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Michelle Obama packs a thrilled Tacoma Dome

caption: Former First Lady Michelle Obama meets with the Balanced Black Girl Book Club at the Tacoma Public Library on Sunday, March 24, 2019.
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Former First Lady Michelle Obama meets with the Balanced Black Girl Book Club at the Tacoma Public Library on Sunday, March 24, 2019.
KUOW Photo/Casey Martin

Former first lady Michelle Obama stopped in Tacoma to promote her new book, "Becoming," in front of more than 18,000 screaming fans.

This was not your typical author reading.

For starters, Obama had some local celebrities warm up the crowd before she went on Sunday night.

Seattle Storm star Sue Bird, singer Ciara, and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder showed up. The stars were joined by a Blue Star family member and a girl scout who shared how Obama's book has inspired them to speak up and share their own stories.

Jimmy Kimmel hosted and reminded the crowd he got his start in Seattle back in 1989 at KZOK, on the 'The Me and Him Show."

Kimmel told the crowd what's improved in the past thirty years.

"It smells so much better in Tacoma now, it really does," Kimmel joked, "I don't know if you lit a giant stick of incense but it has improved dramatically."

Then Kimmel introduced the former First Lady and the place exploded with cheers.

Beyoncé and Katy Perry music boomed through the Tacoma Dome.

Obama talked about her upbringing in Chicago, mentoring a law school hotshot named Barack, and the pressure of being in the White House.

"I wanted to make sure that Barack and I, that we lived up to very high standard," Obama said, "because we knew as the first we would be setting the tone for anybody else who was not male and white coming into the White House."

Before this rock show, Obama met with a women's book club earlier in the day at Tacoma's main library.

The Balanced Black Girl Book Club spoke with the former First Lady about "Becoming" and how to tell their own stories.

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