David Archuleta - Archey Report - Kansas City, MO - 08/29/08

(Here's the Archey Report of KH from Kansas City! Fangirlyness level through the roof!)

I’ll preface this review by saying that I attended this concert with my family. My thirteen-and fifteen-year old daughters are freaked out often enough by me behaving as Kathy, rather than Mom, and my husband has been patient enough. Thus, I made efforts to keep the fangirlyness in check

Friday, 6am-3pm. I didn’t do one speck of work. The family was gone and I could surf the message boards, obsess over YouTube vids, fail at attempts to nap and otherwise freak out.
Fangirlyness level: 7/10. Sleep level: 3 hours.

3pm-6pm. My husband and kids arrived home and we prepared for the hour’s drive to Kansas City. Hubby and I had our usual back-and-forth about when to leave. I can never be early enough while he analyzes every detail so as to arrive at the exact starting time. As a result of this conversation, we decided to scrap our plans to eat at a fun downtown Kansas City restaurant and just hit the McDonalds on the road. Turns out that our disappointing decision was a wise one, because the roads were congested for about eight miles before we reached the Sprint Center.
Fangirlyness level: 6/10. Stress level: 8.5/10.

6:15pm. When we got close enough to see the Sprint Center shining like a big aluminum soda can before us, we saw two stretch limos and I speculated about whether or not the Idols might be inside them. I know. I know. They were surely already AT the venue at forty-five minutes before show time, but it was fun to think about as we drove past two “Park Here $10” signs, looped back around, drove into a parking garage and discovered that it closed at seven, did a U-turn and circled the area again, eventually finding a parking garage that cost $15.
Fangirlyness level: 8/10. Money-out-the window level: 7/10.

6:15-7. We walked in amidst an army of red and black Cook shirts. My two daughters and I wore Bianca’s ArcheyAngel’s tees, and before the show they were the only non-Cook anything I saw on a person, except for the one Jason Castro photo in the hands of a thirtyish woman who must have been as intimated as we were. My fifteen year old wondered aloud at the likelihood of us being attacked, and I assured her that her worry was silly. My own worry was, in my opinion, much more important: would I have to yell louder than I’d ever yelled to let “our” David know that he is very much loved? Or would the crowd enjoy what they must have thought of as Cook’s pre-show?
Fangirlyness level: 7/10. Worry level: 8/10.

7-8:45ish. Okay. This is how much pressure all of the previous Archey reporters have put on the remaining dutiful volunteers: I took notes. If you had ever met me in person, you’d see that this is a setup for hilarity, because I am a klutz. I am also near-sighted, which means that I need glasses for distance but can’t see to write with them on. I had to shuffle my notepad and pen while also applauding and/or standing for great performances, speaking to my husband, kids and the family behind me and freaking out about finally being at the concert. The glasses had to come off and on depending on whether I was writing notes or watching a performer. At one point, I bent down to grab the notepad from the cup holder in front of me, and my glasses fell off my face and into the crevice between my feet and the chair of the person in front of me.
Despite great efforts, which included me sitting on the floor, cross-legged, in front of my seat (and breathing down the necks of the couple in front of me,) I couldn’t find my glasses in the dark. I had to sit blindly (sort of) through Kristy Lee’s, Brooke’s and Carly’s sets. And I worried that the glasses would be broken or REALLY lost and I wouldn’t be able to see ‘our’ David.

At halftime, I made the six people in the row in front of me get up and search for my glasses. They found them, so I was happy and the row of fans didn’t appear too upset.

Chikezie is, as others have stated, a great opener. He looked good in a purple jacket, and he sounded smooth and bluesy. He is a natural at working both stage and crowd, although not many in the crowd stood during his set. My favorite song of his was “I Believe to My Soul.”

Ramiele is, as others have stated, perhaps a bit out of her comfort zone. I liked her first two songs better than her last. The crowd seemed disengaged. I found her adorable, and even great in certain moments. I hope she finds her confidence.

Michael brought the crowd to their feet. For the first time of the night, my husband seemed glad I’d bought him a ticket. Michael was strong on all three songs, but my favorite of his was “Dream On.” One daughter swears he got the second best crowd response besides Cook, but my husband thought that honor went to ‘our’ David. It was really hard to tell.

Kristy Lee’s strongest song in terms of crowd response was “God Bless the USA.” People stood up, groups waved in unison and many sang along. She announced later during her set that, no, she didn’t get her old horse back but she got a new one. At some point, she asked people to stand up. I’d say about half did.

Carly was my husband’s favorite on the show. He loves Heart and generally likes the female power belters. She didn’t disappoint him, although the crowd appeared to be more mixed in response. About half were on their feet while the other half seemed to be milling about. Her voice is incredible. My husband, who was acting as my photographer, got frustrated because we were too far back and our camera’s zoom wasn’t strong enough, “We need a new camera,” he announced during Carly’s set. Tickled me, since he hadn’t worried about this problem for the previous performers. Carly also asked for audience response during,“I Drove All Night.” I’d say about 1/8 of them got up. My kids looked bored, but my husband was FOCUSED.

Brooke has the honor of giving me my first set of goosebumps for the night. She looked gorgeous, and my Beatles-fan daughters swayed and sang along to “Let It Be.” She connected, to my mind, better than her predecessors with a larger proportion of tonight’s audience. In fact, I believe she connected better than anyone (including Cook) in terms of being relaxed in her speaking manner with them. She was engaging during “1-2-3-4.” When she introduced her third song, "Yellow," she dedicated it to Poptart.

Now I have to tell a story about Poptart. That happens to be my youngest girl’s nickname for her dad. And he pretends to hate it. None of my family remembered that the show is sponsored by Poptarts or that there was a Poptarts mascot. So when Brooke said, “I want to dedicate this next song to Poptart,” my kids started laughing hysterically and nudging their dad, who happened to be wearing a yellow polo shirt. He acted annoyed while trying not to laugh. My oldest daughter was nearly doubled over in fits of giggles, while my youngest daughter smiled delightedly, surely planning months worth of gleeful reminders. The song, and the moment, was is a favorite for all of the family. Brooke doesn’t ask people to applaud or stand, and I think I love that about her.
Halftime fangirlyness level: 8/10. Fun level for the family: 10/10.

8:45ish-9:30ish Jason was up next and he also engaged the audience easily without asking for applause. It appeared as if nearly everyone sang along to “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” I discovered at this point that I take less notes when I’m engaged with the performer. Jason’s set went by very fast, and he reminded me of why he and Brooke are tied for the number two place in my heart. My favorite of his set was “Daydream.” Jason walks around on the stage the least, and he didn’t talk much at all between songs, but after the show, he and David Archuleta were my younger daughter’s firm favorites.

Syesha’s first song isn’t one I know. She hit all the notes and her voice (and person) is gorgeous. She did ask the audience to respond. At one point, she walked out to the sides to touch hands, and someone gave her something. She said it was ‘bling’ and seemed flustered. I have no idea what it was or what she meant. We were too high in the bleachers to see that well, and I was too fangirly about who would perform next.

9:30, I’m guessing, but I actually have no idea –
No note-taking.
David Archuleta.
Fangirlyness level: 10/10

I stood up "Angels" and was one of three in my row, with the other two being my daughters. I should add that others in the section also stood. For about the first thirty seconds, I was annoyed with the man behind me who had to announce to his buddies, over and over and loudly, about the beauty of David’s voice. I wanted to turn around and smack him, or at least tape his mouth closed so I could HEAR David’s voice, but I decided to focus, instead, on the song.

I trembled all the way through "Angels," and I was all goosepimply. His tone is pure and rich, and his pronunciation is the clearest of all of the Idols. You understand what he’s singing and you feel his connection to the meaning. The audience gave him a decent response. The Cook fan beside me – a woman probably about my age (heading toward fifty) – applauded politely from her seat. I worked to not fret about it. Later, on the drive home, my fifteen year old daughter said that she had "Angels" stuck in her head. Apparently, he connected with her with that song, and that makes up for every single person who couldn’t show appreciation for anyone not named David Cook. My daughters both said on the drive home that they wanted “Crush” for their iPods - and my older daughter also asked for "Contigo En La Distancia."
David went into "Apologize" without speaking to the audience, and he brings the heat to that song. He doesn’t appear to me to be the sort who’d relate strongly to the lyrics – seems too gentle – but he got into it. I wondered during this song how he could put his very soul into the performance. As far as I could tell, the crowd showed more appreciation for this song than they had for "Angels." More in my section stood, including my Cook-fan neighbor.
David did talk before "Stand By Me," and he was still coughing a bit, and seemed very out of breath. I worried about how he’d sing that intense song when he had no breath left in him. Yet he sang it beautifully and with the same intensity as ever. When he hit that last high note at “Stand,” my husband turned to me, eyebrows lifted, and chuckled. My fifteen year old sat with her hands clasped in front of her and wearing a huge grin. My thirteen year old smiled shyly, as is her way. She loves David. The crowd gave David lots of love.
I wanted to cherish "When You Say You Love Me," but somehow my perception was skewed. Maybe because I knew it was his last song. Maybe because he seemed slightly less energetic for this performance of the song than he’s been in the past. I wonder if the rudeness of the audience affected him. He still sang it with the same characteristic David Archuleta beauty and energy. My daughters told me later that this and Angels were their favorites from David.
As he ended the song, I’d already started telling myself that I was going to the Tulsa show in two weeks. I decided then and there that I was going to go online first thing in the morning to pay as much as necessary to get better seats. (Which I have done.)
Fangirlyness level: 10/10.
Wishing I could’ve seen David’s set while he was in Utah: 12/10.
Strength of my vow to get to the first David Archuleta non-Idol concert humanly possible for me: 15/10.

David Cook came out to rousing applause. He performed the heck out of “Hello” and got, I’d say, about 90% of the audience on their feet. You couldn’t see unless you stood. “Time of My Life” also got great response, and I suspect that they like the song better than he does. Cook sings with great power, and he’s funny and smart. He was pulling up his britches throughout the first two songs and mentioned that someone had stolen his belt in Oklahoma City. At some point later, an audience member gave him something. He said he thought it was a dog collar at first, and surely inappropriate while his mother sat in the audience, but it was a belt. He put it on to the crowd’s great glee. More people sat down during “My Hero,” but they yelled my eardrums sore after the song and before his encore. My fifteen year old said the crowd was so loud that she started yelling out snarky lyrics to a song she hates, just because she could. She was developing an attitude because of the obvious difference in response to the other Idols. My husband and I tried to explain that this was Cook’s hometown and he was the winner, but she wasn’t hearing it.
My fangirliness for my daughter, who at fifteen knows how to be a gracious audience member: 15/10. I’m very proud of her.

Please Don’t Stop the Music. The kids did well. I didn’t realize until after the song that there was no Mavid at all, and Cook didn’t do anything but sing at the end of the catwalk. Maybe he pointed to David, but don’t recall him doing so. David did his usual jump and point. Weird and disappointing, especially since I’d built up the fun to my daughters. Oh well.

10:30 or thereabouts: mass confusion. I had one afterparty pass and my youngest had to go to the ladies room. We tried to talk options while fighting the crowd, and decided I’d go to my designated meeting place for invitees, and the family would wait in the bleachers of that section. Then they were told they couldn’t wait there, and my husband hollered down to me that they would meet me outside the front entrance. I had no idea about where the front entrance was, but I said all right. In line, I met Gail from Fans of David, Gail’s husband and DH from Fans of David. We talked, although I was so scattered I don’t’ know what kind of impression I made. When we finally went into the room, there was David, right around the corner. First person I saw. I am “fun-sized” (thanks to Scout for the term) and David is actually taller than I am, but he’s also smaller. I had a great time just waiting in his line. He is every bit as charismatic in his personal interactions as everyone has said, and he is as beautiful. He took his time with people, listened well and responded with animation. He took pictures and signed autographs and made the wait seem very, very short. The woman in front of me, DH, asked me to take a picture of the two of them during her turn. I realized as I tried to focus that I was shaking, and said so. David Archuleta said “awww.” To me. David Archuleta said “Awww” to me!
At some point before my turn, can’t remember when, David was signing something for a fan and started singing “Georgia on My Mind.” The group sort of moved in closer to hear, and one fan who had started to leave returned. He stopped, dang it, but gave us that huge, real smile and he was completely forgiven. During my turn with David, I remember talking more than I thought I would. I had made a card for him with quotes that reminded me of him, and he carefully listened to my explanation and thanked me. I said that I was a big fan, and he saw Bianca’s shirt and said, “I know that shirt!” As I left, I blabbered something about how his fans have formed friendships, and he said that was so cool.

My husband had asked me to get an autograph from Carly, but she was surrounded by people at this point. (Brooke, Carly, Michael, Kristy Lee and Jason were in our room. Cook was in a separate room. I never saw Chikezie, Syesha or Ramiele.) Everyone was pretty busy, and I was totally happy and weirdly freaked, so I decided that I’d use my upcoming Tulsa trip to meet the buses at both ends of the concert and try to get the other autographs and hand out the cards I’d made for the rest of the top ten.
I bumped into Jeff in the hallway, and told him he had a great son and had done a good job. He said that he hadn’t had to do much. I told him that I didn’t know how he and his family had handled all of the pressure, and he said that it had been tough. I announced to Jeff my intention to make great efforts to see every David Archuleta concert possible, and then someone else approached him and I left to find my family.
Fangirlyness level: through-the-frikkin-roof!

Can’t wait for September 13, the second of many David Archuleta concerts for me.