Fieldnotes (Retrospective)

I saw this show over a month ago, so obviously my memory has faded. However, I think this performance was a really important event to reflect on because its very relevant to my topic, and I’m not going to get the chance to see another Disney channel pop performance before this is due (the Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers tour comes to Providence 5 days after I have to turn this in. It also sold out within hours of being released). In order to jog my memory, I looked at pictures we took of the event and interviewed my friends about their memories (I will transcribe these interviews as soon as I get the time).

Corbin Bleu/Drake Bell/Aly & AJ
August 25, 2007 7:00pm
Bank of America Pavillion
Boston, MA

The tickets were about $50 each, including Ticketmaster’s absurd ‘convenience fee’ and ‘facitility charge’. I had convinced my two friends from Brown—Elly and Tim—to go with me. Whereas I was fairly familiar with this scene, Elly and Tim were not. I had introduced them to High School Musical the previous year, and Elly and I had made up a dance to Corbin Bleu’s single “Push it to the Limit”. We were actually at the concert more for Drake Bell, who was not in fact a Disney channel star, but a Nickelodeon star (Disney channel’s primary competition). It seems somewhat significant that these three stars decided to tour together, two of which are actively promoted by the Disney Channel (Corbin Bleu and Aly & AJ) and the other of which is ignored by Disney because they did not discover him. Thus, this scene incorporates more than just Disney Channel pop, although Disney has been most successful in finding triple-threat stars and promoting them—probably because their empire is substantially bigger than that of Nickelodeon.

It took place in an outdoor amphitheatre overlooking the Charles River. We walked in surrounded by people that were a full one or two feet shorter than us. The average age was probably 10 or so, although most kids were accompanied by a parent or guardian. There were a number of people wearing various fan T-shirts, some manufactured and sold by companies (many of which were being sold for $30 at a crowded merchandise booth in front of the amphitheatre). Many others were homemade, expressing things like “I LOVE DRAKE” or “CORBIN’S #1 FAN”. Some shirts simply stated the artists names “CORBIN BLEU / ALY & AJ / DRAKE BELL” in bright puff paint.

The place was divided into two sections: a tented performance space with folding chairs set up to seat about 1000 people, and an outdoor refreshments/milling about area. The refreshments were typical expensive, low quality concert fare: pizza, burgers, ice cream, soda, and beer. I got the feeling the vendors did not change depending on the show, which is why the beer booth was still open (the parents enjoyed it). Because we had assigned seats (towards the back), we would walk around and take pictures by the water it between sets.

Corbin Bleu was the first performer (save the 11-year-old nobody who opened—we only caught the last couple songs.) The songs he performed were mostly bubblegum pop (with a little hip hop influence: he’s black), with positive messages (“Can’t worry bout what other people might say/it’s who I am/Gotta live my dream my own way”) or delicate discussions of failed relationships (“We've been together for too long/ And we've been through too much/ To have the same conversations/ You seem to like so much.”) He wore cargos and a tank top, and his hair was in his signature loose curls, and the structure of the performance seemed to mostly showcase his dancing skills. I get the feeling he is a dancer first and a singer second, although his voice is very melodic. It was an upbeat performance, with people bopping and screaming along (colorful posters: MARRY ME CORBIN, etc.). He left his most popular single until the ‘encore’. He and his dancers walked offstage, awaiting encore-worthy applause. However, apparently this crowd was unaware of this convention and there was no excess clapping. Eventually, Corbin came out again just because he knew he should. He performed his most popular single, “Push it to the Limit.” Elly and I tried to do our choreographed dance in the aisles at one point, but the security guards told us to go back to our seats. This was a fire violation.

Next up was Drake Bell. He came onstage in a suit and sunglasses, and the first song he performed was also first on his album: “Up Periscope”. To older listeners, this song is clearly very sexual (“when you're creeping out of bed I sneak a peek to see just what you were wearing last night/or what was leftover from ripping off our clothes”). However, it appeared that no kids or parents noticed the inappropriate nature of this song, because it was so upbeat and sung so quickly. Actually, Drake’s whole set seemed to be somewhat out of the comprehension range of most of his fans. He had a projection screen set up, and sometimes the images on it were very sophisticated and political. During “Up Periscope” there were just colorful cartoon images of submarines and the ocean, but during his song “Fool the World”, there were images of what appeared to be the Nazi army marching, some war planes, political leadesr (Winston Churchill), etc. It seemed very out of place, and we struggled to find the connection.

Aly & AJ were the headliners. By the end of the night we were fairly exhausted and we cared the least about Aly & AJ. Apparently many other fans felt the same way, because there was a group of about 200 people lined up, waiting to get Drake Bell’s autograph (they got wristbands to meet him when they bought his album very early in the night). However, there were still a number of shrieking girls when they came onstage, and we stuck it out until the end of the set. Aly & AJ were clad in tight skinny jeans, had wavy blonde hair and wore lots of makeup. It seemed to me that they were very into the girl-rocker image, and they marched around like rock stars when they weren’t playing an instrument. They took turns singing the verses, and playing guitar and piano. Their songs were similar to Corbin’s (pop songs uplifting lyrics or delicate discussions of break-ups.) Although their music seemed more geared toward younger kids (in that it was not overtly sexual and did not deal with sophisticated topics), they did not necessarily acknowledge that their audience was made up entirely of 10-year-old girls. They did an encore too, and by that time people understood what was expected of them and clapped and shrieked wholeheartedly.

The whole concert was over by 10:30, and the families milled back to the T-stop or their cars in the sticky August air. Summary: Corbin wholeheartedly embraced his Disney image, performing appropriate songs with energy for his intended audience. Drake Bell completely ignored the fact that his audience was that of 10-year-old girls, and tried to appeal more to a college-age crowd, by using overt sexuality and political references (hey, it worked for us). Finally, Aly & AJ were caught between these two worlds. They didn’t want to alienate their tween fanbase and completely lose their initial image (their first single was a cover of "Do You Believe in Magic?"), but at the same time they were trying to branch out and appeal to an older group by wearing hip clothes and focusing more on adult relationships.