Yikes, sounds like Kristy shouldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve stayed inside with the other 8 idols today before the show.

Honestly, I agree with you. I mean, there’s a certain truth to what some of the girls say about the guys getting more attention, but I don’t think it could kill some of them to be more gracious. I don’t mean towards the really douchy people, though, obviously. But if you’re going to come out at to the 100% voluntary outside-the-venue meet & greets, I do think a good attitude goes a long way.

Here’s my crappy Michael/David video, ‘course you can’t see the sign but it’s Sharpied in black on lined paper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn-j-2aGRmc
Note to self: a career in videography and photography is not in the cards for you.

grrrr’s recrap:

Okay, instead of plopping out bits and pieces of information, let me try to make this one cohesive post. I got the venue around 3 o’clock and saw metal barricades set up in front of the venue and maybe 75-100 people. (I’m awful at this kind of guesstimation, though there were only about 5 dudes, including one who at one point buried his head in his arms…heh.) I asked around and nobody had come out yet so I decided to park myself right there. Met some cool people including a couple of Archuleta fans from Hong Kong who were going back later this week. A little bit later Archie came out and started working the line- total sweetheart. Some kiddies came up next to me and the older girl asked him nicely to take a picture and he talked with them for a bit, asking their ages and stuff. He spent some time with our group and I congratulated him on the single doing so well and told him I’d heard it on the radio on the way over and he was really appreciative and just plain adorable. He also autographed the sad little TV Guide cover I brought with me because I didn’t know what else to bring just in case. I probably would’ve attempted to get my picture taken with him since the mood was pretty low-key and relaxed but a few exuberant crazies (mom and 2 daughters?) almost trampled me. Not exaggerating there either. Thanks, skeery people! Bitchy Lee had come out in the meantime and seemed to basically skip the whole middle part of the line and went back inside pretty quickly. Dadchuleta also came out and got a fair amount of attention from people- he was out longer than David, just chatting people up. Captain Graybeard was out at one point and mentioned the official meet & greets being from 4-5, but we were still hoping that someone else would come out but they didn’t. I’m cool with it, though, since again it’s voluntary and I know they have other obligations to deal with. We saw Carly’s husband walking around outside the venue, but I don’t think anyone bothered him. Amidst all this standing around, I attempted to go to Will Call but I was shut down by a big meanie who was standing guard at the door next to Will Call which was apparently the official meet&greet entrance. She sent me all the way to the other side of the venue for no reason at all, in million degree heat, when all I had to do was wait around until 5 for Will Call to open again. In memory of this biatch, I send her a lovely 2 finger salute.

So eventually I did pick up my super awesome ticket and a can of vitamin water from some radio station people which kept from melting into the ground like the Wicked Witch of the West and then after a little more waiting around, it was time to go in. I made my way all the way to ROW A in the most giddy way possible (because I’m dork, obviously), when I find that there are only 4 seats in Row A and my ticket is for #8. Several really cool security guards checked out the problem. In the meantime, I kindly offered to sit backstage if they couldn’t find a seat for me. And it turns out that mine was the only seat they’d sold in that row. After a few of them of them told me I could bring someone up if I wanted to, I asked one of the girls I’d been waiting outside with because I didn’t want to let the seats go to waste. When we got back, we were told that the “building” would probably fill those seats up which made no sense but then the, uh, not-so-nice head security person showed up and sent my poor seatmate back to her seat. Sorrow. The row actually filled up later by people who’d been sold non-existent seats in the second row.

Showtime: Instead of doing the typical rundown, I think I’ll just mention things that stood out to me. Everyone sounded great!!!! I was surprised that even the ones that I didn’t care for that much on the show were all really good singers. No one sounded like crap, yay! The closest anyone came to sounding off was Kristy Lee during the encore because she sounded really tinny. Archie’s voice was so rich and full. Brooke’s was really rich and throaty (she’d be fantastic in smaller theatre-type venues). Chikezie sounded great and was the perfect opener. Carly was a little shouty (but not shrieky) during the Evanescence song but her voice sounded gorgeous during the other two songs. And this is coming from someone who never cared for Carly’s voice at all. Her Irish accent was very audible during her banter, during which she mentioned Todd having family in Florida.
Speaking of the banter, the 2 “hometown” girls were super excited about being back here and the reception they received from the audience. They both put really great sets and Syesha got a mini-standing O after “Listen.” Archie’s banter was adorable and he mentioned how he’d lived down here as well and paused for a while between songs because people had just done lost their minds over him. It was the cutest thing in the world. (Even though I was trying not to ralph from having to smell that acrid dry ice.) Kristy mentioned going to the beach with Brooke, Jason, and Roxy (either I heard that wrong or ???) Brooke mentioned the ocean being so warm (like a bathtub, I think?) And just a bit of randomness that won’t fit in anywhere else, I thought the lead guitarist was soooo good, very impressive! /end of minutiae

Okay, so I was having fun, enjoying the show, singing along, but I stayed in my seat for the most part despite reassurances from the people around that I wasn’t in their way. I guess maybe subconsciously I wanted to save the most fun for DC’s set? From the moment his head appeared from the stage floor all gopher-like (heh…), his performance outshined the rest. I’m guessing attending a lot of concerts as audience member enriches your ability as a performer to transmit that energy around so that everyone feels included. After he shot video of the audience, he said something like “now I got all of you (on camera)” and I got the sense that he really was trying to get ALL of us. The audience loved them some David Cook. I do think it was more of an Archie crowd, but the response to DC was huge and probably equal at certain points. Meanwhile, I’m having and awesome time (the time of my life? heh…) singing along (with abandon, I might add). Right during the beginning of “My Hero,” I swear DC looks right over at me and laughs. Like, a happy laugh. Now since he can’t actually hear me singing, I’m assuming it was just a “look at this dork loving her some Foo Fighters” type of reaction. In any case, I was amused. Right before the Billie Jean encore, Captain Graybeard took 3 of the tweenies from the third row, who’d all attended the Marquis Jet meet&greet, and brought them in front of the barricade. He puts on a stoic demeanor but he’s a big softie! I even saw him kinda clapping at one point, can’t remember if it was during DC’s set or the encore. The encore was great, Micheal was hamming it up a lot, dancing behind Ramielle, and doing a weird spaz dance by himself, and of course the awesome Mavid “dance.” I’m glad if I didn’t see a funny “Latin” themed dance, that I saw something as sweet as their message about Luke.

On my way out, I chatted up some of the Marquis Jet girls, turns out they got those passes just by being friends/family and their meet & greets are much cooler than the regular Kellogg’s one. It sounds like what I’ve heard of the afterparties. The girls had nice things to say about everyone except Kristy Lee. So it wasn’t just those of us outside that were left with a negative impression. There were a buttload of people in line for the afterparty and an even bigger buttload of people waiting outside (for once security didn’t try to fight the aftershow crowds and set up barricades on the side of the venue). I figured it was probably wise not to take my chances waiting again and headed home.

The few pics I took are blurry as hell so I’m not going to post those. Here’s the pick: Front Back

Pretty sure it started on time. It lasted/lasts 3 hrs and there are about 20 minutes of intermission after the first group song w/the bottom 5.