"Future Now" by Lyanna T

The day had come. It was Wednesday, August 17 th , 2016. My friend and I held our
concert tickets in our hands, as if they were our newborn babies. We were heading to Anaheim,
since the concert was going to be held at the Honda Center. As we passed by the Honda Center,
it had finally hit me. I was about to attend my first concert and witness Demi Lovato and Nick
Jonas perform live. I was squealing with excitement as butterflies fluttered throughout my
stomach. I couldn’t believe I was going to see Demi Lovato- THE Demi Lovato! We walked
inside, got our tickets scanned, went through security check, and found our seats, which were at
the top section of the arena. The stadium was massive, with well over fifteen thousand seats. The
opening act, Mike Posner, was playing a few of his songs as more and more people were arriving
and finding their seats. 7 p.m. came, but the concert hadn’t started yet so my friend and I
entertained ourselves with other people who were all the way across the arena, but also at the top
section and eye level to us. They put on their flashlights on their phones and began waving them
back and forth. My friend turned on her flashlight as well began copying them and told me to
follow. The people across the arena waved their phones left and right, and we copied them. They
stacked their lights on top of each other, and so did we. They waved their lights in a clockwise
circle, and we followed. This continued for a while and then, all of a sudden, all of the lights in
the stadium went out.

The concert was about to begin. There was an uproar of people yelling and screaming, in
which my friend and I participated in as well. A timer counting down from thirty seconds
appeared on the large screen on stage and everyone was counting down with it as if it was New
Year's Eve. My heart rate was going through the roof and I was surprised I didn’t hyperventilate.
The clock hit zero, and the tour name, Future Now, showed up on the screen. Music began
playing, the large beams of light were shining bright, and Nick Jonas came out singing one of his
songs! Everyone went wild! Realizing he looked about the size of my pinky from our seat’s
view, I brought out my high quality binoculars that my mom suggested me to bring, in which my
friend and I alternatively used. The girls next to us were whispering and laughing at us for
bringing binoculars and looking silly but we didn’t care because we got to see Nick Jonas clearly
instead of him looking like a tiny bug. After he performed a few of his songs, the stadium lights
went out again. My friend looked at me and told me that Demi Lovato was finally going to come
out. I swear it felt like my heart dropped down to my stomach. It hadn’t processed for me that
my eyes- my own naked eyes- were about to lay upon Demi Lovato.

Before I came to this concert, I thought I would be more than ready to see her, but I was
most certainly wrong. My heart began racing like I had just ran a mile, I felt shaken as all my
emotions were triggered, and the butterflies that were in my stomach before must have
reproduced because it felt as if there were twice as many butterflies at that moment. The
beginning to one of Demi’s song, Confident, started playing as a light beam quickly flashed onto
the pitch black stage, giving the audience a split second to see the silhouette of Demi Lovato,
who was on a platform that was about twelve feet high. My jaw dropped. I was in disbelief that
the artist I had only been able to watch on YouTube was in the same vicinity as me and about to
perform right before my eyes.

The smaller light beams shined bright around Demi while the biggest spotlight was on
her, and the crowd went wild once again. I was screaming “Oh my God!!” over and over again,
jumping up and down like a maniac as my friend recorded me. The second Demi began singing,
my vision turned blurry and tears began rolling down my face. I’m not a very emotional person,
and I rarely cry, but I was indeed crying. My breaths got shorter, my head got lighter, and my
body got number. I put the binoculars to my eyes but could see nothing besides my own tears
overflowing the lens. I kept wiping the continuous tears flowing down my face as my ears were
being blessed by Demi’s angelic voice. Almost everything after that moment was a blur, but I do
remember 2 Chainz coming out of nowhere and getting everyone hyped with a few of his songs.
To this day, that concert was the best night of my entire existence. It was surreal to say the least,
and I am grateful that my friend and I were able to experience every single moment.