Our respit was short. I totally spent longer than I anticipated at the E-Center this afternoon. I hadn’t fed Michaela or I any lunch and I feared that I had totally dehydrated my kid. So once we realized that David Archuleta was scrambling to autograph EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY without taking anymore pictures, we hightailed it out of there. It was hot. I was starving and Michaela was a sweaty mess. We made it home in record tim albiet there was a detour at the snow cone stand – gotta have the ice. We managed to scarf that down and Michaela had some sort of nap which would hold her the rest of the evening.
Before I knew it, it was time to go. Mom takes a little bit longer to get going these days so we had to give ourselves ample time to get out of the house, into the car and on the road. Once we were on our way, Rickey phoned to do my “sound check.” Honestly, I felt so official – a part of something. It was fun. Rickey was excited and it was really easy to play off his energy. The sound check went well and before long, we had arrived at the E-Center. The crowds were already forming and there was a fight for the handicap spaces. What’s up with that?! There seemed to be only two empty ones left and they both had been barricaded by orange cones. I wasn’t having any of that, so I jumped out of the car to remove them so we could park. We wheeled Mom into the “VIP / Handicapped” entrance and who do we see but Mr. Jeff Archuleta! Wow! Ok, so I asked Mom, “Do you want to say hi to David’s dad?” Sure! Just as we were about to say “hey”, his phone rang and he ran out the door. I watched where he went and noticed that he had to greet his family. We saw Lupe (who is super skinny, btw. She’s had 4 or 5 kids and she looks like THAT!? Hate her. Not.) and we also saw David’s brother. I didn’t see any other siblings that I could tell. What was interesting about this was that they would NOT let the Archuletas into this entrance. Unless you were in a wheelchair or had a special pass, you weren’t getting in. Poor Lupe! She had to sit outside for about 20 minutes or so while Jeff went to get her pass. Meanwhile, he came back into the waiting area and breezed past me so I said “Hey, Jeff.” And he responded with a “Oh, HI!!!” And he looked at me with this huge grin and I was like, whatchu smilin’ at? I told him that he didn’t know me. And he insisted that he did. And then he told me he’d seen me before and wanted to know where I lived. Believe me, dude, you don’t know me, I thought! I told him and he asked if I had kids in sports. While it was flattering to be fake-recognized I was about to go, “Hey, buster! I may be old enough to be your son’s sister but I am not old enough to have a teenager.” That’s not true. I am. I am in total denial. I’M OLD! So, that is the extent of my brush with Jeff Archuleta. He had to get on an elevator at that point but I will say that he kept looking at me as if he knew me and I thought that was sorta creepy in a funny sort of way. I kinda hope that drove him nuts the most of the night. 
I will say that all that I’ve read about the man seems totally off base. He was totally approachable and he was very kind. I think the press is full of crap.
So, we made it to our seats which were what I expected. FAR AWAY. But we settled in and figured we’d make the best of it. As predicted, there was a trip to the souviner stand but I luckily got away with buying Michaela a $15 teddy bear. This year’s format was a little different and the production values certainly have improved since the first time I saw an Idol concert back from Season 4. Each Idol is showcased with a 3 song set with the exception of both Davids who got 4 and 5 songs respectively. Chikeze, Ramiele, Michael Johns, Kristy Lee Cook, Carly Smithson and Brooke White were up first. They’ve come a long way. I genuinely enjoyed all of them although I wished I could have heard songs I was more familiar with, particularly from Chikeze. He is such a ball of energy that it would have been really great to hear that one song he sang from the show with all the banjo. That would have been really cool. Regardless, the first half of the show was stellar. I was enlisted to phone in to Rickey during Michael Johns and Carly’s sets. I wasn’t sure how it’d work. I dialed in and watched the display on my phone to make sure I wasn’t disconnected, occasionally I’d listen to it to see if there was anything there and during Kristy Lee’s set, I called my voice mail to make sure my phone was working! LOL. Sorry I was paranoid. Thankfully Rickey called later to confirm that the calls worked. Yay.
I have to say that my favorites up to this point were Michael Johns, Kristy Lee Cook (yes, HER!) and Brooke White. All the Idols were fabulous but their sets in particular were fantastic. Special kudos goes to Carly though – she’s quite the performer…very intense and certainly loves to be on stage.
Intermissionw as long. The E-Center wasn’t well ventilated so it was getting dang hot. I wasn’t really interested in the Guitar Hero contest but the MC they have this year was funny enough to keep things slightly interesting – especially when he picked on some little 9 year old twins and made them play air guitar. The daggers they shot him here priceless.
Next up was Jason Castro and Syesha who were met with thunderous applause and piercing screams. As predicted, Michaela asked for a snow cone, so I had to run out during Jason’s set to get her one. Thankfully it wasn’t far and I didn’t miss much. I still get a kick out of Jason. He still doesn’t know what to say when he isn’t singing and when he starts to talk he feels silly. He admitted as much, too. He wondered out loud why he has to introduce each song with a story. Then he laughed about it.
Syesha work a very low cut and SHORT dress. Had the camera man gotten any closer to her, there would have been a scandal. As it was, her chest seemd like it was about to explode from the dress – I am sure much to the delight of the guy sitting next to us. Syesha vocals are powerful but I wasn’t to impressed with the song material. Maybe I was just eager for the Davids to get on stage but her set couldn’t end fast enough which is sad because she is certainly a performer worthy of praise. Her final number got a standing ovation.
I managed to take video of THE MOMENT. The moment that David Archuleta was greeted by his home town. All night the idols referred to it being “Archey-land” and each of them, I think was genuinely surprised at the reception they all received. Sure most of the folks there were there to see Archuleta but the crowd welcomed the others warmly, if not enthusiastically. If what they say is true, SLC has proven themselves to be the loudest crowd yet on the tour. I can believe that because by the time Archey started to rise from the smoke in the middle of the stage, the screams were so deafening it appeared the roof just might pop right off the top of the E-Center. I will upload the video overnight. It’s of his whole set and over 20 minutes long. It’s a big one. It may take a while. As for the performances, David once again proved himself to be a pro. He seemed really overwhelmed and by the end of his performances he had to leave the stage wiping away his tears. It was a magical moment to witness. All the while I thought of his Mom and Dad. They must really be bursting with pride. It certainly is an awesome sight to behold when you see one emerge as a super-star and tonight David was definitely a super star!
David Cook took to the stage last. He is a skilled performer and worthy of the AI title. His music was solid and the crowd was almost as enthusastic for him as they were Archey…ALMOST. I am sure that his time will come when he plays his hometown. Cook admitted to the crowd that the other idols were nervous coming to SLC because the fan bases had been somewhat extreme this year. Tis true. I have witnessed many a Cookie vs. Archey battle here online. But there were none to be had tonight. It was definitely an IDOL NIGHT but with an emphasis on Archey. Of this, Cook was aware and didn’t seem to mind.
If there was one thing that I could change about the show was the last song of the night. All 10 idols come out and sing some sort of chanting song (gee, the name escapes me but I know i have heard it before). The video screens show some psychadelic stuff and it isn’t very interesting. I would have liked to see the idols’ faces before they disappear to the backstage for the last time. But alas, it wasn’t to be.
So, the show as GREAT! Each performer has grown so much and each brought their own personal style to they show which was nice. I enjoyed the format although I do miss the duets. It woud have been fun to see a couple of them sing together.
Well, I am off to start the video upload and get to bed. I do have to work in a few hours and I am doggone tired!
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