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The Show

The Music of Queen

Canadian Idol Monday August 6, 2007

There are a lot of challenges faced by the remaining competitors in this year’s Canadian Idol; keeping a spot for the following week being the main focus. With styles and influences as diverse as the places they come from, the seven young performers must ‘mold’ the theme of the night into something they feel comfortable presenting to the audience. So how would the seven face selecting songs from the legendary rock group Queen? A sold out crowd flocked into the John Bassett Theatre to see their choices, us among them.

If you’ve never been to a Canadian Idol show you’ve been missing quite a bit – the action is everywhere. Downstairs is the ‘Poster Area’, where the supplies are available for you to create your own tribute to your favourite, if time or travel hasn’t been on your side. This is always a hub of activity. The balcony lobby area is filled with other activities, from the life sized cardboard standup photos of the judges and contestants just waiting for your photo op with your favourite to the dress up area under the huge ‘Canadian Idol’ logo – the resulting photo will be a keepsake of your day. Along with the ample selection of ‘Idol’ merchandise is the long signing table – depending on which show you attend, either the competitors or the judges will be available for a meet and greet afterwards. Just outside the entry doors another table offers up the latest photos of the remaining competitors, and you can get your ‘Canadian Idol’ temporary tattoos there to decorate yourself before the show.

One strict rule when attending either show is that you MUST be seated by the time they close the doors, so as the 6:30 PM cut off time approached the steady stream of eager attendees was to be expected. While the ratio of adults to kids was as you’d expect, everyone was there to support someone…parents and kids alike bore tattoos, carried signs and wore T-shirts proclaiming their favourite. The ‘pre-show’ is our warm up, to get everyone pumped up and explain a few of the procedures before the cameras are ‘live’. We meet Ben – the microphone tossing and self assured host since Season One. We meet the floor director, who will lead us out of commercial breaks and keep the action on stage on time. We meet the band, the four love-em-or-hate-em judges and then the senior producer hosting the pre-show (her name is Barb, and she’s a firecracker in her own right) really lights up the night by bringing out the competitors. Screams fill the air as they bounce out, big smiles and waves for the crazy crowd almost in a frenzy at this point. (You won’t know what I mean until you see a mild looking ten year old in a hair band almost shatter your eardrums with a piercing shriek every time they show a smiling Jaydee on the big screen, or just mention his name.) Sit back and relax, it’s almost show time…

Preshow Pictures

We would like to thank CTV, Insight Productions and the cast and crew of Canadian Idol for making this coverage possible. And thanks to the fans, for helping to make the dreams of some incredible young people come true.

Written by Kim Jamieson

Photos by Wayne Tozzi

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