American Idol Sponsored By PopTarts - Coinsidence?
I have to start off by saying that my wife has got to be the luckiest person in radio station giveaway history. In the past year, she has won a 4-Pack to Universal Studios Hollywood, as well as concert tickets to The Backstreet Boys, Destiny's Child, and the most recent, American Idol LIVE. Being fans of the show, we were extremely happy that were were heading to the Anaheim Pond to catch Taylor Hicks and the rest of the clan. I personally was there to lend my support to Chris Daughtry, the true winner of Season Five.
We arrived at 6:00 PM for a 7:00 PM show, so we had time to take in the spectacle that is American Idol. First of all, everywhere you looked there were signs for, posters of, and poor souls dressed up like PopTarts, "the official sponsor" of the concert tour. There were also refrigerators that suggested you freeze your PopTarts, too. Who knew there were so many ways to enjoy fruit-filled yeast? I am not sure if there was a joke between "American Idol" and "PopTarts", but if there was, it wasn't lost on me.
There was a group of young adults dressed in matching t-shirts that were pulling the young fans up onto a dance floor and teaching them dance moves, which was very cute. After getting a couple of beers, Robin and I found an area where you could leave a message for your favorite Idol. I found Chris' and began to write when I was bumped from behind. I tried to continue but was bumped again. At this point, my message looked like a drunk had written it, so that is what I wrote: "Chris, You Rock! I'm Drunk!" I am not sure how appropriate this was since the 9 year old behind me seemed like a true fan and Chris' best friend (even though Chris didn't know it). I just hope Chris enjoyed the joke.
Robin and I decided it was time to find our free seats, and were surprised to find them closer to the stage than expected. We were about 8 rows from the orchestra floor to the left of the stage about 60 yards back. Not bad, especially when you looked up and noticed all the seats that were filled with fans up in the rafters. We knew of a co-worker that was going to be at the concert, too, but never saw her. I found out that she was probably 30 feet from us, we just couldn't see each other over the plethora of kids bouncing off each other from the multiple packages of PopTarts they had ingested.
(for those of you who are not fans of the show, you probably won't get into the synopsis of the performances, so you can skip on down to the bottom)
After inserting my bright yellow and orange earplugs, Mandisa started off the show with a bang...at least, in my opinion, for the women. She came out and dedicated the first song to the ladies (I'm Every Woman). Now, I didn't expect her to sing that to the fellas in the audience, but I felt like that was not the appropriate comment to make at the start of the show. She did dedicate the second song to the guys (If I Were Your Woman), but I just felt like dedications are done after a couple of songs into the set, not right from the get-go. She did sound great, though. She then shared a duet with Ace (Celine Dion's I'm Your Angel), and they sounded really good together. That was very surprising to me since I was not a big fan of Ace during the show. Come to think of it, I was impressed with all of the songs Ace did (Father Figure and Harder To Breathe). There was some 'cheese' factor with him taking off his jacket, but he knew who is audience was and how to play to them. This wasn't the last time the Velvetta was going to fly.
Ace, before leaving the stage and throwing his beanie into the crowd of fawning fifth graders, introduced Anaheim's own Lisa Tucker. Not a big Lisa fan, I pulled out my $3.25 bag of M&M's and began to munch away. However, the echo of the crunching could not stop the beautiful sound that was permeating my fluorescent plugs. She sat behind a keyboard set up center stage and, there alone, played and sang "Your Song" from Elton John. I began to think that this 17 year old had came into her own on this tour. I put the bag down and continued to listen as she performed "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" with ease. Little did I know about the train wreck that was about to come onstage.
"And, now I would like to introduce my best friend, Paris," was heard onstage through the mike.
The crowd sat still while she walked onstage. The two did a duet of "Waterfalls" from TLC (with, what can only be described as gradeschool choreography). The song fell flat, as did her two following songs (Midnight Train To Georgia and Crazy In Love). I find it funny, too, that she was the only one of the Idols that didn't use the hand-held microphone. She had on an ear mic that you see the likes of Janet, Britney, and Beyonce use. And that is not the only thing she stole from Beyonce. She decided to let everyone see that she could move her rump just as well. After all the flailing around on stage, one would think it couldn't get any worse. Then came Bucky.
Bathroom break.
It was amazing to see all the aisles fill with "women and children first" while the men were forced to sit through some country songs we didn't know. As the sits began to fill again, he starting singing "You're The One That I Want" from Grease. I thought it was a duet, but then I realized we had not seen Kelli Pickler. In comes Kelli all in leather, a la Olivia Newton John, and did a decent 'country' version with Bucky. Cheese Factor ALERT: After Bucky left, Kelli unzipped her leather jacket to show a bright red corset, then flung the jacket around. She decided to converse with the audience, which is her appeal, and pointed out at least 50 people to say "hey" to while saying she really enjoyed being there. She finished with "I'm The Only One", "Walking After Midnight" and "Something To Talk About" before leaving the stage for intermission.
Who knew the show would kick into high gear when we returned. My boy, Chris, took the stage first with Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" that just brought the crowd to their feet. I think everyone stayed on their feet, at least the people who decide to move into the empty seats in front of us did. A family of 4 (Dad, Mom, and 2 Kids) filled in the empty space just before the lights went down, and then the kids stood for the rest of the show. The mother turned around and asked me if they were in the way, and even though they were, the concert is for the kids and not so much for the adults. I told her "no" and then bobbed and weaved my way through the end of the show.
After Led Zeppelin, Chris did "Wanted Dead Or Alive", "Renegade" and then started "Savin' Me" by Nickelback when Elliot entered the stage in a flash of light. They rocked the song, then Chris grabbed his guitar and left so Elliot's fans could enjoy "Moody's Mood For Love" and "Trouble". He brought out all the guys and did an acoustic version of "Patience" by Guns 'n Roses. Then the lights went dark.
I think they went dark for too long, because Katherine McPhee was next and I think we accidentally woke her up. She sang a boring version of "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" and a version of "Think" where I 'think' she forgot the words. And, for someone who had fractured her ankle, she sure was running around a lot. Luckily she ended on "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", which the crowd ate up. Then the lights went dark one last time. It was time for...
Taylor Hicks could be seen on the monitor over the stage, but he wasn't on the stage. Everyone was looking around for him when I saw the mother in front of me point over my shoulder. There he was, running down the aisle right next to Robin and me. I think I turned into a little girl for a second or two, screaming "There he is!!! There is Taylor!!!" After I got my composure back, I enjoyed his "Jailhouse Rock"; his guitar ripping "Hollywood Knights"; his harmonica blowing on "Taking It To The Streets". He was doing his dance and enjoying performing for his fans, which is what it was all about.
There was an encore of "We Are The Champions" where the performers came off full of themselves, and "Living In America". We didn't stick around to hear the end of the latter, since there were about 20,000 people about to make a run for their cars. We still had a 45 minute drive home and I didn't want to be stuck in parking lot till 1:00 AM.
All in all, it was a good time. I think doing things out of the norm helps to keep me young. And hanging around 'tweens' doesn't hurt, either.
We arrived at 6:00 PM for a 7:00 PM show, so we had time to take in the spectacle that is American Idol. First of all, everywhere you looked there were signs for, posters of, and poor souls dressed up like PopTarts, "the official sponsor" of the concert tour. There were also refrigerators that suggested you freeze your PopTarts, too. Who knew there were so many ways to enjoy fruit-filled yeast? I am not sure if there was a joke between "American Idol" and "PopTarts", but if there was, it wasn't lost on me.There was a group of young adults dressed in matching t-shirts that were pulling the young fans up onto a dance floor and teaching them dance moves, which was very cute. After getting a couple of beers, Robin and I found an area where you could leave a message for your favorite Idol. I found Chris' and began to write when I was bumped from behind. I tried to continue but was bumped again. At this point, my message looked like a drunk had written it, so that is what I wrote: "Chris, You Rock! I'm Drunk!" I am not sure how appropriate this was since the 9 year old behind me seemed like a true fan and Chris' best friend (even though Chris didn't know it). I just hope Chris enjoyed the joke.
Robin and I decided it was time to find our free seats, and were surprised to find them closer to the stage than expected. We were about 8 rows from the orchestra floor to the left of the stage about 60 yards back. Not bad, especially when you looked up and noticed all the seats that were filled with fans up in the rafters. We knew of a co-worker that was going to be at the concert, too, but never saw her. I found out that she was probably 30 feet from us, we just couldn't see each other over the plethora of kids bouncing off each other from the multiple packages of PopTarts they had ingested.
(for those of you who are not fans of the show, you probably won't get into the synopsis of the performances, so you can skip on down to the bottom)
After inserting my bright yellow and orange earplugs, Mandisa started off the show with a bang...at least, in my opinion, for the women. She came out and dedicated the first song to the ladies (I'm Every Woman). Now, I didn't expect her to sing that to the fellas in the audience, but I felt like that was not the appropriate comment to make at the start of the show. She did dedicate the second song to the guys (If I Were Your Woman), but I just felt like dedications are done after a couple of songs into the set, not right from the get-go. She did sound great, though. She then shared a duet with Ace (Celine Dion's I'm Your Angel), and they sounded really good together. That was very surprising to me since I was not a big fan of Ace during the show. Come to think of it, I was impressed with all of the songs Ace did (Father Figure and Harder To Breathe). There was some 'cheese' factor with him taking off his jacket, but he knew who is audience was and how to play to them. This wasn't the last time the Velvetta was going to fly.
Ace, before leaving the stage and throwing his beanie into the crowd of fawning fifth graders, introduced Anaheim's own Lisa Tucker. Not a big Lisa fan, I pulled out my $3.25 bag of M&M's and began to munch away. However, the echo of the crunching could not stop the beautiful sound that was permeating my fluorescent plugs. She sat behind a keyboard set up center stage and, there alone, played and sang "Your Song" from Elton John. I began to think that this 17 year old had came into her own on this tour. I put the bag down and continued to listen as she performed "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" with ease. Little did I know about the train wreck that was about to come onstage.
"And, now I would like to introduce my best friend, Paris," was heard onstage through the mike.
The crowd sat still while she walked onstage. The two did a duet of "Waterfalls" from TLC (with, what can only be described as gradeschool choreography). The song fell flat, as did her two following songs (Midnight Train To Georgia and Crazy In Love). I find it funny, too, that she was the only one of the Idols that didn't use the hand-held microphone. She had on an ear mic that you see the likes of Janet, Britney, and Beyonce use. And that is not the only thing she stole from Beyonce. She decided to let everyone see that she could move her rump just as well. After all the flailing around on stage, one would think it couldn't get any worse. Then came Bucky.
Bathroom break.
It was amazing to see all the aisles fill with "women and children first" while the men were forced to sit through some country songs we didn't know. As the sits began to fill again, he starting singing "You're The One That I Want" from Grease. I thought it was a duet, but then I realized we had not seen Kelli Pickler. In comes Kelli all in leather, a la Olivia Newton John, and did a decent 'country' version with Bucky. Cheese Factor ALERT: After Bucky left, Kelli unzipped her leather jacket to show a bright red corset, then flung the jacket around. She decided to converse with the audience, which is her appeal, and pointed out at least 50 people to say "hey" to while saying she really enjoyed being there. She finished with "I'm The Only One", "Walking After Midnight" and "Something To Talk About" before leaving the stage for intermission.
Who knew the show would kick into high gear when we returned. My boy, Chris, took the stage first with Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" that just brought the crowd to their feet. I think everyone stayed on their feet, at least the people who decide to move into the empty seats in front of us did. A family of 4 (Dad, Mom, and 2 Kids) filled in the empty space just before the lights went down, and then the kids stood for the rest of the show. The mother turned around and asked me if they were in the way, and even though they were, the concert is for the kids and not so much for the adults. I told her "no" and then bobbed and weaved my way through the end of the show.
After Led Zeppelin, Chris did "Wanted Dead Or Alive", "Renegade" and then started "Savin' Me" by Nickelback when Elliot entered the stage in a flash of light. They rocked the song, then Chris grabbed his guitar and left so Elliot's fans could enjoy "Moody's Mood For Love" and "Trouble". He brought out all the guys and did an acoustic version of "Patience" by Guns 'n Roses. Then the lights went dark.
I think they went dark for too long, because Katherine McPhee was next and I think we accidentally woke her up. She sang a boring version of "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" and a version of "Think" where I 'think' she forgot the words. And, for someone who had fractured her ankle, she sure was running around a lot. Luckily she ended on "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", which the crowd ate up. Then the lights went dark one last time. It was time for...
Taylor Hicks could be seen on the monitor over the stage, but he wasn't on the stage. Everyone was looking around for him when I saw the mother in front of me point over my shoulder. There he was, running down the aisle right next to Robin and me. I think I turned into a little girl for a second or two, screaming "There he is!!! There is Taylor!!!" After I got my composure back, I enjoyed his "Jailhouse Rock"; his guitar ripping "Hollywood Knights"; his harmonica blowing on "Taking It To The Streets". He was doing his dance and enjoying performing for his fans, which is what it was all about.
There was an encore of "We Are The Champions" where the performers came off full of themselves, and "Living In America". We didn't stick around to hear the end of the latter, since there were about 20,000 people about to make a run for their cars. We still had a 45 minute drive home and I didn't want to be stuck in parking lot till 1:00 AM.
All in all, it was a good time. I think doing things out of the norm helps to keep me young. And hanging around 'tweens' doesn't hurt, either.
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