My Road to American Idol 2009 Part 4: Finale Performances - Day 1

Man, we must have been tired from all the traveling... We originally had planned on waking up early to do more sight-seeing before the show, but Futaba and I both slept through the alarm and didn't wake up until 1030am!

So we just spent our 2nd day in LA walking around Downtown, having lunch at a Greek restaurant called George's Greek Cafe at a small shopping arcade called 7+Fig (because it was at the intersection between 7th and Fig... Duh...).

Though we were disappointed that we had kind of wasted the day, I think it was good because we managed to get some rest, especially Futaba who had not have good sleep since Aki was born, as she's a light sleeper who always wakes up for feedings at night.

Anyway, the best part of the morning was definitely getting the American Idol finale show tickets!!!

Nokia Theater - Here I come!

Was getting worried about the tickets as we were supposed to get them the previous day when we arrived, but there was a mix-up with the courier service, so it was only delivered on show day itself.

Anyways, the Nokia Theater was just opposite from the hotel we were staying in, so we left at about 3:45pm to have a look-see around the area.

GO LAKERS!

The Staples Center is located just opposite the Nokia Theatre and as you can see from the picture above, the Los Angeles Lakers were playing that night as well. It was the Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Denver Nuggets. Man, I wish I had tickets to watch this game as well. Can't have everything I suppose, eh?

Suprisingly, there wasn't much of a crowd at the Nokia Theater. I was expecting a larger throng of people, but it was actually quite manageable and easy to walk around.

Wonder what the guy at the bottom right saw...

I am guessing that since there were not that many celebs attending the performance show, not many people turn up for the red carpet. No complaints from me though as it was our first time there and we needed time to take pictures and also look around for the entrance.

Oh! And looking for merchandise too! I didn't come all this way to go home with just pictures after all!

Don't you just love commercialism?

We lined up to enter the theater at about 4:15pm. As you can see from the tickets above, we weren't allowed to bring cameras into the theater, so, being such law-abiding citizens, we had left our normal camera back at the hotel. However, I had to talk to JJ and Ean from Hitz.FM before going into the show, so I had my phone with me and was prepared to check it at the counter.

JJ & Ean from Hitz.FM and Jaclyn Victor (1st Malaysian Idol) during my Morning Crew interview on 4th May 2009

But while waiting in line, I saw lots of other people with cameras as well and 'Idol audience veterans' were advising everyone not to check in their stuff as the wait to get it back at the end of the show was baaaad! They basically advised the ladies to just stuff their phones or cameras into a zipper compartment in their handbags as they wouldn't search that thoroughly. And the guys? Stuff it somewhere... Discrete...

I'll leave it up to your imagination where I hid my phone... =p

Anyways, while inside the theatre, I snuck this shot out...

Inside the American Idol Shrine!
(Yes, I was that far from stage... =p)

This post is getting a bit long so I'll continue about what happens during a live Idol telecast and the post-show press and meet-the-fans session in my next post. I'm already halfway through so it shouldn't take too long... Fingers crossed...