Baltimore, MD AI Live! Show – Nathan’s Recap

Baltimore traffic sucks! What Nathan did see of the Baltimore show he thoroughly enjoyed.   Read his recap below…

Let’s face it, the city isn’t too spectacular, but nonetheless, the closest stop happened to be Baltimore, MD for the American Idols Live! Tour. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic, and not only missed Chikezie, Ramiele, but also the infamous Michael Johns …bummer.

We arrived just in time for Kristy Lee Cook’s rendition of “God Bless the USA.” Yes, cheesy, but still gives a good feeling inside. I’m not going to specifically mention each song and review it, so here are just some random notes…

Carly Smithson is a phenomenal vocalist. Wow…such a thrill to hear live, and much, much better than she was on the show (not that she was bad). I loved ‘Crazy on You’ by Heart the most.

Brooke White was really fun to hear, and I became more of a fan of hers. She yelled “Hello Ball-more!” before she started ’1,2,3,4′, and apparently someone said that’s what they call Baltimore. I’ve never heard of this before, but who knows…”Yellow” was probably my favorite performance of her’s, however, all of them fit her perfectly.

The Idol Gives Back medley was next and I finally see the Top 10, 9, and 8 contestants that I missed previously. It was a fun performance, and the crowd got into it.

Intermission…ugh, I hate even the thought. I wish it would just go straight through, but I understand for some that it needs a break. The Guitar Hero thing was weird — were they even playing it?? Then the host ‘guy’ picked two brothers age 7 and 10 out of the crowd and made them compete in air guitar. Then he even made the crowd cheer for their favorite…kind of heartless. Anyways, the 7 year old won, and in a cute moment the 10 year old actually agreed with the audience…both got free Guitar Hero games. Unfortunately, the 10 year old didn’t have a XBox 360, and the host played it up a bit…

Jason Castro started his set by saying “Hello Everybody!” in a funny way only he could do. I enjoyed his entire set, with the highlight being ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ for me. He had the biggest ovation so far, and everyone loved him tonight.

Syesha was next o’course. I know there are some strong feelings about Syesha…haha, but I have to be honest and say — I really, really liked her tonight. Umbrella was the weakest performance from her, but the last two definitely were powerhouse vocals. She gave me chills with “Listen” and led to everyone rising to their feet to cheer for her after it…and remain standing for the next performer.

When David Archuleta rose from the ground the ovation was amazing. It was deafening in there, and pretty much spectacular. Of course I’m heavily biased…I know it, I admit it. With Archie being my favorite, of course I enjoyed his the most, and was glad to finally hear this voice in person. Tons of chills ensued, and an expectation was fulfilled. He was fantastic. However, Baltimore wasn’t done cheering as the roof almost flew off when David Cook made his way on stage.

David Cook was awesome to see and hear live. As being a fan of both David’s, I really, really loved his performances tonight. During ‘Hello’ something was thrown on stage (panties?), all I could see was Cook looking over and smirking about it. Of course the normal David Cook hilarity ensues, as somewhere he got those glasses with the fake nose and fake mustache, and put them on…however, they were too big for his head and he gave them back to someone, lol. He definitely brought it all last night and was amazing, as usual.

Of course the group number came next, and THE MAVID LIVES!! I tried to capture a video of it, but my camera tonight was a major fail…haha, oh well, I could tell something was up when Michael Johns was his old playful self once again, even doing whatever he did with Castro once again.

Overall, the concert lived up to expectations. The only sour part would be missing Michael Johns (…oh, and Chikezie & Ramiele – of course!…), but I might have to go to the Wilkes Barre one if I want that. I had the perfect opportunity to meet them at the buses as well, but we decided it would be better to leave before traffic got backed up — but no! Traffic was backed up for an hour in the parking garage, and we were left to hear the screams when the Idols finally came out. Oh well, once again — there’s always Wilkes Barre!!