I attended the concert with my daughters (ages 8 and 10), and a friend of mine. We had more than our share of bad luck on the way to the show. We live a little two hours east of the show. I was on the expressway when I zigged instead of zagged and ended up stuck in traffic adding an hour to our commute. Not a huge deal because we’d left plenty early in hopes of getting signatures before the show. Not a big deal at all….until the ten year old had to go to the bathroom….and the sickly mechanical grinding noises began coming from my van.
At long last, we reach our exit and spot Copps Coliseum a few blocks down. Luckily, there was a Midas car service place on the opposite side of the road. We made use of their facilities (much to the ten year old’s relief) and had them check out the car. My front brakes were completely shot and we shouldn’t travel home on them. Imagine my surprise, seeing as the car is serviced regularly and the rear brakes had been fixed recently. This ended up costing us $460 and any chance to get signatures before the show due to the time it took to fix the van. We walked to a coffee shop for dinner while they were repairs were being made.
Ready to put it all behind us, we head down the road to the show. As I roll down my window to pay for parking, we hear a loud thunk, and the window refuses to go back up. It was laugh or cry at this point, so we laughed as we gathered ipods and other valuables from the now non-securable van (which has never given me a single issue before yesterday). Good thing I brought the big purse!
Needless to say, by the time we reached our seats, I was flustered and sweating. It was my girls’ very first concert, though, and their excitement was contagious. We bought a youth t-shirt (at this point what was another $35?), and a couple of glow sticks. We were ready!
I’m not going to recap every act, as it’s been done so many times. I will say that they all can sing. Some may be more polished or have better stage presence, but they all have voices better, IMO, than many singers you bop along with in your car everyday. The show was a ton of fun and moved along quickly. I didn’t notice anything being thrown at Adam (little girls and I were dancing), but thought his request after the fact was pleasant and polite. His voice sounded fabulous from where I was seated (not on the floor, but good seats none the less).
Most memorable performances for me were Matt’s Too Hot to Handle, Allison’s Cry Baby, Adam’s whole set (we’re big Adam fans), and Kris’s Ain’t No Sunshine and Heartless.
Now, our plan had been to get signatures before the concert, especially because I’d read that Adam wouldn’t be signing after the show due to medical issues. Since that didn’t work out, and because two sleepy girls really wanted to, we headed to the barricades after the show to meet some Idols. The signing was well organized even though it were crowded. The ushers told me where to go and which door to exit. We did so right after DSB and had a great position with my two girls at the front of the barricade.
We waited around for a while, but not nearly as long as I expected. Frankly, we waited longer to get Ariel’s signature at Disney World last summer. Lil was out first. She was lovely. She didn’t think that she was allowed to sign the item that my girls had brought to be signed. She was very kind about it and explained her reasons, then found a piece of paper she could sign for them instead.
Megan came next and signed the item. Anoop also signed. Lil noticed them doing this, and made a point of coming back and signing as well after mentioning to Megan that she hadn’t thought they were allowed. Megan just shrugged as if to say ‘aw, they’re little kids’. Lil told both my girls that they were beautiful, which I thought was kind. We waited to get signatures from Lil, Megan, Anoop, Michael, Allison, and Kris. My daughters were worn out, and were ready to leave by then.
I was really amazed by how gracious they all were. They chatted with people (Anoop asked how my daughters had enjoyed the show. Kris kidded about there being no room left on my daughter’s arm to sign.) They took their time and signed as much as they could. My daughters both have multiple signatures on their arms, as well as the item that we’d brought. The signing ended up being as memorable for them as the concert itself. I am grateful that so many of the Idols had made the effort because I think it was a great experience for my kids to see that even the famous and hip can be gracious and polite.
My overall impression of the group was that they were talented, kind, and down to earth people. My favourite moment from the signing was the young teenager beside me who was “OMG, OMG, OMG” the entire time Kris was in front of us. She was so struck that I said to her, “Honey, are you all right?” Kris heard and just briefly looked up at me with a half smile, as if to say, “Yeah, can you believe this?” I hope he and all of them inspire many OMGs from fans in the future, and I thank them for making my daughters’ first concert so fabulous.
