#ColdplayLA // LA 2
The real reason I was out in LA was to attend the Coldplay concert at the Rose Bowl! My mom had bought tickets well in advance, and thankfully scheduling with work and school were in my favor. But before the concert, we had a whole day to do whatever!
The day kicked off with with another family brunch at one of our favorite LA restaurants, Republique.
They have a pseudo cafeteria layout where you wait in line to order, seat yourself and servers bring your food. Anyway, that little detail aside, there's lots of good food with filipino fusion and fresh baked pastries. The only downside is the line to order...
All seven of us piled in Chris and Julie's Tesla and managed to snag a spot right in front of the restaurant. The line wasn't too bad, but definitely not ideal and it was getting later and later in the morning. As we admired the pastries, I think we were all starting to get a little hangry.
It's also worth mentioning how cute of a place Republique is. The interior is spot on with eclectic decorations that just somehow work. My favorite part of the restaurant (this sounds so dumb) are the floors. When the floors are pretty, you know they have a good attention for detail. Props Republique!
A quick ten minutes later drinks and food were being brought out to our delight!
The last time we were here, I had ordered this awesome adobo fried rice, which was not on the menu this time to our collective disappointment. I instead opted for a dish very similar, only in porridge/soup form. It was good, but BRING BACK THE FRIED RICE.
Gina decided to go for the kimchi fried rice and that was just gone by the end of the meal.
I think the true winner was Julie's fried chicken which was absolutely decadent.
All in all, it was a solid brunch, and we even walked away with some pastries for later! Lemme tell you, if the line is long, it's 10000% worth the wait.
With full tummies, Chris drove us to the Grove, a large outdoor mall, and dropped us off for some shopping. Hello Brandy Melville, Madewell, Zara, and TopShop! We walked around for a bit and I ended up only getting a shirt with a flamingo on it, but I was very content. Mom happened to spot this TMZ pick up sign while we walked around hahaha.
Caroline met up with us (or should I refer to her as one star) and we did a bit more shopping and hopped in her car to go back to Julie's. A car ride with Caroline is never easy; on this particular occasion it took us about 10-15 minutes to leave the parking lot becasue some lady was having trouble paying for parking.
Later on in the afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet Daniel Sharman whom we've been trying to meet for past three years. The day finally came! One of my guilty pleasures in the MTV television show Teen Wolf.........yeah, I know. Daniel had been on the show for a few seasons and was kind enough to say hello! He was really sweet and nice!
After that, we got ready for the concert, and hit the road, heading to Pasadena. The whole way there I played some pre-concert tunes aka LANY since it's all I had on my phone, awkward. Traffic, thankfully, wasn't horrible and when we arrived in town, we had a little bit of time to kill, so I navigated us to the Pasadena City Hall.
Such a beautiful building with the classic Renaissance architecture! Gina kept remarking "Are we in Europe????". As intriguing as the building was, my true motive to go there was because it was used as Pawnee City Hall in Parks and Recreation! Leslie Knope would be so proud.
For dinner, we ate at redwhite+bluezz, a swanky little restaurant serving up some great food! We scarfed down our meals and headed over to a designated parking garage for the concert. The place we parked at was only $15, a very small price in comparison to the $80 we could have spent to be parked right outside the venue. The catch? We were still a mile away from the Rose Bowl. Eh, we had a bunch of time until the opener, Alessia Cara, came on so we took a nice stroll to the venue.
The last time we were here was for my first concert about seven years ago! We saw U2 on their 360 Tour with 100,000 other folks. I would say a pretty epic first concert!
The Rose Bowl was teeming with people milling around the grounds and waiting in line to enter the stadium. A tip for any line, and this is good for anywhere: always go to the side lanes. People always congregate in the center, but we slipped down the sides and weaved our way through people, probably shaving off 20-30 minutes of standing.
Right as we entered the stadium, Alessia Cara was starting her stellar set and we scouted out our seats. My mentee, Tim, from the past school year happened to be at the concert too and we met up to say hello!
After Alessia's set, we settled in our seats and patiently waited for Coldplay to come on stage. At the doors, stadium workers were handing out wristbands that light up, and all of a sudden the lights dimmed and our wrists glowed red. It was SHOWTIME.
Chris Martin came out dancing and singing, nay frolicking on stage. From the get go, it was evident that this was going to be a fun concert. When the fireworks and confetti cannons went off, it only confirmed that notion.
The only way I can describe the experience is AMAZING. It was so much fun to sing along to all of the songs and watch a great show. Coldplay is one of the best in the business.
After the show, we maneuvered the sea of people and attempted to walk back to our car. We completely scratched the idea of ubering back since it seemed like everyone and their mother was doing it. Our mistake came when we aimlessly followed the pack and were basically walking on the highway to get to our car. In the end, we made it. It was sketchy, but we made it.
The trip back only got sketchier when we drove down the not so nice part of Melrose Ave and were stopped at a light. I looked to the gas station across the street to see police cars arresting someone and I simply remarked "Yeah, I don't want to be here". In context, it was hilarious, but we were never in any danger.
As we got ready for bed, we recounted the fabulous show and the best parts. All of their performances were amazing, but I'd say a Head Full of Dreams or Adventure of a Lifetime were my favorites! I highly recommend seeing Coldplay if given the opportunity, they're definitely worth it!
