I go to the Schottenstien Arena at around 1:00 PM or so. There were already a lot of people where the buses were parked. Barricades were setup and every inch of it was occupied. I figured my chances of them coming out and getting to me were slim, plus I was standing there by myself with nothing to do, no one to talk too and I felt like a complete loner. So I left to go visit my friend who lives on campus.
This would have been the perfect day to get over my anxiousness of people and being by myself because once I arrived back to the arena at 5:00 PM I finally struck a conversation with a few ladies who had their shirts signed,
“Did you get those signed today?” I asked them. (Oh my God, I spoke to someone!)
They told me that they had got to the arena around 1:00 PM (same time as me stupid!) and the Idols came out at around 2:00 PM. (around the time I left, double stupid) Needless to say, I could have had a picture and/or autograph if I would have just gotten brave and stood there looking stupid. Lesson learned.
My seats were Section 1, Row C. I knew this meant third row but I played stupid with the guards on the floor area. I’m not sure if they are even supposed to do this, but one of them even walked to right to my seat. Row A & B consisted of four seats on either side of the stage, Row C practically started the first full row of seats across the front of the stage, I basically had first row seats and I wanted to jump and scream like I was 15 years old again. I literally stood there for a moment real quite, wondering if the man had made a mistake,
“Is this good enough for you?” he smiled at me, I think he knew I was in shock as well.
“Oh yes, no complaints here!” I think there was only one other time that I bought a concert ticket outright through Ticketmaster where my seats were more than perfect, so I knew I was lucky and was going to take full advantage of reverting back to my teenage days and have as much fun as one could have going to a concert by herself. I already ruined my chances earlier to get close to the Idols, I wasn’t about to screw it up again.
The show was amazing! All the Idols were very interactive with the crowd, worked the stage and I was stealing so many amazing concert photos. When the Season 2 Idols went on tour I did the same thing and I printed out the concert photos for them to sign at a later concert date. I was hoping maybe my amazing concert photos were an omen.
I will have to say that Carly and Syesha blew me away the most (up until David Cook would perform of course). Beautiful and amazing!
Way before all the concert hum dum, I started talking to these girls who were big fans of the show, most particularly David Cook of course so we were standing up and dancing and singing for most of the show.
Everyone else around us was sitting, staring blankly at the stage, doing nothing.
That’s the only bad thing about living in Columbus, Ohio. If you are “big wig corporate Ohio” as I call it, you automatically get the best seats to the concerts, they are handed to you on a silver platter, while the real fans sitting in the back have to stare at dots on the stage, it’s sad to see that. I’m positive that judging from the lanyards everyone was wearing around me, they were for the corporate big wig, NetJets.
Anyway, we must have been the only people in the front section that were genuinely happy to be there because we were the only one having a genuine excited reaction to the Idols performing. There was a group of six or so men sitting next to me. When Brooke came out he asked me to sit down for five seconds so he could see.
“I’ve already paid for my ticket, I should be allowed to stand up” I told him. This is about as brave and standing up for myself as I usually get. I comply to be nice and sit down and he continues to tell me that’s all he wanted me to do was sit down for five seconds,
“Well I’m sitting down and your five seconds is running…” Now I’m getting really ballsy.
A group number started up and one of the Idols proclaimed, “Everyone get on your feet!” That’s all the confirmation I needed to stand up and give this man a dirty look as I did it. Hey, the Idols told me I could stand up.
Don’t get me wrong, I am an extremely nice person by nature, I love talking to new people once I get the courage to approach them and I listen to everyone’s stories with genuine wonder, but at this point, this devil came over me.
I continued to stay standing up until David Archuleta came out. The same man sitting next to me seemed like he was out to ruin my night because he takes a little kid, from I don’t even know where (she definitly didn’t have seats in the row I was in) shoves her past me and yells,
“Would you sit down so these kids can see, I mean how old are you people?”
Well obviously I was singing and dancing and having a good time so I was just as young as the little girl he was trying to shove past us. I continue to ignore him and enjoy Archuleta’s performance. On Archuleta’s last song he touches my shoulder and yells again,
“I do not want to sit here and stare at your fat@$$ the entire show!” This was where I lost my marbles, I turned to him and leaving out the choice words I was using,
“That is so f***** rude, you do not f***** talk to me that way, you have f***** two legs, quit being lazy and stand up yourself. If you want to pay me $85 for my ticket, be my guest and you can have my seat.”
I was livid. My initial reaction was to swing at him, but my first and foremost thought was, If I swing and I get kicked out, I will miss David Cook’s performance. So I held back on being violent, so much to the point it gave me a headache.
The worst part was, I gave up on trying standing up and tried very hard to enjoy David Cook’s set, sitting down. I didn’t want to get called a fat@$$ again, because as much as I tried to ignore it, it did kind of hurt a little bit, coming from someone like me who has been struggling with her weight a little bit these few years.
Lord, Cook must have thought we were the most boring people on Earth just sitting there not reacting to his performance, we were sitting right in front of him and he just looked right past us and the first 7 rows that were still continuing to sit there, blank, with no reaction. I felt horrible because he did put on a stellar performance and he should be cheered on for it.
I do recall at one point I turned to the evil man and asked him if I could stand up to take a picture and he gave me permission. This man GAVE ME PERMISSION to stand up and take a picture, I really didn’t feel like I was at a fun concert setting anymore.
I know that man was corporate, most likely from NetJets and then I thanked God I didn’t get the chance to interview those few years back for the stuck up @$$holes at NetJets. There’s no way that man that treated me so badly will probably ever get on a David Cook or David Archuleta message board, or a website and read this, but he did almost ruin my concert experience. I genuinely wanted to be there and was thankful to NOT be corporate and work for my ticket to that show.
Regardless of the fact that if I chanced standing up again he would continue to yell at me and I would spend the entire David Cook set yelling at this man and miss the rest of the show, I gave up and sat down, altough I didn’t want to. I decided to be even more of a wench however and I started dancing in my seat and consistently bumping into him since I wasn’t allowed to stand.
I was star struck to see all the idols perform, especially David Cook because he’s got great stage presence and charisma. He was made to be up there and while I do not know him, I felt really proud.
I found a newfound respect for Archuleta as well, as during the last group song, Archuleta and Cook walked towards the catwalk that extended out into the middle of the crowd and everyone cheered as Archuleta graciously pointed and smiled at Cook to acknowledge him. It was very, very classy and commendable.
I hope to go to many, many more solo tours for these future Idols and maybe my experience will be a lot more enjoyable. It was worth having to shop around for top rated acne products due to the ridiculous amount of anger and stress that horid old man put me through.
See Videos from the “American Idols On Tour Concert” Video Gallery
On This Day...
[...] concert was great, compared to the Columbus Ohio show, the Cincinnati show was very loud and electrifying and I was allowed to stand up without any stuck [...]
OMG!! I can not believe that F****** guy!! Oh man Emelita you better be glad I wasn’t there I would have gotten us kicked out but hitting that man. I am seriously so proud of you for saying what you did!! I was cheering for you the entire time I read this and was really getting into it. The pictures you took (the ones I saw on the blog) look amazing!!! you should print them out and maybe we’ll try and get them signed in Cleveland!! Oh and thanks for not giving every detail of the show. I was able to really enjoy your blog and your experience without ruining the show for myself
[...] concert was great, compared to the Columbus Ohio show, the Cincinnati show was very loud and electrifying and I was allowed to stand up without any stuck [...]