Tour recap! I went to the show in Cleveland on Thursday and was really glad I did. It was an awesome show - it definitely beat the other Idol concerts I have attended (seasons 2 and 4). The performances were really good, I was pleased with my seats, and I got to meet the Idols! And I got to meet another fan from the internet (Missy) - first time I ever did that. And she is really awesome - totally nice, friendly, generous, funny....now hopefully she won't come on and say I am a total freak, lol. It was great to go with another real fan who would actually linger around the buses and understand and accept that I know every lyric to Magic Rainbows, lol.
So since we had to be there pretty early for the M&G anyway, we went early to see if we could catch anyone out by the buses. It was interesting to people-watch; easy to spot some of the more obsessive people. I met Kristy Lee Cook - she seemed to be going through the motions, but big props to her for taking the time out to see fans before and after the show (and she's really pretty, too). We headed to the Meet and Greet. As expected, it was very quick - the Idols were behind a table...we were only supposed to get one autograph from each Idol; there was a stack of pictures and they were signing those and passing them down the line. My goals were to try to say something nice to each Idol, sneak an extra autograph from Cook and Castro for my sister, and take pics of the Idols I liked. As soon as we got in the room, I spotted Cook doing that hearty laugh of his (he was joking around with Carly) - he was pretty attractive. I took a couple pics of Cook before I got to him and then told him I enjoyed his music and that this was the first year that the person who I wanted to win Idol won and he said "Well you're batting 1 for 7!" (OK, I did have the maternity matador picture with me, but things were just going too fast so I never had him sign it). He was pretty much adorable and I got his autograph for my sister and than basically must have been flustered enough to forget to take pictures of the next few Idols and say little more than "hi" to them until I got to Jason. Actually, before that, I did stop by Michael and he also looked really gorgeous (but kinda tired) - I handed him the pic for my sister and asked slyly (since we werent supposed to ask for 2 autographs) 'could you sign this one, too' and he kind of whispered 'yeah!' (and quickly signed it as he looked around, like he was jokingly pretending to do something forbidden)...and then I moved on and kind of recovered when I got to Jason and took a pic of him signing and I think I paid him a compliment and he said "you're welcome!' and then kind of laughed and was like 'i mean, thank you' in his clueless manner. I told Archuleta I like his new song on the radio and he kinda giggled and said thanks. Other than that, I said hi to all of them except Syesha - she seemed a little standoffish and didn't look up.
After that, we got lost in the arena and ended up in places where we totally didn't belong (nowhere cool though), but no one who worked there even said anything. We waited a couple hours for the concert and did more people-watching. I was satisfied with the free seats - they were in the lower bowl, 9th row, towards the center of the right side of the arena. I could see the performers fine. The concert began...Chikezie was good - he has a great voice and had some good energy. Ramiele was kind of amateurish to me - she had some good vocal moments, but overall, I think she does lag behind all the other performers. Michael Johns...he sang his ass off and was outstanding. Really outstanding. We Will Rock You/We are the Champions, It's All Wrong, and Dream On - I totally do not understand what happened to him on the show because his voice is great live and he has great stage presence. Crowd loved him. Kristy Lee did what she does well. And Carly.....her voice was kind of shrill in her first song, but she sounded great in her next two, and that girl, too, has major stage presence! At this point, to me, while several of the performers were competent, she and MJ looked like stars.
I love Brooke on coldplay's "Yellow" - she has a nice vibe to her performances - with her and Jason, what you see on the show is what you see on the stage. Fans were pretty crazy for Jason. Syesha sang "Umbrella" and I didn't like it...but then her next two songs were amazing! It seems she really connected with the songs and her voice was just in great form and the audience was very appreciative - many gave her a standing ovation and she seemed really appreciative of the response. Archuleta came out to lotsa shrill screams. This kid was dull during much of the tv show, but his voice sounds really great live and I couldn't help but feel, as I was watching him sing Angels, that I was witnessing someone who will hit it really big someday just rise to stardom. Amazing. His Stand By Me performance lead into a longer, faster version of "Beautiful Girls" and he seemed to be having fun with it. He also outsings "Once Republic" on Apologize. While his singing was great, his banter was really awkward, but in an endearing, funny way.
Cook came out and I swear the vibe changed. We were all standing, screaming, singing along. He feeds off the crowd's energy and I think he was really loving the response to him and he just put on a really great show. I think that his crowd reaction was the craziest and loudest. Since everyone was singing along to "Time of My Life" and "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing", there was a couple times he stopped singing and the words were actually discernible as sung by the audience. He jumped off stage at the end, as if to be immersed in the audience. Guy seems to be in his element (really loving it) when he is performing to large crowds, and hopefully this is part of the start of a great music career for him.
Please Don't Stop the Music was a fun ending to the show. Michael Johns just kind of dances around, doing goofy stuff, like he is some drunk loser at a club aimlessly strolling up to random people to dance (badly) with. He and David did a Phantom of the Opera skit with masks and roses - looked totally girly.
Since the traffic would be crazy afterwards anyway, we wandered over by the gates to see if any Idols would come out. Kristy Lee came out again and some girls asked her what her most memorable moment on tour was and she laughed and said she wouldn't say, but her most embarrassing moment happened on stage in Kansas City...since she wouldn't tell them, they asked Jason if he knew when he came by and he spilled the beans that a tampon fell out of her back pocket on stage - leave it to him to just share her embarrassing moment, lol. His eyes are stunning in person. Archuleta came by through the line - he was in a real rush and was later spotted running to the buses.
Missy and I went back to my place to play her Guitar Hero game and I found out I suck.
It was a great night!
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