American Idol Tour 2008 – Backstage Review

OK, now here is the fun part.  We were sent to a section for holding where we waited at least 30 minutes.  We were taken to a room in the back.  It was just a big, concrete wall large room.  Nothing special. Looked like it might have been a room used for catering.  When we got there, only Jason, Chikezie and Michael were there.

We made sure to meet Michael first as we heard he had a lot of guests last night and might not stay long.   He was funny as the girl in front of me wanted him to sign her shirt and she said you can sign the front or back.  He said, well, there’s what I want to do (and pointed to the front) and what I NEED to do and started signing the back of her shirt.  When he got done he told her “Well played.”  I thought it was cute.  I got to him and told him I was from MJO and I was friends with Allison (the owner) and he said Cool and asked me my name.  We went to take a picture and Heather had issues so I grabbed him at the waist and said, “I’ll just hold you until she’s ready.” He just laughed and said something like yeah, that sounds good or something.   Heather then did her thing.  We moved on because there were a lot of people waiting on him.

Next we went to Chikezie because Jason had a line and I heard Chikezie might not stay long.  I was sure to tell him my friend Jaynee thought he did great  :).  I told him he did a really great job and we got autographs and pictures.  He seemed really into the side-hug picture thing and you could tell he was just one of those cozy, teddy bear hug types 🙂

Next was Jason.  We just did the auto/pic thing and I told him I really enjoyed his set.

While waiting, Kristy came in.  She had little jeans on and t-shirt..same thing as she was wearing that afternoon.  She was so amazingly pretty.  I just can’t describe how perfect her little body is.  She was really nice and loved our books.  She thought they were a great idea.  She said something earlier that afternoon about it as well.

You can see in one of the videos that we were standing there after that and in walks Brooke.  She was talking to Mr. Archuleta and very animated about something.  She seemed upset about something but maybe just deeply discussing some issue.  She was super, super nice when we talked to her.  We saw her tear up at the girl in front of us.  She had glassy eyes for her picture.  Aw. She’s such a sweetie.  And tiny!  Her hair takes up most of her! Her hair is gorgeous.  She is shorter and tinier than I thought she was though.  I also heard her talking about the fact that she doesn’t try to sugar coat the show, that it is a really hard thing to do.  She says she tries to be as honest as she can with people about how it is.

Syesha came in next.  Her sharpie was not working and she seemed quite concerned about that so she seemed a little distracted while talking to us.  She didn’t really seem thrilled about pictures. She wasn’t a “side hug” picture taker like most of them were.  But she obliged. She didn’t stay long in the room at all either.  Seemed like she was in and out.

Carly came next but she was really busy with some of the people backstage.  She said a lot of her husband’s family is from the area so we let her have her space.

Ramiele came in next and ya’ll, she is TINY.  I’d like to know what her height is because I’d bet she’s like 4’10”.  She was really nice with the autograph, stopping to ask our name to put it on the page.  She really liked our books as well.  And she had an iPhone so that scored points with me haha.

So next was David Archuleta.  Ya’ll, he is as humble and on the embarrassed side as ever.  I don’t think I heard him say “Gosh” but there was a lot of nervous laughter.  No side-hug from him either but he was very nice about doing whatever autograph or picture that was asked of him.

We finally got an opening with Carly. I complimented her on her shirt from the show and she told me the designer but I honestly can not remember it.  I wish I had.  And I think if you add about 10 lbs of makeup to me, we might could have passed for sisters in one lifetime or another.  She was absolutely gorgeous (not saying I am, just sayin) and really, really nice.  Out of everyone, she seemed to the most interested in individual fans that where there for her and was super sweet to them.

At this point, I think everyone had left but Ramiele, Brooke and Michael.  I think Michael stayed overall the longest.  He was roaming and talking to just about anyone that wanted to chat. I would say he was the most open and available.

Ramiele was the last one out.  She was just sitting on a table and chatting with a few girls.  I got some of that on film.  She was really really down to earth.  They asked a few questions..she said they have to be right backstage during the performance before theirs and at other times, they just get on the computer or phone while waiting. She said she’s very boring.  She crochets :).    She talked about people from school coming out of the woodwork to be her friend and she is not into that.  She’s like, no, you made me cry at school, you’re not my friend.  She seemed really cool and I actually liked her more backstage than on stage actually.

So at this point David Cook had not shown up. Heather and I were super bummed.  We were literally the last people out of the room and then we still asked someone if he was coming and they said no. I think we just had to hear it from someone.  Since we had gotten his autograph that afternoon I felt better that my autograph book was complete but had I known he wasn’t going to be there last night I would have hurt some people at the autograph session just to get a picture with him.  He’s the only one I’m missing!  I really wanted to tell him how much we enjoyed the show.  Anyway, overall it was a fantabulous experience.  It was amazing getting to tell them how much I enjoyed the show and I loved, loved, loved being able to get pictures with them to remember it.

We also went to the buses after this and watched most of them get on there.  There were like 100 yards away though and we still didn’t see Cookey.  But Jason and Michael both were waving out of the bus windows so that was cool.  Anyway, it was an awesome night!!

Again, here all my pictures and videos which include the backstage photos.