Regional Auditions
Auditions were held in the fall of 2002 in the following cities:
| Episode Air Date | Audition City | Date | Audition Venue | Callback Venue | Tickets to Hollywood |
| January 21, 2003 | New York, New York | October 24–28, 2002 | Regent Wall Street Hotel | Rhiga Royal Hotel | 35 |
| Miami, Florida | November 2–6, 2002 | Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel | 20 | ||
| Austin, Texas | November 6–10, 2002 | Doubletree Hotel | Hyatt Regency | 36 | |
| January 22, 2003 | Los Angeles, California | November 18–20, 2002 | Rose Bowl | Renaissance Hollywood Hotel | 45 |
| Detroit, Michigan | October 21, 2002 | Atheneum Suites Hotel | 22 | ||
| January 28, 2003 | Atlanta, Georgia | October 27, 2002 | AmericasMart | Callanwolde Fine Arts Center | 46 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | October 30, 2002 | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | Wildhorse Saloon | 30 | |
| Total Tickets to Hollywood | 234 | ||||
The number of auditioners increased significantly after the success of the Season 1, and arenas and stadia started to be used to hold the first auditions from this season onwards when the Rose Bowl in Pasadena was used this season instead of the hotel originally planned. Around 70,000 attended the auditions this season and 234 were selected to proceed on to the Hollywood round. Radio DJ Angie Martinez was originally signed up as a fourth judge, but quit after a few days, stating that "it became too uncomfortable for me to tell someone else to give up on their dream". Paula Abdul was absent from the Atlanta audition.
At the Miami auditions, one failed auditioner was Edgar Nova who, after being rejected, tried to get back again and had to be escorted off the premise. Nova then auditioned in Los Angeles, but with a different hairstyle to avoid recognition, and was again unsuccessful. He also tried further in Season 3 and 4.
Another auditioner named Bryan Washington auditioned in Atlanta, Georgia, and made it to Hollywood, but did not make it into the top 32. He was also overweight at the time of his American Idol audition, and later became a contestant on The Biggest Loser (Season 4.)
Auditioner Amber Riley was rejected by producers and did not get to audition for the judges, but later went on to co-star on the television series Glee as Mercedes Jones.
Read more about this topic: American Idol 2
Famous quotes containing the word auditions:
“Addison DeWitt: Your next move, it seems to me, should be toward television.
Miss Caswell: Tell me this. Do they have auditions for television?
Addison DeWitt: That’s all television is, my dear. Nothing but auditions.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)