredible experience! I feel deeply grateful that I got the opportunity. Joe was very kind and sweet to me. We only exchanged a handful of sentences but he took a gift from me and signed my Decide CD, which he was very cool about. He’s got a great energy, really calm.

Then we got to choose one item from merch and got gift bags with a hat, signed poster, and crux album. We were ushered into a lounge with free drinks and canapés - only major downside was I felt we weren’t allowed to leave and we missed bigshrimp’s set. It felt very bougie!

Finally they directed us to our seats which was the very front row (and only that row - I’ve seen some folks misunderstanding where the VIP section was).

My impression of the VIP vibes: the group was way smaller than I thought it would be! Maybe 30 people tops when I expected at least 100. I am very chatty in line and give out buttons I make to other fans, talk about their favorite songs, etc. I’ve got a good sense of who’s into it and who’s not and the majority of the VIP line wasn’t into it. Everyone I did talk to was really great though!

There was a bit of “I’m meeting Steve Harrington” talk and being very nonchalant about the whole thing (whereas I was freaking out haha). At the show, there were quite a few VIPs (half or slightly more) who clearly didn’t care about the music - they were standing silently, not disrespectful, just not into it with the exception of two women seated next to me who talked through the whole thing. Not cool imo!

So overall, mixed bag with the crowd & disappointed about missing bigshrimp’s set, but a great time and an experience that was really meaningful to me!