American Idols Live 2010 - thefilmqueen's Los Angeles Recap

Read thefilmqueen’s recap of the Los Angeles Idols Live show below. And do not miss her high quality videos of Crystal Bowersox (her entire set!) and Casey James, and her photo gallery, all posted after the jump.

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AI Season 9 didn’t really grab me although I watched every week and voted dutifully for my favs – Crystal, Casey & Aaron – with a few votes early on for others like Lilly Scott & Andrew Garcia. Many others seemed really promising but once the top 10 were selected they seemed to suffer either an identity crisis (Katie Stevens) or not live up to their potential/hype.

I am not a fan of country music – at all – so liking Aaron was a revelation to me. He is the epitome of what AI is all about – finding an unknown (and a young one at that – similar to Allison Iraheta) who gets better and better every week. Forget the nervous microphone hands and hip-sway, he’s a natural as the concert performance proved. Casey is the ultimate musician (rather than a singer) but was amazing live and seemed to enjoy just being there. Crystal had me from her audition, I loved everything about her – especially her so-called “talking back” to the judges (love unabashed honesty), and her voice is like her name – Crystal-clear, pure, just lovely and heartfelt. Her concert presence and performance was giggly, fun, and soulful.

Aside from those three, nothing about the concert surprised me in the least. Didi was pleasant but unimpressive, Andrew was down to earth but unimpressive. Katie, oh dear. OMG did I hate her outfit – it looked cheap and I kept thinking of what Michael Kors would have said if someone made the dress on Project Runway “Well, we wanted her to dress younger, but not like a young streetwalker.” She also sounded really, really angry, like she was shouting her songs. I think she could be a Broadway star – she’s got the voice, but what a mixed message. Tim was much better than on the show, in tune, comfortable on stage, engaging, but nothing unique or memorable.

Siobhan…hmmm…don’t get her…PIB fine, Spiderweb seemed unfocused and didn’t work, Stockholm Syndrome – eek – glad I’m seeing Muse in September! Mike was out of tune on his first number, his falsetto was all over the place, and his presence is simply problematic for me. It’s not a size/weight issue, he’s just odd. His duet with Casey, Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman, was excellent, much better than on AI. Lee – not a fan. Don’t dislike him as a person, but couldn’t get into him on the show; all those out of tune performances and he was never believable as a performer, looking either terrified or zombie-ish. While his concert performance was “okay”, much more relaxed for one thing, he seemed to be shouting rather than singing, just not my thing.

As I was leaving I took the opportunity to say hello to Lyndsey Parker who happened to be sitting near me – that was a real highlight of the evening, and got to hear her assessment before reading her blog the next day.

Enjoy the photos and vids – I’d appreciate any feedback on the vids, recently learned to compress them before uploading and I’ve received inconsistent comments on quality. Thanks.

Photos on Photobucket: http://bit.ly/bfdT14 (No Crystal, only videoed her)

Vids on my YT channel “thefilmqueen”