Guest Blogger @SarversAngels: American Idols Live! Tour Experience Round Two! [Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA]

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by DBF

By Meg| @SarverAngels on Twitter

Also attended the concert at Giant Center in Hershey, PA on July 15th. Read the experience here.

On July 18, 2010, I got in the car one last time for the 8 hour drive between Boston, MA and Hershey, PA. Except this time, I wasn’t driving from Boston to attend the Idol Tour in Hershey—I was headed back from Hershey to attend the Mansfield, MA show. I knew going into it that we wouldn’t make it back in time for the unofficial meet and greet outside the venue, but I was still very excited.

Before the Show:

When our plans quickly changed, I found myself at the venue by 4:00 pm. I’d heard stories from my friend Farrah as I got closer to the venue—she told me that almost all of the Idols were coming outside to meet fans. As I ran towards the crowd in front of the box office, I spotted Farrah and went over to say hi (we hadn’t met until this moment, so it was cool getting to meet a fan I’ve been in touch with forever!). Just as I got there, one of the other fans yelled to me, “Quick!! Aaron is RIGHT THERE!” When I turned my head, one of my favorites from the season, Aaron Kelly, was indeed in front of me. He said hello and I gave him the gift I had brought: a gift bag full of Sour Patch Kids. He was very excited and gave me a hug right away. I then told him that I’d come to the Hershey show just days before, and he remembered meeting me there. I then had to carry out what Tim Urban had told me to do in Hershey…this part gets a little confusing, so bear with me.

As background information, when Aaron and Tim were at the If I Can Dream House together, I tweeted in a comment to Aaron saying that I loved him, too. Tim was pretty upset with me (jokingly, of course) because he knew by that point that I was one of his biggest fans. So Tim had asked me in Hershey to tell Aaron that I wasn’t “switching sides” and becoming an Aaron fan. I told Aaron that, but then added that I would always be a fan of him, no matter what Tim said. He seemed to remember it all so we had a good laugh. After that, Aaron had to go inside and, as we sat by the box office, we heard the Top 10 doing sound check. They sounded absolutely INCREDIBLE.

Eventually, Farrah and I met up with some more of our friends and hung out by the doors together. People kept coming up and asking for a picture with Farrah’s “Oh My Urban” sign, which was kinda cool. One of the people that took our picture with the sign actually turned out to be Tim Urban’s friend! She was extremely nice and it was a lot of fun to get to talk to her. While we waited for the doors to open, we had some laughs with the radio stations parked outside, watched groups of fans come out of the official meet and greet with huge smiles on their faces, and attempted to participate in Tim’s twitter party from our phones. It was pretty good, considering we had nowhere to go except wait in a small area to get inside for the concert.

Concert:

The second that my friend and I sat down in our seats for the concert, a some-what weird feeling came over me. I felt strangely at home; maybe because I’d already been to a show and knew what to expect, or maybe because I knew this was a part of my life that I truly love. Either way, I was already excited and infected with the crowd’s energy before Didi even came out. This experience was little different, though, as Hershey had been an indoor venue, and this one was outdoors. I have to say, despite the bugs and heat, I really do like the outdoor venue better because you feel that much closer and connected to the performers.

When the big-screen monitors faded out and the lights on the stage shut off, I knew I was in for a treat. Didi Benami stepped out on the stage, shining in the spotlight, and commanded both songs that she sang. Her voice filled up the venue and I realized that this was some of the true talent of the season. Although I had already seen the show once before, I kept noticing new things the second time around. Also, Didi was apparently sick during this show, but I could barely tell. Props to her for staying strong and singing her heart out despite her sore throat.

The stunning performances continued; Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens both getting the audience up on their feet. Katie had an entire row full of her friends/family, all dressed in pink, cheering for her. It was awesome to see them up on the big screen and watch their excited faces as their hometown girl left the audience amazed. When Tim Urban came out, my friend and I were some of the only people in our section standing. But that didn’t stop us—we had the time of our lives singing and dancing along to Better Days and Viva La Vida. There was a girl in the front row with a sign that said “Tim, Can I have a hug?” and Tim reached down during his set to shake her hand. He also kept pointing at her during Viva La Vida, which made me smile to see how much he cares about his fans. Of course, since this was the Massachusetts show, it was Siobhan Magnus land. Tons of fans came decked out with Siobhan posters and t-shirts, and when she took the stage, the crowd went WILD. Her upbeat songs kept everyone entertained and on their feet for the entire duration of her set. I guess you could say she was WICKED AWESOME. Aaron Kelly obviously did not disappoint, and I felt like he was singing to me with each song he took on.

During The Climb, I was reminded of all the moments during my first tour experience and saw just how amazing and talented this group is. After intermission, my friend and I were on the big screen for Big Mike’s set, which was really cool. Casey James and Big Mike rocked the stage with their duet of “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?” When Crystal Bowersox came out, a little boy in the front row had a sign that said “Will work for backstage passes” and she became one of the sweetest Idols of the night. She told the boy to write his name on the back of the sign, and made sure that security would get him backstage. From that moment on, I was smiling for the rest of the show. Lee DeWyze got the audience very pumped up from the second he started with “Beautiful Day,” and kept the energy going throughout his entire set. Then, it was time for the group songs. My friend and I stayed until we had heard Tim’s solo on “It’s My Life,” then ran as fast as we could out of the venue.

After the Show:

We made it outside and got in the second row of people at the barricades (and at the end), which I was happy about. We waited for about an hour until we saw security start moving around, which could only mean one thing: it was time for the Idols to come out. Now before I tell my story of this part (which I will try to keep short, I promise), I had two main goals for the night: to get an autograph and a hug from Tim. I had completely forgotten to do that when I met him in Hershey—I must have been a little starstruck, haha. Anyways, the crowd started to get antsy as the gate opened for the first time…and Lee Dewyze walked out. He started at our side, and the pushing began. In case I hadn’t been overwhelmed enough for the past hour, the fans were now at their craziest point. When Lee got to me, he looked me in the eyes and said, “Hey, how are you?” and then signed my paper. I wish I’d gotten more time to talk to him—he seems like a really nice guy. A few minutes later, Andrew came outside. Him and Lee did a little “bromance dance” in the middle of the crowd, then went to opposite sides of the line of barricades. Casey also came out and headed over to Andrew’s side.

A little while later, Lee started running around to all the fans and told us all to be quiet when Tim came out. Instantly, the ten or so Tim fans that were on our side started yelling at Lee. We were saying things like, “What are you talking about?! We want Tim to come to our side first. Of course we’re gonna yell!” He explained to us that it was a prank on Tim and they didn’t want anyone to scream for him. We were reluctant about this idea, but focused on the next Idol that had come over: Aaron Kelly.

I asked Aaron if he was in on the prank, and he was very confused. I told him I was glad that he wasn’t in on this since I’m Team Tim & Aaron for the Idol prank wars. At this, he got very excited and jumped in the air a little, yelling, “YEAH! TEAM AARON!” It was absolutely adorable. He also told me that he loved the gifts that I gave him in Hershey.
Big Mike came over as well, being extremely sweet to all the fans asking for pictures and such. The only part I didn’t like…was the Yankees hat on his head. At some point during the night, Casey even walked over and hit it off of Mike’s head since we were all very against it. Pretty funny to be in Boston with the rival team’s hat.

Around 11:45, Tim was finally coming out. Casey was waiting with his iPhone to record Tim’s reaction to the prank, so we all knew that in a matter of seconds, Tim Urban would be in front of us. When he came out, he looked down and started laughing because everyone was quiet. But within two seconds, someone on our side broke the silence and we were all screaming for him to come our way. Unfortunately, Tim headed to the other side of the line as Siobhan and Katie came over to us.

As it neared midnight, the security guards kept coming over to the Idols telling them that they had 10 minutes…6 minutes…5 minutes…3 MINUTES. I was freaking out because Tim was not even halfway through the line and they would be leaving soon. I thought my best bet was to wave to him on his way out, yelling his name and hopefully catching his attention. But then, Andrew Garcia walked over.

I asked Andrew if he could do my the biggest favor in the world, and he politely smiled and said “Of course!” I laughed and asked if he could bring Tim over to our side of the barricades. Andrew burst out laughing, clearly thinking I was crazy for asking HIM this and not even saying I was a fan. But I reassured him that I was a huge Andrew fan, too, and that the reason I needed to see Tim was because he was looking for me earlier (he tweeted me saying that when he came outside, he looked around the crowd for me). Andrew took that as an opportunity to make fun of me and yelled over to the others, “HEY MIKE! CASEY! THIS IS TIM’S GIRLFRIEND!” Now all three of these Idols were hysterically laughing and thought that they had just created the best joke ever. I’ll admit, it was pretty funny and took my mind off of my freak out that had happened just minutes before.

A huge amount of people were now looking at me and laughing along with the guys. When Andrew finally stopped laughing, I asked him seriously if he would go get Tim. This is when Andrew became one of my favorite people in the world, because he actually DID. He jumped up on Tim from behind and yelled, “TIM, YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS OVER THERE!!!”, pointing at me. Tim laughed and looked up, and when he saw me his face lit up and he ran over to where I was. He gave me a hug and said “Hey!! Funny thing. I was actually JUST looking for you out here! Thank you for everything!!” I gave him my picture to sign and he wrote “Thank you” and signed it. I also gave him the gift bag full of Nerds that I had for him, and he seemed pretty excited to get another gift. I told him that Molly (from the Hershey show) said hi, and he said to tell her hi back and that he loves her. I thanked him for everything, and it was the perfect ending. I’m pretty sure that after that night, Molly and I had both gotten the closure that we needed. All of our hard work on the scrapbook, gifts, and supporting Tim has paid off. The excitement of seeing these concerts made my summer amazing, and I honestly cannot believe that it’s all over for me.

I wish that I had been able to meet Didi and Crystal. I wish that I’d had front row seats instead of being in the back. There’s lots of things that I wish had happened differently, but I’m looking back on this experience with no regrets. Throughout all of this I learned that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes things get torn down so that you have to build them back up again. And sometimes, things go wrong to put a little bit of uncertainty in your life, but everything that starts well ends well. Despite all the obstacles, just keep pushing on. ♥

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