It was nearing 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 9, the time that The Weeknd’s arena-headlining Madness Fall Tour was supposed to be begin. I had just hopped out of the car after receiving a ride to the Forum in Inglewood. This was my first time at the venue, and my first time in Inglewood in a general sense. There was a heavy fog obscuring my view as I made my way through the massive parking lot, making it exponentially more difficult to find the actual entrance. Given that this was an arena, I was aware based on past experience that there would most likely be multiple entrances, one for the people who had floor seats, and one for people who did not. After a decent amount of time was spent searching, I found the correct entrance and made my way inside.
Given that this was The Weeknd I was seeing, I had been more than willing to invest in floor seats. To provide some background context, I have been following Abel Tesfaye, or as he is commonly known by his artist moniker “The Weeknd” since 2011. 2011 was when Tesfaye, an artist who was considered extremely mysterious at the time, released a series of three mixtapes collectively referred to as “The Trilogy” consisting of three projects: "House of Balloons," "Thursday" and "Echoes of Silence." Due to extenuating circumstances, I had never had the opportunity to see Tesfaye perform live until this present year, where Tesfaye has transformed into an undeniable superstar with multiple platinum selling hits under his belt and a Grammy nominated album called "Beauty Behind The Madness"that he released earlier this year.
As a long time supporter of Tesfaye’s career, it was incredible seeing the frenzy before me as people hurried to enter The Forum, ecstatic to see Tesfaye put on a show. I made my way through the crowds of people to my seat just as the first of the two opening acts, Travis Scott, was taking the stage. Fortunately I am a fan of both of the openers, Travis, a hip-hop artist from Houston, and Banks, an alternative-pop/R&B artist from Los Angeles. I thoroughly enjoyed both of their sets while waiting for Tesfaye to take the stage, which he did around 9:30 pm. Tesfaye both met and surpassed my expectations, delivering a thrilling performance to a thunderous audience. As the show ended at roughly 10:30, I maneuvered through the droves of people and exited the arena, and this was when the evenings previously smooth processions came to an abrupt halt.
The plan had been to call an Uber to pick me up and get me back home. Assuming that it would be too much of a hassle for the Uber-driver to find me amidst thousands of people outside the arena, I traveled across the street with the intention of being picked up there instead. Unfortunately for me, it seemed that 20 other people had the exact same idea, and I found myself among a group of people taking out their smartphones to order an Uber, and this is really where the problems began. The issue with a large number of people trying to utilize a service like Uber all at once is the app gets overloaded, resulting in a select few getting their ride, while hapless other suckers get stuck receiving an “Error” message.
In this situation, I was one of the suckers. To add to the stress of the circumstances, my phone had about 16% battery remaining, and it was draining with every passing minute. Upon recognizing this fact, the panic began to set in. I was somewhere that I was completely unfamiliar with, with a soon to be dead-phone and no transport. I frantically continued to attempt to secure an Uber, only to keep receiving error messages. My frustration levels rose as I saw various Uber’s come and go, picking up a lot of people that were not me. As the battery percentage continued to drop, I attempted to contact anyone who I thought might be able to help.
Eventually I was able to get in contact with and convince a friend of mine to come pick me up. At this point my phone battery was in the single digits, and my friend told me to turn off my phone for about 40 minutes, and then turn it back on so she would be able to locate me once she arrived. Ignoring her instruction, I opted for airplane mode instead, not feeling entirely comfortable with the idea of having my phone be completely off unless it had to be. I reluctantly ended the phone call with my friend, feeling better knowing that I know had transportation, but still irritated with the reality of the situation.
Other than myself, the area had been completely vacated of any former stragglers. I would now have to stand on the street corner for the next hour and wait to be picked up. And so I did, promptly making my way over to sit down on the sidewalk. Moments like that one really lend themselves to reflection, and as I sat there on the sidewalk I questioned how the night had taken a nosedive so rapidly. The thrill that I had felt from the concert now felt like a vague, far off experience. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, with nothing but my own thoughts and the sound of a few passing cars to keep me company, my friend arrived. Relief washed over me as the car came up the rode towards me. At this point, I was more than ready to just get home. But despite all the inconvenience that fell upon me that night, I still would not take back the experience. Ultimately, I still had gotten to see one of my favorite artists perform and my misfortunate at least ended up making for a good story... don’t you agree?
