Eminem & Rihanna Concert: The Monster Tour

I know this post is pretty late. But I was looking at my pictures and videos from The Monster Tour, which I attended this past August at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. It was such an awesome experience that I wanted to make sure that I have written down my memories so that I don’t forget some of the details of the day.

A little background: I had been wanting to see Eminem in concert since middle school. When I was in high school, my mom wouldn’t have let me attend his concerts because of his vulgarities. She only let me purchase his cds once I found that FYE sold the edited versions. (And I actually still buy the edited versions since I don’t like to hear the curses anyway.) I even dressed up as Eminem for Halloween in high school, complete with his tattoos drawn on with Sharpies, penciled-in thicker eyebrows, and some ash from a burnt matchstick to make it look like I had a bit of 5 o’clock shadow on my face.

Me as eminem

I heard last year that he was doing a tour in South Africa, Australia, and one other country. If it hadn’t been during the school year, I would have considered traveling to one of those places to see him (and enjoy a little vacation as well). But then I heard about the 3 tour stops in the United States in Los Angeles, NYC (actually NJ but advertised as NYC), and Detroit. I knew that nothing would stop me from purchasing those tickets. I was ready to pay up to $1,000 per ticket. I know that sounds absolutely insane, but I didn’t care. I was determined to see Eminem in concert.

I was waiting and waiting to find out the ticket release date. For a while, nothing was definite about the date or time that they would go on sale, which made me very nervous. I checked almost daily. One day, I saw that tickets would be on sale the following morning at 10am, but only for Mastercard holders. I freaked out for a moment because my two credit cards are Visas. I frantically called my mom, who assured me that she had a Mastercard, so I could use her information and then pay her back.

The next morning, 10am happened to be during my free period at work (thank goodness). I went online immediately to purchase the tickets and instantly, many of them were already sold. I logged on at 10am on the dot. How were so many tickets already gone? Minor breakdown and then I thought of StubHub. There were already plenty of tickets posted there. The most expensive tickets were around $570 each, yet they were for the front row in the stadium. I knew that, if the concert was taking place on the field at a major football stadium, even a front row seat wouldn’t be that close. There were also tickets for general admission for standing room only. There were sections A and B. A was smaller and closer to the stage. Tickets were about $350 each. I didn’t know who would accompany me to the concert, but I didn’t care. I bought the two tickets for $770 after processing and fees for section A, with the hope that I could squeeze myself to the front of the crowd. I was so incredibly excited.

Got my tickets in the mail

Next step — find someone crazy enough to pay over $350 for a concert ticket. No easy task. I have friends who like Eminem, but not for that kind of money. None of my friends are diehard fans like I am. I thought I would have to eat some of the cost and just take whatever someone offered. But then, when I was out to dinner before parent-teacher conferences with my work friends, my coworker, Lucia, heard me discussing the concert and she was almost as excited as I was. She agreed to pay for the ticket, so we were all set.

This was months before the concert would actually take place. Then I had to wait in anticipation for August, while trying not to wish away the summer.

Finally, August 16th arrived. The day I had been waiting for so long.

I met Lucia by 8:45am and we made it to MetLife stadium by 10:15am. The concert would not start until 7:30pm. Since we had tickets for general admission, that was first come, first served entry into the stadium once gates opened. The parking lot opened at 10am. Arriving at 10:15am, we were pretty close to the front of the line, with only around 30-40 people in front of us.

The line in front of us

Since I hadn’t ever camped out for a concert before, I wasn’t sure if we would be able to go back to the car. If I had known, I would have brought chairs to sit on. Instead, we just had the bare basics: backpacks with some food and water. We sat on the hot pavement all day long. But it was more enjoyable than you would think, and time passed relatively quickly.

We met interesting people in line. We met a couple from Virginia, two high school students from New Jersey, and a guy from West Virginia. Apparently, there were even people from Canada and Europe. So we talked and ate and waited in anticipation. The sun was pretty brutal earlier in the day We were all pretty sweaty sitting on the pavement with little shade in sight.

At one point, a guy who was sitting in a chair relatively far from us (thank the Lord) started puking all over himself. He was clearly drunk, so I’m assuming that’s why he was puking, though I’m sure the heat didn’t help. I hate vomit more than anything, so I’m incredibly thankful that I was not waiting in line near him.

At one point, we found out that the merchandise booth was open, so we took turns going to look at the items for sale. I usually don’t buy shirts at concerts, but I had already spent so much to be there anyway, I might as well go big or go home. I didn’t know if I’d ever see an Eminem concert again. So I bought a T-Shirt for the tour and a tank top with a picture of Eminem that said “Rap God.”

Merchandise booth

Later into the afternoon it became a little more cloudy, so things cooled down a bit. Well, for a little while. It was probably only around 3pm when people came around to check our tickets. By then, I had used the port-a-potty for my last bathroom break and dropped our backpacks into my car so we wouldn’t have to hold anything extra. I just kept my phone and camera in my pockets.

When our tickets were checked, we were given a bracelet to prove that we belonged in the front section. At that point, everyone rushed forward. We were packed together like sardines. And obnoxious people who came in line way after us were somehow now standing way closer.

Our group

I’m so thankful we made some friends in line because we made a sort of pact that we would try to stay together so that people couldn’t get past us. If it had just been Lucia and me, people could have easily squished past us. But because there was a group of 7 of us, we made sure we weren’t letting people cut the line.

We stood jammed tight for definitely well over an hour. Thank goodness for the clouds, but it was getting hot very quickly since everyone was so close together. People were getting nasty. This was probably my least favorite part. I overheard some mean girls making fun of our little group, saying how they wanted to spit on us. And for what? Because we made friends and were helping each other to stay in place in line? We hadn’t cut them. We hadn’t done anything wrong.

Eventually, they opened the gate. But first you had to go through security. This was honestly one of the craziest moments I’ve experienced. People sprinted to security and then sprinted up to another gate. Lucia and I found our group of 7 once again. Once they opened the gate, we knew it would be a free for all to get up to the front of the stage. We would be the first group of people entering the arena. We had all spent quite a bit of money and had stood in line for a very long time.

The 7 of us linked arms, gates opened, and at first it was a slow shuffle, but soon it was an all out race to the front. At that point, we let go and it was every man for himself. A few girls were laying on the ground on the side, crying, because they had been trampled. Police officers were yelling at us to walk, but when there’s tons of people running, you can’t stop.

The front middle of the stage was already packed 4 people deep. But the left side was empty. Lucia and I ran over and grabbed the railing, knowing nobody could get in front of us if we were holding on. We then found 3 other people we had stood in line with and they joined us. We never met back up with the two high school boys, but I’m sure they had also found a good spot.

Front row!

But now, even though we were inside, we still had between 1-2 hours to wait. People started passing out a lot. Some were throwing up. I think a lot of that had to do with dehydration (and excess alcohol obviously). Nobody wanted to drink too much water and have to miss some of the show going to the bathroom, or losing a spot to go to the bathroom. And it was hot out. After seeing so many people fainting, I did buy a bottle of water because I would have never forgiven myself if I had missed the concert after all of that because I had to be taken away by EMTs.

One of Eminem’s security guards in the colored hat

While waiting here, we met even more interesting people. There was a girl who had bought tickets to all 6 of his concert dates. Between tickets and airfare, she had spent $10,000!!! And she was a young, single mother. She said she had been saving up for this for years. And I thought $350 per ticket was a lot.

Finally, it was time for the concert. I can’t even describe the excitement I felt, knowing it was about to begin. 8:15pm and the concert finally started. We had been at MetLife stadium for 10 hours waiting for this moment.

First, Rihanna came out from underneath the stage. Then Eminem came up. I thought I would cry. I almost did, but not completely. I was in some sort of awe/shock feeling that’s indescribable.

The concert was nothing short of amazing. It surpassed my expectations for sure. They performed an astonishing 50 songs! Since they played short parts of certain songs, they were able to get so many into the show, which I loved. This was the set list:

Eminem & Rihanna:
1. Numb
2. No Love
3. Run This Town (Jay-Z cover)
4. Live Your Life (T.I. cover)
5. Crack A Bottle
6. Won’t Back Down

Rihanna:
7. What Now
8. Phresh Out the Runway
9. Birthday Cake
10. Talk That Talk
11. Rude Boy
12. What’s My Name
13. Pour It Up
14. Cockiness (Love It)
15. Jump
16. Umbrella
17. All of the Lights (Kanye West cover)
18. Rockstar 101
19. Only Girl (In the World)
20. Where Have You Been
21. Stay
22. Love the Way You Lie (Part II)

Eminem:
23. Love the Way You Lie
24. 3 a.m.
25. Square Dance
26. Business
27. Kill You
28. Evil Deeds
29. Rap God
30. Marshall Mathers
31. Just Don’t Give a F***
32. Still Don’t Give a F***
33. Criminal
34. The Way I Am
35. Airplanes, Part II (B.o.B. cover)
36. Stan
37. Sing for the Moment
38. Like Toy Soldiers
39. Forever (Drake cover)
40. Berserk
41. ‘Till I Collapse
42. Cinderella Man
43. My Name Is
44. The Real Slim Shady
45. Without Me
46. Not Afraid

Rihanna:
47. Diamonds
48. We Found Love

Eminem:
49. Lose Yourself

Eminem and Rihanna:
50. The Monster

And then it was over. But it was so amazing and I loved every second of it. After buying the ticket, I really didn’t think I’d get to be in the front row for the entire concert. It was awesome. One of the best days of my life, hands down.

After the concert

Here’s my compilation video of the concert:

My T-shirt and tank top

Ticket & wristband