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If you're new here, welcome! Gracealyn.com is a fan based merch business specializing in apparel, accessories and jewelry that's subtle, cute and made for every day wear. I (Emma Grace) am the owner of Gracealyn.com (you can check out more about me and starting Gracealyn on here!
How I got Barricade... without camping overnight:
This September, Gracealyn (aka me, my mom and a bunch of Gracealyn products) hopped on a plane and headed to the big apple! Continuing his never ending "Love On Tour" world tour, Harry Styles was spending 15 sold out nights at Madison Square Garden. We were fortunate enough to score two pairs of tickets for September 7th and September 8th (at face value!!). So, I'm here to tell you how I got barricade 9/8/2022... so hopefully you can too!
Our morning started bright and early, running low on sleep from attending Harry's show on 9/7/2022 in the lower bowl. Special thanks to my mom who came along for the whole process of what I'm about to explain. This was my very first time in pit, not just harry, but any show, so by no means am I an expe
rt.
We woke up at 5:00 am and headed out the door by about 5:30-5:45am ish. It was early, and cold! So I highly recommend throwing on your warmest Harry sweatshirt...hopefully its from gracealyn.com ;)
*photo of my mom and I leaving to head over to camp!
Fan Organized Camping:
After we got to Madison Square Garden, we walked across the street. Technic
ally, MSG does not allow fans to camp overnight, but Penn Station Train Station , just across the street has no rules against excited fans lining the street... with that being said, camping happens across the street from MSG.
*attached is a photo of the line
We found our way to the back of the line, and soon were approached with a fan with a wristband. It was 6am, and I was number 412 in line. Like i mentioned earlier, Madison Square Garden prohibits camping on their property... meaning there is no staff to keep this camping orderly... so fans take this into their own hands.
This traditionally happens at every single Harry Styles show for pit, and it has for years. One of the first fans who arrives to camp (these are usually one of the fans who sleeps overnight), pays for and distributes wristbands. These are nothing special, honestly they're probably ordered from Amazon. They hand write every number starting at one and going until there are no wristbands left and hand them out to people who stand in the line- this keeps everyone in their original line, and prevents people from cutting, "saving spots", or "going to find a friend at the front of the line". Overall, it keeps it orderly.
You stay in this same line until (am, where you transfer the line over to MSG- as they allow camping at 9am.
Until then, I was able to talk to fellow Harry fans, watch the NYC sunrise, got coffee (thanks to the friends we met in line behind us), met some friends and even see a few Gracealyn hoodies! The whole atmosphere is honestly amazing. I ended up meeting a new friend and her mom who I have kept in touch with since!
two fans I met in line wearing the 9am... MSG Camping allowed:
The anticipated 9am comes around, which means we were allowed to move the line over to Madison Square Garden property. These same fans that disrtributed the wristbands took leadership and started letting groups of us Penn Station campers walk across the street to lineup at MSG. We were released in groups of about 50 people at a time to prevent the lines form getting out of order.
Once we were on MSG's property, their staff took over. Full of smiles and kindness, they instructed us where to go and where to line up. We waited in this line until about 10:30am, where we showed our ticket and received another hand numbered wristband from MSG. My number had moved up from 411 to 408 somehow, this very well could have been due to someone missing a wristband in the fan line, someone leaving, etc. Once we had this wristband, we were free to go, told to be back at 5pm.
my fan wristband (orange) and my MSG wristband (star)
"Be back at 5pm... or not":
Staff told us 5pm, but we were told by fans that were familiar with he process, that 5pm was the latest you wanted to be there. So, we got there at 4:30pm, the line was starting to let people in at about 4:50pm, so I'd say, if you're under number 500, be there at least 15-25 minutes early, just incase! This time around, the MSG staff was being extra cautious of numbers, making sure to call out every number to make sure that person was there, and checking each number to make sure it was all fair. Once we finally got up to the entrance, we went through security, were handed a water bottle, scanned our tickets and were given our third and final wristband and were led to a hallway.
This hallway, was honestly the worst part of the whole waiting process. It was hot, small and crammed. If you aren't familiar, the outfits for Harry Styles concerts might as well be a fashion show, so everyones feet hurt, they were sweating and anxious to go in the arena. After waiting for about an hour and a half, they finally started moving the line. Doors open at 7pm for this show, so they started entrances into the pit at 6:30pm. This was staggered as well, they took only a few people at a time to make sure everything was orderly.
The hallway... tight, hot and crowded!
And, We're in!
Once it was our turn to go, everyone in their group has tp keep their wrist banded arm in the air for staff and security to see. We walked out a door directly onto the floor, and fast walked to find a spot- important note: running is not allowed, and security will yell at you and put you in "timeout" aka. make you wait for 5 minutes while everyone else finds their spots before you're allowed to go. Once we went in, I was with my friend that I met in line, we walked around on both sides of the stage, and eventually found two barricade spots right by Sarah's (Harry's drummer) drum set.
I was estatic, the first thing anyone does is grab it,i dont know why, but its just a thing everyone does.
So, thats how I got barricade at Harry STyles Love On Tour NYC without camping overnight! If youre reading this out of curosity, hello! If youre reading this to prepare for an upcoming show, good luck, you got this!And, if youre reading this because youre reminicing your HSLOT show, I feel you, I miss it too :)
THE barricade <3
Just a reminder:
-You can still get barricade, even at number 408
-You can still get barricade, even without spending the night
-You've got it
-Treat People With Kindness
Heres some photos from that show:)
I'll be writing soon about my experience at the show, how I secured a setlist from the stage, and more!
In the meantime, check out out social medias
@shopgracealyn on instagram and TikTok
and shop our brand new products here at Gracealyn.com
Thanks for reading,
tpwk,
Emma Grace