Former First Lady Michelle Obama Wows Crowd at SAP Center in San Jose
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- Former first lady Michelle Obama took the stage in San Jose Friday night to promote her new memoir about her life before, during and after the White House.
In the first few minutes after she took the stage she gave advice to the youth in the crowd.
"You have so many lives to live, you know, you have so many mistakes you can recover from, much you can learn from," Obama said. "Don't beat yourself up."
Obama is on an international book tour of her memoir, "Becoming."
Her stops are being compared to large scale concerts because of the thousands she attracts as well as the many fans willing to pay thousands for VIP tickets that allow a face-to-face meeting with Mrs. Obama.
Michelle Small, of Grass Valley, said she paid several thousand dollars for a VIP ticket.
"She's worth more than that," said Small. "I hope we don't faint."
Getting tickets wasn't easy.
Obama's stop at SAP Center in San Jose was sold out, according to a LiveNation spokesperson. All 12,600 tickets were sold on the first day they were made available.
Lela Green finally snagged tickets after trying several times online.
"They said 'be online at 10 o'clock' (I) got online -- ten minutes later they were all gone," Green said.
Before Mrs. Obama made an appearance at the SAP Center, she stopped at a community center in San Jose to talk to youth leaders, where she told them to keep pursing their dreams.
She reiterated that message on stage to her fans of all ages who packed the arena.
"Don't beat yourself up because you haven't figure it out and you're only 20 or 30 (years old)," Obama said. "I will be 55 on my birthday and I am still becoming and I hope I will be saying that in the next 30 years as well."
Obama's tour has proved to be so popular, she recently added more cities.
"So often as black women we do not see ourselves represented in a way that Michelle is representing us," said Anika Green, who attended Friday's event. "So she just fills me and other black women I know with a lot of pride."