Before the Concert
Tuesday, my friend Courtney and I went to the American Idols Live tour in Pittsburgh, PA.
I wanted to get there between 2:30 and 3:00 PM but she's doing clinicals and couldn't get out until 2:30 [she's in radiology]. So we didn't get to the venue until a little after 4:00.
When we got there there were still a good many people waiting by the fence down by the bus lot, but the girl beside us said that a few of the Idols had already came out.
She'd got pics with Jason, Brooke, pics of Archie and Kristy Lee, and got them to sign stuff. Cook was out briefly but from what I heard, not long and people didn't get many pics/autographs. Michael Johns got off the bus late and signed a couple people's things quickly and then said he was late for the Meet and Greet and had to go.
Ramiele, Chikezie, Carly, and Syesha didn't come out at the beginning.
Unprepared for a picture, I did get to see Archie. He came out with his dad to get something out of the bus, and he came around the buses and waved at everyone and said hi but then disappeared behind his dad into the bus, and stupid ole douchey Jeff Archuleta blocked our view when Archie snuck out and went back in the venue.
After that it was almost time for the doors to open so we went and got in line, and it didn't take anytime at all to get in.
We started walking up a ramp cause the signs were so confusing and one of the guys that worked there was like "oh no you need to go down a level, you got the good seats".
Low and behold we went in and where our seats were was a "Club Lounge" since we had the expensive, Club Igloo seats. It was dimly lit with food and beverage stands and 2 fully stocked bars. The bathrooms were really nice hahah!
Then we found our seats, which were really great. I'm glad that's where we sat instead of the floor because I'm short and I would have had a hell of a time seeing.
The Concert
The concert started and the host was annoying so when he shut up I was glad.
Then they started the real show and Chikezie came out. I was actually really excited to see him because he was one of my mom's favorites and I loved his audition but the rest of his performances were boring to me.
When he came out, he blew the roof off the place. He started with "I Believe to My Soul" singing the line he made famous on Idol "when you know my name's Chikezie baby!" He then sang "Caught Up" by Usher [he sounded much better than old Usher imho], and finished up with a mind blowing performance of John Legend's "So High". I'm a huge John Legend fan and I'd say Chikezie was just as good if not better than John. If he had sang as good as he did at our concert, on the show, he would have went far.
After Chikezie, Ramiele Malubay came out to perform. She started off with some choreography with the bg singers, performing "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5. She was so cute and tiny and she did a really good job. After that she talked a bit and sang "Love Will Lead You Back" by Taylor Danes, and "If I Never See Your Face" by Maroon 5. She blew me away too. Once again I wish she'd sang that well on the show. Very impressed.
I promised I'd just yell a little bit and clap and stuff, but I couldn't contain myself and when Michael Johns rose out of the floor and started singing Queen's "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions", I screamed like a little fangirl at the top of my lungs. He is so freaking fabulous it's not even funny. He really got the crowd pumped up. He was dancing and carrying on, he's a hoot. I love him. I kept telling Courtney "I love him so much" over and over; pretty sure she thought I was nuts. He told us that he went with KLC and Carly to the Pittsburgh Pirates game the night before and that he climbed up onto the top of the dugout and was dancing! The others backed him up on his story, and he was so hilarious, and hot. He sang my personal Johns' favorite, "It's All Wrong but it's All Right" and I was super excited because he hit the high note at the end unlike the studio version he did. I felt special. My camera memory cut out during him singing that so I didn't get a very big clip, luckily someone I know did. He finished up with "Dream On" by Aerosmith and he really wowed me majorly. I love him. He, to me, is seriously one of the biggest rip offs ever on American Idol, he should have got way higher than 8th place. Such a bust. I'm def. supporting his career and plan on attending some MJ shows in the future.
Kristy Lee Cook, whom you may know I didn't like during Idol, was next, and surprisingly she put on a really good show. I still am not a big fan of her voice but her songs were catchy ["Squeezin the Love Out Of You", "God Bless the USA" and "Cowgirls"] and she really sounded much better live than on TV.
Carly Smithson, one of my personal idols was up next. I was super excited to see Carly because she was one of my faves this season and she's seriously the best vocalist I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. No lie. She did the best, imho, of the entire night, performing "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence, "Crazy On You" by Heart, and "I Drove All Night" by Cyndi Lauper/Celine Dion. She blew everyone out of the water, and her dismissal from the show was seriously one of the other big injustices of all time on Idol. Carly was amazing and so cute. She'd never been to a baseball game before and she went with Johns and KLC and got a baseball signed by the players. She was awesome and I love her!
Brooke White was next, and I wasn't ever a big fan of Brooke and she was the least impressive of the night. She came out of the floor with her piano singing "Let It Be" by the Beatles. She was shoeless and after that she came up the end of the state with her guitar and sang "1,2,3,4" by Fiest, which was kind of blah to me and not as good as the original. She said "be ready to snap it out" and I was not really impressed and she was too mellow and unexciting to me. I only took 2 pics of her and no vids.
The group of them, Chikezie, Ramiele, Johns, KLC, Carly, and Brooke came out and talked about Idol Gives Back and they showed a montage on the screen as they sang "One Love" by U2, and the only one they introduced was MJ. The announcer said "Ladies and Gentleman MICHAEL JOHNS!" as he rose out of the floor while the rest were already singing. He was the star of the whole shebang, and justifiably so. He was amazing.
After that they took a break and when they came back it was time for one of my loves, Jason Castro, who was utterly amazing live. He sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with his ukelele and was soooo good, and I didn't even originally care for that version of the song. He was 100x better live than on tv [and I loved him on tv!]. He talked a lot to the crowd and was really laid back but enthusiastic as well. He told us that he forgot to pull his hair back and it was weird [I have it on vid too]. He also said "I'm having as really good day today for some reason, but then again I haven't had a bad day in 10 years!" Jason Castro is love. He sang "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, and finished up with "Daydream" which was amazing. He sounded flawless and was so amazingly friendly to the crowd.
Syesha Mercado was next and I don't think she should have got 3rd place [I actually had a hard time remembering before the show, who got 3rd place]. She was wearing a way too short dress that the camera men had fun filming up, lol. She did look pretty though and she sounded great for what it was. I don't think she's original and there are 100 people who sing just like her so I wasn't too impressed with her performance but it was enjoyable overall.
Second place finisher, David Archuleta, was next and the girls went wild. I mean everyone screamed a lot during the whole thing but they really let loose when Archie came on, as expected. He rose out of the stage with his piano and performed "Angels" by Robbie Williams and sounded so amazing. He looks a lot older than in pics/on tv as well, though still short and illegal [only a few more months MORGAN!!!]. He put on a lot better show live than he did on tv. He was awesome talking to the crowd, and performed One Republic's "Apologize", and then did his version of "Stand By Me" with Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" mixed in. He really danced around a lot [got a vid of that too], and blew me away in the end. He finished with "When You Say You Love Me" by Josh Groban and the song was perfect. He has an incredible voice and was so delicious, I mean cute.
Finally it was time for our American Idol, and my personal HERO in life, David Cook. Cook rose out of the stage with a Terrible Towel tied around his mic stand and performed "Hello" by Lionel Richie. The first thing I noticed about ole Cookie was his use of eyeliner/guyliner. Not a fan of it on him but he still looked hawt. His hair was freshly cut, and he had on super super tight skinny leg black jeans, and a pinkish red tight tee with the word BAD on the front. He looked amazing as usual. He talked to the crowd a lot and thanked them for making his single such a hit, and then sang it: "Time of My Life", which my camera memory cut out on too. I ended up deleting almost all my beach pics because I'd rather have Cookie than waves. :] He also did "Don't Want to Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith, and then came back out to do "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. I was kind of disappointed because he didn't do my faves ["Always Be My Baby" and "Innocent"] but he was amazing.
Finally the entire Top 10 came out together and sang Rihanna's "Please Don't Stop the Music", which was another Idol favorite of mine. They didn't do the parts they did on IGB because there were more of them, but they did amazing and Jason and Cook got to sing their parts, even though they repeated the same verse twice, I was confused. I got a couple more pics but was fixing the memory when Michael started dancing and going "ooh ooh ooh" and then picked KLC up and spun her in circles over his shoulder. He also danced and shook his booty with DC a bit, which I didn't get on camera but a girl that went that I know from IDF did.They were amazing!
After the Concert
We waited practically 2 hours after the show and all but Cook [ppl said they thought he was sick], Chikezie and Ramiele, came out to sign. They all started in the middle and worked their way down the right [we were on the left], and only Syesha and Kristy Lee made it up to our side to sign and take pics before management dragged them away. I got a pic of not with [a fence was in between us] of each of them and their autographs. Kristy Lee is seriously one of the nicest girls ever and she and Syesha are gorgeous in person.
Archie's dad and wanna-be bodyguard pulled him away almost 10 minutes before the rest had to leave. Jason and Brooke got pulled away quickly too. Carly was signing but not long because she hurt her hip a couple shows back and it was hurting her. She was holding it and limping and looked in pain before waving goodbye and getting on the bus.
I really wanted Johns' pic/sig most of all, but right when he was working his way down to us the bodyguard pulled him away towards the bus, he was the last one out. He turned around and ran back to the crowed and slapped all our hands as he jogged by before reluctantly going back on the bus with the rest of the security team. I was sad but still happy. He's so much hotter in person. My Lord. Words cannot describe....
Overall I had an amazing time. I wish I'd have met more of them but it was worth what I got. I plan on going to see all of my top 5 sometime in the future!
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