So, I've watched American Idol for, oh, every season. It's kinda a tradition with my mother and me, even though I live far away, we watch, then discuss via phone after the show is over. I've always had a favorite, though never voted until season 7, for David Cook. This season became hotly debated because my favorite was Adam Lambert, but my mother liked Kris Allen. Up until this year, we usually agreed. So, I wanted to go to the Idol tour in NC, but no one could or would go and it was 5hours away. Knowing that they were only going to be 35 miles away, and it was Matt Giraud's hometown show, I decided to just buy a ticket for the show in Grand Rapids and go by myself. I've never gone to a concert alone before and my seats were nosebleed, but whatever. I ended up meeting friends for dinner, one of whom worked with Matt, texted him during dinner, and Matt sent him 3 meet and greet passes. I was not a lucky recipient, but they had fun.
Onto the show:
It was set up in countdown from 10 to 1. Each idol sang 2-3 songs 1st half and 4-5 songs 2nd half.
Michael Sarver (#10) started the show off. Grand Rapids is a very conservative town, so even though it was Matt's homecoming I expected the crowd to be fairly docile and they didn't disappoint. Some guy in front of me was threatening teenagers when they stood up to dance...what is a concert for dude? Michael was good. He sang "In Love with a Girl" and "Closer". He has a nice voice, but not much stage presence.
Megan Joy (#9) was next. Now, this girl is gorgeous, but is not a good singer or performer. I really felt like she wasn't enjoying what she was doing. She sang "Put Your Records On" which was ok, but "Tears Dry On Their Own" was painful. Who's idea was it for her to sing a patter song?...they should be fired!
Scott McIntyre (#8) rose out of a trap in the middle of the stage sitting at the piano. He sang much, much better than he did on the show. This tour is a perfect example of what American Idol does to singers, terrifies them into giving lame performances on the show. Scott hit some very beautiful falsetto notes on both songs, "Bend and Break" and "A Thousand Miles". He joked around in between songs about Seacrest and Simon, but they sounded very scripted. His voice was very smooth. He was enjoyable, but his album is gonna have to be amazing for me to buy it.
Next up was Lil Rounds (#7). Now from the start, she sounded sick. As in, her voice was scratchy and she was struggling with some of the higher belt notes. Even when she spoke, her voice sounded tired. She performed well, but it was very, very karaoke. "Single Ladies" was definitely the high point of her performance and she moved well, but I don't know that it was such a good choice to do for a show like this. She also sang a Mary J. Blige medley (Be Without You & Just Fine) and "No One". (I actually had to look up what songs she sang, because I couldn't remember, not a good sign.)
When Anoop Desai (#6) entered from the trap, you could see him crouching down. Don't know if you could from the floor, but they totally blew that one for the people sitting up in the nosebleeds. Now, Anoop can sang, I mean, the boy has pipes, but he HAS to work on his presentation. He's just a little stiff. He tried to do some pelvic thrusts during his final song, "MyPerogative", but he only kinda half does them. He doesn't commit. He opened with "Always On My Mind", while well-sung, was kinda a downer after Lil just partied down with "Single Ladies". He then did "Mad". It was good, but I caught myself looking around the arena, more than watching him.
It was at this point that the crowd started to go absolutely crazy. The hometown boy was up next, and boy was West Michigan proud and supportive of him! Matt Giraud (#5) started out his set by beat-boxing from off-stage, then charged onto it with an amazing version of "Hard To Handle". A piano rose out of the floor, and man, he sure can play! The screams were deafening during his set. He was very emotional for his next number, "Georgia On My Mind" and his "You Found Me" has definitely improved from when he performed it on the show. I definitely would see him again, but he was one of my favorites from the season, so I would have anyway, I'm sure. Someone needs to sign him fast!
Before the 20 minute intermission, the Idols that had already performed came back to do a medley. Megan and Lil started out with "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You". Um, yeah, not so great. Their voices didn't match and Megan struggled with singing melody to Lil's alto harmony. Scott and Matt rose out of the floor again with a dueling pianos version of "Tell Her About It". It's a shame this was cut from the finale. It was really amazing. Michael then sang "Suspicious Minds"...eh...yeah....then Anoop came out and they all did "Beggin" with Motown choreography which was pretty sharp. I was really impressed with Scott, and Matt had a little swagger to his.
After the intermission, Allison Iraheta (#4) came out with little introduction. People were still finding their seats. When she sings, it's hard to believe this girl is only 17, but then she talks, and it's obvious. She played guitar for "So What", but I couldn't really hear it. Her "CryBaby" couldn't be topped by her performance the night she was kicked off, but it was good. "Barracuda" kinda sounds like it was written for her. She's gonna be huge, I think.
I was not looking forward to Danny Gokey (#3). I was not a fan during the season. In fact, we texted over 3,000 times for Kris and Adam to make sure he did not make the finale. Well, now I see why he got as far as he did. He's a really great performer! I actually may have enjoyed his set more than some of my favorites. "PYT" was fun, and sung well. He cut out all his little "doot, doots" and just riffed. It was nice. He did a little salsa dancing on "Maria, Maria" and he moves well. "What Hurts the Most" was very emotional. He was pulling from deep down on that one. He gave a little speech that I was afraid would be a sermon, but was quite motivational, about not letting mistakes and tragedy define what you do and to not listen to people who don't believe in you. He then sang "My Wish". The Rascal Flatts songs, I think, show what he's gonna sound like on his country album. I may actually buy it. (and btw, he's much, much better looking in person!)
The person I was looking the most forward to seeing was Adam Lambert (#2). I'm a bit fantardy...being a musical theatre person, it was nice to see someone on the show who represented my interests. Vocally, he was perfect. I've never heard someone sing like that before. He was in really great vocal condition and did lots of improving on all of his songs. His performance was quite musical theatre, though. I love musical theatre, but not at a rock concert. I almost felt like he was playing the Emcee in "Cabaret". He moves very well, but it was all choreographed, even down to how and when he took off his jacket. He started with "Whole Lotta Love", which was a rock vocal master class. I wish I could sing like that! "Starlight" was beautiful, and "Mad World" had a weird sound effect on it that kinda echoed. I didn't really get that. Allison came back out to do "Slow Ride" and that was the only time I saw him drop the persona. It was just Adam goofing around with Allison on stage. I think he needs a band to interact with. Finally, he did a David Bowie medley (Life on Mars/Fame/Let's Dance). I enjoyed him, but not as much as I expected. I still can't wait for his album, though.
Kris Allen's (#1) set was much more intimate. They dropped a curtain in front of the band for "Heartless", "All These Things That I've Done", and "Ain't Know Sunshine". Kris is an amazing musician. He played acoustic and electric guitar, and piano. His guitar solo on "Bright Lights" was fantastic. He ended with "Hey Jude" and all of the other Idols joined him at the end.
For the finale they all sang "Don't Stop Believin", which seems to be the song of summer 2009. We got Adam's glory note at the end, which is unbelievable.
All in all it was a good show, but it felt more like a music revue than an actual concert. After, I went out and waited by the buses and got up-close pics of all 10 Idols. Adam came out first and was very sweet. He spent about 45 minutes signing and posing for pics. He's very pretty in real life, and much smaller than I expected. Lil snuck by because she was sooo short. Anoop only came over to sign one poster, of a girl standing next to me, cuz he was sick and she was the only Anoop poster. That was very sweet of him. It was definitely worth standing out for two hours to get the pics. I hope they appreciate this right now, cuz for some of them, this road ends in 9 days...
