KC101’s Big Day Out

Monday was KC101’s 7th Annual Big Day Out at Lake Compounce in Bristol, CT.  Performing were iHeartRadio up and coming contest winners Megan and Liz and American Idol’s Stefano. (aka my favorite Idol of all time, I just decided.)  I picked up a ticket at AAA to get myself a bit of a discount – but that meant when the weather was calling for thunderstorms, I’d be going no matter what since I didn’t know when I’d ever go to the park without Stefano being there.  KC101 was promoting it as “The show must go on!” and that it would be rain or shine.

I got to the park around 3pm in hopes of snagging myself a meet and greet, but had no such luck. (They said they would stop giving them out around 3 anyway, so it was a long shot)  Then I sat near the theater on a bench and saw Stefano walk by.  The sky was getting darker by the second and as soon as I felt a few drops I headed inside.  Then it started POURING so everyone else ran inside too.

Around this point a girl dropped a piece of pizza and didn’t bother to pick it back up.  EVERYONE who walked by this pizza had some sort of comment to make about it from “eww!” to “watch out for the pizza” to “who would DO that? Drop their pizza?”  This became my entertainment while I waited for the rain to pass. Finally one of the father’s ended up picking it up and throwing it away – then the comments because all about the sauce that was still on the floor.  Who knew pizza could be so entertaining?

They told us that those of us without wristbands MIGHT get in to the meet and greet – so obviously I hung around in the line like they said.  This was definitely a mistake because after an hour of standing my knees were not very happy and we never did get to go in to the M&G.

A little before 6 they let us upstairs to the theater – which had no chairs. I snagged a spot near a support beam but it gave me no support and I fell over during the beginning of Megan and Liz’s set. And more people were staring at ME than the stage.  How embarassing!  (Or at least it felt that way.)  The girls started their set with their song Old School Love which was inspired by the movie The Notebook.  Then they did a cover of Cher Lloyd’s Want You Back… followed by Switch Hearts, Happy Never After, a cover of One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful (they asked the crowd to yell out their favorite and it was mostly Harry being yelled) and they finished their set with their current single Are You Happy Now which is about bullying.  Their stage banter made it seem like they were trying too hard and I’m probably biased because I don’t like them because Honor Society should have won that contest and have been performing… (Although really, could I have handled an Honor Society / Stefano show? Probably not)  They have good voices (last time I saw them one of them had lost their voice yet they still attempted to perform) but they are just not for me.  They seem to have a ton of fans though so they’ll do just fine without me.

John Mayer (radio DJ, not awesome singer/songwriter) came out to talk to the crowd a bit before Stefano and gave away Megan and Liz’s setlist to the girls who were the first ones there that morning.  Then he had a signed Stefano CD and I was tempted to barter my John Mayer poncho to John Mayer for the CD, but he ended up giving it to the girls who could sing Stefano’s song the loudest.  At this point I was up against a far wall so I had no chance anyway.

Then he had us yell for Stefano who came in from the back of the room and took the stage. Stefano started his set with a song I hadn’t heard him perform yet called Amazing.  Then he did the same 3 songs he had done at the dunkin donuts music lounge – yes to love, last day and cherry on top.  Of course he had a track and dancers so it was a bit different than the acoustic stripped down performances from May.  He finished his set with I’m on a Roll – his current single.

He talked a bit about his accident and how 3 years ago he was in a wheelchair and that is what inspired him to work on the song Last Day which is a bit of his story.  And also about how Michael Jackson died 3 years ago and where he was and how he felt when he found out about that.  He seemed really happy to be performing for everyone and kepted thanking the radio station for having him and the fans for coming out to see him perform.  It was a great performance from him, even if I did think it was a bit short.

When I left the theater Megan and Liz were around signing autographs (and being swarmed).  I debated waiting to see if Stefano would join them, but decided my knees would like me a lot more if I just went home.  Although, Stefano did tweet me when I got home so that has to count for something, right? 🙂

And now I can add a SECOND “went to a theme park in a storm” to my “silly things I do for cute boys who sing” list. Interestingly enough – BOTH were for KC101 events…

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Old School Love
Want You Back – Cher Lloyd
Switch Hearts
Happy Never After
What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
Are You Happy Now

Amazing
Yes To Love
Last Day
Cherry On Top
I’m on a Roll