"This is looking like the biggest crowd we've had this season and probably the second-largest in 'American Idol' history," noted "A.I." senior producer Patrick Lynn, gazing out at parking lots full of bright-eyed and stylishly put-together performers. And talk about a "cattle call." The hopefuls and their friends had been cordoned off into chute-like pens. Just one would be opened and slowly emptied at a time to keep order and peace in the well-oiled process.
"We're looking at a full house - 20K [20,000 people] - with at least half and probably more of them actual signed-up contestants," Lynn continued. Each performer gets to bring along a friend or family member for moral support. And if you're 16 or 17, you must have a parent or guardian in tow.
Why the explosion of interest in our city?
"Philadelphia is the only tryout town we've visited in the Northeast for this upcoming season," Lynn noted. "And because this is the last place we're hitting [after stops in San Diego, Dallas, Omaha, Atlanta, Charleston and Miami], a lot of people who tried out elsewhere see this as their second/last chance."
Welcome guests
Take Jason Cotter, who "tried out in Miami and it didn't work out," he told me. "But Jordin Sparks [last season's winner] didn't make it at her first audition, either."
And Jason's had some other, special encouragement. "I bought him a plane ticket to Philly, to try again," said his tall and handsome older brother Jared, who got into the top 24 last season and now hosts a show on the Fuse music channel.
Yeah, Jared is a major believer in " 'American Idol' power."
Sisters Ashley and Anna Moore, from the Detroit area, drove in with their BFF Bobbie Moore and were going on just four hours sleep when I ran into them in line for registration early (yawn!) Saturday morning.
