I didn’t think it would happen.
The week was perfectly planned. After passing up a ticket earlier this summer, I’d made plans to see Beyonce with my cousin, her boyfriend, and another friend in September. Being late to the group getting my ticket, I searched high and low to be able to get premium seats in their section. For a sold out concert, there wouldn’t be much sitting down anyway. I was excited.
Then a few days before, I heard the show was canceled. I didn’t even receive an email preemptively. I happened to be checking Twitter. Anything Beyonce related—whether you’re a fan or not—travels fast. Roughly an after seeing it on my timeline, we all got the same email from Ticketmaster about the cancellation.
I started to think maybe it wasn’t meant for me to see Beyonce this year. It wasn’t like this would be her final tour. I’d probably be able to see her in two years. Her albums keep getting better so maybe this next one will be a different Beyonce.
The week before the newly scheduled date rolled around, a friend hit me up and asked me about it. She indulged me with her stories of what it’s like to experience the last night of a Beyonce tour. It sounded like something you don’t pass up.
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I sat there for a few minutes mesmerized by the view. First and foremost, I’ve never been able to get seats that good for a Giants game. Secondly, to see the visual imagery and setup that goes into a Beyonce show is truly incredible. I took it all in and became acutely aware of what the moment meant specifically to me.
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Sometimes, you waste so much your life waiting on something to happen that you develop a weariness that subconsciously creates an attitude of self-defeat.
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We say all the time that life is too short. I don’t know if I’d necessarily repeat that clichĂ©. It’s more that many don’t value the time that we have. We spend so much time trying to figure out how to create more time in the day that we don’t utilize what we have. Not counting Beyonce, I’ve also made it to three other concerts this year. I’m hoping to travel more and catch a musical based on one of my favorite movies for the holidays. All of these things take money. Money is earned through work. Work takes time. But what good is having a list of things you’d like to do if you never actually have and make the time to do them?
In order to be rested and ready for the stamina it takes for a concert, I needed to take a day off from work. I didn’t want to at first because all I kept seeing in my head was the dollars in hours I’d be losing. However, once we got there and the opening artists took us down memory lane with hit after hit—and once I heard one of the songs that made me a Beyonce fan—it was completely worth it.
There are good types of waiting and there’s simply wasting time. Sometimes, you waste so much your life waiting on something to happen that you develop a weariness that subconsciously creates an attitude of self-defeat.
I thought about this later in the weekend. Throughout my life, I was always “waiting for the right moment.” I waited to get divorced. I waited to go back to school. I waited to get the help that I needed. I look back at opportunities that were missed because of “waiting.” It easily adds up to about 5 years. I began to think my life would look one way so I put myself in a box. It was hard to break out of it. I look at my life now versus where it could have been had I not wasted those years and have obvious regrets. However, it’s never too late to correct and change.
Men aren’t “supposed” to be Beyonce fans. So I was genuinely surprised at how many men were there with their girlfriends and wives dancing and enjoying themselves too. One guy sitting in my section had seen this particular tour once and had seen Beyonce a total of 7 times with his wife. That’s dedication.
I’m glad this is another thing I crossed off the bucket list. As a man, some of Beyonce’s music is great to work out to or play while I’m trying to write an article. Other songs I feel a deeper level because love and heartbreak are always universal themes. She may not make music explicitly for men but seeing her live that night happened at the perfect time.
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Photo:Courtesy of the author
