American Idol Auditions

It was an exhausting weekend. After a delay in Chicago, our flight didn't arrive in Nashville until after midnight on Thursday night. (1AM New England time) We arrived in Memphis around 4AM on Friday morning. By the time we'd reached Memphis, I'd been awake for nearly 24 hours straight. We had just enough time to check into the hotel, change clothes, brush our teeth and jump in a cab for the Fed Ex Forum.

We were in line just after 5AM. I would estimate there were 500-1000 people in front of us by then. Clearly the warning that people who camped out in line the night prior to registration risked being disqualified was universally ignored. The registration process began earlier than the reported 8AM. "C" was registered by a little after 10AM. We were given wristbands (I got a guest wristband so I could attend auditions) and tickets for the event on Sunday. Then we walked around town and found a place to have an early lunch. Still on New England time, 10:30 felt like 11:30 to us and we were hungry. We returned to the hotel and slept for about four hours. We'd been up for approximately 30 hours and we were totally exhausted.

We drove back downtown later that evening to have dinner and walk around the legendary Beale Street, taking in all the live music there. Since we were already registered, we didn't have to return to the Forum on Saturday, so we went to Graceland. Neither of us are really Elvis fans, but I believe all visitors to Memphis are required by Tennessee law to tour Graceland while in town. That night we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner. The fortune cookie my daughter received could not have been more ominous. It read: "You are not a failure because you didn't make it. You are a success because you tried." EGADS!!!

Sunday was audition day. The American Idol website implied that the order of auditions would be determined by the order in which people registered. However, we were not given a number or audition time and the paperwork instructed us to return to the arena between 5AM-6AM, although the process would be commence until 8AM. This made us assume that we needed to line up early to insure an audition before time expired. We awoke at 2AM and were outside the FedEx forum by 3:30AM. We later learned that contestants were called to audition based on their seat assignment - remember those tickets were were issued at registration?? As it turns out, we could have slept another 4-5 hours!! Sigh...

At 8:00, we were all moved to the front of the building where we were posed for camera shots. Someone on a scaffold, using a megaphone, informed us that this was the largest group of auditioners at any of the locations for American Idol, Season 6. He said there were 16,000 registered to audition that day. We were asked to go through a series of cheers and chants for the camera, crowd scenes to appear on opening shows. By 9:00 or so, we were allowed inside. Once seated, were were taught the first two verses of Chuck Berry's song, Memphis, and performed a group sing for the cameras. We were instructed to do more group chants and cheers, including one for Randy: "Randy, You ain't nothing but a hound...DAWG." The lack of sleep made all this promotional stuff seem more annoying than exciting and we began to wonder when they were going to begin the auditions. With 16,000 people to get through, time seemed critical.

Auditions began around 10:30. They set up 12 tables running the width of the arena. Contestants were sent to the floor by section and lined up in groups behind each table in lines of three or four across. The judges called up the first 3-4 people and had them audition, stopping each around 30 second into their performance. After they'd heard the small group, they'd dismiss them to have their wristbands cut off. A lucky few were handed "golden tickets" which allowed them to proceed to another door. Being issued a golden ticket meant those people would return the next day for a second set of auditions. We were not really told at what point in the process hopefuls might actually see the celebrity judges.

We were in the 10th of approximately 40 sections. If the producers hoped to be completed before midnight, there was no way they could audition everyone in the arena. "C" was auditioned at 1:30. She did not receive a golden ticket. The judge told her she had an "amazing" voice, but needed to work on her performance skills. She apparently didn't exude the "star" quality they were looking for.

She was satisfied with her audition, feeling she'd done her best, so she wasn't devastated - although certainly disappointed. I think about 4,000 people auditioned by the time we left the stadium and only about 15-20 had been passed through for call-back auditions. As we suspected, the odds are roughly equal to winning big money buying a lottery ticket.

I'd booked our return flight for Tuesday, allowing us Monday in Memphis in the event "C" was asked to return for an additional round of auditions. With a free day, we took in the Memphis Zoo instead - a really lovely zoo, by the way.

We're back home now, tired and still on Central Time. It's hard to believe it's all over, after so much build up. I have to return to work tomorrow and I guess life will go back to normal. Maybe I should stop and buy a lottery ticket on my way to work.