David Archuleta - Archey Report #2 - Houston, TX - 08/24/08
(Here's the Archey Report from Mai in Houston, TX! Yay!)
The concert was AWESOME!! David was really sick, but he still sounded a amazing, though, at times strained. I was sitting in Floor E, row 4, (middle floor back row 4), and I videotaped all the songs until my camera ran out of memory. I was really excited throughout the entire concert. I missed Chekezie's set because I got into a small tiff with the cheap parking $5 parking lot attendants. As soon as I parked I realized that I didn't have enough room to get out, which meant the guy directly behind me didn't have enough room to get out and my car would get damaged if I left it in the lot. Long story short, with some help and lots of curse words I was able to get my car out of that lot and repark it in the $10 Toyota center lot, but not before I made a HUGE dent in my car.; I was super annoyed and really flustered so it was hard for me to concentrate on Ramiele's set while I tried to shake off that experience.
The rest of the report plus video clips:
Then Michael Johns came on.What a voice, what a face, what charisma. He really blew me away, giving;awesome renditions of "We are the champions," "It 's all;wrong but it's alright," and "Dream On."; I was standing up and jumping up and down, probably much to the annoyance of the older folk sitting in front and behind me, who didn't get up at all. Kristy Lee Cook came out, cute as a button, and while I'm not a big country fan, I misted up when she sang "God Bless the USA." She really killed it.; The biggest surprise for me was Brooke White. I L-O-V-E-D her. She opened on piano with "Let it be," and since I know all the words, I sang along. The second song was a spunky song by Feist that is played on those commercials..."1 2 3 4", a happy song that you can bop up and down to. But the final performance, "Yellow," was so well done, really mesmerizing. The producers had yellow stars shooting in the background and I loved the musical arrangement as well. Then the first 6 did a group number singing "In the name of love," while they pitched the "Idols Give Back" message. I loved it, the harmonizing was great and it was a nice build up after all the individual sets.
After intermission, Jason came out to throngs of fans (he is from Texas) but confessed he'd had no sleep since coming to Houston. He gave his signature "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" complete with falsetto when he sang the lyric "somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly..y.y"! It was a full acoustic set, the second song being his version of "Crazy" and the third i wasn't familiar with but also acoustic guitar.
Sayesha opened with "Umbrella" which was ok for me.; Her second song, "If I Ain't Got You" was the best of her set.
Of course we know who comes next. David A. Archey.The ARCHIE. DA, DJ, David Archuleta. The angelic face with the soaring voice. I was super excited which is why the video is kinda jumping all over when he gets announced. Camera duty is difficult! Anyways, he seemed a little strained singing "Angels" but I still loved the quality to his voice and he sang it with emotion. Yes, he sold it. Surprisingly, I thought his "Apologize" and "Stand By Me" were just ok. But when he sang the last song, "When you say you love me," he turned it up a notch. I almost cried, especially towards the end, when he raised up his arms as he was singing "fly...." I didn't want it to end. I was kind of distracted because I was shooting video. It flew by so fast!! I couldn't believe it when he was saying goodbye and thank you to everyone for being so great.
DC was good, but he's not my idol (Archey is). He opened with "Hello," then "Time of My Life," then "Don't want to miss a thing" (my favorite), "My hero" (hated it), and "Billie Jean" -his best performance of the night.
After the concert ended, I talked to security and found out there was going to be a meet and greet (ticket only) followed by open autograph signing outside the Toyota Center at the La Branch doors. Me and several other ladies tried in vain to get into the meet and greet, but were ushered out. Two of the girls were so funny. They didn't have tickets, but when they came to the usher they started rummaging through their purses pretending like they had tickets, but had lost them. The ushers were polite but of course saw through their really bad acting, lol.
Outside, it was hot and muggy but there were a ton of fans waiting for autographs. I stood next to a cute little girl named Felicity, whose mom Michelle, had gotten her program stolen earlier in the day (they had come at 10am and gotten autographs at 2:30). Felicity was so cute. She had a tshirt with all the autographs but she was after seconds.
Kristy Lee Cook came out first and Felicity said "Kristy, David Archuleta used to be my favorite but after tonight - you are!!" Kristy was touched and gave her a hug. Then came Carly Smithson. Felicity boldly proclaimed "Carly, you are in my top three idols!" Then came Syesha, and Felicity screamed "Syesha, you're one of my top three idols!!" But wait, what had happened to David archuleta, i asked? "Oh, he's my number 4" And what about David Cook, I asked, "Oh, he's in my top 5." Felicity's mom and I shared knowing chuckles. For an autograph, any one of the idols could win the easily swayed affections of this young girl....I tried to take a picture with Syesha but accidentally cut my head out. But let me tell you, this girl should be a model. I got a real close up of her and she is gorgeous. I told her she should model and struck a pose. Sassy miss thang!
Brooke White and Jason Castro came out but started at the other end of the line. Then came the moment I was waiting for... ARCHEY!!
He jogged past us to the end of the line, but he was subdued and visibly under the weather. He had to pull back a few times to sneeze and he wasn't taking pictures with anyone or giving any hugs. Michelle told him about how her book was stolen and he seemed shocked. I told him that I had emailed him about his video blog technical difficulties - I told him that his vblogs were too long and if he shortened them up it wouldn't take so long to upload - he looked me straight in the eye but I think he was overloaded cause seemed a bit confused. Oh well, at least I stood right in front of him and at least he actually had to look at me - which meant there was some sort of recognition. But his eyes. Let me tell you, in the brief moment that our eyes locked I felt like I took a stab to the heart. He has beautiful clear piercing hazel eyes. I got him to sign my tshirt and DA picture (which I'd purchased inside) and was happy as a clam.
Brooke White finally made it to my end of the line and I told her she did awesome and when was her album coming out? She looked up and said, "I need to get signed first," but seemed happy to have me inquire. For the record Brooke, I'm a fan and would buy!! Jason was right next to Brooke but he blew by because they were being rushed so they could get to the bus. Michael Johns came by and looked just dead-tired. He was gracious and took pictures with everyone but he could barely must up a smile. I was determined to get a picture so I followed him down the line and finally!! yes, I got one. I asked him if he had an album coming out and he said that he didn't want to get signed - that he'd already been signed before, but that he was working on an album. Michael - please release soon, whomever you decide to go with! I will buy tix to your concerts too!
Chekezie was the last one to stop by. He was so great and caring. He gave hugs to just about anyone who asked. I asked him if there were any memorable stops on the tour and he told me that he really felt the love in Detroit.
So in the end, I got and autographed tshirt with autographs from Kristy, Carly, Syesha, Archey, Brooke, Jason, Michael and Chekezie. Ramiele and Cook no showed...boo for them! The signing ended at midnight, with the idols headed on an overnight bus ride to Dallas (4 hours away).
I had a great time at this concert, one of the best I've been to in a long time and certainly THE BEST AMERICAN IDOL concert ever (I've been to 4 others). I still love David Archuleta and he is still my most favoritist Idol ever!!