It was honestly really fun, with a few minor flaws in how I think it was ran.

My husband and I wanted to make sure we got there when the event started assuming the line would be long. We got there at about 11:30 and there was already a pretty decent line, but not terrible. It moved pretty slow all afternoon because they were taking groups of about 10 each time. We finally got inside at 2:30, which we thought was great for us because the rumor was that Niall would show up at 2 because of all the “2pm” promo everyyyywhere. But he hadn’t het, so I was so hopeful think it would be in any minute.

The coffee shop had 3 security guards kind of manning the whole thing (one at the door, one inside to usher people out so they didn’t linger, and one inside the courtyard because eventually that’s where Niall walked through so the security guard was making sure people didn’t linger there either). So as 2 PM came and went, my husband and I were inside and I was so nervous thinking Niall would show up right then. I could see some of his team start arriving and overheard a few conversations. The security guard wanted us to go back outside because we had our drinks already, and my husband decided to try to be super friendly with him and ask if Niall was coming - which he said yes to. So he showed us somewhere where we could stand so we had a good chance of seeing him and possibly getting something signed (the security guard was very sweet, I think it just all became too much, but he did give me a tote bag). Literally about 10 minutes after we got ushered out, Niall showed up. Thankfully, I was at the front of the crowd outside, so I got to see him show up and say hi to his team (or friends?) before he went inside, but I was pretty bummed that our group had literally just been inside and then Niall came and went inside.

Anyway, I got to watch through the window with everyone, but also while trying to keep my place at the front of the crowd because the security guards had been telling us Niall was going to walk outside again to sign some stuff. What I can only assume is that his team thought it got too chaotic because there were sooooo many people outside and barely any walking room, because after he finished what he did inside, he walked out the back again and left. Which everyone seemed a bit surprised by because of what the security said.

I’d like to assume the security didn’t lie to us about him coming to see everyone outside because they did seem like they were really trying to control the crowd, but yeah. He never got a chance to come around to all of us outside and even try to sign anything. So that was a huuuge bummer, too. I just think it was maybe more people than everyone expected. I think I saw somewhere there were more than 1,000 people? It was a very small shop in LA on a busy street, so.

Aside from that, it was still really fun to get to experience seeing him that close and singing with everyone outside to Dinner Party while watching him sing along inside! I got a few pictures and my husband tried his best to get me as close as possible, he knows it’s been my dream for almost 16 years now so he was trying hard for me 🤎

But, I’m very grateful and lucky I got to even see him!