Posted by I constantly find myself at the same venues, but of course each artist & experience is different. I found myself at The Observatory of Orange County again but this time to see J.I.D & it’ll be an experience I won’t be able to forget.
When I first heard of J.I.D, all I knew about him was that he was the newest artist to be signed to Dreamville. Time passed, a podcast episode, & a few plays of “The Never Story” album later I found myself hoping that J.I.D would go on tour soon. Sure enough he announces he’ll be opening for Jazz Cartier & my concert buddy (Jimmy) was quick to get us tickets.
The day of the concert seemed like the longest day ever because Jimmy & I both had long work days. We were counting down the hours to show time.. Set times were e-mailed to Jimmy & since we didn’t care too much for anyone else but J.I.D we gave ourselves enough time to get to the venue before he hit the stage.
The Observatory is made up of two rooms; The Observatory & The Constellation Room. The Constellation Room is the smaller of the two which I’ve never been in, on that particular night though there was a crowd within but we were directed by security to the bigger room.
As we made our way into venue, we spotted Ib ‘El Presidente’ & Oakshades of Dreamville but we didn’t speak to them. As we made our way through the crowd, a performer was on stage playing to a soulful beat with a guitar. I thought it was weird, since it wasn’t anything like J.I.D’s genre of music but failed to say anything.
Waiting for the performer to end his set & Jimmy asks, “Do you see Ib or Oak anywhere?” I looked around towards the bar & front of house yet didn’t see them. We both figured they might be backstage, since J.I.D hadn’t hit the stage yet.
Time passes by, song after song, the artist finally says goodbye, leaves the stage & we’re confused.. The crowd thins, afraid of losing our good view from the balcony I send Jimmy downstairs to try & get a good spot. I thought maybe the set times we were sent weren’t correct. Times change all the time for various reasons but then the security guard tells me to head out because the concert is over.
I tell him confused, “What about J.I.D? He was supposed to go on at 10:15pm according to my e-mail.”
He says, “Oh his set is most likely done. He was performing in the other room, The Constellation Room.”
I freak the hell out. At this time Jimmy & I are separated, I search for him like a mom searching for her lost child in a crowd. I find him & tell him what I just learned, thinking we’re both screwed.
All day counting down the hours for nothing. All day bumping his album getting myself hype for nothing. All that time we waited to arrive later, when we could’ve been informed correctly by arriving on time.
We rush to the room that we passed by before and just our luck J.I.D is on stage. He was about 20 minutes into his 30 minute set. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed at a show…
From a positive perspective, his energy on stage (that I saw during two songs) is AMAZING. His flow is very fast, yet each lyric is heard clearly. Although I missed most of his set, I did get to hear my two favorite songs from his album which I’m very grateful for.
Just before the main act ended he came around to the merch table to sign autographs & meet fans. I got to speak with him for bit, I told him of my frustration of missing his whole set. How upset with myself I was, did he hear me? I’ll never know. It was loud, & I’m not too sure if he understood what I was saying. Anyway, while we hugged I told him I’ll be sure to get tickets for the next show he has & how hype the songs I was able to catch were.
At the end of the night I was tired from my long day more than anything. Although this experience was one that I won’t forget for the wrong reasons, I’m grateful. I still have a story to tell, memories I won’t forget, & an added signature to my Dreamville jersey.
The next day I was still a bit bitter about missing his set. Eventually after voicing my frustrations to Jimmy he allowed me to look at it from a different perspective. He says maybe we missed the announcement about the other room since we arrived later, or we might’ve not heard correctly from the person who guided us & scanned our tickets.. I’ll never know but after that conversation I was able to let it go.. I know now though, & I won’t let it happen to me again.
*J.I.D. videos/photo are my own taken from my phone/camera the day of the show. I don’t own any rights to the songs/lyrics within this post.
Irene Guerrero | GigglesIrene.com 