American Idol Live Concert!

My good friend Colleen & I attended the American Idol concert for the 2nd year in a row - we hope to make this our annual tradition!! The concert was on Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 7:00pm at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.

Us before leaving the house:

Before the show, we had dinner at the Atlantic City Bar & Grill. I heard rave reviews about this place, so we decided to try it, but I wasnt all that impressed. It wasnt bad, but definitely not the best I've had.






After dinner, we headed to Trump to park the car and we got into the Boardwalk Hall around 6pm. Our seats were about the worst you could get! We were alllll the way at the top (aka nosebleed section) and it was tight with every seat filled. And it was extremely hot the whole time.



Last year was awesome. As soon as you entered the building, you could feel the energy. They had all different setups with fun things to do before the concert. This year was so different. Although we had a good time together, it was nothing near last year. Overall, I felt the concert was boring and blah. However, I must say, the talent was much better this year and I enjoyed just about every performance by the singers.

The layout this year simply had each singer go on stage in the order they were voted off. Number 10 down to Number 1. From 10 down to 3 each sang 3 songs. Archuleta (#2) sang 4 songs and Cook (#1) sang 5. This as opposed to last year, where they sang in all different orders and sang in groups and pairs. I much preferred that layout as you didnt know what to expect next. It kept us interested. This year, if you didnt like the current singer, you knew you could let your mind wander for about 15 minutes.

OK, now for the pictures -- listed in order as they sang (remember click to enlarge):
#10 Chikezie

#9 Ramiele Malubay

#8 Michael Johns

#7 Kristy Lee Cook

#6 Carly Smithson

#5 Brooke White

Group (Bottom 5)

#4 Jason Castro


#3 Syesha Mercado


#2 David Archuleta


#1 WINNER David Cook!


The crowd during David Cook's performance

Group Top 10


After the concert, the crowds were horrible. It took forever to get out of the hall and finally Colleen and I found a way to cut across the boardwalk and wait for the crowds to dissipate. We also went a back way through the beach to get around everyone. Colleen went for some Salt Water Taffy and we walked through a few casinos.

Then when we were heading back, we saw crowds around the concert hall again, so we walked up to find that several of the American Idol singers had come out for pictures and autographs! What a cool surprise after waiting for hours last year and never seeing them!
Here are...
Carly:

Brooke:

Jason:


Syesha:

David Archuleta:


Oh and I found an online forum where others who went to the Atlantic City concert wrote reviews and such HERE. Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the concert from my perspective... until next year!