I didn’t really expect to be where I was last night.

I got an email from a friend of mine that I used to work with. I hadn’t heard from her for a while, so it was good to chat. She mailed me to tell me that her boyfriend had some sort of connection and had gotten them two reasonably decent seats at the Britney Spears “Dream Within A Dream” show, but he had to return to Seattle for some business so she wanted to know if I would go.

A free ticket to a Britney show? Too good to pass up. I accepted.

We met up before the show with some other friends who were going that night, too. They had some great seats just off the floor. I asked my friend where her tickets were, but she didn’t know. They were at the Will Call desk and we needed to pick them up and find out.

We got to the Will Call desk and picked up the tickets. Row 3. Can’t get much better than that. I was stoked.

When we got into the Rose Garden, though, it turns out that, sure, we were in the third row the way the seat numbering went, but by the way the stage was laid out, we were in the front row. I was maybe 10 - 12 feet away from the stage (reads: 10 - 12 feet away from Britney), and the only thing between me and her was the security guard. Holy crap! (You can see where I was sitting in this diagram.)

So I turned to my friend and asked, “So, your boyfriend just ‘knows’ people? Who’s your boyfriend?” Turns out he’s the guitarist for freaking Pearl Jam, Stone Gossard. Apparently they grew up near each other in Seattle and they met at the wedding of a mutual friend. How weird is that?!

Anyway, the show was awesome. Britney played all of her hits (“Baby, One More Time,” “Oops!… I Did It Again,” etc.). The costumes were spectacular. There were pyrotechnics of all natures - columns of fire shooting up, fireworks, sparks… There were lasers all over the place… There was even a part in the show where it rained on stage. Lots of props - Britney came out at one part in a giant music box, popped out of the top, and was the ballerina in the music box. She swung from giant bungee cords, she levitated on platforms. Incredible.

The backup singers rocked, the band rocked, the dancers rocked (one danced for some time right in front of me, lookin’ right at me). My friend even claims she saw Britney wink at me, but I can’t confirm that one. Absolutely unbelieveable. I wish I could have recorded it so I could share it with you all, but, alas, no cameras.

An evening at home watching TV turned into an evening at a really great concert. I feel bad for Jenn, who “got” to stay home and do the TV thing, but she’s not into Britney like I am. I told my friend to give Stone a big high-five for me. That made my day.