Fangirl Diaries: How I Met Brockhampton

By Stacey Ramirez
Web Content Contributor

Brianna Maciel is a senior and a biology major pre-med student at Texas State. Most people imagine that talking to a pre-med student means hearing their stories about long study sessions and countless science classes. But for Maciel, she says the story she’ll remember most from college is barricading for Brockhampton at Austin City Limits 2018 and meeting the boyband.

It was the first day of ACL and while most people plan out what stages to run to and try to fit in every artist they can, Maciel had one goal and one goal only, and that was to be front row for Brockhampton.

“My friends and I were at the gates an hour before they even opened just to enter Zilker Park,” said Maciel. “We were like the first people in line but as soon as they let us in, we still ran, and I mean ran to the stage.”

After securing a spot front and center they stood and waited. The first performance didn’t start for another hour. Maciel and her friend sat by the barricade and waited hours through every performance. No bathroom breaks and just a hydration backpack ­– all while the sun beat down on them.

“From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. which is when they were scheduled to perform, we waited by the stage. We didn’t move or even think about leaving and risk giving up our spot.”

They endured sunburn that lasted weeks and even healing bruises on their torsos caused by the crowds pushing them against the barricade fence.

But it was all worth it to be front row and see Brockhampton live.

“We were in the jumbotron I don’t even know how many times cheering and crying.”

But even this wasn’t the most exciting part of the day. Later that night after ACL, Maciel and her friends went to the Whataburger on Barton Springs outside the festival to eat.

“I think I wished for them hard enough or something. I remember we talked about how Kevin Abstract posted a photo at Whataburger after ACL weekend one. We realized because of the frame on the wall we were sitting in the same booth as them.”

What happened next is something you expect from a plot in a movie. As Maciel and her friends posed to try and reenact the picture from the same booth she looked up at the entrance to see Matt Champion, Russell Boring better known as JOBA and Clifford Ian Simpson known as Kevin Abstract walk in.

While some fans were impatient to meet them, Maciel and her friends didn’t want to annoy them and waited until after they finished eating to approach them as they left.

“They were the nicest people ever. They were happy to take pictures and we told them about how we waited all day to be front row for them. I told them I would do it all over again.”

Featured image by a passing stranger at Whataburger.