Life With Briana: Elton John Concert - Farewell Yellow Brick Road

November 11, 2022

Elton John Concert - Farewell Yellow Brick Road

The week of Briana's fall break was completely jam-packed. We went to NYC, Bri got her driver's license, we all went apple picking and Doug and I went to Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert.

Briana wasn't interested in going the concert, she opted to just stay home with Mei Mei and had a perfectly quiet evening on her own.

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Let me preface my and Doug's experience before I start posting all the cool pics and videos...

Doug bought these concert tickets over a year in advance - and we were in the front row! It was amazing how close we were to a legend.The concert was amazing. Elton John was so amazing. I'm very glad we went - it was a once in a lifetime experience for us to see him in person because Elton is retiring from touring.

On the other hand, Mercedes Benz stadium totally sucks. It is huge and it's hard to get around anywhere...

Before the show, Doug and I needed some bottled water after all the walking down to the floor level (which took forever) and asked a worker there where there was water - we were directed to use a small escalator to go back upstairs so we did and got some water. When we eventually got back down to the floor level and entered the staging area - we realized there was water actually being sold right in there - the guy told us wrong. The floor seats we had purchased were super small metal folding chairs tied together with zip ties (luckily we stood most of the time). I needed to use the restroom on the floor level and was directed to a huge area of porta potties (I did eventually spot some regular bathrooms on the floor level but never used them). After the concert, we were ushered/shuffled out the back door on the opposite side of the stadium from where are car was located. It was a huge hike.

The drive to get to the stadium (which is located directly next to State Farm Arena) and back home was horrible - the traffic is totally miserable in Atlanta. I call the traffic nightmare of the actual stadium area the "Vortex of Hell" because there are too many venues with only narrow roadways. Streets are often blocked off too. I complain/yell about it every time we drive down there. It took ninety minutes for us to drive to the stadium area (and we had dinner reservations beforehand) and over two hours to try to get out of the parking garage and drive home (bumper to bumper hardly moving to get to the expressway). I had an anxiety attack in the car because I honestly felt we were never going to get out of Atlanta to get home. Very little police presence around to help move traffic along (they direct traffic like crap anyway). Because traffic's so bad, the concert was supposed to start at 8 and it didn't start until 8:30 because people just can't get there on time. Elton started singing to an arena that was about 3/4ths full (no opening act).

You may not remember, but we had some issues at the Ed Sheeran concert we saw in 2018 as well - drunk women were in our suite and stadium security refused to do anything about their bad behavior. I ended up yelling at the women to shut their mouths. Again - Mercedes Benz. At least this time, all the people around us were totally invested in the concert and didn't cause any issues.

So, I ever won't go to the stadium again. No way. If I ever attempt to see a show at State Farm Arena again (and that is a big if), I would go down to Atlanta midday, stay in a hotel overnight and leave around noon the next day. I'm too old for this crap now.

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So now that I got my grievances out of the way, on to the good stuff!

First, we did eat a nice dinner at McCormick and Schmick's before the concert. We were 30 minutes late for our reservation (I called them twice with updates) and they were so incredibly nice to hold our reservation (a big bright spot in the evening). The food was delicious too...