It’s taken me a minute to write up this post, mostly because I still don’t believe it truly happened. I’m convinced I ate something I was allergic to and the whole trip was a gluten hallucination. But it seems that Visit Philly really did fly Michelle & I out to see Fleetwood Mac in Philadelphia last weekend.
And before I get into it, YES! This trip was gifted to us so that I could tell you about some of the cool options available with Visit Philly’s new Live Nation hotel package. And also, YES! I absolutely plan on paying to do this again on my own dime ASAP!
The City
I’ve never been to Philadelphia before. I haven’t been to very many US states, actually. But I fell in love with the city almost immediately. Every street we walked down looked different from the last… coming from Toronto where every skyscraper looks identical from the ground floor, it was fun to see so much history just through the architecture.
Visit Philly also hooked us up with passes to check out some ~culture~. We visited Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens which may be my new fave place on earth. Isaiah Zagar has been slowly building these mosaics since literally before I was born and they finally opened to the public in 2008. If you’re ever in the area, you’ve got to grab a ticket and just wander around. I’m going to do this to my future apartment and my landlord will absolutely keep my security deposit.
The Hotel
So the fun part about this Live Nation hotel package is that it’s pretty accommodating to whatever your plans are. It’s a two step process:
- Buy concert tickets to a show at The Fillmore, The Met or the Wells Fargo Center.
- Book your stay at a participating hotel.
Boom. Easy. And just for doing those two things together, you get all kinds of free perks… and I love free perks. I have done a lot more for a lot less (for example, spending $100 more than I intended so I can get free shipping that would have only been $10).
Honestly, I would do the hotel package just for the free hotel & venue parking alone… but you also get early venue access, food & beverage vouchers, lanyards, show posters AND you can sleep in & check out late.
As someone who travels for a lot of concerts, having options like this to save a few bucks is wildly helpful. I know y’all often like to do the same, so I feel like this could be a good way to travel for shows if you have any coming up soon! You can learn more about the whole thing here.
The Show
Now this… is where the whole memory goes into a dreamlike quality because I am absolutely certain I didn’t breathe the same air as Stevie Nicks. But let’s start with how I almost missed “The Chain”.
Michelle & I were thinking about getting food before the show (which was DUMB because I realized there was a SHAKE SHACK INSIDE THE VENUE!!) and had the following two thoughts:
- It’s not like the show is going to start when doors open, we’ve got like an hour
- Even if they do start around 8, they won’t play “The Chain” until like… the finale before the encore, or maybe within the encore
Spoken like two true idiots. We were running — RUNNING — up to the venue screaming and could hear the opening notes playing. We literally got into the arena at the exact moment the song kicked off by some miracle.
Best friends for 24 years but this is our first solo trip together… explain?? 
And I finally met Lexi!!!
And it was seriously amazing. My site won’t let me embed videos but you can watch the show through the “Visit Philly” highlight on my Instagram. They played every song I love, they sounded amazing, and the whole crowd was obviously having just as much fun as we were.
I’m so grateful to Visit Philly for having us out, and I’m excited to make my way back again soon to do some more exploring. We accidentally found a speakeasy, I ate Shake Shack way too many times for only being in the city for under 48 hours, and I got to finally spend some time with Michelle while she’s off tour for a few days. Where will we find ourselves next?
