Michelle’s AI Tour Milgokey Recap

American Idols Live 2009 – Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI – Danny Gokey’s Hometown Show

OUTSIDE MEET & GREET BEFORE THE CONCERT

My daughter and I arrived at the Bradley Center at 12:00 Noon hoping to meet and greet Danny Gokey before the show. It was raining earlier in the day and threatening for more when we got there – the weather was not working in our favor. Armed with chairs, umbrellas, and lots of electronic equipment, we were bound and determined to meet our idol – Danny Gokey!

When we first arrived the barricades were set up on each side of the driveway going into the gated security area where the buses and other vehicles arrive and depart. North side/south side barricades. I spotted another fan from the Iheartdannygokey.com website – Mandy and she was kind enough to let us stand by her at the south barricades.

I was very surprised to see not just Danny Gokey fans, but a mix of what I will call the “hard core” American Idol groupies there. Approximately 100 – 200 people there to see their idol – Adam, Allison, Matt, and Anoop along with Danny of course all had large groups of fans there. I am calling these hard core fans “Groupies” because many of them have been to all of the AI concerts and in some cases in multiple cities.

We met up with Pam and Jen around 12:30pm to wait as a group to meet Danny.

Around 1:00pm the buses fired up to leave the Bradley Center to go pick up the idols from their hotel and bring them to the venue. Approximately 1:30 or so, the buses arrived with the fans screaming for them to come out. Allison Iraheta opened the window from her bus and stuck her head out to scream and then shut the window. When the buses arrived the gates were closed and we could not see idols getting off of the buses from where we were standing.

The sun starts to come out and shine! No more rain and we got a little help from the weather man!

Around 2:00pm or so, the idols started coming out to meet and greet the fans. Forgive but the actual order of who came out first is a little fuzzy. Matt came out first and started working his way down the south side of the barricades (our side). He was all smiles, very friendly and nice wearing his new nike tennis shoes. I asked him how Taco Bell was and he laughed. He was very gracious, signed autographs and took pictures with everyone.

O.K., I think Megan came out next and started working her way down the north side of the barricades. Her blond afro does not appear to be a wig! She was very sweet and was taking pictures and signing autographs for everyone.

Allison came out on our side and was very cute, sweet. Signed autographs and took pictures with everyone. There was a little girl who was a big Allison fan there who had died her hair red like Allison. She spent a lot of time with her.

Now I think Danny came out during the time Matt and Megan (not 100% sure, it was all a blurr) were signing autographs and there was a large roar from the gallery of fans waiting. He went to the north side first (not our side) and started signing autographs, meeting his fans and taking pictures. There was a large group of Gokey Gang/Gokey Scout members on that side and he spent quite a long time when them. Danny was out about 10 minutes – max and said he had to go back in for press, but he promised he would come back. **sigh** so close !

I believe Anoop came out next. He started working his way down our side of the barricades signing autographs and taking pictures. He was very cute and took a picture, he was gracious all though I heard that later he told some people no pictures. Look for my picture of Anoop in my photo gallery. Handsome guy growing some Danny scruff.

Scott came out next with his assistant. He is also a very handsome guy and very funny! He talked about how waves and fist pumps from fans don’t really work for him because he can’t see. He talked about how he enjoyed his time off in Milwaukee.

Michael came out last and spent the most time of all of the other idols with every person. Signing autographs taking pictures and soaking it all in. He is very handsome and is quite a bit thinner than he was on the show. I asked him how the Gokey BBQ was and he said he has been on this diet and hasn’t been able to eat anything that tastes good. He said he had some good food at the Gokey’s! I knew Michael was from the south, but didn’t realize how much of a southern drawl he had and LOL, I really felt old when he said “Yes, Mam – Thank You Mam” when I told him how awesome he was and was to his fans. Extremely polite and gracious and took time to sign autographs and pictures with each person. Someone was wearing a “Sexy for Sarver” shirt! I am sure he was loving that!

So that was it – 7 of the 10 idols came out before the show. No Adam, Kris or Lil.

The idols then disappeared into the Bradley Center for the inside meet and greets. This was around 3:00 or 3:30.

So the IHeartDannyGokey Girls were left waiting for Danny to come back out after press, after the inside meet and greets, after dinner. Mandy and her husband and son, Pam, Jen, Michelle, Lily, VC, Karen, and Sarah all left waiting by the barricades with gifts. Most of the crowd at that time started to disperse after the idols went inside. There were only a few maybe 50 – 75 people left waiting at the barricades after 3:30pm. I felt sorry for the Adam and Kris fans that left without getting to meet their idol.

O.K. during this time the Fox 6 news crew was taping their piece on Danny Gokey. Why they chose this time to do, I have no idea as there were hardly any people there. We were tired, thirsty, hungry but determined to meet Danny. After all, he PROMISED he would come back. After many of the fans left by the barricades were able to move up to a better spot right next to the door/entrance (south side). As the time got closer and closer to the show, our hopes of meeting him were shrinking. More and more people started coming for the concert and were coming over to the barricades to see what was going on. These were fans, but not necessarily groupies. They would love to see Danny, but weren’t necessarily going to stand outside for 6 hours to see him! LOL! We were getting desperate at this point. We had not met Danny and were waiting there with gifts to give him. None of us wanted to cart the gifts back into the concert with us or leave without a Danny hug or picture! We had set our hopes high!

Then two camera men taking pictures and videos emerged from inside the building and starting taking video of the crowd by the barricades (I believe they worked for 19E, but I am not sure). We were wondering who they were and what they were doing. So of course, we asked! One of the men (Max) came over and we said “Hey, can you tell Danny Gokey to come back out” and he said they were doing sound checks or eating dinner (I can’t remember exactly). We pleaded with this wonderful man (Max) and told him we had very special gifts and we were the girls from www.iheartdannygokey.com website. He looked at us, and must have felt our pain and he said “Sure” and went back inside and literally within 2 minutes out emerges our man – DANNY GOKEY!!! He comes right over to our group signs autographs takes our gifts and says “Thank You so much” and says he is going to go through the entire line of people and sign autographs first, then he promises to come back and take pictures and give hugs to us. He signed my life-size poster and kind of laughed when he saw it. Really, who goes out of there way to accommodate the fans like that? He is really a fans dream come true. So after the crowd ROARS when Danny comes out, there is I am not kidding probably 500 or 600 people swarming, pushing to get to the barricades. Just ask Jen!!! It was absolute craziness! So as promised, Danny went through the entire line of people on both sides of the barricades to sign autographs and then came back through to hug EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT ASKED GOT A HUG and HE TOOK PICTURES WITH EVERY SINGLE PERSON! I think that says it all about his character and what kind of a person he is. I have to say that Danny was in a hurry (he didn’t have much time), but he really took the time with each person, especially us I<3 Girls!!!

THANK YOU DANNY GOKEY FOR TAKING THE TIME TO MAKE MY DAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY WISH COME TRUE – YOU ARE AMAZING AND WE LOVE YOU!!!

CONCERT RECAP/REVIEW

Michael – started out the show and I believe set the tone for the night. I thought his vocals were powerful; he had great dance moves, stage presence and energy. His bellow of “Whhhhhhhatttttt’ssssssss uuuuuuuppppppp Milllllllllwaukkkkkeeeeeeeeee!” really got the crowd fired up!

Megan – very cute pink dress, hair made her almost unrecognizable. She has improved her dance moves and did o.k. I was never really a Megan fan, but she did fine.

Lil – Lil had on an outfit that looks like a million buck! She looked beautiful and seemed to have more of an interaction with the audience than she did on the show.

Anoop – looked good and sang well. I didn’t necessarily care for his song choices, but he can sing.

Scott – was much more comfortable with interacting with the audience and pounding it out than he was on the show. Scott is a talented singer and musician.

Matt – also seemed much more comfortable with himself and getting the audience engaged and going than he did on the show. Matt has a very playful personality and it shows in his performance.

Allison – Allison was 2nd place to Adam with the special effects stage show. The wind machine blowing on her hair was kind of distracting and at times the band was so loud it drowned out her voice. Good stage moves, but was definitely bouncing all over the place. Allison was a rocker, maybe would have liked to see the softer side of her voice. My son really liked Allison.

Danny – When Danny came out there was a loud ROAR, like I have never heard before!! My daughter covered her ears it was so loud!! And those of you that know me know that back in college I worked at a concert venue like this and have seen many concerts. You could tell Danny was excited and pumped up to be in front of his hometown fans and he did not disappoint!!! PYT got everyone dancing! I enjoyed Maria, Maria. He was very emotional during WHTM and you could tell by his body movements and facial expressions he was putting everything he had into the song. I loved all of the songs, WHTM is my favorite and My Wish was also another of my favorites. The audience had their glow sticks waving and when they brought up the house lights, he could see the audiences and was pointing out where his family was.
When he finished his last song, the crowd was on their feet clapping and screaming for several minutes. I thought for a fleeting moment he was going to come out for an encore performance! But, the darn AI Concert people can’t deviate from the planned schedule! You have to go with the flow, and if the hometown crowd wants an encore, you give it to them! Danny is one of those rare artists that actually sounds better live than in studio because of his emotional singing and connection with the audience. He really feeds off of the crowd.

Adam – came out next and was by far the most supported as far as costumes, lights, props, fanfare you name it! It was a theatrical performance. It was good, but it did not blow me away as others have reported in previous shows. Mad World was my favorite. I am just going to say one thing about comparing Danny and Adam because there is no comparison! They are two totally different artists with two totally different styles. I am going to use this analogy because of what I had for dinner last night. If you eat a hot dog, some people like them with ketchup, some like them with mustard and some like both. But the ketchup and mustard are two totally different types of condiments to put on the hot dog! Does this make sense?? Danny is the ketchup and Adam is the mustard – totally different. Danny is a passionate emotional singer who connects with his audience. Adam is a talented performer who puts on a show (which is why people are there to be entertained).

Kris – not liking the Faux Mohawk on Kris! He was much more animated than he was on the show. Two tween girls behind us screamed so loud we could not actually hear him singing, just their screams! My kids like “No Boundaries” and did not recognize some of his other songs. Kris is a great musician and artist. Very cute and likeable. I am not sure what his long term success will be in the music industry.

All of the idols were extremely gracious and mentioned Danny being back in his hometown in each of their sets. Some said Milwaukee, some said Milgokey, some said Dannyland. They all made a point to mention how excited Danny was to “bring it” tonight and he certainly did!!!

I was extremely proud that even though the Milwaukee audience clearly had their favorite, they supported each and every idol out there. When you are a performer it’s important to get a warm reception instead of looking at an audience of cold fish just sitting there.

And from Michelle’s Twitter: