By: Mary Whiteley//
One night in early July I was listening to ‘Just Around the Corner’ by Martina McBride, and I tweeted her saying how much I love the song! I wasn’t expecting her to see it, but to my surprise she did and tweeted me back saying that she was glad I like it! The next morning I tweeted at her again saying that the song helped me get through a rough time when I lost someone very close to me. Again, I wasn’t expecting Martina to see the tweet, but she did, and tweeted me back saying she was so sorry for my loss and that she was glad to hear things were getting better.
So me being me, I randomly Googled to see if Martina was going to be in my area in New Jersey any time soon, and sure enough, she was! When Martina’s tickets went on sale for her show on August 25, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, my mom immediately got tickets for us as my 17th birthday present. My mom managed to get us 5th row seats! I was extremely excited because I’d only seen Martina once before, and from seats in the back of the venue. I knew this time was going to be so much different, and even better!
When the day finally arrived I was so excited. Martina tweeted me a few times since we bought the tickets (including a happy birthday tweet on August 21!). We arrived at our seats at around 7:30pm, and I was right on the aisle and had an awesome view. Ironically, my mom’s friend from work and her daughter were sitting in the seats right next to us! At 8pm, Brandon Ray came out as Martina’s opening act, and he was absolutely amazing! I can tell that he’s going to be huge someday.
When Martina finally came out at around 9pm, I was just completely in awe of her talent, her beauty, and just everything about her. I was so captivated by being so close to a person I’ve loved and looked up to for so many years. Martina sang just about all of my favorite songs and even some throwback songs I wasn’t expecting to hear!
At the end of her setlist Martina came back onstage for an encore performance. At the end of the encore fans were approaching the stage with their hands and reaching out, hoping Martina would high five them or shake their hand. Since I was on the aisle, I went down to the end of the stage and she grabbed my hand! I had my phone ready for a picture just in case so I turned a bit with my phone up, and when Martina saw she instantly bent down and took the selfie with me! After we took the selfie she looked at me with a big smile and then walked over to the fans next to me!
After the show I tweeted the photo and thanked Martina for making my birthday celebration so special, and she tweeted me another birthday message! She is so humble, so talented, and it truly makes me proud to say I’m a fan of Martina McBride. I love her and her music, and I feel so lucky that I got to experience this incredible concert!
