Enjoy!
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QUOTE
10:17 pm - American Idols Live!, HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA 8/30/06
This was the first Idol concert I had attended since the S2 show in 2003 (that would be the Ruben/Clay year). This year's show was less "high school talent show revue" and more a series of mini-concerts, with a few duets and group numbers thrown in along the way.
The show started with the Idol theme, and Mandisa came out in a sleeveless silver top and black pants and sang "I'm Every Woman." I thought she sounded good. The belting was strong. Her outfit probably dismayed the people who think plus-sized women who have plus-sized woman arms should never wear sleeveless shirts, but I didn't have a problem with it. What's she going to do, wear tents instead? Let the girl be fashionable, I say. Next, Mandisa sang a slower song that I've forgotten the name of. After that, she took a few moments to thank everyone for voting for the Idols and making their dreams come true, and also to say how God had a plan for her life and He has a plan for yours, too. This was followed by "I'm Your Angel," her duet with Ace. I thought they sounded good, but they failed to maximize on any interpersonal chemistry because they were standing on opposite ends of the stage for the majority of the song, waving to people in the audience, rather than interacting with each other. I understand the desire to interact with the masses right off the bat, but maybe they should have picked a non-love song.
Ace wore a red T-shirt, a sportjacket, and jeans and opened his set with "Father Figure." During the initial drum beats, he was doing some weird chest-thrusting (I can't think of a better way to describe it) to the beats. I have no idea what this was supposed to signify. On the first "naked," Ace undid the buttons on his jacket, to the sound of a reasonable amount of screams from the people. On the second "naked," the whole jacket came off. He made sure to peel it off sexily, i.e., turning the jacket inside out as he pulled off the sleeves. Oh, Ace, you saucy tease! Heh. At the end of "Father Figure," Ace had climbed to the top of the set. He then proceeded to turn around, run his fingers through his Tressemme hair, and pull out a beanie from his pocket and put it on his head. He then sang "Harder to Breathe," and it was a pretty decent cover of the Maroon 5 version. However, Ace is just too sweet to convey the stinging bite to this song that Adam Levine does, and this made his take on the song somewhat amusing because of the juxtaposition of sweet, earnest Ace trying to give the kiss off to a worthless girlfriend.
Ace then introduced Lisa, and there seemed to be a sort of "Oh yeah...Lisa made the Top Ten, didn't she?" vibe in the arena (which was completely packed, btw). Lisa's first number was "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." She still wears too much silver eyeshadow that highlights her Vulcan eyebrows. I don't recall quite as much pointing as she did on the show. Either I'm blocking out the memory, or our little girl is growing up. She was wearing a green halter-top T-shirt and jeans. She then sat down at the keyboard and played Elton John's "Your Song." The audience went pretty crazy for her at the end, and she just stood up there, overwhelmed but happy, at the end. Lisa was a lot more interesting when she was playing the keyboard than when she was singing by herself. I don't know, maybe it's the interaction with something that seemed to make her a real girl and not just an overtrained precocious child performer. Her voice sounded good, but I still think her actual singing ability is reasonable but not exceptional. She also had a tendency to sound a little shrill in her upper register, and to be honest, her voice is not that memorable. Unfortunately for Lisa, Alicia Keys already has the AfAm, female piano-playing singer market cornered. The next song Lisa played was another Elton John song, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," and toward the end, she got up and walked to the top of the stage. "Best friend" Paris then came out for their "Waterfalls" duet, which was okay and kind of cute with the TLC dance moves straight out of the video. I'm not sure it was the best choice of song for the concert, though, considering that most of the young kids in the audience would be too young to know the song (which is 11 years old) and most of the older adults too old. Plus, it's not the most "up" song that gets people on their feet and singing along.
Paris was wearing her hair with long, straight extensions and bangs, and wore a bright green halter top with a belt at the waist. Her first solo was "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé, complete with all the dance moves from the video. All the dancing detracted a bit from her vocals, but she did all right, considering. I'm just not really keen on Paris's desire to be a mini-B, though. First, it didn't compare to the real thing, and second, Paris is just not sexy, and watching her try to do sexy dance moves just didn't work for me. I can't remember if Paris sang another song before "Midnight Train to Georgia," but "Midnight Train" was fine. It seems like the Idols have been instructed to sing their songs from the Encores CD, which I understand as a business decision, but Paris is no Gladys Knight, and the song had a "just okay" reception from the audience.
Next out was Bucky, who had on a brown cowboy shirt (I think?) and bouncy Breck girl hair. He sang "Superstition," and some other song. I think out of all the Idols, he got the most reserved reaction from the San Jose crowd. He's a pleasant enough guy, but he doesn't know how to take the stage completely yet, and so his set wasn't quite as compelling as it could have been.
Kellie appeared on stage, dressed in a black leather jacket, jeans, and boots, to duet with Bucky on "You're the One That I Want," which was cute enough. It's hard to go wrong with a song from Grease, but again, their inexperience combined made them not as vibrant as they could have been together. Kellie then stripped off the jacket to reveal a red halter top, and sang "I'm the Only One." She thanked everyone for supporting her and the Idols and reminded everyone that she used to be a roller-skating waitress at Sonic. After everyone around me said they liked her so much and would have a good career, I felt like an ogre telling everyone around me that I still thought she couldn't sing (and I would say that out of all the Idols, she easily had the reediest, thinnest voice). But that's my opinion, y'all! Female country music is very competitive right now, and there are many better singers than Kellie in the mix. K-Pick should just get her own reality show on CMT or E!, and then try to parlay that into a television hosting gig, where I think she would be much more successful.
Intermission.
DAUGHTRY was up first after the intermission, and the energy in the arena shot up. IMO, Chris had the most fervent screams and the best reception of all the Idols. The audience loved him. There was a trio of tween girls behind me, and they screamed their heads off for him. Girls, my eardrums salute you. I did not recognize Chris's opening song, but he played electric guitar on it. Next, he switched to an acoustic guitar to play "Wanted Dead or Alive," and after that, ran around with the mic stand for "Renegade."
IMO, Chris was the most impressive Idol at the show and the only one who looked ready to play arenas of this size. His presence filled the stage and kept people's attention, and his voice is muscular and clear and really cuts through the air. It was easy to see why TPTB were so upset that he got booted in fourth place (and also why they started talking to him about a record deal immediately after). He's ready-made for rock and adult top 40 radio. A Nickelback sensibility with a beefier Rob Thomas voice. I would not be surprised if he is the most successful of this batch of Idols.
Chris's next song was Nickelback's "Savin' Me," which he also played guitar on, and Elliott came out to join him. E sounded slightly pitchy on this song to me, but the crowd ate it up. Elliott might not be the immediate pick for a rock duet with Chris, but E has a ruggedness to his voice that suits this type of music. It reminded me a little of the kind of rock edge that Kelly Clarkson has in her voice.
Elliott, dressed in a white T-shirt, a blue V-neck over it, and a golfer's cap, sang "Never Too Much," "Moody's Mood for Love," and "Trouble" for his set. Although he still needs to get a grip on his vibrato, the boy has a great voice and knocked off the songs like it was old hat. He's definitely better-suited to a smaller venue, though, maybe theater-sized rather than a 17,000-seater. I think his obscure music choices would work better there, too. After Chris's set, Elliott's well-sung but less accessible songs deflated the audience slightly, although they were extremely appreciative of him.
Katharine appeared next in a long, black gown with a (what else?) plunging neckline and no back (except for zig-zag straps). She looked thinner to me than she had been on the show. This, however, did not stop her from constantly turning her back to the audience and doing "sexy shaking" to the camera. Yeah, I didn't really get it. I didn't really get any of her onstage movements, in general. Someone really needs to sit down and teach her how to move on a stage so she doesn't look like she's lost or randomly bopping around. Kat sang "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree," "Think," and, of course, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Some people gave her a standing ovation for SOTR, but I actually tuned out about halfway through the song and started thinking about work, only to tune back in and realize she was still singing the song. Whoops. I still loathe her voice just as much in person as on the show. She gets so metallic and shrill in her upper register, and I don't see the star quality. I still feel like her future is in being a C-list celebrity rather than a meaningful recording artist.
Last but not least, intermittently singing "Jailhouse Rock" (I say this because he was concentrating more on getting down the stairs and running around than putting the vocals on blast), Taylor, dressed in a purple button-down shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, and a blazer, entered the arena from the back left side facing the stage, and ran around to the right side of the stage on the floor where my friend and I were. My friend was on the aisle and touched him, after which she had a teenie moment, despite the fact that she wasn't a big fan. Hee. I didn't know the next song he sang, but he played electric guitar on it. It had a fast beat, and he kept trying to get people to clap along, except people didn't know the song and weren't totally into it and kept stopping, and then he would start up the motion to clap again. Aww. Taylor's next song was "Living in the City," which featured manic dancing and an eventual lyric change to "living in the country," after which the band broke into a semi-bluegrass-ish hoedown. The final song in his set, formally, was "Do I Make You Proud," complete with second verse and bridge! I had been under the impression that he was not doing the full-length song on the tour, but I guess I was wrong. As with other shows, he dedicated it to the troops. I've gotta say, his vocals on this song were pretty sketchy. It may be a crappy song, but it's a demanding one. After this, Taylor pretty much said goodnight and exited, but we all knew the show wasn't really over.
After a couple of minutes of stomping, the band came back out, and Taylor reappeared to sing a very energetic version of "Takin' It to the Streets," which featured harmonica playing and some more spastic movements. I was really of two minds about Taylor. I saw flashes where I could see how he could be really, really good, but his vocals were so uneven all night and his general presence somewhat unfocused, that his performances, overall, left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. He struck me as the type of performer who is more interested in letting things flow and occasionally finding brilliance, rather than putting together a tight package and committing to consistent excellence. Like, if he's not on fire, his shtick is just going to come off as sloppy or undisciplined (because it basically is). Taylor and Chris were an interesting study in opposites because of this. Chris is not high on the originality or spontaneity scale, but as far as I've heard, Chris is putting in quality performances every night, whereas Taylor can be hot and cold. Taylor lives for the moment, but it's not going to deliver as consistent results. It was very easy for me to see how Simon could be so dismayed at Taylor's voting dominance and so disappointed that Chris got booted early. One thing was evidently clear to me, though: Taylor is just not in the same category of pure vocal chops as the rest of the top four. He doesn't have the richness or power of tone that Elliott and Chris have, or even Katharine, despite her screechy propensities.
Taylor exited again, and Chris, Ace, Bucky, and Elliott reappeared to sing "Patience" by Guns 'N Roses. This was one of the highlights of the night and was very well-received by the audience. This group of guys harmonizes extremely well together, and I would have loved it if they could have sung a couple more songs together. Someone's got to hook me up with a very clean bootleg of this.
Next, the girls joined the guys to sing "We Are the Champions," complete with arm-waving and the general schmaltz that is associated with this song.
Finally, Taylor rejoined the others to sing the last song, that good old James Brown classic, "Living in America." I always associate this song with Rocky IV, but the Idols didn't live it up quite to that level. At the end of the song, after they took their bows, the Idols seemed reluctant to leave the stage, and they all hung around as the band played to goof around. Taylor, especially, seemed to loosen up and really enjoy himself.
All in all, it was a good night, and I'm glad I went. Overall, I thought the top four were a noticeable cut above the rest, and Chris a cut above them all. Unlike other years, I think they will all be able to have careers in the entertainment industry in one way or another. My Taylor-touching friend says we need to get better seats next year, so wish us luck!
Odds and Ends:
Idols who left the stage to touch hands with the front row: Chris, Ace, Paris (I could be forgetting some people)
Number of beanies thrown by Ace: 2 (I think?)
Number of picks thrown by Chris: 3 (that I noticed)
I was beginning to think I missed something 
