As the sun set atop the hills overlooking the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, a crowd gathered behind the barricaded alley in the rear of the building.
A flying disc ricocheted off the uppermost part of the bricks, landing at the foot of a child who was jumping with excitement at the opportunity to toss the disc back to American Idol winner Phillip Phillips as he played with a fellow band member before the show.
Later that night, Phillips played to a sold out crowd at MemAud with opener Churchill for a contract fee of $17,500, according to Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center.
Many attendees said they weren’t familiar with Churchill but came out with signed CDs from the group.
Emily Lamb, an Ohio University freshman who is undecided as to a major, said she was surprised by how good Churchill was. Her mother, Karen Lamb, has been a big Phillips fan since his American Idol days, and even voted for him in the contest.
“He was the right winner,” Karen said. “I drove all the way from Cincinnati to see him.”
Churchill came out towards the end of the show and threw marshmallows at Phillips while holding a sign that said “Phillip’s real # 404-872-3400.” But the number belongs to a Pizza Hut in Atlanta.
Phillips played a slow jam song for at least 15 minutes as the members of his band took turns taking solos. He also interacted with the crowd by talking about the town and some of his songs.
“You guys have a nice small town here,” Phillips said on stage. “I was walking up those hills and I was (out of breath).”
Closing out the concert he played his hit song “Home,” which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and for the encore played a cover of Phil Collin’s “In The Air Tonight,” a song he performed during his time on American Idol.
wh092010@ohiou.edu
