Okay... so I was part of the first group to experience the ARTPOP Zone / Gaga Meet and Greet at artRAVE. I would probably write this for my own memorabilia but I know lots of fans would like to know how things worked and what went down, especially fans with the ARTPOP Zone package who have no idea what to expect, so I'm going to share this with you all. I'm about to go into some major detail, so prepare yourself. If you want photos of the actual concert there are plenty online that other fans took; I didn't use my phone during the concert because I like to experience my concerts technology-free. (I did get a professional photograph taken with her as a part of the VIP package; that won't be emailed to me for a couple more days). I was nervous the entire day of the concert. I couldn't eat. I had been wavering between excitement and nervousness all day but I kept trying to push any stressful feelings out of my mind because... it's a fucking concert it's supposed to be fun. If I hadn't had very specific things I wanted to say to Gaga, I think the stress would've been a lot less, but because of how important this was to me and because I didn't know what to expect, it was hard. But when I got to the venue and saw all the fans with their extravagant outfits and the anti-gay Jesus-loving protestors waving their HOMO SEX IS A SIN signs, the stress seemed to wash away. I started to tear up because... this is going to sound really cheesy... I felt like I was home. Two boys went over and made out next to the protestors which I feel like is such a great Gaga-fan moment. I would've made for a beautiful photo. It felt like no one was offened by the protestors; everyone was making a joke out of them. Classic Gaga spirit. (I saw a photo online where someone covered up the S in SIN with their hand so it looked like it said HOMO SEX IS IN). Then there was the VIP line. Tickets say we're let in at 6:30 but it's more like 7. We got our tickets in these little envelopes with our names and sparkly star stickers on them. We had to sign our name with our emails and a description of our outfit so they could recognize us for the meet and greet and knew where to send our personal photograph with Gaga. There was one girl, Cynthia, who I found online that had the same ticket as myself that I met up with in the VIP line, and after we got our tickets we went to the merch table, and after that went to the before-show lounge with free food, tables, chairs, a bar, a glitter tattoo booth, and a balcony area. I couldn't eat so Cynthia and I went straight to our seats (we were escorted to our seats by the staff). Myself, Cynthia, and another monster Adrian were the first people in the ARTPOP Zone. We had a personal bar (the drinks were free) and the view of the stage and the catwalk were breathtaking. For those of you concerned about the number of your seat for ARTPOP Zone – it's random. Number one seat doesn't get the first row of seats. The seating doesn't matter because everyone is standing the entire time anyways. It's very spacious. Lady Starlight came out and DJed for quite a while. Eventually everyone was in the ARTPOP zone and in the midst of Starlight performing, in come Cynthia and Joe and Taylor (for ppl who don't know, Cynthia and Joe are her parents and Taylor is her boyfriend). This was completely unexpected and very, very fucking cool. Of course a bit of a crowd started to form around them. Some people took photos with Taylor. I didn't approach any of them because I didn't want to bother them. Taylor left shortly after he arrived, but Cynthia and Joe stayed in the ARTPOP Zone the entire concert. Joe was very quiet and off by himself, occasionally taking a photo with someone. Cynthia doesn't take photos but she was very friendly and chatting with fans. Now for one of the highlights... when the concert began and Gaga started to sing ARTPOP, I started crying on cue because of how overwhelming and surreal the entire moment was, and Cynthia was standing right next to me as this happened, so she turned and saw me crying and hugged me. Gaga's mom hugged me while I cried. (Later on I found someone in ARTPOP zone, Waldo, took a video of this exact moment... I found it on twitter with the title “Cythina hugs a little monster who was crying” … !!!). That was obviously one of the best moments of the night. Other concert highlights for me were when she performed Born This Way at the piano a few fucking feet away from me (cried all the way through), when she got naked / did a costume change singing her unreleased song Ratchet, and when she sang Party Nauseous. The whole show was a blur for the most part. I really feel like I need to re-watch videos online to really process everything. I barely ever looked at the main stage or the big screen because I was watching her the whole time. She spent a lot of time on the catwalk which is practically right there in front of the ARTPOP Zone. I also want to mention that Cynthia, Gaga's mom, was recording videos and taking pictures for a good portion of the show. I can't imagine what it's like for them seeing their little girl sing her songs and create this crazy rave show. She was obviously very proud and excited. I noticed Taylor came back into the ARTPOP Zone for Gypsy, or maybe he came back earlier but I just didn't notice him. (After Gaga sang the line “And then he asked me, he said baby, why do we love each other” she yelled out “LOVE YOU T”). When the show ended we had to stay in the ARTPOP Zone and wait to be escorted backstage. The room for the meet and greet had a curtain in the center; the side that you see when you walk into the room is where the personal photograph was to be taken … there was an extremely large backdrop of the ARTPOP cover for the photo. On the other side of the curtain there were tables and tall stools and a bar. We were instructed to turn off our phones for the meet and greet and that she would be there soon. People asked questions about signing autographs and how long we'd get to be with her. They told us the time was unlimited. So maybe a little around 8 minutes or so go by, we're all standing around, and Gaga pops out from behind the curtain and says “I did another costume change!” She was wearing this sparkly silver jacket with shoulder pads, a crown of pink pacifiers, black sunglasses, something pink with long sleeves underneath the jacket, and a long brown wig. She pulled out one of the stools and sat down and asked us how we liked the show. Someone asked Gaga what her favorite part of the show was, or how she liked it, and she said something to the effect of “I can't remember anything, it's a blur” - same way I felt. Someone said that they were wondering how she was going to pull off the rave theme but that it was done perfectly, and she said very seriously, “oh yeah, it's a full on rave”. Cynthia, the girl I talked about earlier, hand painted a leather jacket of all ARTPOP themed Gaga things like the song titles and different Gaga montages. Gaga said she would wear it but that if she wanted to keep it she'd sign it, which she did. Someone else gave her a gift that I'm not quite sure what it was … it was a very fancy box that looked like it was hand-done with the Applause face on it, with some things inside of it. When she saw it her jaw dropped and she opened it slowly and said “this is an art-piece”, to which the person giving it to her said it was and that they worked on it for 6 weeks. She loved it. She was moving her hands all over it and talking about how it looked and how it was made. People asked her to sign some things. One person, Waldo, had a monster paw tattoo which she said she loved and wanted herself. This particular person I remember told me that this was his 11th Gaga show. He had a bunch of Gaga tattoos. He had a metal style tribute t-shirt for a monster named Stephanie who passed recently. Gaga commented that she loved the metal style of the shirt and got up to look at it and touch it. Waldo started to cry as her told her about Stephanie. She hugged him and asked how old Stephanie was (33 yrs old) and spoke to him and another girl about how hard it is when someone close to you dies. Some people asked about her touring to Mexico, and she said probably not. She wants this tour to be shorter because she says after touring for six months you start to get worn down. Someone said “you know you make this world a better place, right?” and she said “that's all I want. I want to be remembered for what we've (her fans and herself) have created together.” Someone asked her if she would sing for us, to which she responded right away very seriously “what would you like me to sing?” and quite a few people called out Gypsy. As she started to sing we all chimed in singing it together. I started to cry and some monsters hugged me and Gaga looked straight at me. After she sang a bit of it she said, “you guys are all hippies like me, this is what my friends and I do when we're just hanging out – we sing songs together.” She also spoke about wanting to bring Asia (her new dog) to the meet and greet but that she still needs her all her shots. It's hard to gauge how much time passed when she spoke to us but the other monsters I was with said about 20 minutes. After she spoke to us as a group it was time for the personal photograph, so we had to get in a single file line behind the curtain. I noticed it was going semi-fast and I had quite a few specific things I wanted to say, so I got in the back of the line so I didn't have to worry about rushing to remember everything while others waited. Some of the monsters after the show said they got 1-2 minutes of time with her at the personal photo. While I was waiting my heart started to beat in my chest and I felt kind of light-headed. Someone on the staff got me a water and everyone who noticed me told me not to be nervous (the nervousness seemed involuntary, I was only trying to remember everything I wanted to say). Eventually it was my turn and I walked through the curtain. I might've said “hi Gaga” or something, but the first thing I did was hug her. I put up my hand to the camera man and said “I have some things I want to say before the photo”, then turned to Gaga and said “I've been thinking about this moment ever since I got my ticket in December and how I want this moment to be not only for myself but for you. Because I don't want to make you feel like an idol, I want to make you feel like a friend.” She made a face at me like she was touched, and then my mind blanked. I put my hands on my head and said, “oh no, I don't want to blank out!”, and she said, “that's okay, let's take the picture and maybe you'll remember afterward.” So we took the picture. I told her about hearing Just Dance on the radio for the first time in 2008 and going home and watching all her interviews, and how I've followed her ever since. I told her I feel like I have a spiritual connection with her, to which she said, “we do”. I told her that I know how vulnerable she had to be to make ARTPOP, and she responded with, “yeah, it was hard,” and I went on to talk about her saying at Swinefest that she knew in order to be closer to her fans she had to be more open with us, and then at SXSW when she talked about Swine being about rape and how proud of her I was. I told her to never stop being open with fans because we're always going to be there for her and there's nothing she could do that could change that. She got a look on her face and said, “I'm so glad I met you,” and then hugged me (!!!!!!!!). She then offered to sign my jeans, to which I obviously said yes (she signed her name). At one point she commented on my outfit and said that I looked great. I was the last person to speak with her, and as she turned to leave, I called out “oh, one more thing!” and told her about Maria Mongiardo (a monster who was supposed to go backstage at the BTWB but didn't after the tour was canceled) and gave her her information. Lane, her manager, was there and I told her that she knew who I was referring to, and Lane goes, “oh, Maria?” Gaga made a pouting face when I told her Maria didn't get to go backstage, and put out her hand for the paper with her info. Then she left! We were all escorted out of the venue after that. One more really cool thing happened. My boyfriend works as a local stagehand – he sets up concert stages for whoever comes to the arenas in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale – but for this show he was assigned to set up and take down her dressing room. After the show my boyfriend was waiting outside the dressing room for her to leave, and she walked out, turned to him and the other stagehand with him, looked him straight in the eye and said, “thank you for all your hard work,” and hugged him. My boyfriend has never been thanked, or even acknowledged by an artist before, and he's set up for people like Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, etc. Anyone! Gaga is wonderful. That is all! The night was magical. Everything was like a dream. If you have any questions, ask away. UPDATE: I just want to say that I love how many of you were touched by this. You all keep thanking me for sharing it but thank you for receiving it with such love. I have so much fun responding to all your questions and comments. <3 paws up forever #artpopzone #artrave #artraveflorida #theartpopball @ladygaga