We don’t know yet if “American Idol” contestant Keyla Richardson will advance far enough in the competition to perform a televised hometown concert, but if she does, Pensacola officials plan to be ready.
Richardson was voted into American Idol’s five finalists on April 27, and if she advances to the top three on the next episode May 4, she’ll be flown back to Pensacola for a whirlwind concert performance filmed in front of a hometown audience May 6.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said he has been burning up his phone trying to help cordinate details of the concert and an accompanying parade in Richardson’s honor.
“I’ve probably had 30 phone calls with the producers over the weekend, so lots of different moving parts, but we’re having kind of a catch-all meeting a little bit later today,” Reeves said at his weekly press conference April 28.
He noted that the specifics of the event are still being hashed out, including whether the concert will be held at the Community Maritime Park amphitheater or at Pensacola Beach. He estimated that they would have more concrete details by the end of the week, but said as of now there are a least a few certainties.
“What has not changed is it still will be May 6, for sure, the afternoon parade and evening concert. None of that has changed,” Reeves said. “What we’re just trying to kind of work through (is) all the details.”
Asked if the city would be picking up any of the tab for the event, Reeves said that was among the “moving parts” under discussion, but he noted that the conversation leans toward Escambia County’s marketing organization Visit Pensacola footing the bill.
“I think that that obviously makes a lot of sense, considering the fact that this would be—ultimately, whether it’s at the beach or it’s in the city—this will be a four-minute infomercial to 8 million people on a series finale, 7 (million) or 8 million people, maybe more,” Reeves said.” I don’t know what that would cost, but it would be in the severals of millions, maybe eight figures, if you were paying for that kind of thing. And this is organic coverage that makes our city look good.”
He said if the event is ultimately held at Community Maritime Park, the city would gladly assist with staffing such as fire and police protection, and he credited public safety personnel, parks and recreation staff, as well as Blue Wahoos staff for their hard work to prepare for the event on short notice.
Reeves said that Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May and the Santa Rosa Island Authority were working to handle arrangements if the concert venue shifts to Pensacola Beach.
Of course, Reeves reiterated that the May 6 festivities are contigent on Richardson advancing to the top three. He said even is she doesn’t survive the next round of eliminations, the city would still find a way to celebrate her accomplishments, it just wouldn’t be on such an accelerated timeline.
“I certainly would want to do something if she only makes top five, but I really believe she’ll make top three,” Reeves said. “But if she only makes top five, I mean, I think it was 224,000 auditions, and you’re one of the five best people on the show? I mean, that’s an incredible, incredible feat. So the answer is yes, we will figure out some way to honor her. I don’t know that we would do it on Wednesday (May 6), I think that is going to be television driven, that we would be doing it this quickly.”
Still, Reeves said that having a spotlight like an American Idol performance in Pensacola was a transformational opportunity.
“I can’t even think of another scenario where we would have this many people talking about Pensacola, Florida, and seeing images from Pensacola, Florida, for this amount of time. Maybe it’s happened at some point—I don’t think we’ve hosted a Super Bowl or anything that I recall—but it would obviously be a great opportunity for her and a great opportunity for us,” Reeves said.
“So, it’s worth the smoke coming through the phone to pull this thing off, and we’re gonna give it everything we got, anything we need to do at the city.”
Even if the concert doesn’t happen, fans and supporters will have an opportunuty to see Richardson sing live at a concert titled “Keyla Richardson & Friends” 7 p.m. on July 25 at the Saenger Theatre. Tickets for theare on sale now through Ticketmaster, starting at $52.10 per ticket.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Keyla Richardson’s hometown American Idol show may put 8 million eyes on Pensacola
Reporting by Troy Moon, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
