David Archuleta - Archey Report - Newark, NJ - 07/30/08
(Here is Indomass' Archey Report for Newark! Indomass was one of our cellcasters and his sound was awesome!)
Hi Angels and all idol fans! Wow, I've been through quite an eventful ride for the American Idol 2008 concert. Let's start at the beginning shall we? I arrived at the Prudential Center with my gift for Jeff and David in hand and all the stuff I wanted David and the other idols to sign with me. I got to the venue at 2pm and met up with MC, Xeno, Stina, Ealbino, and Rightsaidcat. When I got there I met some other angels as well and we all bonded. The other fangirls were waiting since early in the morning, but because I had personal things to take care of that morning I got there at 2pm. When I arrived, the idols had just come out! I took lots of photos of Kristy Lee Cook, Michael Johns, David Cook, and especially of David Archuleta! I also had my group photo of the idols to get signed. The Idols were being rushed and we were towards the end of the line so we didnt get alot of talk time with them. But I did get awesome photos. The coolest things I saw that I should mention during the pre-show waiting by the busses for the idols, was that both David Archuleta and David Cook had MOUNTAINS of gifts given to them. I was is awe. They had to have security bring in the gifts with them. Also, right before Archey went in the center to do Press, he was rushed by a bunch of girls who wanted hugs, so he hugged them. I think MC was one of the girls who rushed him and got a hug? haha...
After that, the NY Angels from Rickey's all went to hang out and eat at Blimpies and talk about what else...the awesomeness that is David Archuleta. We hung out in the Blimpies for about 3 hours. We then headed over to the Will Call at 530pm and I met up with Rickey. Over there we waited because Rickey had gotten myself, Xeno, MC, and Ealbino backstage passes for the afterparty event! We waited and waited, and kept checking back and they didnt have our passes. Finally, when it was 10 minutes before showtime, the passes arrived and we all screamed like banshees, hugged Rickey, and went into the show.
I was sitting with Rightsaidcat for the show and we had Center Floor Seats in the front and Row 18! The view of the stage was awesome! And the acoustics were great! THE VENUE WAS NEARLY PACKED! So the show starts....from here I will give a rundown of how I felt of each of the performers:
Chikezie: Chikezie was very nice and he got the crowd going. He has a very soulful voice and I thought he did great.
Ramielle: Ramielle's second song, "Love Will Lead You Back" by Taylor Dayne, really surprised me. She sounded beautiful on it. I was pleasantly surprised with how well Ramielle could hold her own on the stage.
Michael Johns: Finally, Michael Johns came and you will notice the audience come alive. MJ was an awesome singer, performer, and showman and I was definitely more impressed with him live than I was when he was on Idol. My favorite song of MJ's set was "It's All Wrong, But It's All RIght".
Kristy Lee Cook: Again, this was another very nice performance. I actually enjoyed how she held her ground and had stage presence for "God Bless The Usa". KRISTY LEE COOK IS GORGEOUS by the way.
Carly Smithson: As someone who was not a huge fan of Carly on the show, I walked out of this concert A FAN OF CARLY SMITHSON. I saw a full on amazing rock stah during Carly's set! She sounded incredible and was so rocking it out on stage. Loved it. Her rendition of "Crazy on You" by Heart was AMAZING.
Brooke White: Ah, my favorite girl of the season. And she lived up to my expectations! Brooke's set almost had me in tears. I love her so much...shes so beautiful, and genuine, and emotional with every song she does. I loved Brooke sooo much! I loved Brooke's entire set!
Jason Castro: Ok, I just want to start off to be fair, that I was cellcasting for Rickey for Jason and Syesha so I was trying to make sure my phone sounded good for the hundreds of fans that were watching, so I didnt really get to concentrate on Jason as I did on the others. That being said, to me, I expected more from Jason because of my high expectations going into the show of his set. I was a little bit underwhelmed. But I still thought he did great and I really enjoyed when he did "Daydream". That was my favorite of his set. And I was also happy that Rickey's show told me that my cellcast sounded very good! Yay! So I will do it again on saturday in Atlantic City! =)
Syesha Mercado: Ok, so Syesha, sadly, impressed me the least. I didn't care for her versions of "Umbrella" and "If I Ain't Got You". But I did love her cover of "Listen". The Beyonce song showcased her voice the best.
David Cook: As a hardcore DAVID ARCHULETA fan, I have to say this. David Cook is one hell of a showman. I was very impressed with David Cook's performance skills and the way he can work the crowd. I give David Cook amazing props for that. I'm not a fan of David Cook's style of music, but as a performer myself, I give David Cook such major respect of how he controlled the stage and the crowd during his set. Great Job, DC. My favorite of David Cook's set was "My Hero". I'll admit, he had this die-hard Archuleta fan a little bit Cookified. ;)
David Archuleta: Ah....the moment we've all been waiting for. The best set for me hands down was of course, Mr. David Archuleta. He was genuine, emotional, soulful, PITCH PERFECT VOICE, and worked that stage! I enjoyed every single song he did! He owned those songs and made them his own. David's vocal technique is flawless and I was literally in a trance listening to him sing. From beginning to end, I loved David. The screams for both Davids were awesome in Newark. I would have to be honest and say that both Davids tied in Newark with the cheer factor. But David Archuleta made me hoarse at the end of his set. I was screaming so loud for him. "WYSYLM" brought me to tears also, it was simply stunning. I also saw many fans around me who came for DC, and nodded in agreement, wow Archey is an incredible singer. Thats right he is! =)
So thats my review of the artists. Now for the really good stuff! The afterparty! I first want to say again THANK YOU TO RICKEY for helping me, Xeno, MC, and Ealbino get backstage for the afterparty. The afterparty had about 60 people in attendance and basically the artists are all in a room hanging out and fans go up to them and talk to them and take photos with all of them and get autographs signed. I got everyones autograph for my group photo except for Chikezie, he didn't show up for the after party. (Coincidentally, I don't think he was on-stage for Please Dont Stop The Music, either). I got to talk to all the idols for a little bit each. When I spoke to Brooke, I started to cry like a little weiner, haha. And I told her that she was my favorite girl of the season and that I loved her and she always made me cry with her performances. She said awww, dont cry, I'm sorry, and gave me a great big hug. And then took a photo with me. I felt like a dweeb. Haha.
When Archey had come out I was almost trampled by all the girls so I decided to wait a bit before I went to talk to him, so I went and talked to the other idols and then I spent some time talking to Jeff Archuleta. And let me just say, Jeff Archuleta is an awesome father and person! He is incredible sweet and humble and gives David his own space doesnt even stay anywhere near him. I gave Jeff the giftbag I had made for him and Archey. Which was a grab bag of Carnegie Hall Merchandise. (I work at Carnegie Hall). Jeff was sincerely shocked and in awe that I gave him the gift. And he asked me what my name was and I told him that I work there and he looked at the business card of mine that I stuck in the bag. Haha. I saw Jeff holding my bag for the rest of the night, which made me happy. I also spoke to Jeff about details on "Crush" and he told me that its gonna be great and that its getting great feedback from music people and that its very catchy. I took a picture with Jeff also.
I spent about 20 minutes talking to him about everything from his family to David's life, to my life, to just how the Archuleta's are trying to stay grounded in this crazy world. He told me that he never let the negative press get him down, but it did make him sad some nights. Jeff took the time out to talk to me about my own life and listen to how much his son means to me, which was really awesome. Jeff also told me that he knows Rickey and loves Rickey and he was the one that called Rickey to tell him what he had heard from the Idol people about the after-party drama.
Both David Cook and David Archuleta were true gentlemen and sweethearts.
Highlight: Both David Cook and David Archuleta stopped signing autographs for all their fans to go and spend time with this one mentally handicapped girl who was at the after-party. It was really sweet and made her really happy.
Finally, when the crowd died down a bit for Archey, I ventured over to him and told him how much he inspired me and I had him sign all the stuff I brought of his which he gladly did. I showed him a binded book I made of Dean Kailin's biography on him, which he actually didnt know was made. But he thought it was cool. He signed the cover I made of the book for me. I then told Archey about the fans and how much he truly means to us all and all he could say was awww, gosh, thanks! I then asked for a photo, which he gladly did, but I reached around his body to bring him in closer and gave a a big tight hold. LoL~ Btw...he was so close to me that I could smell him too and he smelled amazingly fresh to me. No particular smell. Just amazingly springtime, baby fresh. He smelled great!
Xeno, MC, and I hung around until they kicked us out so we just wandered around talking randomly to all the idols. We asked David if he recognized the Archey's Angels shirt that MC and I were wearing and he said yes and it was awesome. At the last 5 minutes of the backstage access party, Ramielle showed up so we took photos with her. LoL~ And then security told us to go, so we did.
On a more serious matter, lemme just say that I am deeply disappointed that RIckey was escorted out of the access party! It made me very sad when I heard about this from Rickey! Rickey and I took the train home together and just talked about this issue. Whoever is responsible for this outrage, SHAME ON YOU! Rickey is an amazing person and did not deserve to be manhandled by security and called names and told to leave. I don't know who is the person or persons responsible for this on Idol's end, but I just wanted to express that We All Love Rickey and he did not deserve that!
All in all, except for the end of the night drama, I had an amazing time! The show was my first Idol Tour and overall it was a great time! My few words cant even describe how amazing David Archuleta is live in concert and in person. David Archuleta is just this amazingly gentle, sweet, and innocent young man in person. And he is this amazing Super Stah on the stage! DAVID ARCHULETA FOR THE WIN! :D