American Idol winner Kris Allen came to town. Kinda cool – he’s supporting the USO, and he gave a performance in our small community in the Netherlands – for free – to support servicemen and women and their families. I have 3 things to say about that.
Part 1: Lesson learned – I should have realized this – when you’re recording LOUD live music, a better microphone isn’t necessarily…well, better. Thinking (correctly) that Mr. Allen would be OK with me recording some of his show, I brought along my Rode Videomic, which can catch a whisper from 20 feet away. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Probably not your ideal equipment to record a stack of speakers blaring music. I’m not sure if using earbuds to monitor from the headphone jack would have caught the extreme distortion that occurred throughout the louder parts. It probably depends on how my camera is set up. But needless to say, some experimentation will occur in the near future. So as a result, I hate to disappoint the Kris Allen fans I was talking to on Twitter – I had no problem recording video, but most of it is a mess. Because I know there are fans out there who may appreciate it regardless, I ended up making a kind of “sampler” which gives an idea of his performance. I hope you find it worthwhile; apologies in advance.
Part 2: I learned a little bit about the communities that inhabit the Twitter world. Just on a lark, I tweeted that I was going to see Chris (misspelled) Allen, and within the hour I was exchanging tweets with folks who were intensely interested in what Mr. Allen was up to at my kids’ school. I’m not a huge fan, but it’s nice to see how folks with similar interests can use technology and twitter to keep up with the latest happenings on their, uh, Idol (sorry for the pun). They were able to vicariously share in the event, as by the end they had gotten to see photos, hear updates, and even see the setlist. And I found myself on a Twitter list with others at the (small) show, all talking about the same thing. Thanks to @krinjalists and others for teaching me a thing or two about social media today!
Part 3: Truly impressed by the effort Kris Allen made to share with our community. He probably doesn’t realize that it was not only American military personnel for whom he performed; the US community is actually a support community for the NATO base where many of us work. And a lot of their kids attend the school where he performed. So he had a truly international community there who was able to see the kinds of things our USO does for us. And not only did he perform music, he spent the afternoon at the school – my daughter says he was spotted singing with the choir, and he hung around for quite awhile after the show signing autographs and shaking hands with his adoring – mostly younger – fans. A real class act!
And to finish it up, here’s the video:
As well as a few photos I managed to snap in between:
Update: A Kris Allen fan from Japan sent a link for a YouTube video showing a soundcheck earlier in the day – posted by a schoolmate of my kids. Again, always surprised how social media makes distance irrelevant!
Really enjoyed talking to you yesterday! Twitter at its best. Thank you so much for the video and the photos, Kris fans everywhere were very glad to get them!
A great piece to wake up to; thank you for taking the time to capture the videos and photos you did. Kris is an amazing young artist and has a fan base (as you have discovered yourself) who are eager to share his journey.
I live in a small corner or South America where we get American Idol but it’s not really popular, so people don’t know the artists at all. The discovery of social media like you described in your second point has been a blessing to me as a fan and continues to fascinate me as as ‘people watcher’.
Thank you again.
Thnk you so much for taking the videos and pictures. So glad you liked the show. We are so proud of Kris and his band! I really appreciate you doing this for the fans since we could not be there. Just a little bit of a commute for us from the USA. Thank you again.
Thank you for the pics and sampler! Believe it or not, if you post the videos (even without sound) a lot of his fans will still watch). We enjoy all things Kris Allen. =)
It is interesting the way social media works. I’m an American working in Africa reading your tweets from the Netherlands posted on an American site – thrilled to be keeping up in real time with what Kris is doing, and even feeling a part of the experience through reading and responding to his tweets after the show. You were an integral part of this “virtual” experience for all of us, so thank you! Kris is definitely a class act. He makes it very easy to be a proud fan.
Thanks so much for the video, photos and kind words about Kris Allen’s visit to your town yesterday! Much appreciated, even if the video’s sound didn’t turn out the way you wanted (the visuals were great!). Those of us who follow him think he’s a real class act, too!
Thank you very much for posting this. Kris is not only very talented, he is a very nice guy. I am glad to hear that it sounds like the people at the show had such a good time.
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and your video of Kris Allen and the KA Band when they performed for the troops and their families with the USO. I’m a fan, so I really appreciate the efforts of people like yourself who are willing to share the experience.
I agree with you, Kris is a class act. Hopefully when you hear more of his music you will join me as a real fan 🙂
That was amazing..we can’t thank you enough for sharing!
“A real class act!”
I could not agree more. Kris is not only multi-talented, but he’s a genuinely sweet and caring human being. He’s got a very dry wit that shines through all the time. American Idol should be thrilled to pieces to have someone like Kris Allen representing them. He does them proud. I’m thrilled for the people who were able to attend the USO show and even more so because those on distant shores were able to experience what many Americans have already seen and known.
Thanks so much for this blog and your video. I hope that NOW you’ve changed from “not a fan” to a definite FAN. 😉
thank you for sharing all of this with us! we’re very lucky to have met someone so nice who was willing to engage us and was not weirded out by being randomly found on twitter 😀 your pictures are great and any video at all is ALWAYS appreciated!
Love your blog. Kris Allen always brings a smile to everyone who sees him..even if its on cyberspace. Your pics are great, you captured the essence of the musicians and I could just feel how much it means to them. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so very much for telling us about Kris’ visit to the school and his performance. The video and pictures are priceless. You did good. There’s a bunch of us here in the states that think he’s pretty cool…glad you got to experience his talent. Hope to see more!
Thank you for posting the video and photos. So glad that your kid enjoyed meeting kris. he is such a great performer and a wonderful human being. He is indeed an American idol that younger generation can look up into.
Thank you all for taking the time to give feedback – glad I could contribute something.
Thank you for sharing your experience and posting video. You can see the fun you’ve brought to Kris fans this week! I would like you to know that Kris fans are aware of his mission (reflected in comments at a variety of Social Media outlet) – to bless, entertain and delight the troops, families and the community that supports the military there. Our expressed enthusiasm for Kris does not mean we are not deeply aware of and grateful for the people he and the band are reaching out to this week.