Well … this is a brief story as I am writing at the office while the boss is away…

On Sunday 20 members of our worship team joined a choir of school students from the other side of Sydney to sing in the Grand Final of Australian Idol.

Now, you have to understand, in our household it was Bliss who was the Idol fan, I could watch it with her but did not go out of my way to see what was going on!!! But, in case you hadn’t heard (therefore are living somewhere other than Australia) the two finalists were Anthony Callea (21) and Casey Donovan a 16 year old high school student…

Erana Clark, a member of our church, is the vocal coach for Idol and is the means by which we were invited to be a part of the event. So, in spite of my non committal attitude to the whole show I decided that it was an experience not to be missed.

We rehearsed on Thursday evening, took home cd copies of the song we were singing and practised at home and then met up with the other choir on Sunday afternoon for rehearsal and camera rehearsals with Casey and Anthony and a full dress rehearsal with the other final 12 Idol finalists.

As with any of these events the kudos of being involved is often better than the experience, it was impossible to hear the proceedings as the sound system was projecting to the audience and the choir had no foldback. This is normal, and not a criticism, but it was tricky when the kids next to me were bitching because their seats weren’t good enough, they werent going to get caught on camera and they couldn’t see… Too teenage… so insensible of the thrill of being a part of it that the minutae of such details ruined it for them!!!

Some of the other (younger) members of our team went off autograph and photo hunting, took the opportunity to walk up the red carpet in front of the thousands of spectators on the Opera House steps and revelled in the whispered comments “who’s that? Do you recognize them???” etc … too funny …

The final outcome was that Casey was crowned Australian Idol, much to the surprise of the nation. There is little doubt that Anthony is the better singer but Casey seems to have caught the imagination of the public. I only hope it turns into a good thing for her, being so young and cutting her studies short for this which could be such a fleeting thing may not serve her well. Still, I wasn’t thinking about that when I voted for her… I really didn’t think she could win against Anthony… guess the rest of Australia thought the same!

So, there you have it… a brief (!) inside look… It was a great night… and one I would do again… To think, I thought my first look at the Opera House would be at Harry Connick next year… now I have not only been inside, I have been backstage and have actually performed there… Life is good. Sydney is full of these opportunities… will let you know if there are more!

Enough Said