Idol Tracker: The San Diego show

The San Diego show

At the aging San Diego Sports Arena, the crowd at the second show was perceptibly younger than the firmly middle-aged audience in the premiere show in Glendale, Ariz. The difference was immediately noticed by the performers as they made their way backstage after their sets, who, although somewhat bleary from the first night’s journey, seemed to get a fresh burst of adrenaline from the crowd. First up, Chikezie, who came backstage soaking wet from his energetic set but smiling broadly at how it had gone.

Some moments from the night:

+ Micheal Johns introducing "Dream On": This song got me kicked off the show, but I’ve been told by the authorities it won’t get me kicked off the tour.”

+ Kristy Lee Cook seems to make a tradition of throwing T-shirts to the crowd, a country-friendly gesture that sets off a mad scramble.  Also her rendition of “God Bless the USA” seems to provoke different responses. In Arizona, the crowd was instantly on its feet.  In San Diego, the room stayed mostly seated, although a sizable percentage of the room could be seen mouthing the words along with her. Kristy seems more comfortable in the rocking country mode than either of her "Idol" country chanteuse predecessors, Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler. One can see her in a duet with Bo Bice much more naturally than either of the others.

+ Massive huge explosion of applause for hometown girl Carly Smithson, although she later says that because of the monitor in her ear she was unable to hear the noise except what came through her mike, which she kept extending to try to make it out.  “Do you know how awesome this feels?” she asked the crowd. Once again, and especially on home turf, the set of the greatest performer in "Idol" history was, simply, electrifying.

+ Carly’s introduction of the next singer:  “She tans worse than I do.  Her name is Brooke White. And if she makes a mistake in her song, she’ll start it again for you!”

+ Jason Castro’s fan base is the most clearly identifiable, with hippies in tie-dye dotting the auditorium. Most introduce themselves by their dreadhead number, given in the order of their registering at the Castro fan site.  “I’m dreadhead No. 3052” is a typical hello.

+ The scream for David Archuleta’s set was once again deafening. Young girls, in tears, hopped up and down. And once again, one can see the young man who can be so awkward grow into the most confident, self-assured human being on the planet when he sings before a crowd of thousands.

+ On my second listening, David Cook’s set is truly great. All the nights that he brought the Idoldome to a standstill are relived.

+ Backstage after the show, Kristy reports that there are thousands of people standing outside the bus parking area waiting to see them get on board. Carly says that the night before, when a similar crowd was arrayed, Kristy impishly ran in and out of the bus to provoke the tidal wave of screams every time she came into view. Tonight, she tries to egg Carly into joining her. 

And then, finally, it is on board again and on to Fresno. Two cities down, many to go!

-- Richard Rushfield

Photo: Michael Johns, courtesy Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Comments

[capami]

Thanks, RR!

I'll say I'm Dreadhead # 1871 when I see you in LA @ The Staples Center.

[HannaB]

The mean age of Jason's fans is 42 years old. We are hardly hippies. And, his official color for the concert is baby blue, not tie-dye. You really saw a lot of tie-dye shirts in the audience? Other reporters mentioned the unity among his fans because they noticed the official light blue colored t-shirts. Nothing about Jason's performance or stage presence? Guess we know who your favorites are. ;)

[itscindy]

I attended the San Diego show with my 13 year old daughter. We travelled all the way from Vancouver, Canada to see it -as a surprise for her! I am sure to get mother-of-the-year for this one. It was a GREAT show!! Standouts for us were Chikeze (HOW did he not get in the top 4), Michael Johns (sounds AMAZING live...obviously better than on TV), Carley (omg, that girl has pipes!), Sayeesha (always incredible), and of course David Archuleta (my daughter stood on her chair and was trembling!) and David Cook (my word, what a performer!). We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the show. Everyone did an awesome job.

[Sierra]

Hanna, why are you jumping all over this guy? So he got the colors wrong.Big deal! He gave Jason fans a shout out and noticed how much of a strong presence they were at the show. That's pretty cool if I do say so myself.Give him a break.And the mean age of Jason's fans is not 42. lol Have you seen the people on his myspace page? There are thousands of much younger girls on there.

[AmberTX]

I am a Dreadhead, I know I am DH# 2000 and something but the specific number escapes me. The number is not what is important. What's important is Jason's music.

We wore BABY BLUE shirts not tye-dye, then again I was in 3rd row at the Glendale concert.
I am 31, but our group ranged in ages of 6 years olds, teenagers, 20 somethings, 30 somethings, 40 somethings and 50 somethings.

Jason kicked butt. He's low key, he doesnt jump and run around, but that's not him. So I guess if you dont run around everywhere people dont seem to notice as much.

My favs were in order: Jason Castro, David Cook, Brooke White, and David Archuleta,
I also enjoyed Carly, and MJ
I thought everyone sang much better in concert than on AI

sincerely,
AmberTX

[Richard Rushfield]

HI Dreadheads of all numbers and ages.

Sorry to provoke you into thinking I'm out to get Jason. For the record - I thought Jason's set was great and he is a wonderful performer. He is also a very nice person and his family are some of the coolest people I've ever met.

That said, if you read my pieces on the tour and ask why I'm not reviewing his set - I'm not really reviewing anyone's set, thats not what I do. I'm not a music critic. I am just writing up odd quirky or notable moments and in Jason's set other than thinking it was really good, there wasnt any particular moment like that that stood out for me. But he was great and his set was great, so please consider that said for the record.

- RR

[Cathy Anne]

RR
As you can see people are passionate about those that inspire them. At last look Jason Castro's myspace had almost 4 million hits so he is touching many hearts. Thank you for apologizing fora any misunderstanding -- written text is so hard to understand the emotion behind it from the reader's perspective--and after all, we all see things differently.

My own observation is that Jason's fans span the ages from very young children to senior citizens -- it is about the joy he exudes and the heart he puts into every breath. Even if his music is not your usual genre, you are drawn to him because of his genuine likeability. If you close your eyes and listen, you can always pick out a song sung by him -- he is unique and I think he will be around for a long time to come.

Something you may not be aware of about a large number of Dreadheads is that Jason has inspired them to become active in community service projects of all types --donating their time and money to help others because Jason has shared how it makes him feel by doing for others before doing for yourself. Now, that is inspiration!

God bless
Cathy Anne
DH #2897

[Byron]

To the person who said the mean of Jason's fans is not 40, you've only seen his myspace site. His older fans are hardly going to know much about myspace are they? Having said that, if you look carefully, you will find thousands of mature comments- from males and females of an older generation. I don't see that on any of the other Idols' sites. Jason's fans consist of FAMILIES- hence of ALL ages. We live in our thousands on a site which I wll not disclose here because his family regularly post there and it will not be fair.

[capami]

Well, I like you RR and I appreciate your blogs. They are very funny and well thought out. The Castros are cool, agreement.

If you do go to the LA show, tell me hey! I'll have on my baby blue Castro shirt, lei and be holding a Chikezie/Jason sign. We are all about the joy, love, faith, peace and Castro.

Have a great 4th , everyone!

[Daisy]

RR,
Dreadhead #1628 here!
I loved reading how the crowd reacted differently at the different venues. We've been picked on some, so some of us are a little defensive. We really are a nice group, like a family. I loved what you wrote about us.

Dreadheads, we ride around in hippy-style buses and flash peace signs. The head Dreadhead has worn flowers in his hair. This is a compliment. RR said we were doing a good job at making our presence known and that we were the most organized fan base.

Keep 'em coming, RR because I love reading this stuff.

[Lucy]

David Archuleta was my favorite! The boy is incredible! I get chills and teary eyed listening to him sing. Its so exciting to watch him grow! This is only the beginning for young David Archuleta!!

[Sierra]

Byron,

When you compare the 2000 plus member fan sites that Jason has to the 38,000 plus people on his myspace page, there is a huge difference in numbers there and most of the people on his myspace are younger. That is why I used his myspace as a a much more reliable source as to the average age of his fans and not fansites with 2000 people on it.

Another thing I would like to point out is that I hope Jason's fans don't start becoming like the Claymates.Let's remember that we need people like RR. Any good word about Jason's fanbase or his music in general should be appreciated and not attacked like a wildpack of dogs. I have seen this happen way too much and it concerns me.The press is very important to Jason in terms of helping his career.Let's not make Jason look bad with our hypersensitive comments.Otherwise, you stand the chance of harming Jason's career as opposed to helping it.

To Richard, thank you for taking the time out to comment. I appreciate it and I am sorry people made you feel like you were out to get Jason.

Signed,

Jason fan

[HannaB]

Sierra, why are you jumping all over me? We are all entitled to our opinion, no? I'm sure RR can take care of himself.

RR, I know you're not out to "get" Jason. I apologize if it sounded like an accusation. There are SO many people out there who don't "get" Jason and who take every opportunity to criticize him and his fans. I'm 50+ years old; the term "hippie" was used to label and criticize people way back when. It's nice to know you meant it in a positive way. I'm glad you appreciate Jason and his family. Hopefully everyone will be fair to them. Thanks for your article.

[Vivian]

It is always mind blowing to me how David Archuleta seems like two completely different people. When he is not singing, he is so goofy and awkward, an airhead by his own definition. But once he is on the stage, he transforms into this confident, self-assured person who knows how to make the audience feel what the songs/music mean to him.

I love David Archuleta, his voice, his character (both). I love that he is willing to take the heat of not conforming to what others think he should be or what others thing he should be doing at his age. When it is all said and done, I hope and pray he will be able to say , "I did it my way".

[Byron]

'Jason fan';

You did NOT just compare us to the Claymates! :O Haha.
& RR, although I did not like the Hippie generalization at all, thankyou for writing this up.

[M]

Richard, I am a dreadhead too, BUT do not worry. I am not here to criticize or be rude to you. I find that a lot of dreadheads read WAY TOO MUCH into ANY kind of press Jason gets! It drives me crazy, and it makes me embarrassed to be a "dreadhead" at times. I think that you pointed out the fans because they ARE so prominent and "loud" in their presence , both figuratively and literally (shirts, glow sticks, necklaces, colors, signs while screaming for Jason) how could you NOT notice them? Plus, the main thing I learned in my Intro to Journalism class was that when you are reporting on an event, do not simply just do a run down of the minute-by-minute happenings ("first chekezie came out, he sang. then ramiele came out, she sang too, etc."); you are supposed to point out the "newsworthy" moments. The things that standout and would be INTERESTING to your readers -- which is exactly what you did. Thanks for the review!!

[J9BT]

RR - thanks for taking the time to notice Jason's identifiable fan base and include reference to us in an article about the tour. We are a very passionate and loyal group and really appreciate it when the press take time to comment on positive things about Jason (which includes his large fan base). I hope you are able to comment on future IDOL venues and include updates about Jason's fans - we're everywhere!

Thanks again. DH#2410 (I'll be wearing Jason's official baby blue T-shirt to my venue later this month).

[Coconutz4Jason]

RR -- love reading your comments. Gives me a little of the feel of being there. I'm a bit sick that I didn't buy tix, but I wasn't supposed to be in LA, now here I am.

I agree with you that Carly is really the greatest ever. I have high hopes that she can launch a career from this. I loved so many of her performances, but she really was wrongly slammed on the show. Yes, a couple of missteps in song choice, but some were great, like Blackbird. She wuz robbed. Hey, get together with Slezak for some Carly worship! I'm gonna try to support her more and show the love.

I also really liked MJ, so am glad he is distinguishing himself on the tour. The duets with Carly have been fun too. Too bad they can't do any on tour.

I love your shoutouts to Jason's mom, Betsey (watch out Rene, Mcas isn't the only one with creepers!) I wonder if she has read your comments. I'm going to point them out to her, she posts on daydreamingboy.com

Glad to hear Cookie is doing himself proud. I had a hard time appreciating anyone after I got Castro Fever. So I am appreciating him a lot more and his taste suits me more than anyone's except Jason's.

Best wishes to all the Idols for a great show tommorrow, Rock n Roll, kids! I'll be home eating my heart out and waiting to read your comments, Richard.

Dreadhead #1856 coconuts4jason, atheists4jason