An Omar Rudberg Concert in NY

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am rarely spontaneous. Buying the tickets for an Omar Rudberg concert in New York may be the most unlikely thing I have ever done, and the best. I live near Seattle, so the west coast show in LA may have been closer, but NY is more practical because I have a place to stay with my brother-in-law and his family on Long Island. When the notification of the sale hit my phone, I mostly wondered what the price was and ended up downloading the ticket app to see that. I managed to click through immediately though and just went for it. My friend Gisela, who had agreed to join me at an Omar concert (she likes his music, too), certainly didn't expect the show to be on the other side of the country! It turns out the the tickets sold out within like a half hour, so I feel really lucky to have done it right away. I typically would wait at least of few days before making travel decisions like this. Also I think this will be my last opportunity to see Omar in a small venue like this, so next time I go to his show, it will be a different type of experience.

Omar Rudberg.

Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Riding the NY Subway.

Welcome to NY.

 

This was such a fun trip from beginning to end. We found a nice non-stop flight that arrived near midnight a few days before the concert, so we could spend some time in the city. I always enjoy being a tourist in New York, especially when the weather is nice, and we had perfect weather for the trip. Gisela had never been to NY, so she was the main instigator of our things to see. She had said that the Statue of Liberty and Central Park were the two things she didn't want to miss, so I got tickets for the Statue before we left home.

Before leaving, I also got involved with Omar social media online, joining a couple of GCs on Twitter. I've never been part of any fan culture online (or in person either). This has been one of the most rewarding surprises of the entire trip for me. I've met other fans and become more active in fan groups. There doesn't seem to be too many Omar fans near where I live, so this has been fun. I'm especially glad to have met Cheyenne (https://www.instagram.com/cheyenne.mammel/#). She met up with us in person in NY for sightseeing and the concert. She made the whole experience so much better, and I'm glad to have made a new friend.

Start the trip with drinks at the airport.

Settled in for the flight.

Mt. Rainier as we leave home.

Hello New York.

The LIRR platform near midnight.

Halloween at BIL an SIL's house.

Neighborhood walk.

Dinner at Margarita's Cafe with the family.

Stew Leonard's. The craziest supermarket I've ever been in.

Animatronic chickens.

Halloween items?

We mostly took it easy on our first day, hanging around the house on Long Island and recovering from jet lag. It's always a treat to visit family, and my friend Gisela got along with my sister-in-law like a house on fire. Saturday was our first proper day for being tourists in the city. We got pretty good at navigating the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and the Metro (subway). They have an app now that is so much better than the way I remember doing public transit the last time I was in New York. We navigated our way to Penn Station to meet up with Cheyenne. It took a bit and some messaging in the group chat, but we figured it out and met up to go to the Statue of Liberty together. We had a perfect day to get out on the water. It's such a nice way to appreciate the city skyline. Seeing the Statue is really an all-day affair. We got in line for the boat and had a great day.

The LIRR platform for our trip into Manhattan.

The NY subway makes it easy to get around town.

Lady Liberty.

I love that seeing the statue involves a boat ride.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

The seagulls are the same as the ones at home.

NY skyline.

Not much fall color, but some.

Replica of the old torch inside.

Ready for my close up.

We lucked out with the perfectly blue sky.

I love the bridges of NY.

Our squad.

Lovely.

The Brooklyn bridge is in this shot.

Pier with city view.

Hiding the sun.

The Registry Room. I remember this place from my first visit.

Tres amigas.

Portal with glass and tiles.

Fall leaves and NY skyline.

Spiral.

The hall from the outside.

Our chariot.

More city views.

Goodbye to this icon.

Falling. Floating.

Battery Park.

Turnstiles.

A quick and quiet moment at the 911 memorial.

Seeing the names was especially moving.

The subway station.

Staying connected on the subway.

 

Food with friends.

I forgot to take the picture until the end.

NY cheesecake.

The door.

Empire State at Sunset.

A happy crew on the way home.

Gisela and I spent our second day in the city with only the vaguest plan to see Central Park. We just took the LIRR in to Grand Central Station and had a Grand Adventure. The only off-key part of the day was when we were heading to the park and we got stuck because of a motorcade from he-who-shall-not-be-named leaving a certain tower next to Tiffany's. We dodged away from that craziness and stumbled into a fantastic bar and pizza restaurant.

This was the longest escalator ever - from the LIRR to the metro level.

The Grand Central Station Information Booth.

This is an amazing space.

Celestial ceiling.

Gorgeous Chandeliers.

The Grand Facade.

Starting with Dunkin Donuts outside the station.

The Chrysler building is a favorite of mine.

Pigeons.

The city has great energy.

The lions.

Protector.

Gisela.

They had a German Christmas Market in Bryant Park.

Bratwurst.

Gisela enjoyed the market, even though they didn't have Gluhwein.

The Empire State building was a spontaneous choice (saw the building from Bryant Park).

Mosaic.

The deck was crowded and windy, but worth it.

The mast.

The views were spectacular.

Radio city with cab.

Rockefeller plaza ice rink.

Our escape from the streets was a treasure.

Late lunch.

I couldn't resist a photo of my Aunt's favorite spot in the city.

View from Central Park.

Lovely fall colors.

We were tired but still walked into the park.

Gates.

Confetti. Don't know what from, but there was a lot of it.

Shadows and carriages.

On the way home.

Finally, we come to concert day. I will always be so glad that I bought those tickets on a whim. Some artists are just so amazing live, even when their studio music is great, seeing it live is even better. We met Cheyenne again at a coffee shop on Union Square, then took the subway into Brooklyn. Gisela and I dropped our bags at the hotel we were staying in after the show, then we took an Uber across Brooklyn to The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore. Fun! It was great to see this part of the city from the street instead of missing it while riding the subway. After the bookstore we went back toward our hotel, and we found a restaurant called Republic Latin Fusion. It was so good, and the owner also fed our Omar obsession by playing songs of his new EP to get us hyped for the concert in a few hours.

Subway station art.

I love the art in the different stations.

The streets of Brooklyn

Eyes on the street.

Blushing bookstore.

I fit in to the theme with my pink and blue hair.

It's organized differently since all the books are romance.

Republic Latin Fusion.

Spooky decor.

A wow drink.

Cheers.

The fish taco special.

We stopped by the hotel to drop off all of our extraneous things and walked to the Music Hall of Williamsburg to line up. I made the strategic error of not wearing a sweater. It was fine when we started out, but got dark and cold before we were let in to the show. The line was fun though, since I got to meet a few people that I had been interacting with online. I also ended up with two bracelets and felt rather bad that I didn't have anything to trade for them. We ended up in a choice spot once we got in, though, because Cheyenne needed accommodation for her knee injury, and the venue staff were so nice to notice and give her a spot in that area. Gisela and I were able to stand next to her instead of down on the main floor area. It was a perfect spot at the same level as the stage, in front of the stage door.

The show was spectacular. I may have said that earlier, but yeah. I find it so impressive that a crowd of mostly Americans (and a few Canadians and others) can sing in Swedish.

The line.

I'm sorry I didn't get the full name showing.

Great views from here.

Pebbles & TamTam was the opener. So good!

A great crowd in a nice venue.

Joel. We had folks coming and going through this door the whole time.

They were squished on that stage, but danced like it was full size.

I like the movement of this shot.

Omar seemed really amazed and happy.

Cheyenne got a shout out from Pebbles & TamTam.

Tired but still buzzing from the show.

Lobby meet-up for Cheyenne.

It was difficult to get a good photo with my phone camera because of how we were positioned with the stage lights aiming right at us. Apparently we were very visible from the floor (folks we talked to in line let us know as we left the concert). I didn't take a lot of video or photos; I just wanted to really immerse myself in the experience, and I did. We split up afterwards, as Cheyenne stuck around (there was an after party, I think), and Gisela and I walked back to our hotel. I'm glad we didn't have to make our way back to Long Island... we were tired.

It was a nice room.

Sculpture in the hotel vestibule.

Brooklyn in the morning.

Peace & Love.

It was in front of a Pizza joint.

Coffee house for breakfast.

This was a fantastic place. It was a Yemeni Coffee House.

Khallat Alnahl. OMG.

So good.

The subway home.

Grand Central for the last time on this trip.

Photos from the LIRR.

Lunch with SIL.

Our flight back was the day before Halloween.

Airport victuals.

Nice view of NY as we flew out.

Bridge.

Sunrise.

Wrinkles.

Beautiful peaks.

Mount Baker ?

Puget Sound.

Space Needle.

Lumen Field.

Finally Home.

I got to use my Spanish to help someone in the airport in NY. That was an extra bonus. Gisela and I both felt like we didn't run into anyone that wasn't super friendly and nice for our entire trip. I will never regret that spontaneous ticket purchase. I'm already looking ahead to the next time we can go see Omar in concert.