Lexington KY - Rehearsal - Rupp Arena
September 17th, 2025
Lexington, KY
Rupp Arena
Preface: Wow! We got the email with our invite around 10pm. We jumped in the car and drove through the night to get there! To say we were excited would be the biggest understatement ever!
Have you ever got to hold and blow a thousand fucking dollars?
Show Notes: We got to Lexington around 6:30am and the show was slated to begin at 11:30am. We had information about where to meet up prior to the event so we got there around 11am. Shortly after arriving we started to chat with other people who’d won tickets to this.
For those who aren’t familiar with this event to get invited you had to make a donation to Shriner’s of Lexington, KY. We quickly made our donation and patiently awaited to find out if we’d been selected.
As mentioned before it was around 10pm when we found out that we’d been selected so we jumped into the car and hammered down to Lexington!
Once everyone was at the meeting point we got told we’d be heading to Rupp Arena for this rehearsal. We drove over and waited outside while we got security clearance.
After we were allowed into Rupp we were chauffeured to a waiting area where everyone hung out and enjoyed refreshments. At this point everyone was introducing themselves and getting to know one another.
Not long into us being in the waiting room a representative of Shriner’s came in to speak to us and told us more about Shriner’s and what they do for children who are in need. This led into two Shriner’s patients telling us their stories about how Shriner’s was helping them and also how they’re ambassadors for Shriner’s as well.
The younger lady spoke to us about her condition and how she had created a teddy bear for people with similar conditions. And, the older lady spoke to us about her condition and how she is now an ambassador for Shriner’s. We were greatly moved by both of them and their courage. Alas, for the the sake of not misremembering or misquoting either of them we don’t want to dive too deep into their stories (we had only slept for 2 hours at this point). All we can definitively say is that after hearing both of them speak we were blown away to hear about all the amazing things they’d done and all the amazing things Shriner’s had done as well!
Fast forward a little while and we’re told to come out onto the floor of Rupp Arena! It was there that was were told we’d be taking a picture with Tyler himself! Everyone crowded around and took a photo. Then Tyler wanted a photo with the winners who’d donated and got invited so we took a second photo. Then out of nowhere Tyler starts handing literal cash to each of us! $1,000 cold hard cash! We were floored!
After picking our jaws up off the floor we were taken to the lower bowl area to view the show from straight on. It should be mentioned that everyone had to leave their phones behind so there are no photos other than the 3 provided by Emma of this event.
Once we were in our seats we were gifted with an entire full set and a sneak peak into what the upcoming leg of the tour would look like. Both members of Sylvan Esso were there and Amelia provided back up vocals while Nick added his twang to the songs!
If you think this show would lack the speeches you’d be wrong. This was nothing short of an actual show but with less than 30 people in the entire place. It was simply unbelievable.
Once the show was completed we went back to the waiting room to collect our things and shortly after were released to head home. On the way out though we finally met the star herself; Cheryl!!!!!!!
We had snuck in a dog treat for Ms. Cheryl and finally were able to give it to her on our way out! We had never expected any part of this show much less running into a living Queen!
The luckiest group of people in Lexington Kentucky on September 17th, 2025
Venue Notes: It was Rupp Arena, nearly completely empty, so it was simply amazing. There’s nothing more we can tell you, it was just great.
Travel Notes: We literally left North Carolina around 11pm, drove straight to Lexington, closed our eyes around 6:45am and woke up around 8:30am. And we’d do it all over again if we could! We didn’t stop anywhere other than to get gas. Our way home was spent in a similar way, minimal stops and lots of snacks!