Lindsay recapped the American Idol Live Detroit concert. Now she’s back to tell us all about her amazing backstage experience–with PHOTOS–at the Duluth, Georgia show! If you were following the Duluth live blog, she was tweeting as @idolnonsence.
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Hi guys! It’s me again. I was lucky enough to attend the first show in Detroit and I enjoyed every bit of it. I decided that I wanted to fly down to Georgia to visit my friend and we’d go to the concert together. Meanwhile, one day on Twitter, one of the Jessica Sanchez fans that I follow (Jen – @JSanchezCrew) tweeted that Jessica wanted a list of all her Blujays going to future shows so that she would be able to put them on the after show Meet and Greet list. When I heard that, I just about passed out. I was bummed that I didn’t get the chance to meet her (or any of them) in Detroit because we didn’t go to the barricades. It still wasn’t certain that I was going to Georgia, but I told Jen to put my name on the list anyway, just in case. A couple days later, it became official that I’d be flying down for the Duluth show and could possibly have the opportunity of meeting Jessica and the rest of the Idols.
The thing is, good things don’t usually happen to me. I have very bad luck. I didn’t want to get excited for the passes until I was actually holding them in my hand. When my friend (Carlie – @car724) and I got to the arena, we headed straight for the box office to pick them up. I was nervous as heck. I gave the lady my name and ID, and she opened up the envelope that was in her hand and pulled out two shiny M&G passes. I wanted to run behind the desk and hug that woman.
I won’t go into detail about the concert, because I’ve gone over it already, but the show was even better the second time around. The performances weren’t the same. You could tell they’re getting so much more comfortable and some of them (like Elise and Phillip) are changing up the way they do their songs.
So once the show ended, Carlie and I went down to where we were supposed to meet before they brought us into the meet and greet. I have never done one of these before so I really had no idea what to expect. There seemed to be a lot of people so I figured it would be pretty crazy and hectic. When it was time to go in, everyone was surprisingly calm and orderly. I noticed a lot of Phillip’s family there (including his sisters and their families).
When we walked into the room, I was expecting that to be another holding room. Instead, the first thing I see is DeAndre’s curly head. We wanted to find Jessica right away, so we started looking around but knowing that she’s so short, it was hard to find her. I saw Phillip surrounded by a HUGE group of people. Pretty much everyone darted over to him. We couldn’t find Jessica, but when I looked to my left, I saw Erika. She was talking to someone who looked like staff from the arena, so I figured we could go over to her real quick before we found Jessica.
Erika is SO beautiful. Her smile was infectious and she had such a warm personality. She immediately said hi to us and made us feel really comfortable. Our posters were rolled up and we were getting them out for her to sign and she said, “Wow, you girls are so neat and organized! Sometimes we have people passing up wrinkled and folded posters and I’m like, this isn’t going to look so good when you get home!” And she laughed. Just like her smile, her laugh was infectious! While she was signing, I told her how much I LOVED her Glitter in the Air performance. I told her it gave me goosebumps and she was so appreciative. I asked her how it felt hearing the crowd response (because both times I’ve seen the show, people start applauding while she is singing) and she said “Aww, really? I don’t hear it! I have my in-ears in so I can’t hear a thing! Maybe one night I’ll take them out so I can take it all in.” She also asked me which show I saw them at and I told her. I just thought it was really cool how much she seemed to genuinely care what we were saying and wanted to spend time with us. Moral of the story: I want to be her best friend.
At first, it was accidentally on movie mode. Carlie noticed and said it was recording and Erika was like, “Well that’s 15 seconds of awkward smiling at the camera!” Hahaha ahhh I just love her.
More people started coming over to Erika so we started looking for Jessica again. We were walking around, looking high and low, when out of nowhere she was walking right toward me. I kind of like…jumped in front of her and was like, “JESSICA! Thank you so much for the meet & greet passes!” She said, “Awwww you’re welcome!” and gave me a big hug. She is sooo tiny, but I think we all know that. I took a picture with her (which I’m sort of obsessed with) and then I told her that my brother is in love with her and he wanted me to tell her that and she laughed and thanked me. DeAndre had a ton of family there and they came over to talk to her, so I didn’t want to hog her (boyfriend family bonding time!) and then we were off to look for more Idols!
(Bonus Mama Sanchez in the back!)
We saw Elise taking pictures with a small group of people so we headed over to her. How beautiful is this woman?! Seriously, I was blown away. She was Carlie’s favorite this season, so while she was signing her autograph, Carlie told her that. She wasn’t sure if she heard her or not, but when she was done signing, Elise gave her a big hug. It was so sweet! While she was signing for me, I told her that I saw her in Detroit and I love how she changed it up since then and she’s always bringing something new. She said, “Thank you! I want to change it up every time!” Before we took the picture, she told me she loved my necklace so that pretty much made my whole day.
After Elise, I looked over and noticed Skylar standing by herself playing with her Sharpie. I pretty much ran over to her screaming her name. I gave her a hug and told her how incredible she is and she kept thanking me. She’s a lot smaller in person! She was also quieter than I expected, but she seemed tired. She was very gracious and appreciative the whole time!
After Skylar, we saw Heejun and Colton in the corner. I was expecting a huge group around Colton, but it was surprisingly small. I think that was because pretty much everyone was still around Phillip (and DeAndre). There was a door behind Heejun and he went out it and we thought he was already done with the M&G and we were sad facing. We had to meet Heejun! In the meantime, we went over to Colton to get his autograph and picture. Let me just say, it was almost intimidating how nice he was. He looked me right in the eyes and asked me how I was doing. I think I forgot what words were, but I managed to say I was doing good and asked him how he was doing. After we took the picture, he told me he hoped that I enjoyed the show (which I did of course). My mom told me that she wanted me to send her at least one picture on my cell phone so I asked Colton if I could take another one on my phone and he said, “Of course!” and I’m in love with how it turned out. When I was walking away he looked me in the eyes again and said, “It was a pleasure meeting you.” Seriously? I wish more people in this world were as kind and warm as him.
We started walking around again, hoping Heejun would come back out. We saw Phillip still taking pictures with family and Carlie noticed that Heejun was with him. We don’t know when he came back in, but there he was taking pictures with Phillip and his family! Then I noticed a little blonde person in front of me. I couldn’t see her face but my instinct made me yell “HOLLIE!” The little blonde person whipped her head around and yelled “HI!” and yes, it was indeed Hollie! She laughed and said, “I’m just wandering around…aimlessly…” While she was signing my poster, I was telling her how incredible she is and how she’s my hero and blah blah blah and she was just so cute and thankful. Then I said, “I’m sure you don’t want to hear this, but I love Courtney and Luke so much.” She stopped signing and did a little foot stomp and said, “Those two! They are such a mess! They’re crazy!” It was hilarious. She was exactly how she was on the show: bubbly, friendly, and downright adorable. And she’s even tinier in person than she seemed to be on the show! I love her so much. I also asked for a cell phone picture with her to send to my mom, because she was one of her favorites.
I didn’t want my time with Hollie to end, but sadly it did. So we moved on and kept looking around. We saw Heejun had returned and made a mad dash over to him. This time we got him! He was surprisingly quiet but SO sweet. We told him how much we love him and he thanked us and said that he was glad he could entertain us. My first picture with him came out blurry and he was about to leave, but he came back for me so I could get another one. I’m so glad he did!
We walked over to where Joshua was standing and he had a good amount of people around him pretty much the whole time. He was another one who was pretty quiet but very nice and sincere. When I asked for a picture he said, “OF COURSE!” like I should have known better, haha. He was also a lot smaller than I expected! When Carlie was getting his autograph, she told me he was incredible and he said, “I’m okay”, ha this guy. :p
After Josh, we turned around and noticed that Phillip’s line wasn’t very big at all anymore. Most of his family was off to the sides or had gone in another room. I really didn’t think that I would meet him since it was his hometown show and he would be bombarded, but it actually seemed like a possible thing to do. So we went over there and the great bearded security guy was taking programs and posters from people so he could sign them really quick while we waited in line and in between pictures he was taking. It was a really good thing because it moved everything along.
So I went up to him and we just said a quick “Hi, how are you?” before the picture. I figured that they wanted to move it along and we wouldn’t get much time with him, so I started walking away but then he said, “Did you enjoy the show?!” really excitedly. Let me tell you, if a smiling Phillip Phillips ever makes eye contact with you…good luck. I was like crap, I have to say words now. I told him it was an amazing show and that it was actually the second time I had seen them. He seemed excited about that and said, “Really? Tell me, was it better this time around?” I told him that they were great the first show but they were even better at this one. Keep in mind he is smiling and looking me in the eyes this entire time so I am reduced to a pile of goo. Then I told him that I loved how he changed up Nice and Slow at the end and he seemed happy that I noticed. As I was leaving (again) he thanked me for coming out and said it was nice to meet me. Oh Phillip. You sweet, Southern charmer you.
After Phillip, we realized that the only person left to get a picture with was DeAndre. Like I said, he had a lot of family there and was surrounded by them pretty much the whole time. They were all singing together and being super cute. DeAndre, Jessica, and Hollie were pretty much around each other the whole time. The three of them were taking a picture with his family and Elise jumped in and they all seemed happy to see her. It was cute seeing the Idol families interact with the other Idols. You can tell that they are all so close. DeAndre and Jessica also started singing Dangerously In Love by Beyonce together but I couldn’t get my camera out in time to record it! I’m bummed. It was beautiful.
When I went to take a picture with DeAndre, he was singing with the girl up there that’s wearing white and walking toward them. I was just standing there listening and enjoying it. When they were done, I said they sounded beautiful and he proudly told me, “That’s my cousin!” It was so sweet! I can also confirm that his hair is even more amazing in person.
We started walking away and we ran into Jessica again. My brother sent me a picture message of himself holding a sign that said “CALL ME” with his phone number (as I said, he’s a huge fan :p). I asked her if she would take a picture with my phone so it’s like she’s taking a picture with him, and she laughed and gladly accepted. Introducing my favorite picture of the whole night:
The last ones to leave the room were Jessica, DeAndre, Hollie, and Phillip. I can’t believe how amazing of an experience this was and how every single contestant in this top 10 is so incredibly genuine and nice. Random observation, but I overheard Hollie say to Jessica, “So when are you thinking about going outside?” I loved seeing those two little powerhouses walking around and hanging out together. :)
Anyway, I don’t know how they do it every night. Our meet and greet seemed so long, and then knowing that they had fans waiting for them outside by the barricades? Geez! I always respected them but I definitely respect them even more after seeing how much interaction they go through on a daily basis. I wish I could do it all over again!
