The Allison we know from the amazing Cyndi Lauper duet never gets to come out on the tour.

That duet was one of the highlights of the Finale. I hope when Allison releases her album that we see all sides of her.

When he took the time to talk to the audience, he paused when a group of people started cheering for him and you could tell that he was really grateful to be touring.

I do believe Anoop appreciates his fans! Me? I love his ballads, but it’s nice to hear the guys are doing great with the dancing. Of course, Adam is fantastic and Kris is doing a good job!

Good review, Rena! Thank you.

ETA: Season 7 was my first AI concert. Although it’s a tough choice, I think I liked Season 7 a bit better. I understand what you mean, Rena!

Though the impression to some in Tulsa may have been that people were standing awaiting Adam’s entrance – I recall everyone on the floor standing throughout all of Danny’s songs and chanting ‘Danny’  to perform an encore.

CK – I also hadn’t heard anyone say that before & u couldn’t hear that where we were sitting. That’s why it’s always nice to hear the impressions of multiple people.
But isn’t most of the floor standing for the whole show? That’s the impression I’ve gotten of most venues & in Tulsa it appeared that with a few scattered exceptions, that almost all of the floor seats were standing up for eveyone throughout the show & it’s the other non floor sections that tended to get up & down with different Performers and/or songs. Maybe there are more people sitting down in the middle of those floor seats than were visible.

I don’t think you have to know Led Zeppelin or Bowie to enjoy someone singing one of their song. I mean if you are a fan of Adam you know Whole Lotta Love regardless of how familiar you are with LZ & if you have to already know about a song to like it then no one would enjoy any new song that comes out on the radio. I think one of the great things about Adam singing Starlight on the tour is that it has introduced people to Muse that hadn’t heard of them until Adam sang their song on this tour.

I’m unclear if Rena means it was her first AI concert or first concert of any kind?

Ohhh, I hadn’t thought of that, Will - she probably meant Idol.

Allison rocked hard. I loved her guitar playing during ‘So What’  and the song really fit her voice well. The fans onstage were a nice touch to the rocker persona. ‘Cry Baby’  was rather boring only because it’s SO repetitive. ‘Barracuda’  was awesome and made an excellent closing number for the little rocker chick. Her set felt too short though, but we got to look forward to ‘Slow Ride’ .

Thank you for a nice review Rena.

Cry Baby is a song that needs a great performance to make it a great song. It may be repetitive, but it’s the buildup of intensity and emotion that sells it. Nobody, but nobody, could sing it the way Janis Joplin sang it, and when she was at her best, this song was absolutely mind blowing. Her intensity level was off the charts – so high you might expect her to have a stroke. If you can, check out some videos of Janis performing at various venues. You may notice that she improvised quite a bit, took liberty with the lyrics, etc., so there were many different versions, but all very intense.

Now no singer in her right mind should now try to sing this song, because of the emotional bar set by Janis. But then along came this gutsy 16/17 year old named Allison who had the “balls” to stick to her guns, against the advice of some, and take the risk of singing Cry Baby in competition on AI rock night. Allison obviously knew Janis’ songs and mannerisms well and apparently has a deep connection to her. But, really, this could have been “musical suicide.”

But – she nailed it. Amazing. Impossible.

One major problem. There is no way a 1.5 minute cut version of this song can get to the intensity level of a full version. A lot of the really powerful stuff (listen to the studio cut) had to be left out. This might be why the judges weren’t all that impressed.

So, for whatever reason, Allison was eliminated. But she then delivered a knock out exit performance of the same cut version of Cry Baby, arguably one of the best exit songs ever performed on AI. She gave so much of her guts in this delivery that it made its emotional impact in the short 1.5 minutes.

Now I agree that Cry Baby might not be the best choice for the tour. Unless Allison is planning to spend a career doing Janis Joplin covers, which we know she isn’t, it may not be wise to do a song like this that is so vocally challenging – perhaps dangerous. Apparently she’s had to pull back on the vocals a little bit during the tour – including cutting the ending for a number of performances – in order to protect her voice. I doubt that Janis Joplin could have sung Cry Baby on this tour and still have a voice at the end.

So, why, I’m guessing, did Allison choose this song? Most likely because of her deep connection to Janis Joplin, and for all this song represents for her AI experience – sticking to her guns and delivering a dynamite performance, proven by the exit version, in spite of criticism and second guessing.

I agree that Allison’s set was too short, only really showing one dimension of a very talented performer. But, that statement could be true of many of the others on the show as well. Fourth place gets you 3 songs, and that’s the way it is. Ideally, however, it would have been nice, in the middle of the set, for her to slow things down with a less intense, more soulful song. The Allison we know from the amazing Cyndi Lauper duet never gets to come out on the tour.

Well, hopefully her album will be able to show the rich texture and subtlety of her voice, as well as the high energy.

I will also say he is a very good vocalist.

I think so too! Such an amazing voice – I think his voice is even more spectacular in person than on tv.

I just can’t talk myself into spending a $100 to sit through that 3-hour slogfest again, not when there are so many other good concerts to see.

BootStar, if you still have a chance, go see the show! I couldn’t believe 3 hours had gone by and could have listened to more! I understand what you’re saying about ticket prices, though, so choices must be made.

I recall everyone on the floor standing throughout all of Danny’s songs and chanting ‘Danny’  to perform an encore.

Really, ck2? I’ve haven’t heard that mentioned before. Must have been a lot of Danny fans there …

It was really weird to see the top ten a few feet away from me after seeing them for so long on the
television and computer screen. It felt kinda surreal seeing a somewhat ‘famous person’ .

I feel the same way going to these concerts! I just get a kick out of seeing them live, after watching them and following their journey on TV. AI just so brilliantly builds that “relationship” between the audience and the contestants, and then to have it all culminate on the tour is sort of a surreal experience in and of itself.

I would imagine that though the young girls were screaming at Adam’s pictures being flashed on the screen before the show started, they had to have been bored during most of his songs, as few of them have no idea about Led Zeppelin much less any song by David Bowie. I thought Adam did a great job with them all. We loved Adam’s shiny rodeo-style belt buckle!! haha! Perfect for an Oklahoma crowd!

Overall me & my family were impressed with the whole show and enjoyed the Top 10 countdown style of performances, as it helped build up anticipation to seeing the best singers. But it also reminded us of why Alexis Grace’s voice should have been there instead of Megan’s…

I tend to agree with you on Starlight. I’m not a fan of it or the performance, but have been afraid to say so.

I think that they are all really showing who and what they are from what I can see on the videos. I’ve found something to be impressed by in each of them.

I was a bit afraid to get to the Kris part since you showed a definite preference to upbeat songs and performances. Very pleasantly surprised in such a positive review. I agree