Saturday – 6 August 2016

The lights switched off and the crowd cheered loudly, raising their phones up high to capture this moment as they anticipated her appearance. Her voice filled a room of darkness that was only covered in a sea of small lights. The music began to play, signalling her close arrival. Stage lights shone to the beat of the drums as graphics on the screen moved with rhythm. The crowd cheered even louder. As did I.

I had been waiting for this moment, this event, for a very long time. I was finally getting a chance to her in real life and not at her poster, to listen to her music live and not through my earphones. My heart was beating faster and with utter happiness as I, and the rest of the arena waited for her appearance on stage. One of my dreams was coming true, and I felt what it feels like to have your dreams come true.

She finally appeared and moved towards centre stage with pure grace and sultriness, before lifting the microphone to her mouth and singing the opening lines of one of her songs as dancers appeared on stage. The moment, and the others that followed each time she sang one of her songs was indescribable. I was lost for words as I experienced the event that I had been longing for. I had made the decision earlier on to only record the beginnings of each song on my phone so to better enjoy and to truly experience the concert, but still have some memorabilia from what has been one of the best moments of my entire life.

As she sang her final song for the evening, she asked the crowd to jump with her. The ocean of people standing by the stage, as well as those seated within the arena jumped to the beat of the music, moving like waves, as we all, literally, danced the night away. The months, or rather years, of waiting and the crowd of people I was engulfed by prior to entering the arena was all worth it. By the conclusion of the evening, I walked out with mixed, unexplained emotions, but mostly genuine, intense happiness of having a dream become reality.