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It all started on May 15, 1998. My mom, my friend Jill, my 2 Internet pals, Kristi & Penny, and I were driving to the Mall of America. We left Reed City, MI around 3:30 p.m. on Friday then drove 12 LONG hours to Minneapolis, Minnesota. At 3:30 a.m. we were checked into our hotel and getting ready to go to the mall.
Around 5:30 a.m., we arrived at the mall. We waited until 7:00 a.m., which was when the guards opened the doors. There were about 10-15 girls standing in line around that time so we all raced to get our seats. It was first come first serve. I think I ran faster than I've ever run in my entire life...but it was worth it! Front row, center!! Woo hoo!!! Then, the rest of the waiting began.
'N Sync wasn't scheduled to come out until 1:00 p.m.! It seemed like forever and a day for them to finally get there. The concert was being held in the Sears Court...the Rotunda or something like that. It's this big open space in the east part of the mall. There's a glass elevator and right behind that was where the stage was. The mall is four stories high too so people could stand around on the other floors and see down to the stage. Around 11:00 a.m. the place was packed!! We waited and waited until finally, they came running onstage.
It all happened so fast but one thing that really sticks out in my mind is when Lance came onstage. You know that part of the "I Want You Back" video, near the end when Lance is doing that really cute, funny walk? He did that. hehe After they were announced, they did this amazing dance routine!! Everyone was going crazy! They are such goooood dancers!!! After that they sang "Tearin' Up My Heart." They talked almost every time between songs. One time they like introduced each other. Joey did most of the introducing though. They introduced Justin last. It was so funny because right before they announced him, Lance looked right at me and stuck his fingers in his ears...lol cuz of all the screaming. It was so cute! I got a picture of him doing that. The other songs that they sang were "You Got It," "Drive Myself Crazy," "In The Jungle," a medley of songs, and "I Want You Back." The medley included "Getting Jiggy Wit It," "Nice & Slow," and some Masta P song. It was incredible!! When Justin started singing "Nice & Slow" the crowd completely lost it. During that medley thingie, Justin did this awesome dance thing. It looked sort of like a sideways moon walk...lol It was really cool though. The whole concert kicked MAJOR ass. I loved every minute of it!! And what made it even better was the fact that all of them except J.C. kept looking at me! Lance looked at me a lot and so did Justin. Chris did a little bit..I have pictures of him looking at me. Actually I have pictures of all of them looking right at me. (:
After the concert was over, they went offstage and changed their clothes while we all waited in line to get autographs. They came back about a half-hour later. There was a table set up on the stage where they sat to sign them. It took a really long time for us too finally get up there. I was the first out of our little group to go onstage. J.C. was the first one sitting at the table. I handed him my CD cover and he goes "Hey there. What's up??" So I said, "Hi. Not much, how about you?" And he just smiled at me and said "Not much," and slid the cover over to the one sitting next to him...LANCE!!!! ahhhh I was so nervous that I was shaking! He looked up at me and smiled and said hi. Then I handed him 2 roses while saying "Here. These are for you." He looked at me and smiled this HUGE smile and goes "Oh! Thank you! Thank you so much!!" While that was going on, Joey, who was sitting next to Lance, had taken my CD cover and said, "haha I'm gonna sign it before you." And then Lance goes, in this really cute, weird voice "I wanted to sign it before you!" Joey had signed it and then Lance took it back to sign it. I was about to say something else to Lance but Joey started talking to me! He goes "I used to have my eyebrow pierced too. The metal rejected though and it fell out." I was all "oh really? That's cool!" Then I started saying something about how I heard that they always fall out...just sort of grow out, but he didn't hear me clearly because I was so nervous that I was talking really quiet. Oops! Oh well. I repeated what I said again to him and he was just like "Yep. I've heard that too. That's why you see my wearing a hat a lot though. I have a scar there from it." During that whole time that I was talking to him, I kept looking over at Lance and he kept looking back at me! WOO!! After that, Chris was the next one sitting at the table. He goes "Hey, how's it going?" And I said "I'm pretty good how about you?" And he smiled at me and said, "I'm good!" He finished signing my cover and then passed it on to Justin. I stood in front of him and he was just like looking right at me and smiling. I go "Hey," and he said, "hi," like all shy and stuff. It was awesome. While he was signing my cover, these chicks from up on the 2nd floor screamed out his name. He ignored them but I go, "Wow. You've got a lot of fans up there." He looked up at me with this huge smile and just started laughing. Then I asked him if I could take a picture of him really quick. He told me I could and then looked at me and did this little half smile thing and I took a picture. I told him thank you and he said no problem or something and then I just smiled at him and he smiled back and I just stood there and looked at him and he just looked right back...lol then the guards told me I had to keep moving. So, I went offstage to wait for everyone.
We just hung around while they signed autographs for a little while. They started signing them around 2:00 p.m. and didn't finish until after 4:30 p.m... At the earliest! During the time while we were just hanging around, Justin had to go offstage for some reason. I was standing right next to the stairs that the guards took him down. He went right past me. I could have reached out and touched him but I didn't want to get in trouble so I just took pictures. When he was walking by me, he was looking right at me...but not like in my eyes...lol I took a picture of that so when I get them all scanned you'll see what I'm talking about. Anyway, while he was gone doing whatever he had to do; the other guys were onstage goofing around waiting for him to get back. It was so funny. Lance took the microphone and led everyone in a round of "Row, Row, Row your boat." After he came back they started signing autographs again and we decided that we should just go get something to eat. We went and ate at Planet Hollywood. When we were done eating 'N Sync was gone.
We went back to the hotel and just hung out 'n stuff. I was asleep by 10:00 p.m. I'd been up since about 10:00 a.m. the morning before! That'd be 36 straight hours with no sleep. The next morning, we decided that we were going to try to catch a glimpse of them where they were going to be singing. We checked out of our hotel at 1:00 p.m. and headed to where the KDWB Star Party was being held (The International Market Square or something). We pulled into the parking lot and talked to the guy working the parking booth thingies. We told him that we'd drove 12 hours to see them at the Mall of America the day before and we just wanted to see if there was any chance we could see them at all. He said he would go inside and try to see if they'd come out and say hi to us or something. He didn't even make us pay to park!! We got out and stood in front of the doors and waited. There were 5 of us and 3 other chicks standing there that we didn't know. There was this lady setting up a table outside where we were. I went up to her and asked her if there was any way they could come out here or we could go in and say hi to them. She told us that she would see but we wouldn't be able to go inside because she would get in trouble if she were seen taking us to where they were. She informed us that she had just seen them singing and doing a sound check or something like that so we figured we had a little time. Jill and I walked around to where the boarding docks were at and looked around a little. We saw their tour bus! Then, all the sudden, my mom comes running around the corner and yells to me, "Nichole!!! GET BACK HERE!!!" I took off my sandals, kind of hard to run in them, and ran as fast as I could back to the front doors. I thought maybe 'N Sync was outside but they weren't. Then I saw everyone looking in the doors so I went to see what was up. There they were! Standing inside the doors!! Lance and Joey were sitting on a table right in front of the doors we were at while Justin, Chris, and J.C. were down a little ways sitting on a couch or a bench or something. I just stared in the doors at Lance. He kept looking right at me and smiling but he wouldn't wave! lol oh well. Joey waved at me though. Then I went down to the doors that were closer to the other guys and looked in. As soon as I looked in, J.C. looked out at me so I waved at him and he waved back and smiled. Justin kept looking at me too...but I just sort of looked back at him with the same expression he had on his face. Then I went back to the doors where Joey and Lance were at and kept staring at Lance. He kept looking out at me too! Then this dude came out and asked us to move aside to let them through. My heart just started racing!!
First, Joey came out and said, "Hey how's it going?" He said it like to everyone. Following him was Lance! Right behind Lance was Justin and when he was walking through the doors he looked right at me and smiled. He looked really tired. I shook Joey's hand as he walked by but I didn't really pay any attention to him because guess who was coming right up to me. LANCE!!! I don't think he even shook anyone else's hand! I know he didn't shake the hands of anyone I was with but I'm not sure about the other 3 chicks. He came right up to me and said hi. I put out my hand and he took it and we started shaking hands. We just sort of stood there for a second doing that...like staring at each other and smiling! Then I asked him if I could get my picture taken with him and he goes "SURE!!" I turned around to give my friend Kristi my camera to take the picture and as I was handing it to her, Lance put his arm around my waist and pulled me right up next to him!! I couldn't have gotten any closer!! He had me like pulled so close that I was standing sort of sideways to him. I was shaking so badly at that moment because I was so excited but at the same time sooooooo nervous! I had my right arm around his waist and my left hand was on his stomach...yep that's right...I touched Lance's stomach! Kristi took the picture for me and it turned out great!! I could have looked 100% better than I did but still! I HAVE MY VERY OWN PICTURE OF ME AND LANCE!! ahhh how lucky can I get??? After that I told him thanks again and he said you're welcome or something and then smiled at me and then got in the mini-van that was there to pick them up. He only talked to meeee the whole time!! God it was awesome. Then I took a picture of Kristi with J.C. After that they had all piled in the van and were waiting to leave. Justin didn't even say hi to anyone I don't think. Justin was in the middle seat of the van by the window and Lance was sitting next to him. Justin kept looking out at us too. He smiled at me a few more times 'n all that good stuff and Lance waved bye. When the door to the van was closing I yelled "BYE LANCE!!!" hehehehe After that it was over.
It was one of the MOST exciting days of my life...actually I think it WAS the most exciting. I'll never forget any of that weekend. We're all going to go see them many more times and I hope to meet them again someday!! I have a scanner but at the moment, it's broken. As soon as I get it fixed I'll have like ALL of the pictures that I took at the concert up er k? Okay good deal. See ya later!
If any of you have stories about when you met *N Sync or have questions about when I have, e-mail me at LancezTaz@aol.com!