#miami20

I meant to post this last night when I got home, but it was after 3:30am and I was exhausted. Everything about last night was a complete disaster, but I just hope everyone got home safely. I was there, and let me tell you, it was scary af.

I felt horrible for Harry of course since I don’t think he’s had to cancel a show before, but it was literally beyond everyone’s control. I know it had to make him sad though, and on his birthday, even. :(  (Since the evacuation happened like RIGHT at midnight.)

I knew something was up when the show started wayyy later than it was supposed to. By Midnight, Harry still hadn’t gone on (Lizzo did, though and she was a w e s o m e!) but I wondered if they were just waiting for it to be his birthday and then celebrate with him. Because if he had gone on earlier, the show would have ended way before midnight. 

Literally at 12:01, we got a message on the big screen saying there were severe weather warnings and we had to evacuate. I thought it was a joke at first, because I didn’t even realize it was raining. But no, no joke. Here are some of the highlights from the evening:

The venue staff were absolutely fucking HORRIBLE. They were laughing at us, recording us in our panicky state, and basically chasing us out into the rain. 

All concession sales were closed, but we had been standing for hours and they couldn’t even give us some water at least. I did manage to find ONE concession employee who was nice enough to allow me to buy water because I was dying... and she charged me $12.50...... FOR JUST A REGULAR 16OZ BOTTLE OF AQUAFINA? W.T.F.?!

There was NO on-site parking whatsover (nor were people allowed to park nearby since they were trying to reduce traffic to/from the beach)  so people had to either be dropped off (like I was) or use Uber, Lyft, etc. And those rides had to be crazy expensive due to all the beach traffic and price surges. (the venue is on the island of South Beach, right next to the cruise ship port which is connected to the mainland by a bridge.) They were strictly enforcing this too, so anyone caught trying to park somewhere for this event would get their car towed. 

Battery packs and portable phone chargers were strictly prohibited so people had to legit throw them away when it came time for the security check. Since no one had their cars, they couldn’t even go put them away. So of course by the the time we were being evacuated, most people had dead batteries on their devices.

DID I MENTION VENUE STAFF SUCKED? They wouldn’t let people use their phones to call for rides so I let at least 10 people use mine. They were also basically shoving us out into the rain by this point, and saying the building “wasn’t safe” ...... oh, and being out in the TROPICAL STORM-FORCE WINDS WAS?????? 

I was one of the last few people to leave (there were like 30 or so left by this point) and they were literally making us go outside to wait for rides in the rain. Thankfully it was only drizzling by then because I had to walk several blocks to the museum next door where my friend was picking me up. It was less hectic for her to get there than to try and get mixed up with all the Uber traffic at the venue. We were able to get out much easier there and then jump back on the highway.

I’m sure I’m missing some stuff, but I had never been happier to be home in my whole life. My ride couldn't come get me for several hours but she finally made it over there by 2am. They were also evacuating the local arena downtown, but I think the show was mostly over by then for that one. 

I’m sad Harry’s show had to be canceled, but I understood why. We were essentially in a glorified tent with the place rapidly flooding. It would be a major fire hazard to continue the show and use up that much electricity while severe storms were happening. Not to mention being up to our ankles in water in some places. I had to keep moving around to escape having my feet being completely under water. So we could have also run the risk of being electrocuted. Fun times.

So that was my experience. I hope everyone made it back safely, even if it took a while. Pepsi did at least tweet that we are being refunded by Ticketmaster and they would be paying for (or compensating for) people’s ride shares, which is nice. IF they actually do it, of course.