The TIme of MY Life -AI Worcester 8.9.08
So I had the Time of My Life last night in Worcester at the American Idol show. Here's the full recap - it is LONG, plus there's some pictures. It was an amazing day! Enjoy!
Never in a million years did I ever think I would go to an American Idol concert. This is the first season I’ve been so invested, and when a good seat popped up for the Worcester concert, I grabbed it and went. I had heard stories about people arriving early and having luck meeting the Idols, so since I only live about 20 minutes away, I thought ‘what the hell’ and got there at 12:30. When I arrived, there were probably 75-100 people waiting already, with very lax security. There were a couple of barriers set up with people just lounging around - I had met Chrissy and we were hanging out with some really nice Archie fans. About 1, security came out and moved the barriers and made more of a line - and I ended up right in the front up against the barrier, right next to Chrissy. The crowd continued to grow, and about 2ish, we saw the busses at the corner and of course everyone started going nuts. We were standing right by the press entrance and every time the door opened, we’d all freak out, but it was nothing. Finally, about 2:30, David Cook came out with Ramiele and made his way down to the end away from where we were to work his way down.
I am freaking out at this point, as I didn’t expect David to be the first one out - I called Heather in a completely incoherent state and babbled to her something about him being the first one out and that I’d call her later. Or something. When David was about 6 or 7 people from me, he was told he had to hurry up because he had press to do inside, so by the time he got to me, he only had like, 30 seconds. Which was fine. I would have liked to get a picture, but I’ll take what I can get. I had printed out a picture of him, Archie, Jason and MJ from the finale and I handed it to him along with a silver sharpie. He commented on the picture (something along the lines of “This is a great picture”) and then asked me who he was making it out to. I told him Sarah, and he asked me if I spelled my name with an H. He handed me the picture back after he signed it and I got a hug! The man smelled amazing! I think I thanked him (I hope I did, because I don’t remember) and he kept going. I will say that I was so impressed that he only had 30 seconds or so to sign my picture, and he not only asked me my name to personalize it, but asked if I had an H on it to be sure he personalized it correctly. What a sweetheart. He made me feel like I was the only person there, and that was awesome. Oh and pictures do not do that man justice. He is way more gorgeous in person!
David Archuletta came down the line not long after David Cook went inside, and Archie is just as adorable in person as he seems. The security guard that he had with him had his hands full of gifts for Archie from the fans - it was insane and he was only halfway down the line, I wanted to give Archie a hug, but he was hurrying as well. I did get him to sign my photo too. Brooke, Carly, Kristy and Ramiele were out signing as well, and while I didn’t have anything for any of them to sign, I did get pictures of them. Ramiele is SO cute and so tiny! They eventually went in about 3:45, and while I was disappointed that Michael, Jason, Chickeze and Sayesha didn’t come out, it was fine.
After the pre-show cookout, I headed over to the arena, and had pretty good seats - I was up on the side of the stage, in the lower section but about 3 rows away from the door. The view was good, but I was disappointed that I wasn’t closer. I guess I’ve gotten used to being close at shows (and on the floor too) so I don’t have many pictures from the show itself. The show was in a word - Amazing. I liked Chickeze, but didn’t really care much for Ramiele. Michael Johns was just hot. He really got booted off too early, and I loved hearing him sing Dream On and Queen. I can’t wait for his CD! Kristy was pretty good - I didn’t care too much for the country songs she sang, but she brought me to tears with God Bless the USA. Carly was incredible. I loved watching her - She rocked the house with Bring Me to Life (and I love that song as it is) and Drove All Night. Brooke pleasantly surprised me - I have always loved Let It Be, and then she covered Coldplay’s Yellow - which also got me all choked up. Her take on it was just beautiful. She also sang another song that I’m not sure of the name of, but I didn’t like it as much as the ones on piano. After intermission was Jason! I loved Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Crazy, and he was just fun. He’s so laid back and I love him. I’m not really sure where he’s going to end up, but I just love his personality. Sayesha was next and I didn’t care for her set either. While I thought she sang well, I just have never really liked her.
When Archie took the stage, the arena got really loud - he came up through the floor and sang Angels, and also sang Stand by Me (which I LOVE) and When You Say You Love Me (and I love that song too), He blew me away. I didn’t think I’d like him as much as I did. David Cook took the stage and seriously rocked our faces off. I really thought the roof was going to blow off the top of the arena. He started with Hello, and then sang Time of My Life. He let us all sing along with him at one point, and at the end of it he looked really emotional and was taking in the whole moment. He told us a funny story about getting a phone call from his mom and her telling him TOML was on the Olympics opening ceremonies and she freaked out. Then he said “I digress” The man is such a word nerd - I love it! After David sang I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, where we had another sing along. Before he sang My Hero, he said that he didn’t want to keep going because he wanted to soak in the moment. My Hero was hot, and then he came back out for an encore of Billie Jean. I was toast the minute he opened his mouth to sing Hello and I really don’t know how my knees didn’t buckle under me and I remained standing. Granted, I don’t know how I managed to remain standing when I met him earlier in the afternoon, but that’s besides the point.
After he finished, everyone came out to sing Please Don’t Stop the Music and there was NO MAVID DANCE. I was so bummed because I was really looking forward to it. Although I had read that if it’s not there, they don’t force it, so I was like, whatever. Where my seats were, I actually was close to the door, so as soon as the house lights came up, I was out the door and outside in a matter of minutes. I wasn’t planning on hanging out for busses, but when I saw that the door where I went out was right where they had barricades all set up and there weren’t too many people out there waiting yet, I decided to stick around for awhile to see what happened. I met a couple of girls in Mavid shirts and we had fun talking and discovered we were all on the Flyboys community together (cherazz22784 and brainzz_insane. Cherazz was kind enough to share some of her pictures with me because my camera was being a PITA and I couldn’t set it correctly when we got outside. So thank you! :) )
We waited for about 45-50 minutes and Jason came out! He started down at the end of the barricade closest to us, so it still took him awhile to get to us. I got him to sign my picture as well as the tour book for a person behind me. He made comment about the picture as to how it was cool- I wanted to give him a hug but my hands were full and since I was standing right in front at the barricade, I was helping people who were behind me get stuff signed. Jason’s as laid back in person as he appears on stage. Carly, Kristy, Sayesha, and Brooke came out as well, so that was fun. I hadn’t seen Sayesha before the show, and while I didn’t have anything personally for them to sign, I again was helping people behind me get their signatures. I knew since I was in the front it was the least I could do because I know how much it sucks being suck behind a huge crowd of people trying to sign things! In the meantime, Michael had come out! Michael was the last person who I needed to get to sign my picture, and he had started down at the end of the line away from us, so it took him awhile to get to where we were. I actually almost didn’t get his autograph, since he’s so tall, he was reaching over me to take other things people were holding out for him to sign. I finally got him to sign my picture for me and he sang a little bit of The Doors - Light My Fire! It was totally hot. He also made comment about the Mavid manipulated picture that he had been given to sign. He held it up and said he needed to have it hanging in his bunk and then sang Hello! He’s such a trip and I loved the fact he spent a bit of time in front of us! Love that accent. MJ also addressed the no Mavid dance thing and he was pissed. He said that TPTB had told them to stop the foolishness, and told us to get everyone to post on the boards and create a huge stir. It seems to have happened.
After I met MJ, I saw Archie really close to me again, but I hadn’t seen him come out. I wonder if they had brought him out another door - because I saw his dad come out, but not him. Since I had met him that afternoon, I stepped back to let others have their chance and headed back to my car. I felt so lucky and blessed to have the experience that I did. I really feel like the whole day was an out of body experience. I never imagined that I’d be able to meet as many of them as I did (after the whole day, the only one I didn’t meet was Chickeze), and especially not David! I am still debating on going to the Providence show - and if the luck is on my side again closer to the date, well, I just may end up there!
My signed picture!
I have a bunch more pictures, including some from Cherazz posted on my photobucket Here if you'd like to check them out! :)
Never in a million years did I ever think I would go to an American Idol concert. This is the first season I’ve been so invested, and when a good seat popped up for the Worcester concert, I grabbed it and went. I had heard stories about people arriving early and having luck meeting the Idols, so since I only live about 20 minutes away, I thought ‘what the hell’ and got there at 12:30. When I arrived, there were probably 75-100 people waiting already, with very lax security. There were a couple of barriers set up with people just lounging around - I had met Chrissy and we were hanging out with some really nice Archie fans. About 1, security came out and moved the barriers and made more of a line - and I ended up right in the front up against the barrier, right next to Chrissy. The crowd continued to grow, and about 2ish, we saw the busses at the corner and of course everyone started going nuts. We were standing right by the press entrance and every time the door opened, we’d all freak out, but it was nothing. Finally, about 2:30, David Cook came out with Ramiele and made his way down to the end away from where we were to work his way down.
I am freaking out at this point, as I didn’t expect David to be the first one out - I called Heather in a completely incoherent state and babbled to her something about him being the first one out and that I’d call her later. Or something. When David was about 6 or 7 people from me, he was told he had to hurry up because he had press to do inside, so by the time he got to me, he only had like, 30 seconds. Which was fine. I would have liked to get a picture, but I’ll take what I can get. I had printed out a picture of him, Archie, Jason and MJ from the finale and I handed it to him along with a silver sharpie. He commented on the picture (something along the lines of “This is a great picture”) and then asked me who he was making it out to. I told him Sarah, and he asked me if I spelled my name with an H. He handed me the picture back after he signed it and I got a hug! The man smelled amazing! I think I thanked him (I hope I did, because I don’t remember) and he kept going. I will say that I was so impressed that he only had 30 seconds or so to sign my picture, and he not only asked me my name to personalize it, but asked if I had an H on it to be sure he personalized it correctly. What a sweetheart. He made me feel like I was the only person there, and that was awesome. Oh and pictures do not do that man justice. He is way more gorgeous in person!
David Archuletta came down the line not long after David Cook went inside, and Archie is just as adorable in person as he seems. The security guard that he had with him had his hands full of gifts for Archie from the fans - it was insane and he was only halfway down the line, I wanted to give Archie a hug, but he was hurrying as well. I did get him to sign my photo too. Brooke, Carly, Kristy and Ramiele were out signing as well, and while I didn’t have anything for any of them to sign, I did get pictures of them. Ramiele is SO cute and so tiny! They eventually went in about 3:45, and while I was disappointed that Michael, Jason, Chickeze and Sayesha didn’t come out, it was fine.
After the pre-show cookout, I headed over to the arena, and had pretty good seats - I was up on the side of the stage, in the lower section but about 3 rows away from the door. The view was good, but I was disappointed that I wasn’t closer. I guess I’ve gotten used to being close at shows (and on the floor too) so I don’t have many pictures from the show itself. The show was in a word - Amazing. I liked Chickeze, but didn’t really care much for Ramiele. Michael Johns was just hot. He really got booted off too early, and I loved hearing him sing Dream On and Queen. I can’t wait for his CD! Kristy was pretty good - I didn’t care too much for the country songs she sang, but she brought me to tears with God Bless the USA. Carly was incredible. I loved watching her - She rocked the house with Bring Me to Life (and I love that song as it is) and Drove All Night. Brooke pleasantly surprised me - I have always loved Let It Be, and then she covered Coldplay’s Yellow - which also got me all choked up. Her take on it was just beautiful. She also sang another song that I’m not sure of the name of, but I didn’t like it as much as the ones on piano. After intermission was Jason! I loved Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Crazy, and he was just fun. He’s so laid back and I love him. I’m not really sure where he’s going to end up, but I just love his personality. Sayesha was next and I didn’t care for her set either. While I thought she sang well, I just have never really liked her.
When Archie took the stage, the arena got really loud - he came up through the floor and sang Angels, and also sang Stand by Me (which I LOVE) and When You Say You Love Me (and I love that song too), He blew me away. I didn’t think I’d like him as much as I did. David Cook took the stage and seriously rocked our faces off. I really thought the roof was going to blow off the top of the arena. He started with Hello, and then sang Time of My Life. He let us all sing along with him at one point, and at the end of it he looked really emotional and was taking in the whole moment. He told us a funny story about getting a phone call from his mom and her telling him TOML was on the Olympics opening ceremonies and she freaked out. Then he said “I digress” The man is such a word nerd - I love it! After David sang I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, where we had another sing along. Before he sang My Hero, he said that he didn’t want to keep going because he wanted to soak in the moment. My Hero was hot, and then he came back out for an encore of Billie Jean. I was toast the minute he opened his mouth to sing Hello and I really don’t know how my knees didn’t buckle under me and I remained standing. Granted, I don’t know how I managed to remain standing when I met him earlier in the afternoon, but that’s besides the point.
After he finished, everyone came out to sing Please Don’t Stop the Music and there was NO MAVID DANCE. I was so bummed because I was really looking forward to it. Although I had read that if it’s not there, they don’t force it, so I was like, whatever. Where my seats were, I actually was close to the door, so as soon as the house lights came up, I was out the door and outside in a matter of minutes. I wasn’t planning on hanging out for busses, but when I saw that the door where I went out was right where they had barricades all set up and there weren’t too many people out there waiting yet, I decided to stick around for awhile to see what happened. I met a couple of girls in Mavid shirts and we had fun talking and discovered we were all on the Flyboys community together (cherazz22784 and brainzz_insane. Cherazz was kind enough to share some of her pictures with me because my camera was being a PITA and I couldn’t set it correctly when we got outside. So thank you! :) )
We waited for about 45-50 minutes and Jason came out! He started down at the end of the barricade closest to us, so it still took him awhile to get to us. I got him to sign my picture as well as the tour book for a person behind me. He made comment about the picture as to how it was cool- I wanted to give him a hug but my hands were full and since I was standing right in front at the barricade, I was helping people who were behind me get stuff signed. Jason’s as laid back in person as he appears on stage. Carly, Kristy, Sayesha, and Brooke came out as well, so that was fun. I hadn’t seen Sayesha before the show, and while I didn’t have anything personally for them to sign, I again was helping people behind me get their signatures. I knew since I was in the front it was the least I could do because I know how much it sucks being suck behind a huge crowd of people trying to sign things! In the meantime, Michael had come out! Michael was the last person who I needed to get to sign my picture, and he had started down at the end of the line away from us, so it took him awhile to get to where we were. I actually almost didn’t get his autograph, since he’s so tall, he was reaching over me to take other things people were holding out for him to sign. I finally got him to sign my picture for me and he sang a little bit of The Doors - Light My Fire! It was totally hot. He also made comment about the Mavid manipulated picture that he had been given to sign. He held it up and said he needed to have it hanging in his bunk and then sang Hello! He’s such a trip and I loved the fact he spent a bit of time in front of us! Love that accent. MJ also addressed the no Mavid dance thing and he was pissed. He said that TPTB had told them to stop the foolishness, and told us to get everyone to post on the boards and create a huge stir. It seems to have happened.
After I met MJ, I saw Archie really close to me again, but I hadn’t seen him come out. I wonder if they had brought him out another door - because I saw his dad come out, but not him. Since I had met him that afternoon, I stepped back to let others have their chance and headed back to my car. I felt so lucky and blessed to have the experience that I did. I really feel like the whole day was an out of body experience. I never imagined that I’d be able to meet as many of them as I did (after the whole day, the only one I didn’t meet was Chickeze), and especially not David! I am still debating on going to the Providence show - and if the luck is on my side again closer to the date, well, I just may end up there!
My signed picture!
I have a bunch more pictures, including some from Cherazz posted on my photobucket Here if you'd like to check them out! :)