Coming off the bridge, I turned toward 2nd Ave. in an attempt to walk up nearly the entire length of Broadway, the city's main drag lined with honky-tonk bars and cowboy boot stores. As I made my way there, a miniature yellow antique convertible pulled up next to me and stopped at a traffic light, and there were three clowns inside in full makeup. Because of course there was.
A police cart -- basically a really big golf cart with a siren on it -- pulled up beside the clowns and came to a stop.
"Y'all going to have fun tonight!" the clown said to the police officer, clearly being sarcastic.
"Absolutely!" the officer replied, clearly being sincere.
Yes, Smashville was ready for this.
Already at that hour, Broadway was jam-packed. The street was closed to traffic because the massive stage where Jackson would play blocked the entire width of it. But the street also was closed to fans, so they waited on the sidewalks.
I tried to walk along Broadway from 3rd Ave. to 5th Ave., where the stage is located, and what would normally be no more than a 10-minute walk took me nearly an hour. It was about 88 degrees, but in the sun it felt much, much hotter.
"I can't handle this anymore," one man said before ducking into the air conditioning of The Stage, one of the bigger bars on Broadway.
Broadway was just a convergence of lineups, people lining up to enter bars, lining up to get access to the street when it opened, and those simply trying to walk along Broadway, like me.