Jack and his friends attended the after-party following the concert. He sent along some really nice pictures…
The tour was an absolutely amazing experience. Here’s how my day went.

Me and my friend arrived in Hartford around 2:00. We were meeting my other friend from Vermont who was already in Hartford and saw the buses pull up right in front of hotel. When we called her, she said the idols were in the XL center lobby-esque area just signing stuff. This has NEVER happened before in the past five years that I’ve been going to the concerts so I was shocked to walk in and see David Cook standing right there. He had a lot of people waiting by him, so I didn’t even bother because he was almost in the handi-capped section where we were not allowed. David Archuleta was just leaving and was waving goodbye. I also saw Jason Castro walking back and forth. It was so weird for me to see David Cook a few feet away from me, it was completely crazy and I was so star-struck. Then Brooke came out and was walking along the line signing stuff, so I jumped in. She signed a notebook pad I had and took a picture with me that came out REALLY well. She’s SO nice and she wasn’t even my favorite on the show. I always liked her but I am guilty of saying some bad things about a lot of her performances. . I completely take it all back now though! I absolutely loved her. And she smelt really really good! Not to mention, she’s absolutely GORGEOUS in person. She had no make up on, straight hair and she was one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen in my life. Anyway, so after that was the show.

I’m sure everyone knows the songs and tour order so I’m just going to say what I thought of everyone. Everyone did great overall. Chikezie did really good with the songs he had. The songs he did were very soulful and fit him very well. I was never a huge fan of him but thought his act was a great way to start off the show. Next was Ramiele and I was probably most impressed with her from the TV to the live show. She sounded really different live then in person. She was entertaining to watch. Then Michael came out who was fantastic. He was definitely a crowd favorite and had a lot of people screaming. Everything he did sounded fantastic, even those high notes on “Dream On” that many viewers hated! Then came Kristy, whose set I probably least enjoyed. She sounded good, I just didn’t recognize two of her three songs. They were better then I thought. I really wish she could have sang “Anyway” though. She still sounded good; we all know country is what she does best. She sounds different live too, and she looked beautiful too. Next was Carly who did fantastic. “Bring Me to Life” was for sure in the Top 5 performances of the night. You can see that her voice seems to be getting strained on “Crazy on You” but everything she did was fantastic as well. She was another crowd favorite. Next was Brooke whose entire set I loved. Again, never really crazy about her on the show but LOVED everything she did, especially “Yellow.” They did their group number next which was fantastic. They all sounded really good together, and I loved the Marly moment when they walked down the stairs!

Next was intermission. After that Jason sang his songs and did good. He sounded like the typical Jason. Syesha came out next and sounded pretty good on “Umbrella.” I felt like “If I Ain’t Got You’ was okay, but not really amazing. It was a so-what kind of performance, even though she sounded fine. However, “Listen” was without question the best vocal of the night. She sounded FANTASTIC and put a ton of emotion into it. Next was David Archuleta and I felt like my ear drums were going to just explode. There was this ridiculously obnoxious couple of girls behind us. You would have thought they were getting murdered by their screams! Anywho, Archuleta sounded great per usual. He was awesome on “When You Say You Love Me.” By far my favorite vocal of his that night, but all the songs were great. Then David Cook came out and proved why he was the next Idol. He rocked out everything. I really wish he sang “The World I Know” but he was great. “Billie Jean” was probably the overall best performance of the night. They all closed with the usual “Please Don’t Stop The Music” and Mavid did their dances and twirls which was funny. Carly was doing a weird hip motion too but it was funny.

Then was time for the after party! So, we walked in and saw Jason on his phone, and there was a bunch of others idol’s here too. We went to Kristy Lee Cook who was standing in the corner all by herself. So she signed some stuff for us and took a picture. She’s so pretty in person! She was nice in the moment except right when the picture was done, she literally almost ran away. She was walking really fast, didn’t really say goodbye, and just left the after party for good. I didn’t see her the rest of the night so that was really weird and had us all going, “Gee okay bye?” But it’s okay since she was never a REAL favorite anyway.

Then we went to Brooke again and this was my second time meeting her. She’s SO ridiculously nice. She personalized her autographs and she takes a long time signing them. She was one of three who stayed the longest at the party so she definitely cares a ton about her fans. This picture below is what I took with her before the show.

Then we saw Syesha with some people so we figured we’d come back because Jason’s line wasn’t really long yet. We never got that chance because Syesha ran off basically after 3 minutes of being at the party. I hate to believe the diva rumors, but I don’t doubt they are true. She stood there barely smiling and looked like she was forced to be there and she could be doing so many better things then that right then. So, we didn’t get to meet her.

We met Jason who was just like you would expect him to be. He didn’t have any markers and my friend was like, “I have a pen” and he goes “Markers are better then pens” in that typical Jason way. He’s REALLY down to earth and pretty funny. He was definitely a fan favorite.

At this point, Carly and Cook, my two favorites along with Michael, were not at the after party and I was getting really nervous. Then we met Michael who was really really nice. You feel so comfortable talking to him because he doesn’t make it awkward and he’s just a really nice guy. He signed our stuff and took a picture.

Then we went over to Ramiele who was sitting against a wall with a bowl of ice cream. She’s so cute in person! She’s really really tiny though. My friend was like, “You look so tired” and she said, “These boots are freaking killing me!” She was really sweet and also personalized autographs.

I went back over to Michael who was talking with my friend. We are big time MARLY fans. At this point, Carly just walked in and was mobbed by people. I think she had the longest line out of anybody, she had people basically circling around her. So my friend goes, “We really want a picture of me, him, you, and Carly.” And he goes, “With Carly? Sure!” He went over and said something to her and told us to come with him and we got to cut the entire line to take a Marly picture! It was probably the best moment of my concert without a doubt. I had a gift for Carly in my friends bag so I was like “Are you going to be here for a while? And she goes “Yeah” and I’m like “Okay, I’m coming back!” And she’s like, “Okay!”

I went over to my friend who was in line for David Archuleta who didn’t have as many people waiting as I thought. He is SO nice in person. On TV, his giggle was kind of obnoxious but in person it’s so funny and he wasn’t as awkward as I thought he was going to be! He’s pretty short too in person. We also saw his dad! When he was leaving, he tapped Carly and she was looking around because she thought a fan was tapping her or something and everyone’s like, “It was David Archuleta!” She’s like “Oh, I’ll have to get him later.”

The last person we went to was Carly. She still had a ton of people around her. When she got to us, I had a shirt that me and a friend made for her. It said “Smithson” on the back with a big “7.” We put pictures of Carly with Brooke/Syesha, Michael, Cook, etc and fan messages. My friend also got her some necklaces from a store she works at. So I said to her, “I know you said the guys always get the gifts and the girls never do and that’s not fair so we made this for you.” She looked at it and she liked it and she’s like, “A 7?” And I’m like, “Yes on your knuckle!” She looked at her knuckle and was like “Oh yeah!” She said, “I was going to say, I was number 6!” And then I gave her the necklaces and she’s like, “I love jewelery, thank you so much!” She signed my stuff and I also wanted her to sign a key chain, and she signed it and said, “I didn’t even know we had key chains.” And then we took a picture and that was basically it. She looked really tired but still stayed until everyone had what they wanted signed.

Carly, Brooke, and Michael stayed the longest out of everyone. Unfortunately, we did not get to meet David Cook. He didn’t come to the after party because he was sick. I have no idea where Chikezie was either. But it was still a really fantastic night and something I hope everyone gets to enjoy!

Here are links to video I took. Sorry that some of them are shaky. I took clips basically of most of the songs and put them all together by contestant.

• David Cook
• David Archuleta
• Syesha Mercado
• Jason Castro
• Brooke White
• Carly Smithson
• Kristy Lee Cook
• Michael Johns
• Ramiele Malubay
• Chikezie
• Pride in the Name of Love
• Please Dont Stop The Music

12 Responses to “Hartford, CT AI Live! Show – Jackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Recap”