My American Idol Concert Review - 8.30.06. - San Jose, CA

[Karen*]

For those of you who are intereted, here's my generic review of this year's American Idols Live Tour experience. Hope you enjoy.

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After about a frustrating hour-and-a-half on the road with my drivers, Nicole and I arrived at the venue at around 6:30PM. After we found our seats on Floor 3, Row 34, I made a rush towards the merchandise table where I blew off cash on a tour program, top 10 poster, an 8x10 photo of Chris Daughtry, and a couple of keychains and pins. Then we waited in our seats for the show to start.

The show started at around 7:15-7:20. Mandisa kicked it off with “I’m Every Woman.” It sounded better than when she sang it on American Idol and on the Encores CD. Then she sang “If I Was Your Woman,” which she dedicated to all the single girls – and the keyboardist, LOL. Overall, she did pretty well. Not exactly one of my favorites during the concert though. Ace Young came out at the conclusion of the set to join her on “I’m Your Angel.” I didn’t see a lot of chemistry going on there, but their voices surprisingly blend together beautifully. It was nice.

Ace curled his hair even more and now he looks like Howie from the Backstreet Boys. LOL. He still looks hot though, I guess! He sang his cut from the Encores CD, “Father Figure,” which was okay, but not as good as when he sang it on the show and on the CD. His final song was Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe.” He did pretty good with that song. I was afraid that it would be a disaster like when he did “We Will Rock You” on Queen night, but this one was the perfect rock song for his voice. He wore his signature beanie (Which melted my heart =p ) and threw it out into the audience at the end. Ace was alright. Again, not one of my favorite performers during the concert, but he seemed like he was having so much fun up there.

After Ace came Lisa Tucker, who kicked off her set with her Encores track, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” which I enjoyed cuz I love the song. Then she sang and played the piano (!! – I didn’t know that! LOL) on “Your Song.” She also played the piano on part of her last song, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” Lisa proved to be a pretty and poised performer. It just seemed natural that she was up there. She looked overwhelmed, yet genuinely grateful at all the support the audience gave her. Paris Bennett, her best friend on the show, joined her for “Waterfalls,” which was set to some pretty coordinated choreography.

Paris was one of my favorite contestants on AI this year, but I was bored with her songs for some reason, LOL. She sang “Midnight Train to Georgia,” her cut on Encores and “Crazy in Love.” “Midnight Train” showed off her chops while “Crazy in Love” showed off her moves. I don’t know. I guess she could’ve chosen a song other than “Crazy in Love,” LOL. I still like her, but I’ll admit I was a little disappointed by her performances. They just didn’t captivate me.

Bucky Covington was up after Paris. He was my least favorite of the top ten and probably one of the worst of the night, but his set wasn’t horrible at all, it was just mediocre. He kicked it off with his Encores track, “Superstition.” LOL, good song, okay vocals, but his dancing is as bad as mine. He toned it down with his second song “Drift Away,” which wasn’t too bad either. He closed it out with a super country-laced version of “You’re the One That I Want” with Kellie Pickler. I enjoyed that one, BTW.

Hahaha…Kellie Pickler. What is there to say about Kellie Pickler? First of all, I could swear she wore some of the same clothes she wore on the show. The jacket looked like it was from her “Bohemian Rhapsody” performance and the top she was wearing underneath looked like it was from Country Night! LOL. I pay too much attention to these things. Anyway, it seemed like she had the most things to say out of all the other finalists. Back in April, I would’ve found that annoying, but this time, I found myself going “Aaaawwwww” at all the things she said (Ugh, I can’t believe I just said that!). Yeah, for those of you who don’t know, I really didn’t like Kellie when she was on the show. Seeing her live, though, almost made me a fan of hers! She sang “I’m the Only One” and a mash-up of “Walkin’ After Midnight” (Her Encores song) and “Something to Talk About.” She was definitely one of my favorites of the night. Then came the fifteen or twenty-minute intermission where I just stayed in my seat the whole time and talked to people.

Act II! I was hoping this one would be better since all of my main favorites would be singing. The band played the Idol theme song while they showed a bunch of clips of the top ten from the show. Then my favorite finalist and possibly my most favorite Idol contestant EVER Chris Daughtry came out. I was smiling from ear to ear. He is so freaking amazing. He looked JUST like he did on TV! LOL. But his singing and performances are even better live. I’ll admit to being biased when I say this, but that guy is going to do great things. The crowd went crazy for him and he has such spectacular stage presence. He kicked off his set with “A Whole Lotta Love.” Then he played guitar and sang “Wanted Dead or Alive,” his Encores song. Then he sang “Renegade,” one of my favorite songs by him on the show. He closed it out with “Savin’ Me.” I couldn’t be happier with his duet partner – he got paired up with my other favorite, Elliott Yamin!

As much as I love Elliott, I think he did better with the vocals than on the performance part of the concert. He kicked it off with the up-tempo “All My Love.” Then he slowed it down with his Encores track, “Moody’s Mood for Love.” My favorite song from his set, BTW! He closed it out with “Trouble.” Then he brought back Bucky, Ace, and Chris to sing “Patience,” which was just alright for me. I wanted them to do that medley they did on the finale. =/

After the guys’ song, Katharine McPhee came out. Yaaaayyyyy. I went on-and-off liking/disliking her while she was on AI, but she still remained to be my favorite female on the show. I really wanted her to be there and she was. She sang “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” which I loved. Then she sang “Think,” which was bad compared to the couple of times she sang it on AI, LOL. It didn’t sound like her at all. She closed it out her set with her beautiful rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” It reminded me of when Carrie Underwood sang “Alone” on tour last year. I don’t know how to describe it. When they sang those songs on tour, they just made me PROUD. LOL. It was amazing. Seriously.

The last Idol to deliver his solos was none other than the top dog, Taylor Hicks! He started off with “Jailhouse Rock.” I knew he would be starting from the audience, but I didn’t know exactly where. Then everyone started pointed out where – he was going to come down right next to our section! He danced down the aisle next to my row, guarded by lots of security, of course. So for about one second, I was about five seats away from him. I got to see his face kinda clearly! That was awesome! Then he got on bass and sang some rock song that I didn’t know the name of, LOL. After that, he sang one of my favorite songs by him on the show, “Livin’ for the City.” I just had to get up and dance along to that one, LOL. He closed out his set with his coronation song, “Do I Make You Proud,” which he dedicated to the troops in Iraq. He exited the stage after that song, but came back minutes later for an encore. He sang “Takin’ it to the Streets,” his track from Encores. Taylor went CRAZY on this one! He started dancing, spinning around, playing the tambourine, and even did a harmonica solo accompanied by the bassist. Wow. I was truly entertained by Taylor. One of the best performers of the night by far! When he does his own shows, I’ll definitely go. He’s so much fun to watch.

The night ended with a couple more group numbers. All of the top 10 minus Taylor and Kat sang “We Are the Champions.” Taylor and Kat then joined them for the finale, “Living in America.” It was a great ending to a great night.

After the show, Nicole and I waited out for the buses like we did last year. We waited for about forty-five minutes with just a tiny sighting. A black car came out of the gate and Chris Daughtry popped his head out of the passenger window and waved to everyone! I wish I had taken a picture. I didn’t even wave, LOL. He went by too fast! Oh well. It was still nice to see that shiny bald head of his.

Overall, I had a pretty good time at the concert. It was pretty on-and-off though. Most of the first half was just average while the second half pretty much blew me away. Probably because like I said, all my favorites performed in the second half. I sort of blame it on the location of our seats though. There was an ASSLOAD of people standing in front of us and these three little girls in the row directly in front of us were standing ON their seats mostly all throughout the first act and it was so unbelievably annoying. That will teach me never to get floor seats again unless they’re EXTREMELY good, LOL.

Compared to last year’s American Idol concert, I kind of liked last year’s better because I was more familiar with the songs. But I like the finalists better this year and plus EVERYONE was there like I wanted (Last year, I had to suffer the absence of my favorite finalist, Bo Bice). I felt like I was more spirited at last year’s concert though. I don’t know. I just can’t decide right now!

This night was definitely the cherry on top of my super awesome summer. I looked forward to this for the longest time and I had so much fun! This year’s finalists proved that they all can put on a good show, no matter what happens for life after-Idol. I can’t wait for next year’s show. It shall be a tradition for me. =]

[I Love John Ritter]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun! Congrats Thanks for sharing your review.

[Karen*]

Originally Posted by I Love John Ritter

Sounds like you had a lot of fun! Congrats Thanks for sharing your review.

Thank YOU!

[eileenacanadian]

Originally Posted by I Love John Ritter

Sounds like you had a lot of fun! Congrats Thanks for sharing your review.

I loved John Ritter too!