Xmas in the Night concert

Just like all my decisions, that one was taken in not more than two minutes. Sometimes, that goes well. Most of the times though, I eventually regret it. But that has been the way that I’ve always lived my life and I am not about to change.

Back to my decision - I decided I wanted to go. There were still a few tickets and why not? My aunt and my uncle invited me to go, and they always made fun trips out of it so I would definitely have a wonderful time.

Imagine then a 16-year-old girl, ready for a big concert, she is finally feeling comfortable with her outfit and her make up is on point, or at least she thinks so. I do not know what it is with getting ready for concerts but why do we always want to look our absolute best? What are we expecting to happen? Do we really believe we will be call to the stage or something? I have the cheapest ticket, I can barely recognize the people on stage, but I still spend the whole week before, thinking of what I’m going to dress, how I’m going to style my hair and which shade of my 100 red lipsticks I’m going to put on.

Anyways, my aunt agreed they were going to pick me up around 4pm. I had my backpack ready; so, I went outside to wait for them. 4.30pm. 5pm. My foundation starts to melt in the sun. I call my aunt “We are going to be there in a while, don’t worry” says her on the other side of the line. Another 30 minutes pass by and I start to feel like it was all a dream but a while after 6pm, there they are.

Let’s go!

From my hometown to Lisbon, there’s still more than an hour and a half to get by. I played some card games in the backseat with my cousin, we all talked a lot, and I could feel the happiness in the hair, the good energy and the love surrounding me. Most of all, I could feel the butterflies getting increasingly agitated in my belly.

It was still daylight when we got to Lisbon. That kind of movement was unrecognisable, I had only been in Lisbon a few times and I never got quite the change to get to know it but for some reason, it’s somehow home. I had seen some of those buildings before, I knew the language everyone was speaking in and yet, I was as lost as a polar bear in the middle of the desert.

I was surprised when we got to the Airbnb. The elevator was something like I’ve only seen in movies, the kind that makes you much closer to others that you would ever choose to. Inside of the actual flat though, it was brilliantly decorated with lots of colour and art in the walls. When going to the bathroom though, you felt even more claustrophobic than in the elevator. It was a struggle to come into the stall to begin with but once you managed to squeeze in, it was nearly impossible to close the door.

After leaving our stuff in the room, we decided we should get something to eat before the concert. Wonderland Lisboa was close by so why not visit it? Wonderland Lisboa is a poor (ridiculously poor) imitation of Winter Wonderland. It is in the biggest park in Lisbon, which I believe elevates the expectations of whomever has never been and decreases the quality of it. It has a big, not giant, wheel, an ice-skating ring, numerous food stalls and that’s about it.

Wonderland Lisboa, 22nd December 2018

And if you are visiting Portugal, do not. I repeat, do not eat food from stalls. Go to the restaurants, not the fancy ones either, if you really want to have the full experience, but go to the simple restaurants and try the amazing food you will find there.

Two hours before the show, we got there. We had seated seats since my cousin was still so small, so we wanted to get the best ones. The queues were already huge, and I had never seen so many people together before to watch a seated show. All the human heat, everyone’s anticipation of what would be a great night.

Altice Arena, 22nd December 2018

The concert was called Xmas in the Night and is more of a show made by the hosts of Rádio Comercial, the most listened radio station in Portugal that has the goal of raising money to charity that always gets sold out within hours. It is then a mixture of jokes and parodies with a slap of Portuguese culture. And it was a great night. It is a feeling that I cannot wait to experience again. The whole 12500 people laughing and singing along to these songs that everyone knew by heart even though they had only been out for less than a month.

I would like to say it was a smooth night afterwards but if you have ever slept in a bunk bed in an Airbnb, you would know that I was lying.

This work was submitted on April 15th 2021 by Lara Soares for the module 'Magazine Publishing' as part of my degree English and Creative Writing BA.