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AI was new to me this year, and I became obsessed and could not WAIT for this concert. While I thought everyone did well (pretty much), the concert was a big disappointment to me. Hopefully I can explain why.
Intro ‘ myself, 46, husband 56. Contrary to screen name, we have 12 dogs, not 10, so going to concerts requires planning and my mother-the-saint. Work from home (support MAS90, accounting package), so lots of time to surf’ ¦
Very into music growing up ‘ piano lessons, choir, swing choir (flashback to singing a Disney medley while wearing Mouse ears and striped suspenders). Chicago’s WLS was my beacon ‘ got the Top 40 sheets every week! Taste has varied over the years ‘ country (Randy Travis, Garth), pop rock (Beatles, Top 40), and rock rock (Queen, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, KISS) and one AC ‘ Dan Fogelberg, the best lyricist EVER. Husband was always rock rock and a bit of Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn. However, music has been missing for the past 15 years or so ‘ NPR on the radio, once in a while an oldies channel. We do concerts every now and then, mostly rock. (Read PJD’s recap about half way through this, and what SHE said re the state of music for the last 15 years.)
Don’t watch TV, either ‘ DWTS and Spike TV (keeping hubby company) and pro football. Hubby suggested we watch AI this year ‘ don’t know where he got the idea from, but he gets a free pass for lots of annoying stuff for the rest of his life because of his brilliance! Danny was my first favorite. My first glance of Adam was Hollywood Week, and I admit that my only thought during ‘Do You Believe’ was ‘nice voice, but going to be too flame-y for me’ . Changed my mind with the Stones and MJ, but he completely OWNED me with TOMT. I remember watching the Idols come out that week and not seeing him, but seeing this guy in a suit that I thought must be Scott’s other brother. When they did the big reveal at show time, I went BSC.
Adam’s performances never reached that height again for me (MW probably would have if I wasn’t running around screaming obscenities because I didn’t know how to change the DVR to tape longer when I realized it was going to run out of time ‘ my husband walked in during this time and I scared the bejesus out of him), but his charisma kept me interested. What I love about he and Allison is that ‘Lethal Weapon’ moment they have after they finish performing ‘ you know, the scene where Mel is threatening to shoot himself and Danny realizes he’s not kidding, and then the curtain drops over Mel’s crazy eyes and he’s just ‘ hungry’ . I love watching Adam’s face when he comes back from Planet Fierce .
So, while the music is important, for me it was more the performance and the personality. I started sneaking in votes for Kris, too, because he’s so NICE. I cringe on his grammar sometimes, but still ‘ completely sweet. My CD, though, contains all Adam, some Allison, and just 2 Kris, and I admit I often skip over those. I’ve finally settled into rock, now, and find the rest too boring to listen to more than once or twice. Much as I also love Kris ‘ his stuff will probably just not be my style. After 19 gets done with them NONE of them may be my style, but I’ll keep hoping.
I purchased tickets to the concert on the pre-sale day. Anywhere we were going was a 2 hour drive, but Grand Rapids has the least traffic. No way was I missing this tour ‘ I can then die in peace, because I will have seen Adam and KISS both in concert. (And then there’s the Bee Gees, whom I still love and never got to see in concert because my parents didn’t have a credit card and couldn’t place a phone order for their tour ‘ I was CRUSHED. When my husband finally found out about this, he promised to take me to see them WHEREVER, and about 3 years later Maurice died. CRUSHED again. Just last week, I was in the grocery and the background music finally leaked into my consciousness and I realized it was them, and I almost burst into tears right in front of the ketchup. I obviously have unresolved issues there.)
About a month ago I started worrying about the seats I had purchased ‘ floor, but back quite a ways. So went through MJ’s site (head pat from MJ) and got stage right, RIGHT up by the stage. And on the aisle! I almost lost them because I was so stunned the timer just about ran out. Sold the others on Ebay to parents of someone Matt went to school with.
So the big day gets here and 2 of the little dogs have diarrhea, my stomach has been off for two days, and my husband has an inner ear infection and gets dizzy if he stands up too fast or bends over. GREAT. And this Saturday we leave for Disney, too. The Mistress of Good Timing has struck again ‘ bench!
Got to GR about 6 and people were still outside at the buses throwing a scream every now and then. Who would still be out there at 6? Went in and got our program (thought I remembered reading they were $35, but only $20 here ‘ either I read wrong, or they know what bad shape Michigan is in) and waited. Videos didn’t annoy me, but second time around annoyed the husband ‘ everyone always made it sound like it was the same 4 videos the whole hour, but they only duped about 15 minutes worth twice. And of course I loved the Disney videos’ ¦
Saw Matt G’s dad while we waited. How did we know? He was wearing a shirt that said ‘Matt G’s Dad’ . Also saw a chick in a shirt that said ‘Sign Matt Giraud’ . AND saw a pair of women with a professionally printed banner that said ‘Elvis ‘ King of Rock. MJ ‘ King of Pop. Adam ‘ THE NEW KING’ .
Finally it started and I started shrieking, because I was determined to give them ALL love. Michael is a good starter, likeable and in pitch. No Bandzilla at all ‘ my husband complained because he couldn’t hear ANY guitar or cymbals. Michael of course gives GR and Matt a shout out.
Next up is Megan, and I was pleasantly surprised. I really didn’t like her on the show, but her first song sounded so much better than anything she ever did on the show. The second song, though, I lost the words and my ears started to hurt. But I was amazed, because I really figured I would still not like her voice.
Up comes Scott, and he’s OK. For me, he was meh on the show, and at least he has more upbeat songs here, but I still don’t like his falsetto. But I still cheered like crazy. And, in went the ear plugs for the rest of the show and I found that I could understand everyone so much better!
Next up is Lil. Well. Maybe this is an off night for Lil (now I hear a cold ‘ you could really tell), but I’m hearing out of breath, off pitch, and just not a memorable voice at all. Sorry, Lil, but my mind wandered. But I shrieked for her, anyway. And I will say this ‘ she had energy. And, I got pics of her shoes. My husband wanted to know where her booty went ‘ she really has lost weight. Her legs looked like sticks in those pants.
Then we have Anoop. And I have to admit, I pretty much zoned his whole performance. I didn’t notice anything bad, but when I go to a concert, I want something more exciting. (Well, OK, if that was Jon Bon Jovi up there singing a ballad, I’d be paying attention.) Anoop just doesn’t seem to have the energy some of the others had. I did get pics of his purple shoes, though. (Correlation between interest in the singer and pictures of their feet, I think.)
Then there’s a pause and GR gave Matt some love. There was a noticeably longer period before he appeared, and everyone was screaming. I’m glad for Matt. Matt came out kicking ass, but I was surprised because I thought he started on piano. (Told you I didn’t watch the videos.) My husband was all happy because he LOVES ‘Hard to Handle’ . The Fray song still left me cold, and husband said Matt should have done his songs in reverse order. Matt threw a hat out into the crowd at one point. I gave him lots of love ‘ I shrieked again. The woman in front of me FINALLY put in earplugs, after sticking her fingers in her ears for a long time.
Michael was my fave part of the group sing ‘ I couldn’t really get into the other songs, although watching Scott dance right in front of us was entertaining (and not in a ‘make fun of the blind guy’ kind of way ‘ he actually did a good job and looked SO skinny).
Intermission and we just waited. I wasn’t going to tackle the bathrooms, and husband went during part of Matt’s set. I didn’t think it was that abrupt re Allison, though ‘ they did dim the lights at least 5 minutes before the band came back.
Allison. Love that girl, and I could actually hear her words (and understand them) so much more than I had thought I would. No Bandzilla at all, but don’t forget ‘ ear plugs. But I did think her voice sounded tired, but always on pitch. She sang the word ‘Barracuda’ about 5 times more than on Conan. CB, though, did not compare to her sing-out on the results show (which I’ve watched about 10 times).
Then we have Danny. What pleased me in Danny’s performance (and it was NOT the salsa dancing ‘ blech) was that I heard flashes of the growly voice I had originally loved at the start of AI. I think it was during ‘Maria, Maria’ . But I liked his overall performance best on ‘What Hurts the Most’ . I thought he was too breathy on his last song and yes, the little speech was a little too long, but’ ¦ I still shrieked for Danny. It was the least I could do for turning on him during the season.
And then’ ¦ the countdown for You-Know-Who is starting. I shrieked a whole hell of a lot and readied my camera. I had already swapped out batteries during Danny’s set ‘ if my camera decided to die during Adam’s set, I truly don’t know what would have happened. So the shrieking goes on and on and on and then FINALLY there he is.
Now for me, WLL was pretty subdued. It was mostly in his lower register and I didn’t see much mic loving. But then again, I’m watching the damn thing through my camera view finder ‘ I’m torn on this. While I am glad I got all the pics I did, I REALLY could not lose myself in the performance because of it. Hmph.
Anyway, WLL is over before I know it, and we were into ‘Starlight’ . I actually thought I heard a bad note in the first few lines of ‘Starlight’ and all I could think is how lucky those people on the West Coast were to hear the Idols FRESH. And we were already moving into MW ‘ and my husband’s camera batteries died and I gave him the ones I switched out. He was videoing Adam. I REALLY liked Adam’s live version of MW better than either versions on the show or the iTunes version. I liked the crisp diction (had to because of the reverb, I’m sure) and there was better phrasing. That was definitely my highlight.
Then out comes ‘his friend, Allison Iraheta’ , and SR is on. The best part was the gray male undies thrown on stage, which Adam tossed to Allison, and which she tossed back out into the crowd. I swear I got a picture of their hug, but in the smoke all you can see is what appears to be Allison’s arms. I did see her give him a swat as she was leaving.
And it was just about over already. I liked the Bowie medley much more than I had feared, since I’m not a Bowie fan. My husband was grooving, too, which surprised me.
And then it was all over.
Up came Kris, to cheering, but’ ¦ OK, OK, that’s just my subjective opinion, and what does it matter, anyway? Kris’s voice was great, although I lost the words on the lower notes. My husband was bored, I could tell, but I swear, this was just like the rest of the last half of the concert ‘ it was like everything was 33 rpm record at 45 rpms (yes, RECORD ‘ I am that old) and I didn’t have time to get bored. I liked ‘Hey, Jude’ because I like that song and I like being told to sing along, which I did.
And then it’s ‘DSB’ (Adam hit his glory note) and I realized it’s over. It’s over. I have been waiting on this since May, and now it’s freaking over and I am NOT SATISFIED AT ALL. We got lost on the way back to the car and the traffic was terrible, and I am so subdued, because IT WAS NOT ENOUGH.
And I didn’t get what the problem was until we get home and Mom is asking about the concert (don’t forget the 12 dogs and Mom-The-Saint ‘ she was staying over). And I realized I was SO spectacularly unsatisfied about this concert because, like I said earlier ‘ it wasn’t all about the music. It was their personalities and I had been spoiled during their AI run by getting those up close looks and the discussion about how it was going and the talks with their parents, and seeing those ‘Lethal Weapon’ looks, and hearing about why they picked that song’ ¦ and I got none of that here. I got an assembly line of music, but there was none of that personal touch I obviously needed to have.
So, there you go. The sounds were good, but I am empty and bereft. I need a half hour with each of them, just to chat and chill out. They are PEOPLE to me, not just SINGERS, and I needed more than their songs. So now I will go deal with my post-concert letdown (by rewatching all of my favorite episodes again, probably).
