When Lady Gaga announced her tour dates for the Joanne Tour in 2017, one of my best friends and I decided to grab tickets for a tour date in a city that neither of us have visited. We chose Boston and this adventurous decision set the tone for future concerts that my friends and I would go to. Being able to visit a new city with friends in addition to seeing our favorite artists in concert is my love language. In 2022, we went to the most concerts that I’ve ever been to within a year, and I wanted to share a few of our adventures. Please note that over the years, I’ve gotten better at taking pictures during concerts. This post includes some of the best pictures that I took.

2014: Beyonce and Jay-Z’s On the Run Tour in Atlanta

We were way more excited to see Beyoncé than Jay-Z. It took hours of struggling to secure tickets to their stop at the Georgia Dome (now the Mercedes-Benz Stadium). Before driving to Atlanta, we bought City Passes which turned out to be a great investment (I highly recommend buying one if the sites are of interest to you and your travel group). At that time, the city passes gave us access to the Georgia Aquarium, the CNN Center, the Margaret Mitchell House tour (author of Gone with Wind, I have the book and still need to read it), the Coca-Cola Museum, and the Georgia Zoo (we did not attend). It was the first time we explored the downtown area as adults, and it was during this trip that my love of Atlanta grew. We stayed in the Castleberry Hills area which is within walking distance of the stadium and it made getting to the show on time less of a hassle. If you’ve ever been to a concert in a large city, you’d understand the struggle with traffic and overall congestion. The concert was amazing as expected and this trip was the first of many to take place.

2015: Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable Tour in Charlotte

My friend and I were lucky enough to have spent the night with another friend in Charlotte to see Janet Jackson. We arrived on the day of the concert and didn’t have time to explore. This was our first time seeing Janet Jackson and she was stunning! As a Jackson fan, my dream of seeing her came true. When I was younger, I used to have the DVDs of her Velvet Rope tour at Madison Square Garden and All for You Tour in Hawaii on repeat. After the concert, we explored the nightlife of Charlotte. We went to the Epicenter which I wish still existed (it is now a shopping plaza). The Epicenter was a hub of about 3 stories high with different bars and clubs. You could literally hop from one bar and go to a club, and then pop into another bar. That is exactly what we did that night. I don’t have pictures of the Epicenter to share, but for those who have been, I’m sure there are fun stories to share.

2016: Beyonce’s Formation Tour in Raleigh

This trip is an honorable mention because we did not explore Raleigh or even stay overnight. It was our 2nd time seeing Beyonce (without Jay-Z), and we had a blast until a little storm decided to come through. We had to leave the stadium and ended up waiting for an hour because of lightning. Thankfully it passed and the show continued. I’d also like to mention that the next day was my graduation from graduate school (and one of my best friends’ graduation 2 days later) and we HAD to make sure the rain didn’t ruin our hair.

2017: Lady Gaga’s Joanne Tour in Boston

This was the first trip where we actively decided to visit a different city that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. We love Atlanta, Raleigh, and Charlotte, but it was time for a change of scenery. We decided on Boston and had such high hopes that we would fall in love with the city. I know that a lot of people love Boston, but our experience wasn’t the same. Boston is a beautiful city with a lot of rich history. On the day of the concert, we took part in a duck tour where the open-window bus turns into a boat cruise and goes around the Boston Harbor. We then ate at a delicious Italian restaurant and found a cute area to have a mini photoshoot. With that being said, we were not fans of the people that we encountered. They came off as passively aggressive or just straight-up rude. Nevertheless, Lady Gaga was AMAZING. We were lucky in our change of seating. Our original tickets were in the nosebleed sections and someone from her team walked up to us and gave us pit access passes. We clutched our purses and basically ran to the pit area and were greeted like VIP. We were basically front row (almost directly in the front but again, the people were very rude but that’s another story for another day).

2017: Janet Jackson’s State of the World Tour

We traveled to Columbia, SC to see Janet for the second time. I’m familiar with the area as I have family there, but it was the first time that I went into the downtown/USC area. There’s more to the city than what I previously knew. Janet was amazing as expected and my friends and I had a great time.

In 2022, we went to A LOT of shows. COVID-19 restrictions began lifting and several artists were back on tour. During this year, we went to the following shows: Usher’s My Way Vegas Residency, Lizzo’s Special Tour in Atlanta, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica World Tour in Boston (yes, we went back to Boston to give it a second chance and I stand behind it being a beautiful city with not so kind people overall), Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas to All Christmas Show in NYC at Madison Square Garden (I listen to her version of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing around Christmas and I was in tears when she opened with this).

Since 2023 is in progress, I hope to give updates about the concerts my friends and I will attend. Two have already happened and there are still 2 that my friends and I will attend this year (hint: a clue of the one that we’ve attended and one that is upcoming can be found in the first picture of this post). I can’t wait! Cheers to more concerts!