Karen attended her first Idol show at Mohegan Sun Casino. Check out her recap below.
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So, this is the first time I went to an AI concert. I had only really been a casual fan of AI until Season 7, when I became a fan of David Cook. Still, I didn’t get to go the tour until this year. This was mainly because I never really went to concerts much for various reasons, but now find I enjoy them a lot. I did follow the tour last year with the videos and cellcasts, and saw some videos from Season 7, so I knew what to expect this year. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to go, because even though I liked some of the people, I didn’t feel as strongly as I did the past couple of years. But when the Mohegan Sun show was scheduled, I decided to go because it is very close to where I live, close enough where I wouldn’t have to worry about travel or staying over, which I would have had to do if the show was much further away which it had been in the past. The other thing I felt is that I did enjoy watching the show, and this is the closest I would get to seeing it live.
I kind of knew what to expect from the show, since I did read other recaps. I was glad because I knew what was coming up if I wanted to take videos.
So, first up, Didi. Thought she was good. On the second song, said she was terrified the first time she sang this song. Of course, it was Terrified.
Andrew Garcia- Thought that Straight Up wasn’t as good as it was originally on the show. Maybe because it was played with a band. Maybe it wasn’t as good to begin with. Thought he did ok on Sunday Morning.
After watching them, thought to myself
Katie Stevens – She actually caused the most excitement at this stage in the show. But this was really one of her hometown shows. A large section in front was holding up pictures of her, and they stood for her. She said that she saw all her friends and family in the audience, and it was nice to see familiar faces in the audience.
Musically, I thought she did well. She seemed to have a lot more stage presence than on the show. In the finale, I thought she did well on Fighter, and thought she did great on in live as well. She did seem to hit a few bad notes here and there, but I think she was a bit choked up because of her friends and family in the audience. I do think she could become a teen Disney type pop star, if that’s something to aspire to.
Tim Urban – Thought he was ok.
Siobhan – I was very impressed with her. I thought her staging was terrific. I liked the songs she chose, in fact, Spiderwebs is one of my favorite songs, I love No Doubt and I could see her doing that kind of music. I thought Paint it Black was terrific, except for the scream at the end. I liked the Muse song as well. She got a strong response from the crowd, and I think she had some friends and family there as well, being she’s from MA.
Aaron – Thought he was good.
The group number. Wasn’t as cheesy as I expected. I thought it was staged well, with the three guitar players starting ( Andrew, Didi, and Tim) then the others coming out. Though the vocals at the end weren’t that great.
Michael Lynche – I never really liked him on the show. Though I think he does have a very good voice and did a terrific job. It’s just that he doesn’t do the type of music I like. But he was very good.
Casey James – Loved him !!!! Was very impressed with his guitar playing. It seemed like he was playing lead on at least two of the songs. I liked him on the show, and he has become one of my favorites from this year. Even though I usually don’t like country, I do like country rock, and I think he fits into this. Really, really impressed with him.
Crystal – She was terrific. I thought she did a great set.
Lee – Was my favorite from this year, and I absolutely loved him. I thought he was terrific on stage, seemed much more confident than when he was on the show. Really worked the stage. I loved his whole set. I really liked the way he did Use Somebody and Rocket Man.
Final group song – Liked it’s my life better than My Life Would Suck without you. It was a bit better than was on GMA. I think near the end when they are trying to harmonize, one or two of the men is off. I think for whatever reason, this group does not do well with harmonizing. Maybe it’s just a bad song to do as a group song.
So, my favorites were Lee, Casey, and Siobhan. Thought Crystal was great too. I was already a fan of Lee and Casey, who were my favorites from the season, and I was surprised how much I liked Siobhan.
I think that the Idols all had good song choices for themselves. One thing I thought is that it seems like they were more defined as artists and more differentiated from each other. It seemed that on the show, several were too similar to each other.
The other thing I noticed is that there were really all ages at the show. I was surprised how many older people there were. It was really a mixture of ages, but I expected to see a lot of kids. Though, because of this the crowd was much more sedate than other concerts I have been to, especially for other Idols. Not sure if this is normal for Idol shows. The arena was pretty filled, though.
I was disappointed that they couldn’t come out and meet fans. I did find the buses, in fact, I was surprised when I got to the casino, they were parked in the same lot that I was. When I came out there were a few fans around. I waited a while but nothing seemed to be happening, and it was getting late, so I left, then got the tweets that they weren’t allowed to come out to meet fans.
Irregardless, I did have a great time, and I’m glad I went.
Disclaimer : This is all just my opinion. No idols were harmed during this recap. Though Siobhan did hurt my ears a bit. Luckily my hearing came back in time for Lee and Casey…..
