The WOW! Buzz

On Friday, May 14th, I had the opportunity to be a part of Lee DeWyze’s Hometown Visit which took place at the lovely Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois.  My friend scored tickets in the special Lee section which was on the side of the stage where he would be singing and talking.  There were over 40,000 people in attendance.  It was crazy to see all those people who were wearing Lee t-shirts, holding up signs that they made and hoping to get a glimpse of him. 

We arrived at the park around 4 p.m. and he didn’t come out until 6:45 p.m.  They paraded him through the crowd surrounded by a ton of security with a bagpiper leading the way.  After he finally made his way to the stage, there was probably a good 25 minutes of talking from the Mayor of Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect as well as the Superintendent of the schools that Lee attended.  They presented him with the standard key to the city and proclamation, he went on to express how much this meant to him.  He is a very emotional guy. 

Once the pomp and cirmcumstance was all done, he told the crowd that he was going to play three songs.  Well, to the crowd’s surprise he ended up playing over 10 songs.  It was like a mini-concert which was pretty cool.  Although, the camera guy was constantly in his face which took away from it a little bit. 

Overall, it was a pretty cool experience.  Who knows, maybe I’ll see myself in the crowd when they show the footage tomorrow night on American Idol.