Skipped the crowded and humongous L.A. Staples Center this year to once again catch American Idols Live tour at a smaller, more intimate location. Had never been to the Citizen's Bank Arena in Ontario California, but will definitely return. (Hey, free parking and adjacent to a factory outlet mall - what a gem!) And wow, pretty good seats for Los Angeles.
But of course the reason we were there was to catch our American Idols. Wow! I have to say, I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did last year, when I was a huge fan of David Cook and David Archuleta. This year, I loved the top 5 but for the most part liked almost all of the top 10.
As mentioned on other blogs, before the show started, the crowd went insane whenever Adam Lambert's name or image appeared. What a riot!
The concert had an intermission, with contestants 5-10 (bottom 6) performing in the first act. It was a pretty solid first act and one that really led me to realize that we were going to be entertained the entire night long.
Here's what I thought about the show. My pictures are at
Flickr.
#10. Michael Sarver was loads of fun and did a good job kicking things off. He sang "I'm in Love with a Girl" and Ne-Yo's "Closer" with a really pleasing disco sound. Pretty surprising to me, that's for sure.
Michael clip
#9. Megan Joy seemed ok, and better than on tv. She was the one weak point to me, but perhaps that's because she was never really one of my favorites. Her numbers were "Let Your Hair Down" and "Tears Dry on Their Own".
#8 Scott MacIntyre came in next with some really good-natured fun and jokes. His piano playing rocked with "Bend and Break" and "A Thousand Miles" . Really, quite entertaining. I was surprised how smooth his voice was, since he acted like he lost his way through the show.
Scott clip
#7 Lil Rounds made me think, "OMG This is the woman who I thought would go deep in Idol this season but never showed up." She was awesome and she rocked. So sassy, so brassy, and so ... curvaceous. She strutted her way through "Single Ladies" that had me bouncing like a fool.
Lil Clip 1
Lil Clip 2
#6 First came digital clouds. Lots of them. Then came Anoop Desai's smiling face, among the clouds. Anoop's performance was sexy and R&B... And then, look out Adam. He bumped and he did some grinding. The women in the audience just went about wild. But he sure handled "Always on My Mind" and "Turn out the Lights" like the smoothest pro.
Anoop Clip 1
Anoop Clip 2
#5 Matt Giraud most assuredly proved America wrong and the judges "saved" him. We voted him out earlier, and but during this show he certainly showed how entertaining he could and should have been on tv. His keyboards were on fire as he ripped "Georgia on my mind" and "Hard to Handle".
Matt Clip
We were then treated to a "bottom 6" medley that really was far better than any dance and medley number during the year. Pretty impressive! Perhaps the extra rehearsing did good!
Medley 1
Medley 2
#4 Allison Iraheta - my girl rocked and rocked. She was awesome, bouncing around on stage like some manic rock star. She burst through "Baracuda" like she was in the middle of a taped video. It was awesome and I can't wait to see her own show.
Allison Clip 1
Allison Clip 2
Allison Clip 3
#3 Danny Gokey really got the girls in the audience screaming. I always liked Danny but I never really understood the love that he got from the women. But he did a great job with Michael Jackson's "Pretty Young Thing" and surprised me with his jacket-comes-off "Maria Maria". He did do a little sermonizing tonight, but it wasn't as odd as some bloggers were suggesting.
Danny Clip 1
Danny Clip 2
Danny Clip 3
#2 And then ... the female vocal chords in the audience went PING. I mean, honestly, this must be what sitting in an Elvis or Beatles concert felt like. If you weren't Adam Lambert, then you were just a pretend male as far as the women in the audience were concerned. It was bizarre and exciting. He'll be a raging success some day. From my video clips, you can see green light flashes - that's where the strobe lights went berserk. Adam burned up the stage, but I still think that he did best with the song that, to me, convinced me of his star qualities: Mad World.
Adam Clip 1
Adam Clip 2
Adam and Allison
Adam Clip 3
#1 Kris Allen. Now there's a star. Who would want to follow Adam? Someone who knows they're good and that he's loved. His style's totally different, but wow that guys fun and talented. He played piano, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar. And that Kris kick step is pretty hot to see. Thank goodness he didn't have to sing "No Boundaries" on this tour. Instead, he reprised his awesome "Heartless" version. Even better yet, he brought out a new "All These Things That I've Done", which was drop dead fantastic. He also did "Bright Lights" and "Ain't No Sunshine" in fantastic Kris Allen style. And, as an extra wow, he started "Bright Lights" on the piano and ended it with a jam on the electric guitar. Way cool. Finally, gasp, he had the audacity to belt out a beautiful "Hey Jude", which had a rather prickly and suspicious Beatles fan like me remarkably impressed.
Kris Clip 1
Kris Clip 2
Kris Clip 3
Kris Clip 4
Kris Clip 5
And at the end, the entire troup came out to do one more medley. They totally danced and sang out Journey's "Don't Stop Believin" in a way that was all too perfect for this show.
Final Medley
Was it a good show? No doubt. I rarely think that medley concerts are fun, but for two years in a row "American Idols Live" has wowed me. Thanks for a fantastic year guys and I look forward to seeing you live solo. (Or meet up with me on September 9 when I catch David Cook solo here in Hollywood).
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