The imposing Sprint Center stood tall and proud in front of me; and I stood tall and proud in front of the Sprint Center.

I was going to see Lady Gaga.

After annoyingly getting texts from my two best friends talking about how they were going Lady Gaga, I was finally here; and for free, at a normally 200 dollar concert.

Now, let’s see how I got here. When I started getting the texts, I was in a foul mood doing spotlight for the musical, and basically getting carpal tunnels and Charlie horses from sitting cross-legged up in the catwalk of the performing arts theater. After I had gotten home, I got an urgent call from my friend at the concert; she had an extra ticket! 20 minutes later, after getting a ride from a friend’s mom, I was at the concert, and Adele was blasting out of the Sprint Center speakers.

However, when I stepped into the complex, I heard her; she was singing Bad Romance, one of my favorite songs by her. It was actually surprising how well she sounded for a live performance; I’d never seen her live, as much as I’d wanted to, and this was my only chance before graduation.

Next up was Judas, and then Americano, and then Alejandro…she sounded spectacular in each one, as though I was listening to the actual studio version of her singing. However, I knew it wasn’t lip-syncing; there was still that presence of reality in her voice, the kind that studio usually fixes but makes the artist ten times better when heard live.

Then, there was a break. She called one of the members of the audience, and I felt a pang of jealousy; if I had been there earlier, I could have texted my number to her and she might have called me…then again, I was glad I was even there. She started up a speech; the fact that bullying at school was unacceptable, and it hurt her to know it actually went on.

She started crying, and everybody cheered for her.

I’ve never heard of any artist to talk during one of their concerts and still able to keep their audience pumped up, but she was able to do it. So not only was it an amazing experience, but I was proud of her; proud of the fact that she made her concert so personal by putting “Kansas City” instead of “Nebraska” in her song You and I; proud of the fact that she was able to marry talking with her audience and performing; and most of all, I was proud that she had the bravery to cry in front of her audience.