AI 8 7-5-09 The Concert Tour Begins

The American Idol Concert tour opened its 50 city run in Portland, Oregon on Sunday July 5, 2009. I am late in providing my comments but yesterday was a typical Monday and I ran out of time.

The Idols actually arrived in Portland on Friday and were seen around and about during the weekend. They had a meet and greet on Sunday afternoon. I did not attend this gathering but a friend of mine did.

Overall I thought the concert totally rocked with some minor irritations (those freaking graphics on the screen plus they started 20 minutes late) and one big irritation (Megan Joy Corkrey). It looked to be an almost sold out crowd and I can assure you the Portland audience was a noisy crowd. There were two women sitting behind who would put the typical teenage girl to shame in how loud and shrill their screams were.

The theme clearly was one of reaching for and never giving up on your dream no matter where it leads you.

Let us just get on with the dish. During this concert tour, the contestants sang in the order of their elimination starting with ten and the winner ending the show.

Michael Sarver

Michael started the show off with two numbers “I’m in Love with a Girl” and “Closer”. Michael says he is going to shout out the love for his wife across the country. I have to say Michael was looking good, was dressed better than during the season and was in fine voice. Michael was in tune and was clearly having fun. Michael was relaxed and enjoying the moment. He was able to get the crowd excited.

Megan Joy

Megan was simply out of her league on the stage. The woman cannot sing and move at the same time. It was so funny watching her try to move to her spot light and she definitely was not moving in time with the music. Megan was wearing a pink dress, which was short, and clinging in the wrong places. The color was good for her but it was not flattering to her. Megan started with “Put Your Records On” which she had performed on the show. It was barely adequate. Megan lost her stupid signature dance moves and instead was simply running her hands up and down her body in what I suppose was suppose to sexy but fell far short of the goal. Megan was moving in and out of tune like no tomorrow and at one point, she was off the beat and had to catch up with the background singers. Her second number was “Tears dry on their own” and this number totally sucked. Megan was so off key and could not make it work along with her awkward movements. I was happy when her two-song set was over.

Scott MacIntyre

Scott brought grace and good music to the stage. As he rose from the pit sitting behind a piano, he was taking it all in and the audience was with him. Scott sounded and played beautifully. Scott performed “Bend and Break” and “A Thousand Miles”. Scott displayed genuine joy while on the stage. In between the two numbers, he got up, stood along side the piano, and joked with the audience regarding the “high five” from Ryan during the audition show. As Scott joked, it was the “high five” heard around the world.

Lil Rounds

Lil really kicked off the first half of the concert. Lil was in a killer outfit and had long hair (most likely a wig) but she was looking good and sounded better then she ever did during the season. Lil let loose and was proving whom she was as an artist (to borrow from the judges). Lil sang some very contemporary songs and she had the pipes to prove it. She performed “Be without you”, “No One” and ended her set with a rousing rendition of “Single Ladies” and not one of her performances was karaoke. Lil brought some heat and power to the numbers and had the audience dancing along with her. If Lil had shown this, much energy and talent during the competition, she may have lasted longer. She has found her voice!

Anoop Desai

Anoop did not disappoint the crowd and gave them what kept him on the show. He started with “Always on My Mind” moved to “Mad” and ended with “My Prerogative”. He was looking stylish and after his first number put on his glasses in order to see the audience. Anoop was in fine voice. There was nothing outstanding about his set but he certainly seemed to be having fun and was excited to be there.

Matt Giraud

Matt brought some very high-energy performances to the stage. He started with “Hard to Handle”, “Georgia on my mind” and ended with “I Found You”. Matt was funny as well putting on his hat after the first number with some very enthusiastic applause from the audience. Matt was in great voice, showed great musical ability while playing the piano and really tore up the stage. Matt proved he deserved to be in the competition.

The first half of the show ended with a medley of songs by these first six contestants the highlight being a dueling-piano segment from Matt and Scott as they both rose behind pianos from under the stage. This number totally rocked. I think they could put Billy Joel and Elton John to shame, they were having fun and it showed. Lil and Megan sang together and luckily, for the audience Lil and the back-up singers drowned out Megan. Megan was still very awkward but she had changed into an okay black and white dress, which was again very, very short. The showed ended with the entire six performing “Beggin”.

We had about a twenty-minute intermission.

Allison Iraheta

Allison proved as she opened the second act that she was born to be a rock star. Allison hit the stage with her guitar, a killer outfit, her red and purple hair (longer with extensions) and her unique, stunning and powerful voice performing “So what”. Allison had the crowd on their feet. Allison continued with “Cry Baby” and ended with an incredible version of “Barracuda”. After this performance, I think Allison owns the rights to performing this song. She out did Heart which is hard to do.

Danny Gokey

Danny opened his set with “P.Y.T.” and it worked much better then during the competition. He then did “Maria Maria” which I totally thought worked and the guitar player in the band was fantastic. Danny then performed “What Hurts the Most”. Prior to ending his set Danny talked to the audience about his journey and explained in four days, it would be the one-year anniversary of his wife’s death. Given his motivation for trying out for Idol Danny’s last song “My Wish” was his motivation to the audience to feel free to go for your dream and do not let anything stand in your way. The emotional nature of the song really worked. This is the type of number, which Danny can really sell. I enjoyed his entire set because he was in very good voice, was having fun, and gasp actually learned how to move/dance on stage.

Adam Lambert

As Adam’s name flashed across the big screen behind the band from the darkness, the audience was on their feet and it was clear whom the major attraction all was waiting for. Adam did not disappoint. Adam knows how to put on a show and a killer set it was. Adam opened with “Whole Lotta Love” and he frigging rocked the house. Adam had the audience in the palm of his hand and delivered everything we were waiting for. Adam moved on to “Starlight”. It was a beautiful song, which worked well with Adam’s vocal tricks.

I do have to digress here and laugh about the continuous crotch shots the director was using. We had five video screens. There was a large one to the left of the stage, a long skinny one, then the huge screen behind the stage, another long skinny one, and then one final screen to the right. During the “Starlight” number, the two skinny screens were literally focused on his crotch, which was unnecessary and played no part of the number.

Adam slowed it down and went with “Mad World” and it remains as one of my favorite of his performances. The raw emotion as he is singing cannot be beat!

Next was “Slow Ride” with Allison and these two definitely need to record together because their harmonies are unbelievable and they were really enjoying working together. It was a killer duet. I thought the portion we heard during the competition was great but this entire performance was even better.

The lights went out and then a spotlight showed Adam center stage as he took off his jacket to thunderous screams and applause and went into a medley of “Life on Mars” and “Fame” which were beautiful choices and let him really shine as a glam rocker. Adam closed with “Let’s Dance” and the arrangement was contemporary rock but paid homage to the original. It was a great way to end his set.

Kris Allen

Kris is a very talented musician and singer but he cannot compete with the showmanship of Adam. Kris was in fine form and was in excellent voice but after the high of Adam, his set was beautifully performed but paled in comparison.

Kris opened with a killer version of “Heartless”. I truly love his version and this did not disappoint. Kris then did “No Boundaries” which is not my favorite song but they finally changed the arrangement and Kris sold it big time which is quite a feat given how bad that song really is.

Kris then did a rousing rendition behind the piano of “Bright Lights” and I think it was my favorite of the evening of his numbers. I think he put Rob Thomas to shame. It was not karaoke and his voice just soared through the song.

Kris then went with “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Kris ended his set with “Hey Jude” which I really enjoyed. It is one of my favorite Beatle songs and he really did it justice. The rest of the Idols joined him on stage for the finish of this song to end the concert. They had all changed outfits yet again and there was Megan in her Hailey Scranato slutty “short shorts” still unable to move gracefully on the stage. At least all the other contestants overpowered her.

There was one rousing encore number, which was “Don’t Stop Believing”, and they had the audience on their feet singing along. The number fit in with the theme of the evening and it was a great way to end the night.

This concert really was good and probably the most contemporary of any of the concert tours. With the exception of Megan Joy, all the idol contestants were in fine voice. I think they were free to have fun with the pressure of the week-to-week competition and the judges behind them and they really had a chance to let loose to shine. I would expect this show to improve as they get use to performing before audiences and have time to tweak what they are doing.

I would encourage those of you around the country to try to get tickets if the show is near a city you can get to in order to see the concert. You will not be disappointed.

You can also search the web for videos of the concerts. I already found some on You Tube from the Portland show.

Season 8 has ended for me and we now have 6.5 months before Season 9 will officially start.

Until next January…