American Idols Live 2010 – Jammasta’s Sacramento, CA Recap

Read Jammasta’s hilarous account of last night’s Idol show in Sacramento, CA

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Okay, so how should I start this recap? With a little about myself, I guess….

I’m awesome.

Okay, maybe not, but I am a 20-year-old kinesiology (exercise science) major, and, unlike most here, a dude. I’m probably gonna be a personal trainer/ninja when I get older. I’m a huge fan of American Idol. I have these other freaky obsessions with the show 24 (I was thinking of writing this recap pretending to be Jack Bauer), video games like Street Fighter and other nerd stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh. I pretty much don’t have a life. I swear, every time I have a spare moment, I either play a video game, mess with my Yu-Gi-Oh cards, or go on Facebook/MJsbigblog to see if anything new came up. I exercise for my self-esteem, health, and fun ?. Or try to and not be lazy. It’s therapeutic. I’ve been an American Idol fan since David Archuleta came along, and I watched casually until then. So I guess I have David to thank (blame) for my obsession ?. Enough about me, on to the pre-show excitement.

My mom and I carpooled to the venue after work. Admittedly, I almost didn’t go despite having tickets, because I was feeling really under the weather. I pushed through work and ended up going. We got there at 5:00 or so, extremely early. My mom and I went to the ticket booth and upgraded our tickets from upper level to lower level, an upgrade definitely worth it. In the ticket booth, there were so many people waiting for the Meet and Greet. We didn’t have passes, but we tagged along, learned the rules of one, and my mom recommended that we go Jack Bauer on the security guards. Hand signals, torture, give me the pass, etc. But nope, we decided to leave peacefully (Thank God, I didn’t want to have to use my ultra ninja skills tonight).

Before the show, I bought Idol memorabilia. I don’t care how fanatical I look, I bought a freaking CRYSTAL BOWERSOX T-SHIRT and I am wearing it to work tomorrow, and if you hate it, you just plain LOSE. I also bought pictures of Crystal, Siobhan, Aaron, and Casey (my ideal top 4) and a program. Probably not the best use of money, but eh, I like it. And I bought 2 big hot dogs before the show. I ate them before Didi even came on. Eh, I can’t think of anything else exciting that happened before the show. Saw some interesting fan stuff, someone had sweats with all the Top 10 names written all over, that was the weirdest one I saw. Okay, so on to the show.

Didi Benami – I generally agreed that she was no Michael Sarver or Chikezie, for one, she was a hot chick, and for two, she didn’t have their opening energy. Having said that, I expected worse from what other people were saying (You’ll see this a lot in the recap, probably). I thought she was great, though. Loved her first song (What was the name?) and loved Terrified. I couldn’t help but sing to the I’s in there, singing eye ee eye ee eye in my awesome manly falsetto voice. But who cares about me, Didi was still freaking great. I wish she brought a little more energy, when you go to a concert, you want to be punched in the face with all the energy. Didi’s was more like a poke on the cheek, but still, good job Didi.

Andrew Garcia – I was one of those who kept breathing fire in rage that he was still there after many performances I thought were pretty horrible, so I’m glad he stuck with 2 of his more notable performances, his Straight Up and his audition song (Sunday Morning was his audition song, right?). Both of which I thought were pretty cool. Straight Up, which was awesome, would’ve been better with less band, and Sunday Morning, which was also cool, would’ve been better if I hadn’t been so confused at how it was a song that made me wanna shake my booty. It doesn’t have the energy to make me get up and “embarrass” myself (Embarrass, for the lack of better word, because I am an awesome booty shaker, watch me imitate the Single Ladies dance and you’ll feel the awesomeness). This song did not make me feel that passion, but it was cool to hear him shout out to Sacramento in the middle of the song, I screamed like a girl in my head.

Katie Stevens – I kinda forgot who Katie was, which was a good thing, because it made me surprised to see how awesome she was. Awesomely loud and my ears were hurting, but still awesome. She really brought it. She was my early favorite, and she brought out a totally better side to her. She was more current, more energetic, and powerful. She would’ve done great as the beginning act. She also had a dimple on her forehead or something. I hope the original versions of her two songs are close enough to the way she did it, because I considered buying the original versions afterward, and I don’t even know much about Demi Lovato.

Tim Urban – I have to say, he’s pretty. His hair’s fantastic, and I hate seeing guys with long hair, so that’s a compliment. I can see why girls loved him so much. What I didn’t get was the complaints about his set. I mean, I know he was outclassed by the other 9 for the most part, and I know he did pretty badly in his Idol run, but I thought he made a significant improvement. Better Days was pretty cool. I love Viva La Vida, so I was pretty tentative about him doing it (Honestly, I don’t really think it’s THAT difficult to sing…. Maybe it’s because I sing it to myself a lot and am more used to the notes?), but I really did like his arrangement. His voice was a lot better than I remembered it. And, he really seemed to be enjoying himself.

Siobhan Magnus – I was a huge fan of her and wanted her in the finale with Crystal (though she did lose herself) Paint It Black was just phenomenal. Loved the scary sounding intro, now I can’t wait for Halloween, I should be Siobhan for Halloween. After watching Spiderwebs on YouTube, I thought “….She’s really sleepy on this song.” It was one of those I had to see live to appreciate, because I liked it much better than I did initially. As for Stockholm Syndrome, she had the proper headbanging technique which was AMAZING to see. I think she needed more energy and power throughout the bulk of that song. I think she would’ve done better with Plug In Baby, if she wanted to do Muse. Someone recommended it a long time ago when it was said that she was doing Muse. <3 Muse and <3 Siobhan.

Aaron Kelly – Oh my God, 2 of my ideal Top 4 in a row. Death time for me. That said, the only thing about Aaron’s songs was that I didn’t know them. Having said that, he did WOW me. I always thought he had the best potential voice of any of the guys. At least the best for my tastes. And tonight, I thought he did. It was fun to see him on stage, even if he did kinda bring back his “pee-pee-kickmeinthecrotch” dance. Close your legs, you look very…. Umm… naughty. He brought energy he didn’t have in his Idol run, which I totally loved. He was just amazing. Love that kid.

Group Song – Reading from the previous comments, I expected this to be horrible. It wasn’t. There were parts that were good (mostly the individual parts), but the group parts did not mesh to well, especially near the end. But Aaron and Siobhan were there! And there were clouds or something in the background. And it was a pretty cool arrangement

Intermission – I don’t think anything interesting happened at intermission except my phone and my dad’s camera died, so we were left with my mom’s sucky iPhone camera. Eep.

Michael Lynche – You know, from afar, he kinda looks like a gigantic bald woman. Like the Group Song, I expected worse from the comments. His first song was appropriately cheesy, I almost shed a tear. It was amazing. I love cheese (especially Parmesan or if it comes with Macaroni). Ready For Love was pretty cool. The band made it so emo-sounding, which was appropriate because my phone died and I think I just ran out of money so I got really sad at that time (Seriously, the thoughts just popped into my head at the time). My Love started out pretty cool and had a rap part, but I didn’t really understand the lyrics. Justin Timberlake did it better, IMO. No surprise, it IS JT’s song. The rap was pretty fun though.

Casey James – My mom almost died from his coolness. Casey was in my Top 4, and, along with the other 3, they’re most likely to be my favorite artists (artist as opposed to just singer). Casey James is one amazing guitarist. He’s also cool because his last name is my first name. Freaky stuff. Maybe we’re vaguely related. Okay, honestly, all I remember about I Got Mine was that it sounded great but for some reason it sounded like there were only 3 words in that entire song. Don’t was pretty. The duet was AWESOME. I loved how he brought Big Mike out there with him. It’s All Over Now was amazing.

Crystal Bowersox – OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. CRYSTAL BOWERSOX I ALMOST DIED FROM YOUR AMAZINGNESS. She had just a natural banter with everyone (I missed the water balloon fight!) What’s Up was pretty awesome. I didn’t know What’s Up was THAT song. I didn’t watch any Crystal videos in order to surprise myself. Come To My Window was cool with the harmonica, though the song title reminds me of stalkers. I hate that. It wasn’t her best song choice on Idol, and I think she could’ve picked better. Up To The Mountain was odd without the mic stand, but totally chilling and amazing, the third song to almost make me cry (after This Woman’s Work and What’s Up). Piece of My Heart…. I would’ve rather she did Me and Bobby McGee, but this was just fine. Too bad I didn’t remember the lyrics. I would’ve belted it with her. You go Mamasox! After the show, I still was prepared to be Claymate 3.0 because she was so awesome.

Lee DeWyze – Oh God, here it comes. My Crystal bias. I still thought she should’ve won. It cut like a knife to see him win. It hurt more to hear Ellen say (paraphrased) “You had a few pitchy moments, but it doesn’t matter”, because it oh-so-does, in my opinion. So, in my scathing review of him, I’ll try to be as nice as possible, though I might make some Lee fans kinda mad………………

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WHY THE HELL WAS HE NOT THIS GOOD ON HIS IDOL RUN?!?!?! I was so not prepared to give him any standing ovations, but he improved IMMENSELY. Rocket Man was not my favorite, the energy wasn’t to appropriate. Beautiful Day was better than I remembered it on the show, but I was still left kinda cold. And, of course, he had to pick his two best performances, Hallelujah and Treat Her Like A Lady. Hallelujah was the fourth song to almost make me cry. Lee’s version is amazing. It’s like a mix of the 3 I know, Leonard Cohen, John Cale, and Jeff Buckley. I think it has great elements of each. And Treat Her Like A Lady, I liked how he said “You have to dance. No option.” Or something to that effect. The lady in front of us was dancing so wildly. Shameful. I dance better than her. I should’ve called her out and battled her in a game of dance. But I would’ve rather listened to Lee DeWyze’s performance, because it was pretty awesome. The beginning to
Use Somebody seemed a little rough, but he picked up later, I thought it was pretty cool

Last Group Song – I don’t really know what to say about it, it didn’t have the cheese factor of older group songs, which I missed. That’s all, really. It was decent.

Post-show at the Buses – Honestly, this is my favorite part, which is why it’s really long. This is where we get to meet them! Me and my mom stormed to the barricades (We ended up taking the longer way there, which sucked). There were these little girls next to us who kept asking the security guard for his autograph. I should’ve given them mine, I’m cooler. Oh well. But it’s always great to see people enjoying something. They didn’t annoy me. I liked having fanatics next to me. Two tweens had a conversation of Lee that went kinda like this:

“Would you let him give you his number?”

“I’d let him give me himself!”

….I totally butchered the delivery because it was much funnier then. Andrew was the first to come out. He gave a girl this Smokey the Bear pin he had, I thought it was cool. I asked him how his son was because I couldn’t think of anything else to say, he said “He’s good!” and then we took a picture together ?. So awesome, he’s a cool guy.

Tim was the next closest person. The little girls next to me were screaming. One of them asked him for his number, and he said “I can’t give you that. I can give you a fake number!” Then they took a picture, but Tim realized one of the girls wasn’t in it and had them take another one. Cool dude, he’s taller than I thought. Then, of course, I got his autograph and took a picture with him!

Lee was next. He’s really short, he looks kinda like a stump. He had one of the security people following him and preventing people from hogging Lee. Made me sad, he was one of the few I didn’t get a picture with. I did get his autograph. And, true to his early self, I noticed him pulling up his pants. Awkwardness. I should give him a belt for Christmas. I wanted to take a picture with him! Boo. Oh well.

Katie Stevens was next. That was when I noticed the dimple on her forehead. She had this black dress with white polka dots that eerily reminded me of my mom. She’s so little! She had these green nails, I told her I thought they were cool. She said “Thanks! Would be awesome if they glew in the dark.” I giggled because I don’t think “glew” is a word and I am a grammar freak. She’s really sociable, she had conversations with a lot of us. She said herself that she wanted to choose high energy songs because she knew some people were choosing ballads. Smart girl. Sexy…umm I mean Didi Benami was next. She was rushed and for some reason explained she couldn’t take a picture of herself unless she was signing, so I didn’t take a picture.

Siobhan was the next one. Holy crap, amazing story here. I asked her what her favorite horror movie was, and she spent like 5 minutes talking to me about horror movies! I felt so amazing. It was like she knew me! She’s also pretty tiny. Trying to think of her exact words. First, she said “it depends on the sub-genre”, and I was like “Oh, she’s a nerd! Awesomeness :D” and she recommended Nosferatu as one, but she said if I don’t like silent films then go with David Lynch (SP?) films. She also brought up an actor whose last name sounded like Shrek but was spelled with a C who was really scary. Can anyone give me an idea on who that is? Oh my God, just having Siobhan there and talking to ME for 5 minutes, she was hogging ME. OH MY GOD I COULD DIE. DIE. I’m gonna watch some horror films tomorrow night. I did feel kinda bad because Michael Lynche popped up behind her and I wanted his autograph, so I think I was looking a bit like “shut up I
want his autograph”. I feel bad.

Michael Lynche was next. He was passing by, so we just took a picture. I think he called me buddy or something. I thought it was cool. He looked like a football player. I like exercise and personal training, but I don’t think that’s my body type :P.

CASEY JAMES came next, my mom almost died, she was extremely ecstatic, and they fist bumped. I told him he was really tall, and he said “I don’t even have my boots!” Then we took a picture. He called me either bubba or brother. OH MY GOD.

Finally, since we couldn’t get Crystal, the last one was Aaron! YAY. I love that kid, he’s so tiny and perfect, I just wanted to take him home, meld him into my little brother, kick his ass at video games until he cries and my mom has to rock him to sleep so I could see him cutely resting. Creepy. But seriously, I was extremely ecstatic to meet him. He seemed very sweet and enthused by having fans out there. We took a picture :D.

Before I forget, I uploaded the pictures I took with the Idols! http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h205/koffan_2006/Idols%202010/

They don’t get my good side because I’m slouching in a lot :P.

Overall, it was a good time. If you can read these around 3000 words, you’re awesome.

About mj santilli 34841 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!