Ever met Jacob Whitesides? No? Well, you probably should. Jacob Whitesides is an 18 year-old recording artist out of Knoxville, TN. He's released multiple EP's and has his first single being played on the radio! (Check out "Lovesick" on iTunes!) Shameless plug aside, let's get back to the original point. Jacob Whitesides is a complete and total sweetheart. I may be slightly biased, but he's one of the nicest people I've ever gotten the chance to meet. And I got to meet him twice.
Saturday, May 21, 2016 will go down in history as the day I finally got to meet Jacob Whitesides, along with finally seeing him (and Shane Harper) live in concert with my best friend Samantha. My day started at 5:30 in the morning with 5 Seconds of Summer's "Permanent Vacation" blasting in my ear (unnecessary because my excitement and nerves had me up at 5:00 a.m.) I shot out of bed and basically ran to the kitchen for my first of four cups of coffee that morning. After sitting in bed, organizing my wallet and bag, and watching a bunch of YouTube videos, I started to get ready. I was debating going makeup-less but decided against it. I did my hair, then my makeup and put on my favorite black dress, Vans sneakers and Slytherin sweater. By 7:00 in the morning, I was out the door. My train left the Ronkonkoma station at 7:40, and I was in Penn Station in New York City by 9:00.
Webster Hall, I'm coming for you.
My taxi dropped me off in front of Webster at around 9:30. Let the waiting game begin since VIP Check-In was at 12:30. So naturally with the waiting game in the works, my friend Sam and I took selfies. As a 19 year-old and a 20 year-old we are obsessed with snapchat. So the puppy filter was a must.
Jacob's crew rolled off the bus at around 10:30, to start unloading the gear they needed into the venue. Jacob's guitar player, Garrett (Hi, Garebear!) along with his drummer, bass player and keyboard player started to work while Jacob was doing what Jacob does. This means knocking on the windows to mess with us and taking creepy Snapchats of us.
Jacob, as pictured above, came off of his bus around 10:45 a.m and entered the venue. After coming back out of webster and so graciously giving a fan the hoodie directly off his body, Jacob left to go "wash his face" before meet and greets. At around 1:00 p.m (Jacob is never on time. Ever.) we were told to line up with our hands out if you were under 21, and your identification if you were over 21. They lined us up in a single file line and marked our hands with an "M" on each hand. At that point, it was all on Jacob and Webster for when we could go in and meet Jacob.
Around 1:30 p.m. we were allowed to enter the venue. They gave us our VIP passes and had us line up on the perimeter of the room. Jacob's security guard gave us the general rules (Don't jump on him, don't ask for autographs, no weird or crazy poses and absolutely no cellphones.) Jacob came back a few minutes later, eating crackers because he was hungry. After he gave out a few hugs, it was back to business. After handing my bag to Jacob's guard, Derrick, it was my turn to finally meet Jacob Whitesides.
As I turned the corner to meet him, Jacob already had his hands out. I took them and he said "Hi baby!" as he tugged me into a big hug. I smiled into his chest and said "Hi Jacob! You're so tall!" He laughed while rubbing my hip with one hand and playing with my hair with the other. He started to rock me back and forth while answering my question of "How are you, love?" His answer? "I'm perfect, great now that you're here. We're freaking gucci." A typical Jacob Whitesides answer. He pulled away and ran his hands from my shoulders, down my arms and started playing with my fingers before asking me how I was. When I said I was "good but I'm super nervous." Jacob looked me dead in the eyes and said "Why, babe?" I kind of shrugged and he just grinned at me. Grabbing my hands again, he looked at me and went "Bring it in, beautiful. Bring it right on in." He pulled me back into a hug and I snuggled my head into his chest as they took the photo. After, I gave him another squeeze as he kissed my forehead and told me "Enjoy the show, babe." Thank you, Jacob Whitesides for making me feel like a princess during our first meeting. 
The show itself was amazing. So amazing. I got a seat directly under Shane and Jacob for the entire show. Shane Harper came on first, signing a few songs from his new EP "Like I Did." He also sang a cover of Justin Bieber's "Sorry." In total, Shane was on stage for around half an hour with his Alex-Gaskarth-and-Luke-Hemmings-look-alike guitar player, Cooper Green. They put on a fantastic set, and got us good and ready for Jacob.
The first photo is Shane Harper during his song "Like I Did" from his EP "Like I Did" and the second photo is Cooper Green during their cover of "Sorry" by Justin Bieber.
Jacob himself was absolutely wonderful. He started his setlist with his song "Rumors" from his EP titled "A Piece of Me". He played multiple songs off of that EP including "Rumors", "Ohio", "Billboard (If I'm Honest)", "Not My Type At All" and my personal favorite from that EP, "Let's Be Birds". He played almost his entire "Faces On Film" including "Secrets", "Magic Bullet", "Broke Billionaire", "Faces on Film", "Shame on You" and "Rules of Beautiful". He also played his new single, "Lovesick" plus some new songs. Jacob covered "Sugar" by Maroon 5 and "I Can't Feel My Face" by The Weekend.
One moment that meant the absolute world to me is when during "Rules of Beautiful" Jacob held my hand. It may seem like a small moment after meeting him, but it meant the world to me. "Rules of Beautiful" is a song that means a lot to me. It reminds me that I don't need makeup, or any other enhancer because I, the way I am, am beautiful no matter what. When Jacob saw the tears in my eyes he squeezed my hand a little tighter and held my hand a little longer. Thank you for that, Jacob.
Saturday was one of the best days I've had. Sam and I left Manhattan with merchandise in our hands, smiles on our faces, joy in our core but sadness in our hearts. When would we see our prince again? We had no idea. Little did we know, the answer was only a few days away.
Sunday, as Samantha and I were trying to find an open tattoo shop, we found out a contest to go see Jacob in Hartford, CT with KISS 95.7 on Tuesday. Thinking nothing of it, we both entered for the sake of it. We made a joke saying that either neither of us are gonna win, or were both gonna win.
Guess what, we both won.
So, in that case, we got out answer. Sam and I were gonna see Jacob again on Tuesday morning at KISS 95.7's Dunkin Donuts Music Lounge in Hartford CT. (Thanks, iHeart Radio!) I picked Sam up from the train Monday night and we prepped for Tuesday. Sleeping with anticipation of what was to come, both of us were up and out of bed by 8:15 a.m. After a short pitstop to get windshield wipers, we were on the road by 10:00 a.m! After arriving at 1:30 for a 3:30 ticket time, we had some time to kill. We hung out, talked with some of the radio hosts and got free water bottles! Jacob arrived at 4:00, and we went into the room at 4:15 p.m.
The room had 30 people, including Jacob, the KISS crew, Jacob's crew and the fans. It was small, intimate and everything I wanted in a private set. Jacob played three songs ("Lovesick", "Broke Billionaire" and covered "I Can't Feel My Face" by The Weekend.) We got to chat with him, and I called him out on his guilty pleasure- napping! (Although Jacob insists it's making fun of his guitar player, Garrett.)
Not only did I get to see Jacob, I got to see Sam for four days in a row and I got to see a new friend I made named Bri! No photos were allowed in the private event so the only one I have is the meet and greet photo.
Meeting him was even better the second time. When I walked up he immediately wrapped me up in a famous Jacob hug. He whispered "Hi baby how are you" into my hair. I told him how tired I was. "I'm kind of tired. I drove three hours to see you from Long Island!" Needless to say, he was shocked. Jacob basically shoved me away from him and then grinned before smashing me against him in a huge hug. "I was on Long Island! At 106.1 WBL.... Something." I corrected him and then had a minute long discussing on how I couldn't make it to both radio shows because of work. I was further instructed to "Quit your job so you can make me coffee." No Jacob, I can't do that! You don't even like coffee. After a super tight squeeze that almost knocked me over, another picture and well wishes for a safe tour and travels, Jacob and I parted ways for who knows how long.
My weekend was filled with all of the Jacob Whitesides I could have ever imagined and I wouldn't have had it any other way. When you meet Jacob Whitesides he makes you feel like royalty.
For the 30 seconds that I was with you on both Saturday and Tuesday, you made me feel like I was your entire world and I could never thank you enough for that. Thank you for making me feel like a princess in the short amount of time we had together. Thank you for being the amazing artist I know you are. Thank you for being my Jacob for all this time.
"To the world, you might be one person. But to one person, you might be the world" -Dr. Suess.
Ever met Jacob Whitesides? No? You should because he's the kindest person I've ever met.
"So stay with me for a minute more." - Jacob Whitesides, "Rules of Beautiful."
