Hi guys!!!
Last week I went to the Pop Idol concert and I thought it was wicked. For those of you that are interested I'll do a review of the concert (IM STILL EXCITED NOW!!!) I know Feefs has done a really good review too!

I went to see the concert at the Birmingham NEC!
I went there with my twin sister and my older sister who is 23; it was originally just going to be me and my twin but looking at the size of Birmingham, we wouldnt have coped! Its soooo busy!
As you can imagine, going from Plymouth to Birmingham is a looooooong trip so we were pretty knackered when we arrived by train at about 4!
We managed to get to our guest house and got ready for the concert! There was a few problems - what do you wear to a concert?! Smart, casual

We eventually got ready and got a taxi to the arena.

It was massive when we got inside. We got a programme which cost £10!!!! (if any of you who didnt go want me to type up their interviews just let me know!) and we diodnt take a camera cause they were searching bags - I was a bit gutted we didnt though cause once the concert started, every one had their cameras out!
Anyway, it didnt take that long for the concert to start. I went to the toilet and as I was queueing, I heard loadsa screams!! I thought it had started so I legged it back to my seat but realised the crew were just teasing people by putting up Pop Idol pictures on the big screens.

Anyway, the concert finally started and Nicki Chapman came out to introduce it. That was a nice suprise cause I thought she was only doing the Wembley shows so she talked for a while and also told us that this particular show was being filmed so we shoud scream and smile for the cameras (i imagine its gonna be put onto a video or the tv.)
Korben came out first and he was surprisingly really good. He sang Freedom & he got the crowd really going.
One by one, they all came out in order they were evicted from the show. Jessica has a fantastic voice and Laura was a good entertainer but you could tell she didnt have the strongest of voices. Aaron was also really good, he knew how to talk to the crowds and also Rosies voice is gorgeous, it was so weird listening to it in the arena and not on tv!
Hayley was good but looked pretty nervous but I figured this was cause she was in front of her home town. Zoe was fab, snging the Aretha Franklin song. She had been my fave in the show along with Will so it was fab to see her and she really was born to perform!
Darius came out and he was really good; I wasnt too keen on him during Pop Idol but he was cool to watch and he was a fab entertainer!
Then came Gareth. As you can imagine, he got ALOT of screams from the girls but looking around, you could tell he appealed to a more younger audience. A line of 10 year olds were sat next to me and they were screaming their hearts out for Gaz. He was quite good but like already said, he couldnt really rise above the cheers, his voice wasnt as strong.
He also did a duet with Zoe, a Mariah Carey one and it was lovely. He was on the piano and their voices worked really well together but I think by this time, every one was waiting for THE Pop Idol!!

Nicki came out and said, 'Now, the moment you have all been waiting for....'
Will then appeared in a silhouette at the top of the steps with his head bowed. Flames appeared on stage and the music to 'Light my fire' came on. He did some dance moves which looked really effective with the music and then he turned his head to the camera, by this point the arena was silent, but the crowds erupted and every one went wild. He smiled one of those smiles and people were goin mad
He was absolutely fantastic and I am not being bias. He was in a completely different league to the others. He was talking to the audience and when Evergreen was sang, I rang my friend from my mobile cause she is obsessed by Will and she said that hearing it from her bed room, he sounded amazing.
He was funny, sweet, stunning and most importantly his voice was just...fantastic!!!!!!

I wont go on to talk about the Big Band stuff cause Feefs has already done a fantastic review. I'll just say that it was equally as good and again, Will was fab. So was Gareth and Zoe and Hayley.
Anyone who didnt go, should buy the video cause its well worth it.
From going to that concert, I can tell that Will is going to be a BIG star!!!!

LEE, didnt you go to the concert? What did you think of it
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

[Feefs]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, although now I REALLY, REALLY want to go again. Foxy said something about it being on tv during the chart rundown on Sunday, but he didn't say when. I hope it's the whole concert, but it might just be the Big Band bit.

I've realised I never got round to giving my review of the second half of the concert, but I don't know where I stored it. It all seems like a dream now, and there are so many details I've forgotten and I'm gutted. It was such great fun, that it came and went so quickly. The second half in particular was very slick.

Big Band album out this week - has anyone (else) bought it? I was in the shop first thing on Monday morning on the way into work. The poor woman hadn't even put them on the shelves yet. I won't say much for anyone wanting to form their own opinions, suffice to say it's very good and all of them show how much better they are than most of their contemporaries.

The only downside is that it is quite short (just over 40 minutes) because the individual tracks are very short. I'm just getting into some of them when they finish. On the plus side, it's only £9.99.

[LEE]

Originally posted by Feefs
Foxy said something about it being on tv during the chart rundown on Sunday, but he didn't say when. I hope it's the whole concert, but it might just be the Big Band bit.

Janette and I went to the final Pop Idol concert last Saturday and this was the one that was recorded to go out on the TV. They certainly recorded all of it and the impression that we got was that the whole thing was going to be shown and not just the Big Band half.

[kaphc]

I did wonder about it being recorded, because one of my colleagues at work had mentioned it, but I told her we hadn't seen any TV cameras. Stuid me didn't twig that they only need to record one of the shows, not all of them! Dur!

I also bought the CD on Monday Feefs, I am really enjoying listening to it. The only song I don't like is the Gareth and Zoe duet, purely because it sounds like Zoe is standing miles away and Gareth is really close ot the mike, maybe that's the effect they were after tho'.

It got a good write-up in heat magazine too, 4 stars out of 5.

[Janette]

And it was a brilliant concert, they were all so professional and classy.

i thought Korben was the most surprising one of all! He was great! All singing, all dancing! What a star

[BigSister]

I am glad that it is going to be on tele or video

And i am getting the Big band album too

[Feefs]

Originally posted by kaphc

The only song I don't like is the Gareth and Zoe duet, purely because it sounds like Zoe is standing miles away and Gareth is really close ot the mike, maybe that's the effect they were after tho'.

I think it is really - Gareth a doe-eyed innocent while Zoe is all wordly and the one teaching him about kissing. It's one of my favourites and brings back brilliant memories from the concert. It's such a tongue in cheek song and they acted it out really well. Gareth was being very dapper in his grey suit like a proper trainee casanova, while Zoe was gorgeous wearing her best "leading a young man astray" outfit. Like all good teenage flirtations it involved Zoe pushing herself up against Gareth on a park bench, then their friends jumping out on them (in the form of Will, Darius, Rosie, Hayley and Jessica) to do backing vocals. The only thing missing was a bottle of Ice Dragon cider!

I don't know if anyone else noticed it, but I, and lots of people round me were in hysterics for it. The PIs themselves were stuggling to keep a straight face. Will and Darius did very funny dancing, but over far too quickly.

There were some cameras there when I went, but they said it was for CBBC. If anyone watches Newsround, you might have seen me.

[kaphc]

Hehehe I missed that side of it completely when I saw the concert but your description makes it sounds really funny. I didn't really "get" the song, as I was too busy going "Oh my god, Will's back on stage again"

I will definitely have to look out for this when it is on TV.

[Feefs]

Don't take it too literally - I made up the bit about the friends jumping out on them. Obviously they did suddenly appear, but I don't think it was meant to be symbolic and a park bench was just practical.

To be honest, it was all happening so quickly, and there was too much to look at. I liked the song anyway, but for purely logistical reasons I want to see that one again.

Did you notice when Will came back to sing his own BB songs the nervous way he made his way down the stairs. I was there for an early show, so perhaps he got the hang of it by the end, but he really looked like he thought he would stumble. It was so cute and my friends and I all commented on it, so when I saw the thing in the (expensive) program about him being being scared of the steps it all made sense.

[kaphc]

Yeah, I noticed that Will seemed very nervous, especially compared with Darius, who seemed to take the whole thing in his stride.

When he had to close the 1st half with some "announcements" he spoke so fast that we couldn't really hear what he was saying.

Just makes Will all the more endearing though!!

[Feefs]

At my concert (personal property now), Will was really funny and relaxed doing the first half announcements, but he did seem more stressed in the second half introducing the band. He forgot what the trombones were called and was mortified. I have a sneaking suspicion the band may have been trying to put him off, just to make things a bit more tricky. It was also the show where Zoe pulled out of her BB solos, so he was probably in a muddle in the first place. Bless.

[splodge0]

I'm beginning to wish I had followed PI from day one!! I'm always regretting missing the first few days of things. I even did that with BB1......Look at me NOW.....lol it to bits
:c olour:

[kaphc]

Aha, someone had obviously given Will a bit of friendly feedback about speaking on stage the - good for him!

At "my" concert when Will introduced the band, one of the sections played the start of the Muppet Theme. Will said they changed it every evening and laughed! Did they really play something different every time?? Anyone else remember what tunes they did?

[BigSister]

When I went at Manchester they did the simpsons