It’s not every day that you see Nashville’s Lower Broadway teeming with thousands of people just before sunrise, but that rare sight was on display at 5 a.m. Saturday, as thousands of would-be pop stars lined up outside Bridgestone Arena to audition for American Idol. As the sun started to break over the honky-tonks, supervising producer Patrick Lynn stood on a ladder with a bullhorn in the middle of Broadway, instructing the crowd to chant “Nashville!” as cameras swooped overhead.

Lynn told reporters Saturday morning that the turnout was bigger than he’d expected, and estimated that “north of 15,000” people had shown up for Nashville’s second-ever Idol audition. An Idol publicist later confirmed the final total as slightly more than 16,000 people.

“We’ve wanted to come back (to Nashville), for a long time, and here we are,” Lynn said. “You just don’t get a vibe like this anywhere else.”

The mood was lively — despite some attendees’ lack of sleep — at the very front of the audition line, where some had been waiting since 1 a.m.

“I’ve been up too long,” said 18-year-old Justin Smith of Crossville, Tenn. “I’m kind of a nervous wreck.”

Smith said he was taking the audition very seriously, even though he doesn’t have much experience singing in public. “I used to sing for my shower head. It was pretty impressed, but that’s about it.

“I’d be upset (if I didn’t pass the audition), but if it’s not my time to get out there, then it’s not my time. There’s always next year.”

Eighteen-year-old Shayna Beard of Thurmont, Md., would agree with that sentiment. Saturday’s Nashville audition marked Beard’s third time auditioning for the show — she also tried out for the show’s last two seasons in Dallas and New York.

“The first one I went to, it was really just an experience,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was 16. Last year, I actually improved and I got further. I got up to the third audition with the celebrity judges. I got cut, but I was like, ‘Hey, I improved,’ and that was my main goal.”

SOURCE: www.tennessean.com
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