Even better than I imagined!!

My sister Kathleen and I had absolutely, positively THE BEST TIME at the American Idol concert on Friday night!! We had such fabulous seats, main floor, row 18, seats 1 and 2!! I got those tickets on Ebay and only had to pay a bit more than the original cost!! We were so close that it was like we were having a private concert! (except of course for the high-pitched screaming adolescent girls that were sitting behind us!:0 ) All ten of the finalists performed. We were pleasantly surprised that Jordin (the winner) and Blake (the runner-up) sang so many songs! Especially because Jordin had been in a local recording studio all day working on her first album!
During the season, I enjoyed Blake but he always seemed a bit too "hip" for this old lady. But, I have a huge new level of appreciation for him now! He has a fabulous voice and the "bee-bopping" thing he did during the season is so cool to see in person! He is very, very talented. Plus, he had a big fan-base in the audience (the squealers were in fine pitch every time he performed!)!
We were both surprised when Sanjay came on stage with just his regular hair. No mohawk, no ponytail, no color, just his hair. Though there was a young lady in the audience with a very nice Sanjaya look-alike mohawk! We were also surprised that Sanjaya actually had a nice voice! There were a couple of times when he sounded like he did on TV, but all in all he did well.
We were also surprised with Phil's voice! He's the baldheaded guy! He was also very stoked because he had his own fan section of relatives from Nebraska. We never did figure out how they were related and where in Nebraska they're actually from. But, he was having a blast!
Both of the Chris', the shaved headed one and the curly haired one surprised us with their musical skills! "Shaved-headed Chris" is quite a drummer and "Curly-haired Chris" was excellent on the guitar!
Although I enjoyed Gina, the rocker with the shock of red hair and the tongue piercing, she really didn't seem to take the performance very seriously. She forgot words and/or started to laugh in the middle of a song. She was still good, but just not as good as I remembered from the season.
Kathleen and I both agreed that we were not fans of Haley. She actually has a very good voice but, she was really "flaunting" her body. It was very bothersome since there were so many young kids there, many who were in the front row. (OK, that was my official old lady comment!)
We both agreed that the real show stoppers were LaKisha, Melinda and Jordin! No matter what they sang, it was amazing! When LaKisha sang the Whitney Houston song, "I'll Always Love You" you could have heard a pin drop! Melinda stole the stage when she did Tina Turner's "Proud Mary!" Kathleen and I both think that LaKisha and Melinda will be on Broadway in the not too distant future!
My favorite part of the evening came when Jordin sang Martina McBride's "Broken Wing." She dedicated it to her grandfather and her great-grandmother. Her grandfather flew in to watch her sing the song during the competition. What he didn't tell her until after the show, was that her great-grandmother had passed away earlier in the day. It was beyond belief to sit in the audience on Friday night, watching and listening to this 17 year old girl singing like an angel and being in command of the stage like a pro! There were not very many dry eyes in the house that night.
It was an amazing night and I'm so very, very glad that I was able to share it with my beloved sister.

Thanks for reading.
Annette