We live in Blacksburg, VA, about a 2.5 hour drive from Greensboro, so we left around 2 p.m. Because we stopped to eat, we didn't get there till just after five, but we still had plenty of time. I had to go pick up the tickets from the box office, because since I had ordered them so late I couldn't have them mailed to me. We went in and there were already at least a hundred people waiting for them to allow us to come through the doors (which they would open at 5:30). We got our tickets and then got in line. Eventually they opened the doors, we went in and went straight to the booth where you can buy souvenirs, T-shirts, etc. We were in line for about 30 minutes because we were in the front of the line at the first booth and their credit card machine wasn't working, so we had to go to the other. Anyway, all I bought was a poster of all the idols ($10) in case I got to meet them after the show so they could sign it. After that we went on in and found our seats in the 3rd row. The stage wasn't anything fancy, just the stage with a screen behind it that at the time just had the American Idol logo, but during the concert would play scenes from each contestant's time on the show while they sang. There were also two huge screens to the side of the stage which would show the singers for the people that were too far away to see the stage well.

At about 7:10 the show started. The place was packed - not quite sold out but almost. Jessica Sierra (10th place) was the first one to come out. She sang "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Shop Around." She was really good!! I took a lot of pics of Jess but they were kind of dark when they developed.

Next was Anwar Robinson (7th place). I loved Anwar on the show, and he proved why on Sunday night. He was INCREDIBLE. He sang "A House is Not a Home" - a song that I hate but he makes me love - and "What a Wonderful World," which was by far my favorite performance by him on the show.

After Anwar was Constantine Maroulis (6th place). I admit I was never much of a fan of Constantine before, but I LOVED his performance. I was on my feet ever since the show started, but he really got me screaming. He was so awesome! He sang "Hard to Handle," "My Funny Valentine," and "Bohemian Rhapsody." During MFV, I was screaming and waving at him and he pointed at me and grinned. I know he was pointing at me, lol. I am absolutely sure. And even though I never got the whole "Constantine is SO hot thing" before, I just turned into a pile of fan-girl goo. I took about a billion pics of him, but none of them turned out too good - here are the best ones.

After Constantine came the dancing KING Nikko Smith (9th place). Now, I love me some Nikko. I was so sad when he got voted off so early - I thought he deserved to be in the top 5. On the Showstoppers CD, he and Nadia tie for my favorite song. And he did not let me down. He sang "Incomplete" (not my favorite), "Part-Time Lover," and "Like I Love You," by Justin Timberlake. And he BROKE IT DOWN. I couldn't believe how fantastically well he danced. He had the place moving, dancing, etc. It was so much fun. I started feeling nauseous at this point from the heat and all the screaming I was doing, lol.

Nikko introduced Scott (5th place) then. I was exhausted and had to sit down some, and since Scott was singing a ballad I figured this was a good time. All through the night each idol had hollered about how he/she was so excited to be in North Caroliiinaaaaa! Scott didn't seem sure where he was, lol. He said something along the lines of "So we're in North Carolina, right?" lol. Anyway, he did incredibly well. First he sang "Against All Odds," and then brought Jessica Sierra back out to do a duet on "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which was so fabulous I got back on my feet despite feeling pretty crappy (I think I was getting a little dehydrated). Then he sang "She's Gone."

Then came the fabulous Nadia Turner (8th place). Nadia is another one who got the shaft. She deserved to go so much further in the competition, and she really, really proved it at the concert. She started out with "There's a Power," and then after that she stripped down a little (see the pics) for her next number, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me." She sang part of "Fire" and then went on to "Try a Little Tenderness" to end her set. She really got into it and she was just fantastic, definitely one of my favorites out of the night. She better get a recording deal.

After Nadia there was about a 15 or 20 minute intermission, which gave me time to go out and get a badly needed but over priced three dollar bottle of water. During the intermission up in the very top of the stands, where no one was sitting but everyone could see, they were doing a photo shoot of either Jessica or Carrie. It was impossible to tell for sure because she never turned and faced the audience and they look a lot alike from behind that far away, but both Ken and I were pretty sure it was Carrie.

After intermission Anwar came back out! Now he's on the keyboard and singing "Superstition."

After he sings that he moves into playing "Karma" by Alicia Keys and Vonzell Solomon (3rd place) comes out onto the stage and sings it. After they finish that song Anwar leaves the stage and Vonzell sings "I Have Nothing," followed by "I'm Every Woman" and "Best of My Love." She was very good, but very loud, as I'm sure any of you who have seen Vonzell on the show can probably imagine. They were all loud, but Vonzell just about busted my eardrums, lol. Still, she was really awesome.

After Vonzell, Anthony Federov (4th place) appeared. Anthony is another one who I wasn't a huge fan of on the show, but he can sing pretty well and he is just such a sweetheart. He seemed so amazed that SO many people came to see the American Idols. He sang "Every Time You Go Away" and two other songs that I don't really know, but they're both ones he sang on the show, I think. He did pretty well, I enjoyed his set.

Anthony introduced Bo Bice (2nd place) and everyone went crazy. Now, apparently to the other concerts they had done so far, I heard Bo was wearing leather pants, but I guess they needed a break this time because he was wearing jeans. He still looked good, though. He started with "I Don't Wanna Be" and then sang "Vehicle." Next, "VooDoo Child," and of course, he ended with "Sweet Home Alabama," which was the best. He is so awesome, I love him!!

Finally Bo introduced Carrie Underwood. She came out looking adorable in a cowboy hat singing "Sin Wagon," and doing an incredible job, although to begin with she sounded a little different than on the show - slightly more high pitched - but she evened out later and she still sounded fantastic. A few people threw stuffed animals onto the stage to her. She sang "Independence Day" next (of course, what's a Carrie concert without Independence Day?). Next she brought Bo back out to sing "Bless the Broken Road," which was absolutely fantastic. Then she sang "Alone," which was what I was looking forward to more than anything during the whole concert, and she did not disappoint. She ended with "Inside Your Heaven," and about halfway through everyone came out and joined her. Sorry this first picture is so big, I thought I had saved it smaller than this. I've been working on this for hours, so I'm not going to mess with going back and fixing it now, maybe later.

After that they pretended they were leaving, but of course they weren't. They came back out one at a time singing "Lean on Me" and then finished with "R-O-C-K in the USA." It was of course quite choreographed but very very good indeed. In this first picture I think it really looks like Constantine is pulling Anwar's hair.

Then they really did leave. We left too, but we went over to where the tour buses were. Since it took us awhile to get out of there, there was already a huge crowd because Mr. Anthony Federov was already out there signing his autograph, lol. It was impossible to get to him because of the crowd. He was behind a fence, of course. He would've been mobbed if he'd come out. We couldn't get to him and eventually he moved on past our spot. Then Jessica Sierra came out and started signing and I managed to get her to sign my poster on her picture. I was so excited, lol. I didn't manage to get a picture of her.

Then Bo came out. I am so disappointed because he didn't sign the poster. We had it held over the fence, between two people who were holding programs. He took the program to the right of us... then the program to the left of us... and totally ignored the poster. I was pretty pissed, although I'm sure he didn't do it intentionally. He moved on down the line and there was no way for us to follow him because the crowd was so thick and we had such a good spot by the fence where we were. I wanted to cry though, I love Bo so much and besides Carrie, I wanted his signature the most. I tried to get a picture of him but it was hard because of the crowd, so I got a picture of someone's arm. It's a really great picture. Heh.

Then Scott came out and we got him to sign the poster too. I did get a picture of him, albeit not a great one.

I believe Nadia was the next one to come out. I didn't manage to get a picture of her, but she did sign the poster.

After Nadia came Carrie. I saw her coming from pretty far off and as soon as I saw her started screeching, "Here comes Carrie! It's Carrie!" I was sooooooooo excited. I wanted her to sign the poster, plus I brought her CD single case with me b/c I wanted her to sign it too, so Ken held it out while I held out the poster. I was too nervous to say anything to her except thank you, but I was so close to her it was unbelievable. She is too sweet, she signed the poster and the inside of the CD single insert. She is every bit as beautiful in person as she was on television. I managed to get two pictures of her. One is really good, and the other is okay but I caught her in the middle of saying something. I'm also posting a scan of the single she signed. The poster is too big or I'd scan it too.

While Carrie was out there, some girls were asking her when Constantine was going to come out. I was thinking, who cares about Constantine? This is CARRIE! But not long afterward Constantine came out and got the biggest fan response, I think. It was the only time I almost got killed in the smoosh to get to him because I was so close to the fence. I was holding the poster over the fence and he signed it first before anyone else's! HAHA, take that, Betty's! j/k. ;-) He was very nice. I got a picture of him too.

Awhile later Vonzell came out, but she went to the other end of the fence which we were on, so we didn't see her till the end, but I did get her to sign the poster and I got a picture, although it's not very good because she's looking in the other direction.

Awhile later Anwar arrived but said he didn't have time to sign anything because he was visiting with his family, but he did shake everyone's hand, or really just grabbed them really quick over the fence, and he did grab my hand, so he's the only one out of all of them that I touched. I got a picture, but again it wasn't very good.

Eventually we ended back up with Anthony, who had been out there almost the entire time (about two hours). He is such a sweetie to stay out there so long when probably the maximum amt of time any of the others were out there was maybe 45 minutes. You could tell he really loved hanging out with his fans. We finally got him to sign the poster, and I snapped a couple of pictures (by this time there were a lot less people out there).

Nikko never did come out. We left before the tour buses did, but by that point the security people were starting to get snarky with Anthony and Constantine b/c they wouldn't get back on the buses, lol, so I doubt he got to come sign anything. So I got everyone's signatures except for Bo, Nikko, and Anwar.

All in all, it was an incredible night, and one that I am never going to forget!!!

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