Macklemore and Kesha praised the 13,000 concertgoers in attendance at the Hershey Stadium for their tour, "The Adventures of Kesha and Macklemore."
Three large tarps covered sections of seating that had not been sold out on the sides of the stadium while a few rows in the floor section of the stadium were left empty.
Before going to the concert, I was aware that there was a chance of rain. It never crossed my mind to give up on the concert that I had been looking forward to for months, but it was clear that some of the ticket-owners had.
Although I was expecting rain, I did not expect five straight hours of steady rain. Standing in soaking wet clothes is obviously uncomfortable but I regret nothing.
There is absolutely no reason to let tickets go to waste simply because of the rain – even if it downpours during the night.
We showed up – in rain jackets and ponchos – and still had an amazing time.
Rain, no matter how persistent and no matter how heavy, cannot stop a crowd from dancing or singing. Rain cannot ruin a concert.
The opening act seemed surprised that it was even raining in the summer, commenting that California summers do not have rain.
Waiting for Kesha to walk on stage to start the concert was probably the worst part. Without any music to keep us busy, we were thoroughly conscious of the rain soaking through our rain jackets and the chill against our skin.
But, as soon as Kesha appeared, greeting the audience, the wait in the rain was worth it. Our attention was caught up in the music pumping through our ears. Across the crowd, ponchos and rain jackets swayed back in forth – dancing with the beat.
Kesha was not deterred by the rain. She playfully commented, more than once, "F- the rain!" After a song or two, she asked the audience if they would mind her taking off part of her outfit, so she could reveal more of her "a-."
So, instead of being bummed about the rain, it seemed like a rite of passage. We would be the audience that Kesha and Macklemore would remember for braving the rain.
When Macklemore came onstage, he seemed pumped to be performing in the rain. He told the audience he was born in the rain, referencing his birthplace of Seattle, Washington. He joked that he never even owned an umbrella – but made sure to reassure us that ponchos were a different story. Umbrellas were not allowed in the stadium, but ponchos were being sold for $5.
I was wearing shorts and a tank top with a rain jacket, but I could not even feel the cold wind that wildly blew the big screens displaying the artists on stage to the rest of the stadium (one screen had to be taken down in the middle of Kesha's performance due to the strength of the wind.) The adrenaline coursing through me kept me going until the end of the concert.
The rain did not let up until Macklemore's final songs. At that point, I had no idea that rain had even stopped.
After the concert, my group headed to a nearby Red Robin. We saw numerous soaking-wet guests sitting in the booths. When we sat down, the waitress had no trouble selling us four mugs of hot chocolate. She said she had sold more hot chocolate that night than she had throughout the entirety of winter.
There is something great about sitting in a room full of people that had just gone through the same experience. There was a community in the soaking-wet concertgoers, sipping on hot chocolate to try to warm up as the adrenaline wore off.
Luckily, I had bought a Kesha t-shirt at the beginning of the concert that had managed to stay mostly dry. I was able to switch into that at the restaurant and curl up with a blanket on the ride home.
If someone had told me a month ago that the concert would take place in the pouring rain, but I would still have an amazing time, I would have never believed them. The rain was not ideal, but I am convinced it added positively to the memory of that concert.
