Z100 Jingle Ball Pre-show and VIP Arrivals

By: Kadeem Lundy

On Friday, December 12, 2008 Z100 hosted their annual Jingle Ball all-star holiday concert at Madison Square Garden. The artist that performed at the concert were Kanye West, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Brandy, The Veronicas, Lady Gaga, Paramore, Katy Perry, Jesse McCarthy,and Leona Lewis. Before the concert a timed meet and greet event was set up to meet singers Brandy, Leona Lewis, Lady Gaga, The Veronicas, Nick Lauchey, Paramore, and Jesse McCarthy in the upstairs lounge at the Roseland Ballroom, as part of the Jingle Ball free pre-show that was free to everyone no tickets, required from 12:30 pm-5:30 pm. During the preshow fans had the opportunity to win tickets, take photos next to card board cutouts of their favorite stars and win other prizes. However in order to attend one of the timed meet and greet sessions to meet one of the scheduled artist, special meet and greet passes were needed.

After I left Z100's Jingle Ball Pre-Show I headed towards Madison Square Garden to catch a glimpse of the other celebrities arriving for the actual Jingle Ball concert which was set to begin at 7:30 pm. I arrived at 4 Penn Plaza around 4:30 and waited with a group of photographers for the artist to arrive. As we waited reggae artist Sean Paul came out, and took photos with fans as well as signed autographs. Around 6pm Brandy arrived in a black jeep, and signed a few autographs and took a few pic,while explaining to the photographers that she had to go in to do her soundcheck and would be back out after the show.Katy Perry came outside, jumped into a car and came back about an hour later signing autographs and taking pictures, before being whisked inside by security. Chris Brown and Rihanna arrived around 6:45 pm, and ran inside before posing for photos., Ne-Yo was the last to arrive at around 7:10. We were informed at 7:45 pm that the show had started and no other artist were arriving.