David Archuleta - Archey Report #1 - Portland, OR
(Here is Julie's report from Portland, OR! Thanks Julie!)
So I went to the Rose Garden arena with my daughter (shes almost 8 yrs old) around 12 noon and went to the underground parking where the buses were parked. The parking in the arena was pretty hidden. So when we arrive there, there was already a group of people maybe around 50 waiting and it was a ramp and there was a barricade. The area was a little cramp and wasn’t organize too well. The bus arrive around 2pm and the first one to come out was Michael Johns and started signing and saying that they had a wonderful day off in Portland cause he and Cook played golf. Then he said he was hungry and will eat first and come back. Then Kristy, Brooke and Carly came out but the problem was they could not get to everyone because the people in front has no more room to move in the ramp. So what the 3 girls did was to talk to security (who by the way were so nice and gracious) and organize the setup in such a way that everyone can have their chance and would have an easy flow of moving through each person. I was so surprise that the 3 girls went and carried the railing to the side and formed it into one line so everyone were positioned in such as way that we were all in front. There was not to many people. I would say around 60 and it was a diverse group from Jason, Cook, Brooke, Carly, Archuleta and Kristy fans. I got to take pictures of the girls with my daughter and they were all so nice especially Brooke who I think is such a sweetheart. They all love Portland, they went shopping and Michael John even said that they went to the NIKE factory. By the way, MJ asked the crowd whats up with “Puppy Johns” and why Rickey was asking the other Idols to say it? Someone in the crowd said its because of the picture you had with the puppy (lol). The Idols takes turn to go to the crowd, since the guys were having lunch, the girls went out to sign autographs. So David and Jason and after a few minutes, Chikezie came out and the girls went in. Unfortunately David Cook, Syesha and Ramiele were doing press so they weren’t able to come out much to the sadness of the Cook fans. David A said that they take turns in each city who does press so it turned out it was Cooks turn. So Portland was lucky cause DA had so much time to interact with everyone. So for the next stop guys, hopefully its not David Archuletas turn to do press.
The line was not long but it did took David to go through the line even though he started ahead of Jason and Chikezie. Jason is such a sweetheart and he had so much support from Portland. There was this lady who had a zoom camera and loved Jason and just keep taking Jasons picture as he interact with the crowd. Seems that Jason and David are bonding cause they were telling everyone how they rode the TRIMET train in downtown Portland and went around town and just walked around cause the weather was so nice. I asked David were they recognize and he said it was more of Jason who gets recognize right away because of the hair. I asked David if he went horseback riding and he said he didn’t. There was a lady who told David that I want you to be my son and David didn’t quite hear it so the lady repeated it again and David said “oh I thought you said you wanted my son” and everyone laughed and he giggled. As David was going through the line, I followed him like halfway at the end to get some more videos and at times confused him cause he would look at the wrong camera. I got to meet the guys from fanblast who were great and some Archies from the AI forum too. By the way, Davids handler, Ray wasn’t there which was even awesome so the only security were the ones from the Arena. He and Jason even stepped on this bar to reach the ones on the line because the ramp was going up. So at the end of line, there were not too many people and he still stayed and we asked him some questions and he was really great and he was explaining how the others would want to come out but they sure try hard to meet everyone.
The concert was packed and I asked one of the staff in the arena what the capacity was and he said around 20,000 and I tell you the arena was full and most of the crowd were adults and not too many teens. The Portland crowd were very interactive with and showed all the Idols so much love . All the Idols said that the crowd was great and they love Portland. The acoustic in Rose Garden was fantastic and my seat was beside the stage and the side of the stage doesn’t go up like the ones in other cities where the concert was held so the idols had an easy time shaking the peoples hand on the sides because they didn’t have to reach up. One of the loudest cheer was when Michael Johns came out and the ladies started crowding by the side stage for him. He was great. But pretty much everybody was supported with so much cheering and applause, there was even stamping on the floor, it was great,. My 8 yr old daughter was dancing and clapping and having a blast. The next one who got intense applause was Jason Castro who sounded great by the way. As usual, David Archuleta sang so wonderfully, great voice and the sound system was fantastic, it was heaven, He got standing ovation and so much cheer and applause from the crowd. I felt the screaming wasn’t too bad cause there were not much teen, there were more adults but everyone had so much fun. David Cook as usual rock his way into the crowd saying he love Portland and how wonderful it was there was no sales tax (haha). One thing for the Cook fans, Cook went to the side of the stage with his guitar and climb and stoop up the railings connecting that next level to the stage , I thought he was going to jump over to the audience side and the cougars went crazy and crowded both sides. Another thing Cook did was to pour some water on his head and drove the crowd wild (haha). Cooks set was pretty fun and he was great. MJ, JC,DC,DA had all the loudest cheer and applause but all the others idols got such good response from the audience. What can I say Portland audience are great.
I was able to go to the Meet and greet. I didn’t thought I would but due to some fortunate circumstances I was able to and it was not the usual Meet and greet cause they were not lined up in a table in one line and people just had to pass through the line. It was a casual environment and everyone could chat with them. When we came in, Cook, MJ were in one table and Syesha, David A, Carly and Ramiele were seated in a counter. So we went to them and have them signed our poster and my daughter had David A sign the fanblast water bottle and bracelet and told David that he was her favorite. David A told me my daughter was cute and he liked talking with her. Then we went around and we went to where Cook was and my daughter told Cook that he was her 2nd favorite and Cook ask who was her first and my daughter said Archuleta and Cook said , me too, he is my first. David Cook was apologetic that he wasn’t able to come out due to press. I would say am not much of a Cook fan but meeting him in person totally change my view of him. He is as great as Archie said he is and very down to earth. During the time we were at Cooks table, he was interacting with some of Kristys friend and Cook was kidding her that he has not receive the wedding invitation and Kristys friend said well, how about yours? And Cook was like looking at her with question mark on his face and said don’t even go there, haha….We went back to David Archuleta go get a picture again cause there wasn’t too many people and it was a chance to get to talk to him a little bit and I met jeff too who is as gracious as everyone as said. I think that David and jeff has the same personality, such gracious and humbling persons. So it was the best day of my life and it was great.