2009-08-26 Palace Auburn Hills (Auburn Hills, MI)
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 9:41 pm
'Kimberly_Caldwell_4_Life' date='Aug 27th 2009, 12:46 PM'Last night was honestly amazing, you guys! I promised a review, so here you go! Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
- The AP pass
- Megan & Lil with a fan
- Me with Megan & Lil
- Me with Allison
- Me with Kris
- Tying a bracelet on Danny's wrist
- Me with Danny
- My only picture of Adam - I have no night vision on my camera - he's the tall one on the far right
- Megan's autograph
- Lil's autograph
- Allison's autograph
- Kris's autograph
- Danny's autograph
My friend & I left her place at 4pm. We were going to Auburn Hills from Canada, so it would take a good couple of hours to get there. We arrived at the Palace at about 5:30, so we decided to go to will call, and check to see if I had, indeed, gotten the passes. I hadn't received my confirmation e-mail from Jill (Megan's mom) that I had won Megan's contest that I had entered, but Angie (Megan's cousin) said that she was pretty sure that I was on the list, so I was a little antsy.
When we got there, the passes hadn't yet arrived at will call, but the lady told me that they would be there momentarily. To pass time, my friend & I started chatting with some friend of Matt Giraud, who were also waiting on passes. When the passes had arrived, the lady at will call signalled for us to come up and she'd check for us. I handed her my ID, and she looked in the computer. Next thing I know, she's headed for the box with the passes, and pulled an envelope out for me. I was ECSTATIC! We quickly put them on right away, and headed inside, as it was now a little past 6pm, and the doors were open to go on inside.
Once inside, I purchased a tour book, and an individual photo of each Idol. I wasn't sure who'd be at the AP, so I wanted to be safe and get all 10. We went to our seats, and they weren't bad, considering they were up in the upper level. We were on the right side of the stage, and we could see EVERYTHING so well. The lights went down, and then we were off!
Michael Sarver - The guy is AMAZING! His voice has gotten a LOT better than I remembered on the show. I always thought he was good, but he was SO much better than I ever remembered him to be! I also found him to be very handsome, and he was really loving the crowd!
Megan Joy - That's my girl right there. She came out with a fro, and it was brushed to one side, and she just looked so GORGEOUS! She sounded GREAT on her two songs, and I have NO idea why people give her such a hard time about her singing, because I thought she sounded awesome, again, another one who sounded better live than I remember her on the show! I was so proud, and I really screamed for her! I was the only one in our section going absolutely nuts for her, but I didn't care! I thought she was awesome!
Scott MacIntyre - I like Scott, I do. I hate to admit, though, that I was a little bored during his set. :ph34rwave: He's a great singer, and a great piano player, but I just couldn't get into him, like I had with Megan & Michael. It was weird. Maybe it was the songs, I don't know, but he does have a very nice voice. Very calm & soothing, and he can play piano very well.
Lil Rounds - Can I just say that I LOVE her?! She got everyone on their feet. She was the first performer of the night that got the crowd up and moving. her take on Beyonce's "Single Ladies" was better than Beyonce, IMO. She's definitely a crowd pleaser, and her voice is out of this world! She better get signed, that's all I have to say. I'd definitely go and see her again in concert.
Anoop Desai - The ladies' man! I'm telling you, this guy had the ladies, screaming! I have to admit, he's a hottie too, from what I could see on the screen. He's got a very smooth voice. If silk fabric could sing, I'm telling you, Anoop is what it would sound like. So good. His dancing got everyone on their feet too!
Matt Giraud - Well, he wanted a hometown welcome, and boy did he get one! The crowd was on their feet, screaming and giving him a standing ovation when he came onstage! Matt was loving it, and you could tell that he was feeding off of the crowd's energy. His entire set had me smiling, because his energy and pride was contagious. What a voice that guy has! Damn! His piano playing is pretty much off-the-charts too. Awesome.
Allison Iraheta - Damn, that girl can WAIL! She totally had the rockstar vibe going on, onstage, and I found myself not being able to tear my eyes away from her. She was magnetic, and I felt like I was witnessing a superstar being born right there with her. Awesome.
Danny Gokey - Danny was the pleasant surprise of the evening for me. I must admit that I wasn't exactly a big Danny fan, going into the show, especially after the debacle that was "Scream On", but he won me over, BIG time. His voice was very strong, and I loved his Latin dancing during "Maria Maria". You know what, most people don't care for his speech before "My Wish", but I found it really awe-inspiring, and it touched my heart. I am now a Danny Gokey fan.
Adam Lambert - Wow. What else can I say, really? The man is a born star. He has the "IT Factor" that Simon & Company are always mentioning. I was amazed. I knew that I would be, but I found myself with my jaw down to the floor at him and his range. I knew he had "IT", but I didn't know that he had "ALL THAT"! Wow. That's all I can say, because there aren't enough words to describe how awesome I thought he was.
Kris Allen - What a little cutie! Seriously! I loved how he opened with "Heartless", and he did it better on tour than he did on the show. I wasn't familiar with "All These Things I've Done", or "Bright Lights", so I'll admit that he lost me a little on those songs, but he brought me right back around with "Hey Jude"!
All in all, I became a fan of everyone last night, once the show was said and done. It was now time to get ready to go to the AP, and I don't think that I could have been more excited if I tried. Anyone who had the letters "MG" on their passes were led to a separate room, for Matt & his family & friends. We had to wait in the hallway for about a half hour, before Ray, the security guard, told everyone to have the passes on you and visible, where he could see them. The he asked anyone with the letters "AL" on the top, to move to the other side of the hallway. It was then, that I knew that Adam probably wasn't going to be at the AP, because he had about 40 people with the letters "AL" on their passes, and they were all guests of his, so he would be having his own AP. I was a tiny bit disappointed, because, hello! LambJoy shipper here, but I was meeting Megan, so that made me smile, BIG time.
As we were walking down the hall to the room, Matt Giraud walked by, heading to where his after party was. My friend & I looked at him, smiled, and say "Hey Matt!", he grinned at us, and said "Hey, what's going on?", in his cute little Michigan accent, before he headed off to the separate room for his AP with his family & friends.
We walked into the room, and my heart started beating really fast. My friend & I scoped out the room and made a beeline for Megan, who was standing with Lil. We patiently waited our turn, and once it was our turn, my heart started beating even faster, and I told Megan that I had won her contest, and she smiled and gave me a big hug. I gave her the gifts that I had for her, which were a stuffed Eeyore for Ryder, bracelets that I had made for her, for Jill, for Angie, and for Buddy, and a beautiful birthstone pewter necklace. She hugged me again, and signed my picture, before I asked for a picture with her & Lil. I thanked Megan for everything, before turning to Lil, and asked her to sign my picture. We were just about to walk away, when I remembered that I had forgotten to give Megan, the "thank you" card for her that was in my purse. I went back to Megan, and handed her the "thank you" card, and I told her my story, about how I had given up singing because of my horrible "Pop Stars" experience, and told her that I started singing again (did my first show in 7 years on July 1) because of her and because of how she never made anything in school, and now here she was. She was touched by that and told me never to give up on what I love, before she gave me a another big hug. I asked her if I could get a pic of her & Lil, for the Lilegan fans on IDF, and she nudged Lil, and said, "THE LILEGANS WANT A PICTURE!" They posed for the pic, and I thanked them both again.
We next made our move over to Allison, who was standing near them. She was cute. I told her we had come from Canada, and she said, "Oh really? Cool, man!" She signed my picture, and then I took a photo with her. My friend wanted a pic with her, she handed me the camera, and my friend & Allison started joking around, which in turn made me laugh, and my hand shake, so their picture didn't come out. :(
We spotted Kris, and again, my heart started beating fast. We waited our turn, and once I got to him, he gave me a sweet smile, and signed my picture. I asked him for a picture, and he was very sweet. He rubbed my back while we were getting a picture taken together, because I was shaking a little bit. Very sweet. I felt like I was going to get a cavity just by being around him! My friend got a picture with him, and she told him that she was going to fire me as her photographer, because I could take a steady pic. Kris laughed, and looked at my hand, and said, "Yeah, she's shaking!"
It was over to Danny Gokey. He had a little bit of a line-up, so we were waiting. He knew we were waiting, and he kept apologizing to my friend & I, because people kept jumping in front of us. While we were waiting on Danny, we spotted Michael Sarver, and we thought about just going over to Michael and coming back to Danny, but we thought it would be rude, since Danny already knew we were waiting for him. Michael left right after that, so we never got to him, unfortunately. :( Anyhow, when it was our turn for Danny, I asked him if I could give him a bracelet that I had made, very similar to the one that I had made for Megan. He said, "Sure, tie it on me!" I did, and I was a little unsteady, but I finally tied it on (I hope it doesn't fall off - if it does, I'm sorry, Danny!). We took a picture together, before I asked him to sign my picture. He asked who to make it out to, and I told him my name, and he wanted to make sure he was spelling it right, so he spelled it out to me before writing it down. My friend got a picture with him, and that was it.
We wandered around the room a little longer, to see if there were any Idols that we had missed, but unfortunately, that was it. No Anoop, no Scott, no Michael, no Adam, and no Matt. We decided to head out and try our luck at the barricades, to see if we could get any of the ones that we had missed from the AP.
The barricades? A TOTAL zoo. Literally, it was a madhouse. We found ourselves a spot near the front off to the side, and we waited. Megan was the first one out,and I stepped back when she came, so that someone who hadn't had a chance to meet her, could have their shot. Allison & Lil came out as well, and signed, but never made it to our side. Scott came out with his handler, but he went straight to the bus and didn't sign anything. Kris came out, and I'm not sure if he signed at all, because I was no longer near the front, so I couldn't see. Adam & Matt both came out about 10 minutes to midnight, and went to the opposite side, of course, so I knew that I probably wasn't going to get a chance to meet either of them. Ah well. Adam walked by our side as he was leaving (security wanted them to the buses so that they could be off the premises by midnight, since they have to be), and I yelled out, "HI ADAM!", and he looked with a smile and said hello, which was good enough for me, even if I didn't get a PADAM picture. Him & Matt skipped over to the buses like two little boys, before trying to outdo each other with a dance move. It was amusing to watch.
With that, it all ended. What an awesome night, and I can't thank Megan enough, for making all of that, possible for me.