Desiree’s American Idol Tour 2009 Manchester NH Recap

My father bought me two tickets for an early B-day present and he bought tickets also for himself and a friend. There were four of us in club seating near the entrance as my father is handicapped and I had to be near him to make sure he was okay. The reason that this is important is that because nearly everyone else seated in this area was senior or handicapped and so, consequently, I was the only one standing and screaming for the idols in my section. Even my best friend decided that she didn’t want to act like a twelve year old and didn’t stand with me. In other words I was very conspicuous which was rather embarrassing during Kris’s set, but I’ll get to that.

The show started late but during this time they played the Ford Fusion videos on the jumbotron. Every time Adam’s face flashed on the screen a wild cheer came up from the floor. It didn’t matter how briefly his face was up there, the cheers were wild and numerous. So I think that you can pretty much figure out that Manchester was here for Adam. But to give credit to the crowd we were loud for Michael. He is so immensely likable and he sounded so much better live than on TV. In fact they all sounded better live. Michael brought a lot of energy to the opening and everyone was singing along even if most of them were sitting down. Except me. I was standing up and screaming and dancing. And that was my first mistake. One doesn’t wear high heels to a show when one is unfamiliar with heels, you’re standing on concrete, and you plan on standing for the majority of the time. That’s just a tip from me to you.

My second mistake was to feel bad for Megan. The crowd was polite and she seemed to think that we were a lot more engaged than previous audiences but still the energy Michael brought dropped like a stone when she came on. She sounded much better live than on TV and I swear I’m going to find boots like the ones she was wearing last night. Yet her song choices were just meh. I really think Megan suffered on the show and live because her musical niche is so specialized that when you directly compare her to the original artists she comes up short. So feeling bad for her I continued to stand and scream despite twinges in my arches.

Lil sounded great. Actually she was pretty good all around. She worked the stage and sounded good but she really needs her own material to figure out if she has any star quality. I wasn’t familiar with her song choices so I was glad that they put the lyrics up. This way I could sing along and continue to dance. (And ignore my feet.)

Scott was a surprise for me. I always thought he could sing but he hit so many bum notes on the show that I was shocked at how strong his voice was live. Especially during the final show when you would think, after months on the road it would begin to wear on him a bit. But he was solid and his piano skills were spot on. His humor didn’t impress, however, but despite his blindness I was still on my feet. Really, what was I thinking? That would have been a good time to give my feet a break.

Not as much love for Anoop as I would have expected. He sounded and looked stellar but he lacked a lot of energy. My Prerogative got a few people, besides me, dancing. And the crowd was louder for him than for any Idol previous except Michael whom I was beginning to think just got applause because he was the show opener. There was definitely an air of impatience in the audience by now.

I really, really, really enjoyed Matt. Hard to Handle is one of my fave songs and he nailed it. Georgia was amazing. By comparison You Found Me was a little flat. Still I can see why he was saved so many times on Idol. Without the nerves he was totally stellar. I don’t think he’ll ever pack huge stadiums but any high end club would hit gold with him in the house. I predict a steady career for Matt. The crowd was really into him, as well. Half the audience stood, sang, and danced. This is where my voice started to give and my friend said I sound like a Munchkin screaming.

ALLISON! I just love her. She really is a rocker chick except that she looks so cute and sweet that it’s hard for me to merge the rocker with the little sister persona. I wasn’t thrilled with So What but, dang, she killed Cry Baby and Barracuda. I don’t know if it was because this was the final tour show but she really went for it. Amazing. Even my dad was whooping and hollering. My voice started going in and out. By this time my feet were screaming for me to sit down.

I determined that I would sit during Danny’s set, since I wasn’t a big Danny fan, but as he took the stage I thought that would be really juvenile since I stood for everyone else. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually found myself wanting to stand for him. His voice really is amazing. I would not be surprised at all if he made it big in country music. The crowd was into him as well. Even during Maria Maria the crowd was still boisterous and having a good time. But, yeah, the Latin dancing..um no.

Okay by now it’s way past my bedtime, my feet were on fire, and my voice was shot. But we all know what time it was. That’s right. The air was super charged and the lights went out. Where people had been sitting in their seats at the end of Danny’s set, when it was over the entire stadium was on its collective feet. The crowd was feeding me a lot of energy and I got a second wind. Then three’ ¦two’ ¦one A-D-A-M. Manchester, NH was all about Adam Lambert. I’ve read all the recaps, seen all the videos, and nothing prepares you for the live experience. Even though a lot of his moves were rehearsed (I could have told you when he was going to gyrate or dance across the floor) it didn’t matter. He has so much charisma. That little smirk he wears like ‘You know you want it’  drives me crazy. Apparently he was driving everyone else crazy because he was bombarded by souveniers and tokens of adoration from the moment he stepped out on stage. There was your obligatory bra, tons of roses, stuffed animals etc. He had to throw them back to the crowd for safety reasons. There was nowhere for him to walk without tripping on something. Yes, he sang ‘woman’  which sent a crazy cheer through the audience. He and Allison slew Slow Ride. His voice was otherworldly for the entire set. My best friend said Mad World was the best song of the night and she’d never heard it before. Then she asked me how Kris could ever hope to top it.

The answer was he couldn’t, not really. Don’t get me wrong, the crowd loved him but it was nowhere near the mass hysteria of Adam. And here is where my voice and feet totally gave up on me. I wanted to scream for Kris, I wanted to dance with him. But I was wiped out. I had to sit. Now you remember that I said I was embarrassed during Kris’s set? Yeah. Of course I had been making a spectacle of myself for the whole show. Not one idol waved to lonely little me and no one else had payed much attention to me either. So I felt like I had gotten away with being corny and weird. Not so. When my feet started giving way beneath me during Heartless I nearly fell over the rail. As if my near brush with death alerted someone to my presence the cameraman decided to plaster me up on the jumbotron. By now my eyes are half closed with weariness, my hair had gone flat, my makeup had worn away, and I was collapsed in my chair half heartedly waving my arms in the air because I felt guilty for not giving my best effort to Kris when I’d gone ballistic over Megan. Now I’m no light weight but I swear that the jumbotron turned me from XL to XXXXL. Several people around me of course recognized me up on the screen and had to turn and point me out to their friends. I was mortified. I tell you if you ever need a reason to diet you should see yourself on one of those screens. Thankfully the cameraman realized quickly that I wasn’t Ms. Party girl anymore and panned away quickly but that moment was enough to effectively knock me out of Kris’s set. Still he was as cute as a button and when the Michael, Anoop, and Matt came out with feather boas during Ain’t No Sunshine everyone cracked up. As the winner he got a lot of extra props and confetti but it was all too staged. It was as if to remind us that Kris was the winner, not Adam.

I was robbed of Adam’s Glory note with Don’t Stop Believing because people were spraying him and Kris with silly string and he was laughing. It was good to see him laugh, though, so all was good. Lots of confetti, and bubbles. I was hoping that the all the idols, or at least Kris, would do an encore as it was the last show of the tour. But no such luck. Still, as we were leaving (or in my case limping) I heard lots of people say this was the best Idol show they’d ever seen. I have to agree that it was wonderful. Dueling pianos was great. Even Lil and Megan did a good job on their duet. All in all, though, Adam was the star of the show. Just the way Manchester seemed to want it.

About mj santilli 34843 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!