American Idol Tour
I went to see the American Idol tour on August 7th. As you guys know I was really into the show this season. I had never been to one of the American Idol tours before, though I did read up a little on past tours to see what to expect. Along the way - via Blake's fan club (the Blaker Girls) I learned of the tour colors, that is fans of a particular contestant all are supposed to wear a particular color(s) to show their support for them. Blake's "color" was plaid and we were also supposed to wear a Blaker Girl/Blaker t-shirt. So I went out and got a plaid skirt and a Blaker t-shirt for the occasion. Also thanks to the Blaker Girls, I got the password to a presale and wound up getting a ticket in the 28th row on the floor of the stadium, it was an awesome seat!
When I got to the Allstate Arena I found that there was a lot going on inside besides the usual concessions and tour merchandise. They had a stage where this guy was leading some kids in doing the "Cha-Cha Slide" (it was surprising that that's actually still popular, but, whatever). They also had a karaoke set up where a boy (maybe 11 or 12?) was singing Dautry's(sp?) "It's Not Over" - one of the guys working the Karaoke set up asked him if he had a girlfriend and the boy looked really confused/embarrassed. Poor kid. Then there was the walking Pop Tart - yes, that's right, a walking Pop Tart or rather a guy dressed up in a suit to look like one of those creepy walking Pop Tarts with faces from the latest batch of commercials >.> and people - kids and teenagers mostly - were running up to it and getting their picture taken with it o.O that was weird. Anyhow, I bought some merchandise and then went to my seat.
Inside the seating/stage area of the stadium they had two large screens that were playing past Idol contestant's music videos and text messages that audience members could send in the hopes that they would get shown there. Several of them said things like "scream if you like" and the the name of one of the top ten from this year. There was also a message that showed up a couple times that said "We love Arthur" and immediately I thought of Mr. Weasley (Arthur Weasley) from HP, and that made me laugh a bit. Probably wasn't about him though... The girls sitting next to me (there were four of them, I'd say they were about 12ish) all had homemade Blake shirts and two of them had signs that said "I adore Blake" on one side, but on the other side it was something about Sanjaya. Interesting.
The lights went out about 7PM and a spotlight fell on a beared security guard - I thought this was kinda of strange, but then he pulled off the beard/hat/jacket and it turns out it was Blake in a very good disguise! The crowd went wild with screaming. They opened up with a group number (minus Melinda and Lakisha) called "Let's Get it Started). That was followed by Melinda and Lakisha wearing silvery sparkly dresses singing a medly of Supreemes songs ("Baby Love" and "Stop in the Name of Love") and then they sang backup to Chris Richardson singing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine". Chris R. and Lakisha then left the stage and Sanjaya joined Melinda in a cute version of "Proud Mary" during which both of them were dancing around quite a lot.
Next, Phil Stacey came out wearing a cool looking long black coat over a black shirt and pants (shoes too...) and he performed "Blaze of Glory" - definitely his best performance of the season on the show, and ironically the song that he did the week he was kicked out. As he sang he moved around and shook hands with people in the first rows. After he was done performing he saw some girl in the first or second row who apparently had a sign that said it was her birthday and he wished her a a happy birthday, said she was beautiful, and that if he knew her name he would have sung happy birthday to her, but then he had to leave the stage.
Chris Sligh and Gina Glocksen sang "Thanks for the Memories" as a duet; Haley Scarnato sang "God Fearing Women Get the Blues"; and then Sanjaya rose up out of this pit/elevator thing in the middle of the stage. His back was turned to the audience and the band started playing the opening of "Thriller" but then changed to another Michael Jackson song - "The Way You Make Me Feel". Very good performance, it seems like Sanjaya was able to break out of that barrier or whatever was holding him back during a lot of the season. He sounded good and looked relaxed on stage throughout the night. During this song he did a lot of fancey Michael Jackson like moves (he moon walked) including some hip movements that caused a mom in front of me to cover her daughter's eyes lol XD Once he was done with his song, Sanjaya was working the crowd playing a game of which side could scream louder about their love for Pop Tarts, I don't think he picked a winner though.
Chris Sligh came on next, playing his bass guitar and singing "Typical", which was followed by Lakisha, Gina, and Haley singing "Lady Marmalade" during which they were dressed in lingerie tops and black leggings, with feather-head band things on. Then Chris S., Sanjaya, and Phil came on stage and started singing "I Want it That Way" - only Sanjaya got too into it and Phil put his arm around him and told him that they weren't really supposed to sing all of that song (I think this was a joke). They filled some space giving some tips on auditioning for American Idol, including Chris S. suggesting that you tell the people at the audition a joke because a joke got him a long way, and Chris S. and Sanjaya saying that it helps to have beautiful hair like they have - they shook their heads around. Chris S. said to Phil something like, “sorry you don’t have beautiful hair like we do” and then Phil said, “Oh I do have beautiful hair. I’m just hiding it.” Lol. After that, Chris R. and Jordin, both playing acoustic guitars, did a duet of "What Hurts the Most" and then Melinda and Jordin sand "This Will Be".
Then Blake came out and the audience started screaming more than they had before. First he sang "Time of the Season", and then he told us about how they finally had a day off yesterday so he got to do some tourist things in the city and that he really likes it here. He said that his cousin and aunt live here as well as a couple of his close friends, and he added that Chicago is one of the birth places of house music so that's another thing he really likes about the city. A stage hand gave Blake his acoustic guitar and Blake told us that he would be looping and layering himself during the song (with his special effects pedals and such, and he asked everyone in the audience to take out there cell phones to make things a bit brighter during the song. It was a pretty cool effect, much like waving lighters or glow sticks in the air. The song was "She Will be Loved". After that a stage hand took away the guitar and Blake started beat boxing for a while and then he did his "putting on a record" beat box + movements and everyone got INSANELY excited/screaming because we all knew that meant "You Give Love a Bad Name" was coming up, which it was. Very awesome! The whole group came out a the very end of the song and then, I think it was Phil, announced there would be a 20 minute intermission.
I have to note that I think everyone sounded better in person than they did on the show. I would bet that's because they've been at it longer now and maybe aren't so scared since they know that they won't be eliminated after the concert. They played more video clips and such on the big monitors, and there was something going on in one area of the audience that was near to the back of the stage (which is open here) that made a group of girls start screaming like mad every so often.
The show started back up with the band playing the American Idol opening music and then up from the little pit thing in the middle of the stage came Gina, Haley, Lakisha, and Melinda, singing “Bugle Boy of Company 49” with Phil in the middle of them. The girls were wearing WWII era female uniforms, and Phil was in his sailor uniform. Phil then sang “America the Beautiful” and then he left the stage and the girls sang a pop kind of rendition of something *like* “American the Beautiful. After that, Gina staid on the stage and did a little filler talking before the guys came out - as their own band. The backing band left and so we had Phil on keyboards, Blake on electric guitar, Chris S. on bass, Sanjaya on tambourine and then acoustic guitar, and Chris R. on drums. They all sang as well and sounded really good as a band. I was impressed. They played two Beatles songs - one I didn't recognize, but it's apparently called "Crazy"? and the other one was "Hey Jude".
Gina came out next and sang "Who Knew". She was the only one to say "How you doing Rosemont?" instead of saying blah blah Chicago. I mean, Rosemont is near Chicago and it says Chicago on the ticket and all, but it's in Rosemont, which is a suburb. Anyhow, since she's from around here it makes sense that she'd know the difference. I was thinking how it must have been especially cool for Gina being back in her home area and performing at a place that she probably went to concerts at. She thanked all of us for supporting her and said how great it was to be back home, etc. etc.
Next was the very cool duet between Blake and Chris R. - BOTH of whom were beat boxing. I had no idea that Chris R. could beat box, but he was really good - not quite as good as Blake, but pretty darn good at it. They sang a few songs (one would sing, the other would beat box) such as "Virtual Insanity" (Blake) and "Geek in the Pink" (Chris R.). Then in the middle of one of their beat boxing duets, Blake starts very clearly doing the background opening part of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" and Chris R. just kinda looked at him a little strange, but Blake kept at it and then Chris R. (much to the excitement of the audience) sang the first few lines of "SexyBack" while dancing around Blake.
Lakisha's solo was "I Will Always Love You" and it was a little strange because most of the audience decided to sit down during that song. They did this later for Melinda's solo. I continued to stand up though. I don't know why everyone decided to sit down during it. Chris R. sang "This Love" and I thought that was a little bit of a strange choice given that Blake sang it during the season, so the fans of this group are accustomed to that version. His was all right though, but I like Blake's version better.
Phil and Gina did a duet, but I'm not sure what it was - another set list from this tour that I'm referencing says it should have been "Another one Bites the Dust" but I know it wasn't that. At the end of the song they introduced each other and then Phil says something like "this is your home town we're in tonight, Gina," and she says "This is my home town that we're in," and then Phil suggests we do something a little different, and brings out Gina's boyfriend, Joey, who I think was carrying her little plushie named pickle. Joey asks if there are some Gina fans in the audience - a lot of people cheer - and then he says that he's the biggest Gina fan in the world. Then he started moving closer to her and saying how she's the love of his life, and the crowd starts cheering - and then he GETS ON HIS KNEE AND PROPOSES TO HER!!! :D I couldn't hear all of what he said because of all the cheering and so forth, but he eneded it saying "will you make me the happiest man on earth?" and then she said yes (she looked TOTALLY shocked by the way) and then she got down on her knees and they were kissing and he put the ring on her finger and then they stood up and he raised up her left hand and they were smiling. It was all really sweet. I'd never seen anyone in person get engaged before ^.^
Sanjaya - who was lined up for the next performance on stage (along with Haley and Chris S., "Life is a Highway") - said "let's here it for Gina and Joey! Congratulations!". After they performed, Jordin came out to introduce Melinda, but she was all excited about Gina and Joey's engagement and said how great it was and how she was sobbing back stage. But then she started talking about Melinda and how close they are, and how great Melinda is, and finally Melinda came out and told her that was enough. Then Melinda told about how she didn't think that they would be good room mates because Jordin is 17 and Melinda is "well, not 17", but that they had so much in common. Then she said that the next song was a love song and "if it would be okay, I would like to dedicate this song to all of you". The song was "Natural Woman" and Melinda had a part where the one backup singer got a spotlight on her and she got to sing a solo part. I thought was really nice, especially since Melinda started out as a backup singer.
All the girls, except Jordin, sang "Ain't no Other Man" and Gina was flashing around her left hand with the ring on it - she looked REALLY happy (aww).
After that came Jordin's segment of the show. She sang "I Who Have Nothing", "Heart Breaker" (which she introduced as being from very early on in the season), and then a stage hand gave her her accustic guitar and she said that she wanted to do something different for us for the tour, to show us a different side of herself and so she thought why not play her guitar. Then she said that before the tour she had "only played my guitar for my family and - my family," so there was a big difference playing in front of thousands of people on tour. She played solo on her acoustic guitar (and sang obviously) "You Were Meant for Me". Then she talked about how she loves all different genres of music, but that country holds a special place in her heart. She said that when she performed "Broken Wing" on the show she was so excited for country week and knew exactly what she wanted to sing, because it is a song that her grandpa really loves. He flew out to see her perform it, and she saw him in the audience, but noticed that he didn't look quite right. After the show, he pulled her aside and told her that his mother, her great-grandmother had passed away. So she said it was a very bitter sweet night and she dedicaetd "Broken Wing" to her grandpa, and to her great-grandmother. Then she asked the audience if we remembered the week when she had "that really big fro", and said that she wanted us to really get into the next song as a lot of us probably know it - and then she mentioned Gina and Joey - before playing "Living on a Prayer" during the end of that song the whole rest of the group came out and sang the last bit with her.
The encore was Jordin singing "This is My Now", the winning song, and then the whole group reprised a little bit of one of their solo numbers, including Jordin singing part of "This is My Now" backed up by the whole group. They took a big bow, holding hands, and then each of them walked around the stage and waved, and shook hands. At some point - I think it was then - Sanjaya went up by the backup singers and started doing the running man with them lol, it was adorable.
As I left I kept seeing people with Pop Tarts, and apparently, they were handing those out from big barrels to people as they left, but I didn't get any.
Overall, it was a fun show to go to and it was cool getting to see the top ten live!
When I got to the Allstate Arena I found that there was a lot going on inside besides the usual concessions and tour merchandise. They had a stage where this guy was leading some kids in doing the "Cha-Cha Slide" (it was surprising that that's actually still popular, but, whatever). They also had a karaoke set up where a boy (maybe 11 or 12?) was singing Dautry's(sp?) "It's Not Over" - one of the guys working the Karaoke set up asked him if he had a girlfriend and the boy looked really confused/embarrassed. Poor kid. Then there was the walking Pop Tart - yes, that's right, a walking Pop Tart or rather a guy dressed up in a suit to look like one of those creepy walking Pop Tarts with faces from the latest batch of commercials >.> and people - kids and teenagers mostly - were running up to it and getting their picture taken with it o.O that was weird. Anyhow, I bought some merchandise and then went to my seat.
Inside the seating/stage area of the stadium they had two large screens that were playing past Idol contestant's music videos and text messages that audience members could send in the hopes that they would get shown there. Several of them said things like "scream if you like" and the the name of one of the top ten from this year. There was also a message that showed up a couple times that said "We love Arthur" and immediately I thought of Mr. Weasley (Arthur Weasley) from HP, and that made me laugh a bit. Probably wasn't about him though... The girls sitting next to me (there were four of them, I'd say they were about 12ish) all had homemade Blake shirts and two of them had signs that said "I adore Blake" on one side, but on the other side it was something about Sanjaya. Interesting.
The lights went out about 7PM and a spotlight fell on a beared security guard - I thought this was kinda of strange, but then he pulled off the beard/hat/jacket and it turns out it was Blake in a very good disguise! The crowd went wild with screaming. They opened up with a group number (minus Melinda and Lakisha) called "Let's Get it Started). That was followed by Melinda and Lakisha wearing silvery sparkly dresses singing a medly of Supreemes songs ("Baby Love" and "Stop in the Name of Love") and then they sang backup to Chris Richardson singing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine". Chris R. and Lakisha then left the stage and Sanjaya joined Melinda in a cute version of "Proud Mary" during which both of them were dancing around quite a lot.
Next, Phil Stacey came out wearing a cool looking long black coat over a black shirt and pants (shoes too...) and he performed "Blaze of Glory" - definitely his best performance of the season on the show, and ironically the song that he did the week he was kicked out. As he sang he moved around and shook hands with people in the first rows. After he was done performing he saw some girl in the first or second row who apparently had a sign that said it was her birthday and he wished her a a happy birthday, said she was beautiful, and that if he knew her name he would have sung happy birthday to her, but then he had to leave the stage.
Chris Sligh and Gina Glocksen sang "Thanks for the Memories" as a duet; Haley Scarnato sang "God Fearing Women Get the Blues"; and then Sanjaya rose up out of this pit/elevator thing in the middle of the stage. His back was turned to the audience and the band started playing the opening of "Thriller" but then changed to another Michael Jackson song - "The Way You Make Me Feel". Very good performance, it seems like Sanjaya was able to break out of that barrier or whatever was holding him back during a lot of the season. He sounded good and looked relaxed on stage throughout the night. During this song he did a lot of fancey Michael Jackson like moves (he moon walked) including some hip movements that caused a mom in front of me to cover her daughter's eyes lol XD Once he was done with his song, Sanjaya was working the crowd playing a game of which side could scream louder about their love for Pop Tarts, I don't think he picked a winner though.
Chris Sligh came on next, playing his bass guitar and singing "Typical", which was followed by Lakisha, Gina, and Haley singing "Lady Marmalade" during which they were dressed in lingerie tops and black leggings, with feather-head band things on. Then Chris S., Sanjaya, and Phil came on stage and started singing "I Want it That Way" - only Sanjaya got too into it and Phil put his arm around him and told him that they weren't really supposed to sing all of that song (I think this was a joke). They filled some space giving some tips on auditioning for American Idol, including Chris S. suggesting that you tell the people at the audition a joke because a joke got him a long way, and Chris S. and Sanjaya saying that it helps to have beautiful hair like they have - they shook their heads around. Chris S. said to Phil something like, “sorry you don’t have beautiful hair like we do” and then Phil said, “Oh I do have beautiful hair. I’m just hiding it.” Lol. After that, Chris R. and Jordin, both playing acoustic guitars, did a duet of "What Hurts the Most" and then Melinda and Jordin sand "This Will Be".
Then Blake came out and the audience started screaming more than they had before. First he sang "Time of the Season", and then he told us about how they finally had a day off yesterday so he got to do some tourist things in the city and that he really likes it here. He said that his cousin and aunt live here as well as a couple of his close friends, and he added that Chicago is one of the birth places of house music so that's another thing he really likes about the city. A stage hand gave Blake his acoustic guitar and Blake told us that he would be looping and layering himself during the song (with his special effects pedals and such, and he asked everyone in the audience to take out there cell phones to make things a bit brighter during the song. It was a pretty cool effect, much like waving lighters or glow sticks in the air. The song was "She Will be Loved". After that a stage hand took away the guitar and Blake started beat boxing for a while and then he did his "putting on a record" beat box + movements and everyone got INSANELY excited/screaming because we all knew that meant "You Give Love a Bad Name" was coming up, which it was. Very awesome! The whole group came out a the very end of the song and then, I think it was Phil, announced there would be a 20 minute intermission.
I have to note that I think everyone sounded better in person than they did on the show. I would bet that's because they've been at it longer now and maybe aren't so scared since they know that they won't be eliminated after the concert. They played more video clips and such on the big monitors, and there was something going on in one area of the audience that was near to the back of the stage (which is open here) that made a group of girls start screaming like mad every so often.
The show started back up with the band playing the American Idol opening music and then up from the little pit thing in the middle of the stage came Gina, Haley, Lakisha, and Melinda, singing “Bugle Boy of Company 49” with Phil in the middle of them. The girls were wearing WWII era female uniforms, and Phil was in his sailor uniform. Phil then sang “America the Beautiful” and then he left the stage and the girls sang a pop kind of rendition of something *like* “American the Beautiful. After that, Gina staid on the stage and did a little filler talking before the guys came out - as their own band. The backing band left and so we had Phil on keyboards, Blake on electric guitar, Chris S. on bass, Sanjaya on tambourine and then acoustic guitar, and Chris R. on drums. They all sang as well and sounded really good as a band. I was impressed. They played two Beatles songs - one I didn't recognize, but it's apparently called "Crazy"? and the other one was "Hey Jude".
Gina came out next and sang "Who Knew". She was the only one to say "How you doing Rosemont?" instead of saying blah blah Chicago. I mean, Rosemont is near Chicago and it says Chicago on the ticket and all, but it's in Rosemont, which is a suburb. Anyhow, since she's from around here it makes sense that she'd know the difference. I was thinking how it must have been especially cool for Gina being back in her home area and performing at a place that she probably went to concerts at. She thanked all of us for supporting her and said how great it was to be back home, etc. etc.
Next was the very cool duet between Blake and Chris R. - BOTH of whom were beat boxing. I had no idea that Chris R. could beat box, but he was really good - not quite as good as Blake, but pretty darn good at it. They sang a few songs (one would sing, the other would beat box) such as "Virtual Insanity" (Blake) and "Geek in the Pink" (Chris R.). Then in the middle of one of their beat boxing duets, Blake starts very clearly doing the background opening part of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" and Chris R. just kinda looked at him a little strange, but Blake kept at it and then Chris R. (much to the excitement of the audience) sang the first few lines of "SexyBack" while dancing around Blake.
Lakisha's solo was "I Will Always Love You" and it was a little strange because most of the audience decided to sit down during that song. They did this later for Melinda's solo. I continued to stand up though. I don't know why everyone decided to sit down during it. Chris R. sang "This Love" and I thought that was a little bit of a strange choice given that Blake sang it during the season, so the fans of this group are accustomed to that version. His was all right though, but I like Blake's version better.
Phil and Gina did a duet, but I'm not sure what it was - another set list from this tour that I'm referencing says it should have been "Another one Bites the Dust" but I know it wasn't that. At the end of the song they introduced each other and then Phil says something like "this is your home town we're in tonight, Gina," and she says "This is my home town that we're in," and then Phil suggests we do something a little different, and brings out Gina's boyfriend, Joey, who I think was carrying her little plushie named pickle. Joey asks if there are some Gina fans in the audience - a lot of people cheer - and then he says that he's the biggest Gina fan in the world. Then he started moving closer to her and saying how she's the love of his life, and the crowd starts cheering - and then he GETS ON HIS KNEE AND PROPOSES TO HER!!! :D I couldn't hear all of what he said because of all the cheering and so forth, but he eneded it saying "will you make me the happiest man on earth?" and then she said yes (she looked TOTALLY shocked by the way) and then she got down on her knees and they were kissing and he put the ring on her finger and then they stood up and he raised up her left hand and they were smiling. It was all really sweet. I'd never seen anyone in person get engaged before ^.^
Sanjaya - who was lined up for the next performance on stage (along with Haley and Chris S., "Life is a Highway") - said "let's here it for Gina and Joey! Congratulations!". After they performed, Jordin came out to introduce Melinda, but she was all excited about Gina and Joey's engagement and said how great it was and how she was sobbing back stage. But then she started talking about Melinda and how close they are, and how great Melinda is, and finally Melinda came out and told her that was enough. Then Melinda told about how she didn't think that they would be good room mates because Jordin is 17 and Melinda is "well, not 17", but that they had so much in common. Then she said that the next song was a love song and "if it would be okay, I would like to dedicate this song to all of you". The song was "Natural Woman" and Melinda had a part where the one backup singer got a spotlight on her and she got to sing a solo part. I thought was really nice, especially since Melinda started out as a backup singer.
All the girls, except Jordin, sang "Ain't no Other Man" and Gina was flashing around her left hand with the ring on it - she looked REALLY happy (aww).
After that came Jordin's segment of the show. She sang "I Who Have Nothing", "Heart Breaker" (which she introduced as being from very early on in the season), and then a stage hand gave her her accustic guitar and she said that she wanted to do something different for us for the tour, to show us a different side of herself and so she thought why not play her guitar. Then she said that before the tour she had "only played my guitar for my family and - my family," so there was a big difference playing in front of thousands of people on tour. She played solo on her acoustic guitar (and sang obviously) "You Were Meant for Me". Then she talked about how she loves all different genres of music, but that country holds a special place in her heart. She said that when she performed "Broken Wing" on the show she was so excited for country week and knew exactly what she wanted to sing, because it is a song that her grandpa really loves. He flew out to see her perform it, and she saw him in the audience, but noticed that he didn't look quite right. After the show, he pulled her aside and told her that his mother, her great-grandmother had passed away. So she said it was a very bitter sweet night and she dedicaetd "Broken Wing" to her grandpa, and to her great-grandmother. Then she asked the audience if we remembered the week when she had "that really big fro", and said that she wanted us to really get into the next song as a lot of us probably know it - and then she mentioned Gina and Joey - before playing "Living on a Prayer" during the end of that song the whole rest of the group came out and sang the last bit with her.
The encore was Jordin singing "This is My Now", the winning song, and then the whole group reprised a little bit of one of their solo numbers, including Jordin singing part of "This is My Now" backed up by the whole group. They took a big bow, holding hands, and then each of them walked around the stage and waved, and shook hands. At some point - I think it was then - Sanjaya went up by the backup singers and started doing the running man with them lol, it was adorable.
As I left I kept seeing people with Pop Tarts, and apparently, they were handing those out from big barrels to people as they left, but I didn't get any.
Overall, it was a fun show to go to and it was cool getting to see the top ten live!