I should start by saying that it was super fun and i am so grateful to the person who took me. We had a really great time. My friend jenn scored tickets to Idol Gives Back from a woman she knows who works at Fremantle Media. They were excellent seats, middle of the first balcony, about 4 rows from the front. There was a man sitting in front of us who I have to imagine can be seen from various camera angles as he was quite large and wearing a light green shirt. If the shot they show during Seacrest's opening is the same as what we saw on the jumbo screens at the Kodak Theater, then you can see where we were sitting right above Ryan's head and a little to the left. The big guy sitting in front of us waved his arms madly pretty much any time the camera looked like it was pointed vaguely in our direction, so you may get a glimpse.
Anyway, good seats, huge stage, crazy good lineup but we weren't sure who was going to be there live and who was going to be featured in one of those heartbreaking videos shot in Africa or Appalachia...it was a pretty crazy and somewhat random assortment of stars, but you know I am way hooked on this show when I am more excited about the American Idols being there than....Brad Pitt....who was there, and so gorgeous yes, but I was like ooh there's Michael Johns up in the balcony, clapping at Brad Pitt just like I am. Weird.
Just to go down the list, Robin Williams was there live and did an ENDLESS and not very funny spoof on "Russian Idol." It needed one of those cane things, you know to remove him from the stage? It was brutal. Celine Dion was just in a video which was fine with me. Forest Whitaker's video(s? i think he did 2) - brutal in a different way altogether from Robin Williams' brutality. Tearjerker for sure. Billy Crystal was there and proceeded to have a sort of cute, sort of awkward, very staged conversation with Miley Cyrus, who, i know, is like the hottest thing ever right now and I'm trying very hard to get it...it just came off as a little obnoxious. You'll see.
And you know Idol is reaching out to the younger crowds harder than ever when Miley Cyrus performed not once but TWICE in a 2ish hour show. I do have to wonder if they'll air both songs? They weren't one right after the other. It was a little strange. The girl has gorgeous hair, I will give her that, and she flails it around like nobody's business.
Dane Cook introduced an Alicia Keys video and had kind of a funny joke. I have to like him, is my feeling, since I'm from Massachusetts and so is he, but I kind of feel like his 15 minutes may be up. I hope I'm wrong. Kiefer Sutherland did a video and I wonder if he gets tired of having to mention the number 24 in every single thing he does? I didn't see Terri Hatcher in anything, but she may have been in that weird star montage singing thing - I can't even remember what song they were all singing but it was bizarre and featured Rob Schneider (who later made some awful joke about sending him $$ instead of to the charities?) and Eddie Izzard. hmmm. And when you watch that singing montage thing, can someone please tell me who the guy in the glasses was? You'll see what i mean.
Oh wait - I think they sing "I'm a believer" by The Monkees. I Think.
Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens are also in a quickie video asking for donations. Jennifer Connolly's video is a little confusing until the very end. Elliott Yamin was in the audience, as was Jordin Sparks and Simon's girlfriend. They were all down on the floor, as you can imagine. Didn't see Fantasia or Amy Adams...
Bono has quite a few moments, interviewing the saddest people you can imagine, doing his thing and being Bono. He wasn't at the show though, much to my chagrin. As I mentioned, Brad Pitt was, and there was a funny thing where his mic wasn't working so they stopped (they taped it as close to a live show as they could, but had a cushion of time for things like mics not working) and the stage manager lady Deb came out and was redoing his mic and then said she just wanted an excuse to touch him. It was pretty funny.
Reese Witherspoon also had some sort of microphone snafu, but she just gracefully redid it and it was all good and she is awfully adorable. Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman i was a little nervous about because you never know what's going to happen when it's the two of them and a room full of stars. It could have been "I'm f*%king Simon Cowell" being filmed for youtube for all I know but it wasn't and they were both funny. Jimmy sort of roasts Simon and he takes it quite well.
Mariah Carey sang a song. Not much else to say as I am not really a fan - is it really Mariah week next week? Ugh. Anyway, the Manning brothers were there and introduced a video of them somehow making the lives of kids in New Orleans better...but it's not really clear how they do it? They seem to play some sort of indoor throwing game with a bunch of teenage boys, to which my response is I'm pretty sure those teenage boys wouldn't mind going outside and playing, uh what's that game called again? Oh yeah- FOOTBALL? I think that would probably make them pretty happy. Maybe they do at the end, I can't remember, but I did find it weird that they were like throwing balls around inside in a circle when they have back-to-back superbowl qbs who happen to be brothers right there at their disposal...I digress.
The Beckhams were in a video. This will sound mean but it made me glad that their kids don't go to my school because I don't know if I could handle a parent conference with the two of them. Fergie got to sing not only with Heart but with John Legend as well - John Legend was phenomenal, and then Fergie came out and sang with him before doing Barracuda with Heart....amazing! I developed a small crush on Fergie during her performance. I think it was the one-armed cartwheel things she did that sealed the deal. I loved her way back when on Kids Incorporated, too!
Daughtry took his band I think to Uganda, so that was a video. I didn't know his band was called Daughtry. That's what I learned from his video. Annie Lennox made me cry - during her video and during her ridiculously beautiful live song. She is amazing. love love love her. Snoop Dogg was funny and I have to confess I have no idea who he performed with, but he brought up this cute little bunch of boys to be on stage with him. I don't think they were singing or anything but they were a cute little posse.
Maroon 5 was nowhere to be found...oh Adam Levine, wherefore art thou Adam Levine? Gloria Estefan sang "Get on Your Feet" with this superslow beginning...but of course sped it up so that we, the audience, would...get on our feet, of course. Carrie Underwood did indeed sing George Michael, in a lovely pinky greeny shimmery dress and sitting down the whole time - i don't know how such a big purdy voice can come out of someone who's sitting! It's remarkable.
The 3 presidential candidates each have a little video - I'm curious because the sound/light quality of McCain's was so bad that nigel who came out before the show to psych us all up said that they wouldn't use it the way it was, they were waiting for new film from the McCain camp. So I'm curious to see what they air. The British Prime Minister also has a little video where he pledges $200 million...i don't know if they'll count that in this year's total, which Nigel predicted will be over $100 million. That really is amazing.
Paula is glorious in red. Simon wears his standard suit/no tie/shirt undone to his navel. The idols wear regular clothes for the opening act, which has really good backup dancers. I think David Cook gets felt up by his, but he does not need to go to the hospital as a result. And then they wear all white for the ending, which I'm just going to say, works for the girls, not so much for the guys. There's something really awkward about Jason Castro all in white. Michael Johns and David Cook look ok I guess, while David Archuleta, true to form, looks a little like an angel all in white. Shocker. They sat up in a balcony for most of the show and just watched, and they were all pretty into it and standing and singing along and whatnot...Jason Castro was a little more hang-back-ish, but he still seemed to be enjoying himself.
I kept waiting though and there was no African choir like last year, and that was a little disappointing. I would say that in general last year's show is a tough act to follow, but they did a good job. I think the novelty of the whole thing last year really helped, as did the whole celebrity factor, like i remember watching and thinking - holy cow THAT star agreed to do this? and being all surprised and delighted. And I felt less of that this year. I don't know why. I'm sure they'll still raise a boatload of money and the truth is the people that they feature desperately need it. So it's all good.
I had fun, and I'm excited to watch it tomorrow (IPM note - she means tonight) and see how different it is from what I saw sunday night.
xoxo
mb (and lucy, who did not get to go to the taping, as it was a school night)
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