The Blue Martini attended the Idol show in Dallas, TX last week. She also met the gang after the show. Read her account below.
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Hello all! Well I attended the Idols Season 11 tour in Dallas, Texas last weekend and it was awesome! I’m 20 years old, and I’ve been going to the Idols concert each year since Season 4. Soo…this was my 8th Idols concert! Pretty crazy to think about!
So on July 29th, my parents and I drove up to Dallas from Houston (man, these Idols-making me travel). We arrived at the American Airlines Center at about 5pm, checked out all the hoopla that was going on outside-like radio station stands, the Coca-Cola truck, and some random woman even gave me $5 for doing a survey about Coca-Cola). I also noticed that many fans (including myself) were wearing tshirts supporting their favorite this year! I felt like more people did so this year than any other year. There was also a variety in who people were supporting! It wasn’t dominantly Phillip or anything! I remember seeing signs and tshirts for Colton, Skylar, Hollie, Heejun, Phillip, Joshua, etc. There was love all around for the Idols!
At around 6pm, the doors were opened and it was a total stampede! Once inside, I immediately made my way over to the merch table (gotta have Idol merch!) and bought way too much. I was also very happy to discover that the merch guy actually knew who was who when I was buying some of the 8×10 photos (the woman at last year’s concert in Houston DID NOT! …I guess I’m still holding a grudge against her, hah).
Then we found our way to our seats, which were along the side of the stage (stage left) and were really great seats! If I can’t get floor seats within the first few rows, I always go with the side of the stage seats!
So we sat and waited for the concert to begin. Of course they played Haley, James, and Stefano music videos, in addition to Casey Abrams talking about his album, Lee DeWyze talking about the Heart Foundation, and Vonzell Solomon talking about some hair product. Every year, I always love seeing previous Idols being featured and loved how this year, Idols were incorporated into other promotions and not just the music videos.
After all of the above videos repeated multiple times, the show finally began at about 7:15! So I’ll just go through a brief rundown of my thoughts on each of the performances:
Group “Sing”: Great opening number! I’m glad the group opened the show instead of putting pressure on the 10th place finisher to open and warm up the crowd, like some of the previous Idol years.
Deandre “Master Blaster”-He was good! Had lots of energy and great dance moves!
Skylar & Hollie “Undo It”-another great number!
Erika “Glitter in the Air”-Wow, this performance was absolutely fantastic. I totally felt mesmerized by this performance. EVP’s voice just soared and was so passionate, I almost got teary-eyed.
Colton, Joshua, Erika, Hollie “Moves Like Jagger”-a cute, fun number, but not exactly memorable
Heejun “Green Light”-Heejun may have the weakest vocals of the group, but the dude was definitely entertaining!
Heejun, Jessica, Deandre “Party Rock Anthem”-the crowd totally erupted during this number! I think it was just such a surprise (for those who don’t read song spoilers) and it was a very entertaining number! It was also fun to hear Jessica & Heejun rap!
Joshua, Colton, Heejun, Deandre “Everybody Talks”-another fun little number, but nothing special
Elise “Whole Lotta Love”/ “Rumor Has It”-Elise totally rocked it out! She was awesome! Her voice absolutely soared!
Colton “Meant to Live”/”Never Gone”/”Piano Man”-I am a Colton fan, so I did not mind at all that he got 3 solos. The crowd went absolutely nuts when he came on. He definitely got the 2nd most cheers out of all the contestants (behind Phillip). If that’s what it’s like at every concert, then I see why Colton got 3 solos. He was really great! I enjoyed his original song!
Quick note/random rant: Throughout the concert so far at this point, my mom and I were always standing up, clapping and singing along. Whenever an Idol told us to get up on our feet, we immediately obeyed. But it was during Colton’s set when it happened…THE DREADED TAP…that tap on the shoulder that tells you to sit down. This made me so annoyed, even though this basically happens to me every year. Anyways, it ended up causing me to be a little distracted during Colton’s set :(
Top 9 – “Just The Way You Are”/”What Makes You Beautiful-another really fun number! It was good seeing the group again to close out the first half!
INTERMISSION-I darted off to the bathroom! I’m only mentioning this because when I went to the bathroom and got in the huge line, there was total excitement in the air. Girls in the bathroom were singing “What Makes You Beautiful” and another woman was talking to someone else about Elise’s great performance of “Whole Lotta Love”. Everyone was just happy and excited-really great atmosphere! You could tell everyone was enjoying the show! Also, on my way back to my seat, I overheard a woman telling one of the venue workers that it was such a great show so far. Everyone was loving it, including myself!
Another quick note: When I returned to my seat, the man behind us told us how he appreciated our enthusiasm, but would like us to not stand up during the concert. Sigh. So I was totally banned from standing up at all for the remainder of the concert.
2ND HALF:
Jessica “Best Thing I Never Had”/”How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore”/”Proud Mary”-Jessica’s vocals are amazing and it was so great to hear her live!! I could tell she seemed a little tired, probably from traveling to record and such, but she still was absolutely fantastic! Also, during Proud Mary, the crew ended up doing the dance to it on the side of the stage! It was funny and cute to see!
Skylar “Gunpowder & Lead”/”Stay with Me”-Skylar was absolutely great and got a nice Texas welcome! We love our country singers! :) I knew she had been sick, and it did seem like she wasn’t as energetic as she was on the show, but it must have been because she was a little under the weather. She still sounded awesome though despite this! Also, it looked like she had a little problem at the end of her set with her ear-pack. She was reaching to adjust it in the back, and it looked like she had to hold it there for the rest of her set. She must’ve jumped around too much! ;)
Hollie “Rolling in the Deep”/”Give Your Heart a Break”– Hollie was wonderful and got a nice hometown welcome! Quick shoutout to EVP and Elise for their cute back-up hand motions to RITD! It was great hearing Hollie sing these uptempo songs!
Joshua “Runaway Baby”/”It’s a Man’s Man’s World”-Joshua was so great! Runaway Baby was very energetic. And omg, Man’s World was soooo awesome! Everyone absolutely erupted and stood up cheering after that song (except for me of course, since I was forbidden to stand up haha…I seriously had to force myself to keep sitting, but I definitely cheered loudly and did some fistpumps to make up for it ;) I’m not even that much of a Joshua fan, but it was amazing hearing Man’s World live and the performance is probably worth the price of admission alone. Seriously-so good!
Joshua/Jessica “I Knew You Were Waiting For Me”-My favorite duet on the show and absolutely amazing live!
And then, next came the man everyone was waiting for! Loved the replay of the winning moment. The crowd erupted again.
Phillip “Superstition”/”Nice & Slow”/”Somebody That I Used to Know”/”Volcano”/”Home”-Phillip put on a great set! I just wish he would open his eyes more often…they were closed most of the time. He also sounded way better on Somebody That I Used to Know than on the show and Elise sounded wonderful, of course! Volcano was also great to hear live, since that was my favorite performance of his on the show and great to Jessica do backup! I also wish Phillip interacted more with the audience at the end-I felt he should’ve like pointed at us to sing the word “Home” or something or to do the “Ooo Ooo Ooos” but he still performed just fine!
Group “Raise Your Glass”/”Glad You Came”-Awesome and fun way to end the show! Also when the boys came out, Deandre’s microphone ended up not working…turns out Joshua had turned it off! Haha. EVP also shouted a Happy Birthday to Elise before the end of the show.
Overall Thoughts: Super Awesome show! It was great hearing them sing so many modern songs, in addition to a few classics. I think I might have liked a few more solo numbers, but the show was still amazing. This was probably my favorite Top 10 group of all the Idol seasons and they did not disappoint! Also the girly girl in me must mention that…the Idols’ concert clothing was sooo cool and fashionable. Lots of sparkles and awesome shoes!! They were all so glamorous!
After the show, I bolted to the barricades to meet the Idols. I got a spot along the railing on one of the ends. They were all really nice!
I know someone else mentioned in a recap that Heejun seemed a little rude…he did seem a little…weird and just not very chatty. So maybe he was just tired?
Phillip, Jessica, and Joshua all seemed a bit shy but still very nice! I ended up asking Joshua if he messed with Deandre’s microphone in the final number…he was all bashful when he said “Yeahh I turned it off!” Haha.
I asked Skylar if she was feeling better, and she said a little bit, so I made sure to thank her for coming out anyway. Hollie came out for like the last 10 minutes that the Idols could be out there.
Elise and EVP were sooo personable! Me and some other people near me decided to sing Happy Birthday to Elise, which she enjoyed! I asked her if she got any cool Birthday Gifts (she got a cool purse from Sanchez, a bear, bracelets, and 2 cakes).
Unfortunately, I was not able to get a pic with my favorite, Colton. They had him start in the middle of the barricades and then he went in the opposite direction of where I was standing. When it was about 11:30pm, I decided to go down the other end of the barricades, in which I discovered there were SOO MANY PEOPLE. Seemed like there was a longer line of people than the last time I was at this venue (Season 8). Anyways, when I got to the other end where Colton was, he was being told it was time for them to go. He was also very personable with the fans. When I got to him, he had taken a photo with a group of girls, and then when I asked “Quick Photo, Colton?” he apologized and said he had to go, and then he went back inside. A bit of a bummer for me.
But the whole concert was still an amazing experience that I highly recommend that people go to! :) Apologies for this super long recap…I did not intend for it to be so long! Haha, gold stars to those who made it through the whole thing! ;)
If anyone wants to see some of my photos, they are here:
