American Idol

Lots of info about the concert and the Idols here!

http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/?loc=interstitialskip

This review is good in that it gives a nice detailed run down of the show.

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Live Review: American Idols Live in Glendale, AZ


It's pretty sketchy when the "opening act" of a concert is a giant strawberry/blueberry Pop-Tart dancing to Akon's "Smack That." It's safe to say things can only go up from there.

But, for the most part, the opening night of the "Pop-Tarts Presents American Idols Live [ tickets ]!" tour Tuesday (7/1) at Glendale, AZ's Jobing.com Arena surpassed expectations. Rousing performances by Top 10 finalists Michael Johns, Arizona's Brooke White, runner-up David Archuleta and winner David Cook highlighted the three-hour show.

In years past, the campy part of the tour was group performances by the Top 10 finalists. This year, producers wisely took a step back and allowed each of the finalists to perform mini-concerts of songs of their own choosing, allowing time for only two group numbers.



The evening kicked off with No. 10 finalist Chikezie Eze and his soulful, choreographed performances of songs such as Usher's "Caught Up" and John Legend's "So High," which were much stronger than his days on "Idol."

"I pray that you enjoy it because this is for you," Eze told the crowd early on.

Ramiele Malubay, No. 9, kicked off her performance with a paltry rendition of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back." She suffered from the same malady as when she was on "American Idol"--an inability to project her vocals. Her voice was barely audible during the Jackson 5 song, but improved as she went through her three numbers, which also included Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back" and Maroon 5's "If I Never See Your Face Again." She should have worried more about her vocals than waving to the crowd.

No. 8's Johns brought the crowd to its feet for the first time by coming out from under the stage singing Queen's "We Will Rock You," which segued into a powerful cover of "We Are the Champions."

"This next song got me voted off 'American Idol' but I don't think it'll get me kicked off the tour," he said about Aerosmith's "Dream On."

He was right; although he was a little shouty at times, he hit the high notes effortlessly, evoking a standing ovation.

Kristy Lee Cook, who frequently finished in the bottom three each week before landing at No. 7, overused her sexuality as a way to get the crowd riled. During her set of country numbers, Cook opened with Carolyn Dawn Johnson's "Squeezin' The Love Outta You," while shaking her, well, assets, and tossing her hair back. She kept it clean, however, for Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," which she dedicated to the veterans.

Irish songbird Carly Smithson, No. 6, delivered a pro-worthy version of Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life," followed by a revamped cover of Heart's "Crazy On You." She wrapped up her enthusiastic set with Cyndi Lauper's "Drove All Night."

Johns may have brought the crowd to its feet, but during the first half of the show, the audience favorite was hometown girl White, No. 5. She arose from under the stage sitting at a piano for the crowd-pleasing "Let it Be."

"Thank you so much. It's good to be home," she said simply.

In a show of solidarity--and modesty--winner David Cook stood backstage in the wings during White's take on Coldplay's "Yellow," encouraging those sitting side stage to cheer her on. When her number was done, he stood and allowed fans to take pictures of him.

After a break during which the giant Pop-Tart made a repeat performance, dread-locked No. 4 finalist Jason Castro offered a lackluster performance. His aching voice ably took on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," but he didn't show the stage presence to pull off a solo show; perhaps it was opening night jitters.

"This next song is a song that helped make my dreams come true," Castro said. "I sang it in every audition but the final 24." That song was a partially acoustic offering of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy."

"A lot of people call me crazy because I’m always dreaming, but look where it got me," he said in introducing the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream."

Like Kristy Lee Cook, No. 3's Syesha Mercado banked on her sexuality to bring the crowd to it collective feet. Screaming "everybody sing," she playfully sang Rihanna's "Umbrella" and slowed it down for Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You."

But girls--and, sadly, some middle-aged women--cried and shouted during runner-up Archuleta's performance. Like White, he took the stage by arising from under the platform while sitting at a piano surrounded by a dense cloud of smoke. He offered favorites from his "American Idol" performances: Robbie Williams' "Angels," OneRepublic's "Apologize" and Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" mashed with Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls." He was given the opportunity to play four songs, the last of which was "When You Say You Love Me."

While introducing Cook, the gee-whiz Archuleta teased, "You're in for a real treat here. Enjoy the wild ride."

Despite Archuleta's fervent following, winner Cook was hands-down the star of the show. His rock take on Lionel Richie's "Hello" showed a superstar of the future, following in the footsteps of former contestant Chris Daughtry. Between the chorus and the verse of "Hello," Cook smiled and said, "I like this," in response to his fans' shouting.

It's easy to like the "American Idol" performance--just make the marketing a little more subtle.

A couple of videos from the current tour!

Michael Johns, Light My Fire (partial)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb0WlNmXJ54


Jason Castro, Somewhere Over The Rainbow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNnE08jsYfw


Carly Smithson, Bring Me To Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH0Smn0Og_Q

Carly's performance KICKS all kinds of ass! Just WOW! And she looks amazing!!!

(though I am trying to figure out the black fingers )

Here is a video of Michael Johns sining "Dream On". It is taken from far back, but if you make it full screen you get a really nice feel for the stage and lighting. Also, he sounds simply amazing! He left the competition way before his time IMHO!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37508297

That was really good. Very good audio and video, too bad the person was not closer. I agree, he left way too early......

A lot of good people left way too early because of freakin' Archuleta. They wanted their David-David finale even if it meant letting go of way more talented people.

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A lot of good people left way too early because of freakin' Archuleta.

Sad grimace. A lot of people would take "Archuleta" out of that sentence and put in "Castro." I saw a couple of very nasty blogs last night.

Cook won. It was a deserved and acceptable win. The journey there is not so important except for people who really wish to see the person they genuinely like for as long as they can before the inevitable singout.

I love people who write "Those Castro fans insisted on voting for the guy for two hours and I find that really offensive because the person I want to advance ought to stay instead, but I can't be bothered to vote about it. I'd rather just bitch about it. Afterwards.

Now, I have nothing against Archie. Seems like a real sweet kid and he can sing for sure. But such an uninteresting performer and when you come right down to it - we all have been to HS musicals and heard kids sing that good. I know I have. My cousin-in-law's daughter has an excellent voice and was always in the school musicals. There were kids that blew the roof off the auditorium! So for me Archie really was not all that in comparison. If I want to listen to a beautiful voice sing a ballad I will put on my Clay CDs. He sings rings around Archie anyway.

What others offered this season that Archie didn't was uniqueness and artistry and over all more interesting performances and song choices.

And seriously, if you don't vote don't bitch! And people should vote the whole 2 hours for their faves. It's pretty much how the show works I sure gave DC a LOT of my time this season

How much more interesting would a David/Carly finale have been? Archuleta is boring as dirt.

That people bitch but can't bother to vote even though it's important enough for them to actually go online and bitch about it, really amazes me.

I would have taken a DC/Carly, a DC/Michael, a DC/Jason or a DC/Brooke over the David/David. Though I don't know that Brooke could have handled the pressure all the way through to the final 2.

firecracker wrote:

I would have taken a DC/Carly, a DC/Michael, a DC/Jason or a DC/Brooke over the David/David. Though I don't know that Brooke could have handled the pressure all the way through to the final 2.

I'm not sure Jason could have either, and he has said that. If they would let the singers sing what they choose to sing, learning new songs wouldn't be a factor. My choice would have been a David Cook/Michael Johns final...IF Jason wasn't in the final two! I liked Brooke. I just could not see DA doing well on his own. He's lucky right now that DC has taken him under his wing.

Yes, David Cook/Michael Johns final 2 would have rocked big time! And oh so much pretty too!

Hey, I still wish Jason had had the stamina to force the F2 scenario with Cook. He'd have lost, but he'd have a recording contract and they would have to be nice to him. And not tell him he can't vlog or blog for his fans anymore. At all.

Did you ever find out why Jason can't Vlog anymore? DC and Archie were Vlogging before the tour, but I have not seen a Vlog from DC since the tour started. I know Archie posted some info today on his MySpace about spending the Fourth of July with Jason.

Jason posted some content that was deemed a security risk. I don't know how much trouble he got into, but he seems to be very spooked indeed.

Oh, how I wish Jason would have had the stamina!!!! What a dream final that would have been.

I wonder what 'great' security risk JC's vlog posed? If it risked him being banned from the tour, then we'll put up with no vlogs from him. He is getting so much experience and becoming much more comfortable.

I must say I do not get how a vlog to his fans is a great security risk Was he giving out government secrets? What hotels they were staying at?


Nice fan video of the guys getting off the bus and talking to fans and signing autographs and hugging and kissing fans! Sadly, I was not one of them (oh, and Archie calls his shirt "retarded". I really hate when people use that word )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6O6r1v27ok

Fun one, but a little too much Archie in that one...........

Yes, sadly he is sandwiched in between DC and MJ

I guess the boy knows to get near the pretty to get attention.

A Jason/Cook finale would have been interesting.

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Though I don't know that Brooke could have handled the pressure all the way through to the final 2.

Oh, honey, one more week and she would have completely lost her shit all over the stage. Rickey got some great screencaps of her face just constantly looking horrified.

If Jason had made F-2, that would have meant they wanted him to make F-2, and thus wouldn't have been so heinous to him before then and he might have had the stamina to make it. Of course they would have unleashed themselves on him at the F-2 performance show and probably called up some audience members to kick him in the ribs or something so he couldn't sing.

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Oh, honey, one more week and she would have completely lost her shit all over the stage. Rickey got some great screencaps of her face just constantly looking horrified.

That, ladies, is the #1 reason why I felt justified power-voting for Jason after a rendition of Memory that I did not think was at all good. I attributed his bad night to serious illness and an unfriendly theme; Brooke was clearly falling apart mentally. I really did not expect Carly to go home instead, although I'm afraid I'm pretty sure why that happened - there's an awful lot of AI voters who don't really enjoy watching singers yell

Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ
Who are you? What have you sacrificed?
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ
Who are you? What have you sacrificed?
Jesus Christ
Superstar
Do you think you're what they say you are?
Jesus Christ
Superstar
Do you think you're what they say you are?

And then say she thought it would be a fun song. I am not upset with her, but I totally know who is.

Jason in the F2............would have been a trashing like anyone had ever seen.................. I do think Jason could have had the stamina if he didn't constantly get bashed. His studio of "Memory" is awesome.

Carly does yell her songs and that's too bad because she really has a good voice.

Abrahammy, yeah, I agree. I think Carly and a lot of people see it as a musical number from a play, but not, as you said, certain people. Heck, I have a friend who's born-again and this is her favorite movie. She wore out her tape (when there were only tapes) and I went to see it with her live.

However, someone not as enlightened wouldn't take it for what it was and I'm also sure that's why she was eliminated. There's no other reason.

I also agree with you about Jason and how much more pressure he was under, yet he held it together and just did the best he could with a good attitude week after week.

Sky, I agree with you. I think Carly just needs some serious voice training. I would love for her to have a trainer who's honest with her and can bring out the natural quality in her voice. She's a natural show-person and if she could control her voice more, she could be really something.

ET On-Line, Paula and the Idols backstage. Cute interview!

http://www.etonline.com/news/2008/07/63173/index.html

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Putting this here for more to see!!

http://mjsbigblog.com/david-cook-signs-an-endorsement-deal-with-skechers.htm