NippyG’s American Idol Tour 2009 Rochester Recap

By On 08/17/2009 · 21 Comments · In Uncategorized

My daughter and I attended the Rochester, NY concert–the ‘uneventful’  event as some have put it. Lol. However, although the concert was angst-free, it was anything but boring.

The only other AI concert I have attended was Season 5, and both that year and this, my husband dropped us off at the intersection directly across from the venue at approximately the same time. From the crowd working its way into the arena, I just knew that there would be less than a capacity crowd this year (Season 5 was a full house) , and I was correct. This time, while the floor and sides were full, the nosebleeds directly opposite the stage were very sparsely occupied.

I don’t know whether it is as simple as economic woes (Rochester’s joblessness is at the national average) or some other reason, but I do know that Rochester is a great music city–it is the home of the renowned Eastman School of Music, as well as many other music, art and theater organizations, and Rochester and its environs ( one in which we reside) has always loved the Idols. This year, despite the empty seats, was no different.

We had great seats, the fog was starting as we filed in, a half hour before the show started. I gotta say, the constant loop of the vids from Carrie, Cook and Daughtry began to get on my nerves–seriously, there ARE other idols out there with videos’ ¦ How about goin’ out on a limb and playing one of those. Eh. This explains some of my more loopy tweets-out-of-boredom before the show and at intermission! BTW, I had made many other very pithy, worthy tweets, and apparently, some of them did not escape the walls of the arena. lol

Now for the show itself’ ¦ I’m not going to give a run through of the sets–y’all know that drill by now. I’ll just give my impressions. Just that, MY impressions. I know that mileage varies from show to show and even from location to location within the same arena, but the following is what I heard and felt from where I was. And even though I went into the show with Adam as my absolute fave, I was extremely open to all of the idols. We had great seats from which to take it all in.

First, let me say that no matter who was a favorite of whom last night, Every Single One of these performers Left It On The Stage. For Realz. There was no phoning-in of a performance by anyone. And as could be readily noticed at the barricades after the show (more about that in a sec) these guys are exhausted. And yet, each and every one of them gave it his/her all. No way am I gonna blast anyone in this recap.

First up, Michael. As I tweeted, he’s either a very nice guy or a very good actor. Tried so hard to open the show. Sounded good. Later on in the show (while waiting to come on for the first-half group sing), he hugged a birthday girl from our section. Her family had been trying to grab Matt’s attention–they actually purchased a poster and scrawled (re her b’day) on the back, and kept holding it up. (Way to wreck that poster, too–it got totally crinkled) but nothing from Matt. After Sarver hugged her, she seemed thrilled, but apparently this was not enough for her family who kept it up with that poster throughout all the rest of the guys’ sets, to no further avail.

Next up, beautiful Megan. I think Megan has such an interesting quality to her voice, she just needs some training and more stage experience. There is something about her that I really like. I do see potential there’ ¦

Scott sounded much better than on the show. Nice little bit of banter (tho I knew what to expect, the audience seemed to like it) and fine
piano.

Lil– now see, I disagree with another recapper from the same show. I thought Lil tore up the stage. Very powerful vocals, great energy, flash, and presence. A very pleasant surprise. For what ever reason, Lil caved on the show and that was a real shame. For me (for you, for me) she and Matt were my most enjoyable presences of the first half.

Anoop was very popular with the crowd. And he is polished. Though musically, not my thing, he too gave it his all to great response. Busted out a few moves, too’ ¦ he was cute.

Matt–OK, now we are talking. It has been asked before, but WHERE the hell was this Matt on AI? Pressure got to him, I guess. Dynamite on tour. Hot piano, great vocals, confidence and all. He is proving himself every night. I hope he gets a deal.

The group sing before intermission was, er, interesting. I shall stay positive’ ¦ OK, some parts sounded a little (vastly) better than other parts. I don’t think a duet between Lil and Megan even sounds like a good idea on paper. In actuality, um’ ¦ Hey, Beggin’ was very good!

Intermission and my daughter and I made a few random tweets and spoke to our neighbors-in-the- seats. Mostly Adam fans (one guy firmly in the camp that ‘the show is fixed.’  I changed the subject to Brian May’s comments on Adam’s soundtrack venture, and he hadn’t heard. He needs to come to mjs’ ¦) but there were definitely Kris and Danny fans around us as well.

OK, show is back with the redhead dynamo that is Allison.. The kid is a phenom. Gave it her all. Got very good audience response, but it seems to be tougher for the females to inspire the really intense audience reactions. Allison was my second favorite on the show and I loved her live.

Danny’s first song didn’t do it for me, but I liked him better as his set went on. I was expecting something odd with his mic stand interaction, but he just kinda danced with it. Cute, when I had been expecting’ ¦I don’t know’ ¦gross, perhaps, from some tweets. I thought Danny sounded much better live than on AI. Nice vocal quality. Peeps liked his speech–nodded along in affirmation. I heard a bit of chipmunk (?) at the very beginning of My Wish, which was quickly rectified.

Well now’ ¦ Adam Lambert. I had COLOSSAL expectations for him and he lived up to them all. Beautiful man, beautiful voice. Stage presence to die for. Adam received an ear-shattering response–Simply beyond compare to anyone else of the night. My ears kept blanking out from the sheer volume of the screams. Unfortunately, Starlight did sound a bit chipmunky. I was expecting the possibility, told my daughter to be prepared’ ¦ and there it was. The Kris fans to our right, however looked at each other for a sec in WTF mode.

WLL was the hottest thing, mic stand action was uh, yeah’ ¦ Mad World exquisite, Slow Ride so much fun, Bowie medley fantastic. What can I say that has not been said before?

As I reported last night, it was an undergarment-free zone. (There was no security check for us at all, so I wouldn’t think that anything was confiscated.) Adam looked mighty fine. Anime hair (nice and feathery), baby (no backdoor man unless I missed it, yeah right) and Adam smiled and laughed many times. I thought he looked infinitely happy! (Or maybe he’s just on meds for his voice.) In any case, he made me happy, too!

Next up, Kris. I love Kris as a person, I think he is a true sweetheart with real talent. He and Matt went back and forth on the show as my third favorites. Since then, I have come to appreciate them both more, especially Kris, because I have seen more of him. To be fair, his reception in the arena was nowhere near the intensity of Adam’s, nor was the response to his performances. Which is NOT to say that Kris was not received well, because he was. I loved his Ain’t No Sunshine, I was not so fond of the Killers song. Kris should do very well post-idol. I truly hope so.

Don’t Stop Believin’ was fun, though I perceived some fatigue showing through. No surprise with their various schedules.

As people were leaving the arena, I heard nothing but great comments about the show. My husband was coming to pick us up, and we had the choice of waiting for him by sitting on the picnic tables by the library or going to the barricades. Though I am NOT generally a barricade kind of girl, the picnic tables were boring, so I thought we could take a look and see if it was too nuts. It was not at this time, and we got a good spot toward the middle of the line, one-person back from the divider. I told my daughter that I would give it ½ hour and if nobody showed, we were out’a there.

Nice conversations ensued with our barrier-mates and a woman let my daughter get in front of her (she saw she had a camera) so we were right at the front. A nice guy kept a look-out to see who was coming, and sure enough, after only a few minutes Matt came down the line, touching hands with everyone in the front and started signing from the end of the line. We didn’t expect to get autographs, so we were unprepared with material, but my daughter had a RockStar notebook in her purse, and Matt signed for her. She went to take a photo of him, but was so excited that she got a pic of the bus tire instead. After signing, though, Matt came back along the barrier and low-fived everyone, including my daughter. Cool.

Next came Megan, who looks like a porcelain doll. She moved much slower than Matt, signed our book and posed for a photo. My daughter told her she enjoyed her set and Megan was so shyly sweet in response. Again, I like this girl.

Next came Lil, who is far prettier in person. She signed and got her photo taken and I had the chance to tell her that I thought she seriously burned up the stage. She was sincerely thankful to me for saying so.

Allison appeared, signed quickly, said nothing to anyone, posed for photos and was gone in a blur! She looks far younger off-stage

Much to the surprise of the crowd, Kris came out (actually, he may have appeared earlier, can’t remember) and he is SO very tiny and adorable. I had him sign my ticket (hey, he was there, I was there’ ¦) and I told him that I was looking forward to his album. He thanked me, but he looked EXHAUSTED. As did Scott, who came out very briefly with his brother. Another low-five for my daughter from Kris, and he was gone.

Where we were standing, people at the front were actually taking items from others at the back and passing them forward to be signed for them. For a barricade, it was A Very Nice Barricade. lol

Now lest you think that the upstate NY area is full of Idol-appreciating, non- underwear (and other items)-throwing, generous-at- the- barricade types’ ¦ A question arose from some regarding the continuing non-appearance of The Glittery One. Chanting of his name ensued, and three (3) security guards informed the crowds that he was on vocal rest and would not be coming out. And, OK, some testiness DID arise, and there were murmurings of ‘I am SO pissed right now,’  and the infamous (and asinine) ‘But you don’t need to talk to sign stuff’  to which the last of the guards patiently explained that ‘He is sick. He needs to rest.’ 

Luckily for the guards, before a (mini) uprising could occur, the buses prepared to pull out and everyone was shooed away. My daughter and I retired to the picnic tables to await my husband and after a couple of minutes, the three buses went past us, heading to the next stop. We waved goodbye to all of them.

 
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  • justjude

    Thanks for a very nice re-cap NippyG. You are certainly in good company as ,almost, everyone who mentioned the pre show videos, found them major irritating.
    Your “very pithy,worthy tweets” Well…LMAO! Murphy’s Law….Damn Wall!!!
    For me, your impressions are mostlly spot on. These Kids are “Troupers”, as in “Old School”. I so hope Megan does not, just, give up….It would be a waste of potential!

    Yeah! All of these girls and guys can sing…..some just better and with that all important X factor that will elevate them to great heights. ( Yay! KRADISON!)
    And yet, I think, at least, 5 of them will carve a great or good “sangin” career out of this AI platform!!!!
    ADAM, ROCK US INTO THE FUTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Adamdebomb

    I had to work, so I couldn’t go. I gave my tickets to co-workers and they reported that the “chipmunk/helium”sound is AutoTune. They said Kris used it for his entire set, and Adam used it for most of his set. I know Adam does not need it normally, but I am guessing right now his throat is bad and perhaps he can no longer hit the high notes. (?).

  • erenguest

    I didn’t want to write this before because I was afraid of the backlash but since someone else wrote it: I am pretty sure all of them use auto-tune all the time. That is probably why everyone sounds “so much better” than the show. If a singer is off pitch once or twice during the song, pitch correction software immediately fixes it and no one in the audience would be wiser. They are all amateurs, they’re singing very well known songs, it is precaution, it only makes sense and even Britney Spears is using it. But the problem seems to be with Adam, nobody is reporting problems with any other singer. I’m not a pro (my husband is and he hates American Idol.) but from what I gathered from my husband’s one or two sentences and some common sense, the problem might be that he is singing at a lower pitch and the pitch corrector is moving the whole thing up to a higher pitch. I don’t know why they would do that. I’m sure someone will correct me if it is not the problem.

  • ross

    I had to work, so I couldn’t go. I gave my tickets to co-workers and they reported that the ‘chipmunk/helium’ sound is AutoTune.

    I don’t mean to question, but that was just a guess on their part, right? What proof of that did they have?

    They said Kris used it for his entire set, and Adam used it for most of his set.

    Entire set, most of his set, etc. How would they know this? Can they tell when it goes on and off?

    I know Adam does not need it normally, but I am guessing right now his throat is bad and perhaps he can no longer hit the high notes. (?).

    Kris doesn’t need it “normally,” either.

  • CindyM

    Sorry, I don’t buy the autotune theory at all. If the concert used autotune Megan would hit every note (she doesn’t), Matt would hit every falsetto (he doesn’t, but he comes close) and Adam wouldn’t have to keep making the vocal variations with regard to key changes and high notes he’s obviously having to make due to his sickness.

  • https://twitter.com/draddee Sunn

    Thank you NippyG for a lovely recap. I enjoyed reading your impressions of the concert and the barricades.

    As to the Chipmunk issue, I really don’t think it’s caused by Autotune, if it were it would be heard everywhere in the arena. Yet from what I gathered from people who’s reported on the issue, it usually only hits certain sections, while leaving the sound in others unaffected.

    I’m more inclined to think it’s a sound mixing issue. Lord knows, from the mixing on the show, that the Idol sound engineers don’t seem to be the best in the business.
    Also, Arena’s aren’t really built for concerts, and require a sound mix designed to the difficult acoustics of each venue, individually, to get the best result. I don’t really know how much time they have in each place to do that.

  • washpd

    Yeah, I do not believe they are using AutoTune either, largely because I have heard bad notes from all of them. And please note that this is not a slam. They’re singing live night after night–some bad notes are going to happen. Also, didn’t the “chipmunk/helium” comments just start coming up in the last couple/few concerts? I don’t remember reading or hearing anything about such an issue earlier.

    Thanks for the recap, NippyG. I’m glad you had an enjoyable concert and a relatively sane barricade experience. I think Kris is really tired as you observed, but I don’t think he’ll stop coming out unless he is legitimately sick or gets doctors orders not to. I think he is one who actually does feel obligated to do the pre- and post-show signings as long as his schedule and health allows. And I’m not saying this makes him better or worse than anyone else–or that his perception is correct or incorrect. Just that that is the impression I get of how he feels about it–maybe it has to do with him winning.

  • LaurelG

    Thanks for the recap, NippyG. I’m curious. How did this show compare to the one you saw in Season 5, ie. depth of the top 10, audience response, etc.?

  • erenguest

    Auto-tune is not like lip syncing, I don’t think it guesses the note the vocalist is aiming at and corrects it accordingly. It will snap into the closest note that makes sense. If the vocalist is intending to sing G but is closer to G#, it will snap there instead of the intended G. The chipmunk effect should not be very noticeable (couple of words here and there) unless it is throughout the song. That is why I theorized maybe they are processing the whole thing higher because the other option is Adam is off on all the pitches throughout the song, which to me is impossible, he is a good singer.

    I think if they’re using auto-tune it is cheating but also very understandable. These kids are singing in front of thousands of people for the first time in their lives. Their careers depend on this. Every venue is acoustically different. I don’t know how long they can rehearse at each venue and they give a concert almost every day. So yes. Just to make sure people get their moneys worth and to make sure that the kids don’t mess up royally during one concert in a way that will screw up their post-idol careers, it makes a lot of sense to use technology available. What doesn’t make sense is Billy Joel using it. He Shouldn’t.

    This is my third comment this year, so now I’ll slowly walk away from the computer until next year.

  • MrsB

    I enjoyed reading your recap NippyG (especially your shout-out for your hometown). Providing a tiny glimpse into Rochester’s music culture was a real treat for me!

    Sticking up for ones idols is the norm on these threads but supporting its hometown seems to be rare! It was a refreshing change :)

    You didn’t mention if you & your daughter enjoyed yourselves – I can only hope that you both did indeed have a good time! :)

    Thanks for sharing!

  • AlliB

    The weird sound did happen in Vancouver too, at least where I was sitting, to the point that I didn’t even like Adams’ set. Which is too bad, ’cause that’s why I went. WLL was OK but I would say in every other song his voice had no depth at all, just the one thin, too high, sound. Hurray for YouTube and video’s from other venues… now I can imaging those were the performances I saw! Starlight and Live on Mars are my absolute favourites now, where I truly hated them when I walked out of the stadium. I’ve actually been heard saying I liked Allison better than Adam! (Still like Allison very much, but no longer better than Adam ;) )

  • lamslova

    “Also, didn’t the ‘chipmunk/helium’  comments just start coming up in the last couple/few concerts? I don’t remember reading or hearing anything about such an issue earlier.”

    There was no chipmunk/helium sounds at the LI concert. They all sounded awesome to me. Yes there were a few clunkers, but like you said these kids are performing live night after night and its going to take its toll on them all. When I was there I was so into what was going on the clunkers made me say o well and I kept on dancing :)

    NippyG your review is wonderful. I love your impressions of the live show and I can feel you and your daughter had a great time.

  • lamslova

    Life on Mars – Adam could sing this all day to me and Id never tire hearing it. :wub_tb:

  • AlliB

    I’ll join you when (refuse to use if) he does!

  • NippyG

    Thanks everyone for the nice comments on my recap! Yes, my daughter and I had a fantastic time.

    Because Rochester has such a profusion of music institutions and venues for a city its size (see Eastman School of Music, et al) there can be a certain sense of musical snobbery in some circles. For example, Jeff Spevak, the author of the review posted on the Rochester concert thread has rarely given a rave review to an AI concert. Pay him no mind. However, the audiences here have generally warmly embraced the Idols and responded enthusiastically.

    Laurel asked how this show compared to Season 5… First, as I mentioned, the arena had far fewer empty seats AI5, and I believe that as a whole, the audience was more enthusiastic that year as well. Our seats were very similarly located both years, very front section of stage right.

    I think that the composition of the AI5 concert was more interesting–not necessarily counting down from 10-1 as well as more duets, group sings, etc. Some of the duets were unlikely combos (Mandisa/Ace) but actually this made them fun and interesting.

    Speaking of Mandisa, she opened the show, and with due respect to Michael, I felt she was a more powerful opening act than he is. In our arena, the audience remains fairly well lighted throughout the show, and I remember Mandisa commenting, “OH, I can see you all!” This was the case this year as well, and several of the performers made direct eye contact with me and many others, which is always a great moment.

    However, because some performers this year were a bit more “tied” to instruments, I felt some “static-ness” re some of the sets. It is sometimes helpful to gain and maintain audience attention and involvement when the performers move and groove all around the stage. Which is not to say that a beautiful performance while seated on a stool, illuminated by a single spotlight is not utterly captivating to the audience, but it doesn’t necessarily command a hugely noticeable audience response. Season 5 had a bit more “action” from all the performers.

    Also, AI5, the stage lights remained on as the performers each exited from their sets and they were able to thank the audience and wave to particular members. Revs people up.

    I remember Chris Daughtry remarking, “Wow, you guys have been on your feet the whole night!” and he was right. From the minute Mandisa entered to the end of the group closing number, the majority of the audience remained standing. Not so, this year.

    Michael had to encourage peeps to stand–our section did, and the minute he turned his back, 90% of them sat right back down. The vast majority stood for Adam’s set-even the Kris fans in my section stood for Adam far more than they stood for Kris (but see my comment above). And of course, the screams for Adam were other-worldly! Allison got some standing, Matt a bit, and Danny- but the others… not so much. I’m speaking of the majority of the audience, here. Of course, some people (like my daughter and ME) remained standing for almost everybody.

    There was so much fan warring during Season 5, but I have to say that you could not tell it from our audience that year. Here, the audience seemed to love each and every one of the performers, and they loved each other as well. Chris fans complimenting Taylor fans on their signs, Taylor fans reporting to Elliott fans that he was coming out shortly… So nice. This year, the audience was far more low key. Why, I don’t know.

    That said, even though the audience as a whole was not as openly demonstrative as AI5′s show, all I heard were rave reviews and people loved the show this year too. So the appreciation was definitely there, just not as openly or visibly displayed across the board.

    Sorry, this was long’ ¦

  • JOJOSIE

    As a long time AI watcher, I enjoyed your re-cap. The comparison with season 5 was also interesting to me, as I am still a real season 5 (Taylor) fan . I think it was so great as it was very diverse and they used instruments minimally and interacted more with the audience. I really love Adam and the rest this year but I almost think season 7 might have been more overall talented. Really glad you got to attend as each season has it’s own charm. Your husband sounds like a keeper for making you and your daughter’s experience easier, but maybe he was just glad he didn’t have to attend the concert.

  • smartcookie

    I thought sure Daughtry used a guitar for his whole set during the season 5 concert. I know he was playing guitar during his duet with Elliott.

    When I saw the season 5 concert, there were only a few people standing at any point. But at that time, I don’t think we were using standing as a method of comparison between or among Idols, so who knows? I do remember that my friend stood up for Taylor, and the people behind us asked her to sit down and were quite snotty about it. I also remember a cluster of really cute little girls with Kellie Pickler signs standing and yelling for her, but they were pretty tiny, so I’m not sure anybody but the people right next to them (us) would’ve noticed.

    I guess the crowd just takes on a different personality depending on who’s there and how they’re feeling and it doesn’t have that as much to do with the performers as you might think, but more to do with the group consciousness.

  • washpd

    FWIW, on this autotune issue, Dave Kokoki, the musical director and keyboardist for the AI tour, has said on his twitter (@kokoki) that they are absolutely NOT using autotune on the tour. I believe him.

  • ShariG

    It is odd that only Adam has the helium effect if it isn’t something to do with the sound system for him. It is also strange that it has happened now at more than one concert. It does sound like it is something like an autotune thingy that helps him with the notes when he is sick. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to go out there night after night and expend the kind of energy that he expends to entertain when he is ill. I also remember last year how disappointed I was when David Cook didn’t come out to sign autographs in Chicago and he wasn’t sick, but rather supposedly had press commitments. I know they don’t owe us that and all we actually pay for is the performance, but it was such a let down primarily because everyone else was out there signing autographs and the one I went to see was the only one who didn’t show up. So, I can understand people feeling disappointed when Adam is unable to come out before or after the show if he is the one you go to see. As a Kris fan, I am just hoping he doesn’t catch anything from Adam. I would love to meet him and tell him how much I have enjoyed his performances this year on Idol.

  • JenG

    It is odd that only Adam has the helium effect if it isn’t something to do with the sound system for him. It is also strange that it has happened now at more than one concert.

    I’ve read a many idol reviews (here and else where) and Adam isn’t the only Idol people have mentioned the ‘helium effect’ for. And this has been happening all season.

    But I don’t think it’s autotune, just a sound mixing issue. I’ve read reviews of this same night that don’t mention any helium effect during Adams set. I think it more depends on where you happen to be sitting than autotune. So again, a sound mixing issue and a proximity to speakers.

    Not to mention you can very clearly hear how raspy Adam is in the Hamilton tour videos (I believe, if it wasn’t Hamilton, it was right around there). If they were using Autotune, that raspy-ness, I assume, wouldn’t be detectable.

    But anyway, thanks for the tour recap! Sounds like you had fun! :)

  • NippyG

    This chipmunk/helium effect does not only pertain to Adam, although it was the most pronounced during the beginning of his performance of Starlight. I noted in my recap that I heard it during the very opening of Danny’s My Wish, and very briefly at the start of one song of Kris’ (can’t remeber which one).

    I think it is true that seating location is a factor. We had great seats, up close, stage right, which seems to be one of the prime locations for this “experience.”

    Also, I don’t think that Kris or any one of the Idols will be catching anything from Adam. I would imagine that his issues are more with vocal strain and fatigue, etc. rather than a contagious illness. JMO, I’m not his Doc. But I would hate for any of the idols to have to miss a show. I’m sure that would be a sad day for any of them and their respective fans.