On October 1st, I got the chance to go see the person I admire the most in
this world. She's one of the wealthiest and most famous women in music. It
was the best night of life. You may know Melanie C from being "Sporty
Spice" in the famous girl band, the Spice Girls. But now she's got a solo
album, and its not the same Melanie C we used to know. It seems she's
taken all her anger and aggression and put it on her debut album,
'Northern Star'. Her first single, "Goin' Down", had teh critics and fans
now calling her "Punk Spice" after hearing the lyrics, "I have become a
superbitch / I am not a whore". With her chopped hair and tattoo covered
body, Melanie Chisholm is far from her nice, sweet girl image she sported
just a year ago while being labeled "Plain Spice". ~My Trip~ October 1st:
I woke up at 6:00 AM and got ready to go to the train station to go to New
York City to see Melanie C perform live at the Irving Plaza in New York
City! We (me and my stepmom) left our house at 7:00 AM along with my
grandmother, and my two cousins. We arrive at the train station at 7:30
AM. While waiting, I get an English Toffee Coffee, 3 newspapers, and some
Cheez-It's. At 8:00 AM, my grandparents and cousins leave and we wait at
the station for the bus that will be taking us to New York City. While
waiting, I talked to a lady that was going to Philadelphia about where I
was going and she sounded really interested about Melanie C going solo.
Finally, we get on the bus and left at 8:55 AM. We stopped in Culpeper,
Warrington, Washington Dulles Airport, and then we got to Union Station -
the Washington DC train station - at about 12:15 PM. At the Union Station
I bought 2 Interview magazines with Melanie C in them (the ones with the
see-through top), Mademoiselle (Melanie C lil section), and Jump, and some
batteries for my recorder to take to the concert. We got on the train and
left at about 1:10PM. While on the train I read my magazines and stared at
how good Melanie looked in the Interview picture. (Just FYI - I ate a
smoked turkey sandwich, a bagel with cream cheese, and drank a Jolt cola
(caffeine x2!). We arrived at Penn Station in New York City at about 5:00
PM (40 minutes late!). We waited in line for a cab forever. We got a cab
and got to the Four Seasons hotel at about 6:00 PM. We rushed to get ready
and marveled at the fancy hotel and all the alcohol we got. :-) We left
the hotel at about 6:25 PM and talked to some girl standing outside the
hotel waiting for Melanie C because she was staying there too. But we
wanted to get in line so we weren't too far back, so we left. We got in a
cab and arrived at Irving Plaza at about 6:45 or 7:00. We had about 30-40
people in line ahead of us and about 150 behind us by the time the doors
opened at 8:00. When we got in, we were in the third row. They were
playing some Latin/salsa music and Mickey Mouse cartoons. I saw Melanie
walking down the steps and she waved and everyone went crazy. Meanwhile,
my stepmom was being all nice to the security guy. Then the lights got
dark, and everyone screamed. Then the band came out, and the screams got
louder. We heard the first strum of the guitar and my ears started to
hurt. Then all the sudden, out pops Melanie C wearing a sleeveless white
'I Love NY' (well, it was a heart not 'Love'), unbuttoned jeans that look
like they had been splashed with bleach, green & yellow Nikes, spiked
hair, and a huge smile! By that time my stepmom had talked the security
guy into letting us get up front! So, I jumped up there and all I had was
a little 5 year old standing in front of me. I was about 2 feet from the
stage with no bars in front of me. She starts to play all her songs. I
can't name them all, cos I don't know the name of them. Her album isn't
out yet. But they were all really great! Some where really rockish, some
were like R'n'B, and some were beautiful ballads. A great diversity of
music and her voice sounded excellent in all of them! During her song
called "Goin' Down", she came over to my side and sang the lyrics "I feel
no remorse, my life is back on course" right to me and it was awesome! She
was jumping around a lot on the stage. It amazed me how much energy she
had! It was excellent!! She then took like a 3 or 4-minute break and came
back and sang some acoustic songs. She also sang "Wannabe" which is the
song that made the Spice Girls popular. Then the concert ended and I had
taken 2 full rolls of film. We left then and went back to the hotel. When
we got back, we ordered $50 worth of room service (FYI - I got buttered
broccoli and sticky rice and my stepmom got a caeser salad, three onion
soup, and mashed potatoes - that little bit for 50 bucks!.). Then watched
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. I fell asleep during it though,
which sucked cos I still had to pay $11 for it! October 2: I woke up the
next morning at 9:00 AM and thought the concert was just a great dream. I
then convinced myself it was real and started to get ready. I got dressed
and watched Daria on MTV (FYI - It was the musical episode). We left the
hotel at about 10:00 AM and walked around NYC. After we realized we had no
idea where we were going, we got in a cab and went to FAO Schwarz. I
bought my little sister an outfit and got me some candy and a book.
Melanie C must be the most or least popular in New York because they only
had Melanie C Concert Dolls from the Spice Girls Collection. We got to the
train station and it was 25 minutes late. So, we decided to go shopping.
We got our little NYC souvenirs, and when we walked out of the store, we
heard a announcement saying that it was the last boarding call for Train
171 Washington DC (ours) on track 14. We rushed everywhere but could not
find track 14 to save our lives! We finally found it and watched our train
pull out without us! Then we went to the ticket place and exchanged our
tickets for a train leaving 30 minutes later. So, that wasn't so bad. When
we got on the train, we relaxed and blamed us missing the other one on the
clerk wrapping our trinkets! We got to Washington DC and had some time to
blow so I went shopping while my stepmom watched the bags and waited for
our bus to arrive. I didn't buy anything, but I did see some really cool
purses made out of a license plate. It was $50 so I didn't get. Plus, it
was Michigan and I don't have anything in common with Michigan. We got on
our bus at 6:05 PM and got to Charlottesville around 9:30 PM. We got back
to our house at about 10 or 10:30 PM. I checked my email and went straight
to bed! I was worn out!! Overall that was the best night of my life! 

stacey turner
scottsville, va, usa