Emma Webb

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Memphis-TN/Memphis-Shelby-County-Music-Commission/97115937747?v=wall&viewas=0 - Facebook

http://www.munford.com/celebrateweb/index.php?c=stageschedules - Munford

Photo by Nikki Boertman

Hannah Montana fan Emma Webb is ready for tonight's sold-out concert with head-to-toe Hannah Montana clothing and a hand-made sign welcoming the Disney star to Memphis.
To hear Emma Webb talk about it, tonight will be one of the most meaningful experiences of her entire seven years on this planet.

Singer Miley Cyrus, who stars in the Disney Channel sitcom "Hannah Montana," will make her long-awaited concert appearance at 7 p.m. at FedExForum, and Emma is among the nearly 14,000 lucky people who have tickets.


Photo by Nikki Boertman

Hannah Montana fan Emma Webb is ready for tonight's sold-out concert with head-to-toe Hannah Montana clothing and a hand-made sign welcoming the Disney star to Memphis.
Video

Emma Webb is excited about tonight's concert. Watch »

"When I found out my parents got tickets, I screamed in my room for like an hour, maybe two hours," said the second-grader, who rarely stops to breathe between sentences. "Then I had to take a break for an hour, but then I started screaming again for another hour."

Fans like Emma, along with clogging up parents' Tivos with the episodes that run almost daily, have the accoutrements to prove their obsession.

While screaming in her room, Emma can dress up in Hannah Montana clothes, stare at Hannah Montana posters, swaddle herself in a Hannah Montana blanket, listen to Hannah Montana CDs and daydream about Christmas, when she'll get a Hannah Montana bicycle -- her first without training wheels.

"Back when I was 6 years old," she remembers, "I was really sick at home and was flipping through the channels. I saw 'Hannah Montana' and stopped to see how it was. ... Now my mom calls me Hannah."

Ever since tickets for the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana "Best of Both Worlds Tour" went on sale across the country, the Disney show has brought the culture of kid television into the adult mainstream -- if only as a synonym for the ravenous devotion of pony-tailed girls and the lengths to which parents will go to put smiles on their faces.

For parents in the know, it was no surprise when entire arenas sold out minutes after concert tickets went on sale. "Hannah Montana" is the No. 1 series on basic cable among 6- to 14-year-olds.

More than two-thirds of all kids in that age group watched an episode of Hannah Montana between July and September, according to the Disney Channel, citing Nielsen Media Research data. The Aug. 17 episode, which followed the premiere of "High School Musical 2," drew 10.7 million viewers.

Adam Bonnett, senior vice president of original series for the Disney Channel, says "Hannah Montana" taps into the modern teen psyche, using pop music in the process.

Miley Cyrus plays a young girl named Miley Stewart, who has a secret identity as "Hannah Montana," an internationally famous pop singer. Miley tries to lead a normal life, all the while living the teenage dream as well.

"We wanted to give young girls a super-hero, the same way boys have super-heroes who lead double lives," Bonnett said.

Thousands of tickets for the current live tour were scooped up immediately by online scalpers and resold for up to a $1,000 each. Many parents cried foul, and TicketMaster and the Miley Cyrus fan site, mileyworld.com, both suffered negative publicity, and the latter a class-action lawsuit.
- The Commercial Appeal