Sally attended the Idols Live concert in Georgia earlier this week. Read her recap below:
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Hi everyone! I’m a long-time ‘lurker’ on MJ’s blog, but never participate in any of the discussions. I get enough crap from all of my friends about being too huge of an Idol fan, and it’d only get worse if they knew I actually posted to the blogs that I read so diligently everyday (but they can’t deny that they love hearing all of my Idol gossip from all of y’all’s posts!).
Before I start the tour recap, I feel like I should give you all a little background of what I thought of the season (since my opinions changed once I saw the concert on Tuesday). Being from Georgia and going to college very close to where Lauren is from, I was instantly a huge fan of hers. Scotty was my other favorite from Hollywood week on. I think they are both just adorable and have such likeable personalities. My roommate and I also loved Paul and Karen from the very beginning. Naima got on my nerves with her dancing during the show. Like many others, I felt Thia was boring, but a good singer. I didn’t have much of a connection with Pia, although there is no denying she has a fabulous voice. I liked Casey and was happy the save was used on him. James reminded me of Adam (whom I loved sooo much), so I liked his stuff as well, although not always his song choices. I liked Haley early on, but felt she got a little bit of an attitude towards the end, which turned me off of her. Needless to say, I was tickled pink when Scotty and Lauren ended up in the finals. It was the first time one of my favorites (much less both) had made it to the finale in all 10 years of watching!
I went to see the Top 4 perform at the Microsoft event at Lenox Mall when they came over Memorial Day and was very impressed. That’s when my opinions of Haley began to get a little better and realized I love her voice. I was a little nervous of the tour format since I’ve only been to tours for Season 1 and 8, both which were of the countdown format (as far as I can remember for Season 1, I was only 12). I was also not looking forward to the Pia pimping and Paul seemingly getting a little screwed.
Now for the recap…
I am a 23-year-old teacher and I went with my 19-year-old sister. She basically watches Idol to be able to talk about it in casual conversation, whereas I talk about it daily, year-round and during the season, plan my Wednesday and Thursday nights around it. We had very good seats on the first level to the right of the stage, 7 rows up. We knew that some friends of ours from Ringgold, GA (where the tornadoes hit) were going to be there, but figured we wouldn’t run into them. As we were finding our seats, we ended up running into them and found out they had the seats literally right behind us! We had about 20 minutes before the show started so we took some pictures with them, I practiced with my new camera while the typical pre-show Idol commercials played, and then we were off!
Started with ‘Born this Way’. I liked that they started with something so up-tempo. I was pleased to see Lauren so early on (even though I knew it was coming) and she got a great response from her hometown. Pretty much the entire place was on its feet. The girls looked great in their white and I was pleasantly surprised how well they harmonized since it didn’t seem to work as well on the show when they all sang together.
After BTW, Lauren welcomed everyone to her hometown concert. She yelled, “I’m home! Nothing beats the Georgia sky.” You could tell she was really excited to be there and have so many friends and family in the audience.
Pia’s ‘Empire State of Mind’ was up next. She’s such an amazing singer, but she’s just so darn boring up there. My sister and I both agreed on that point and took the time to text some friends.
‘California King Bed’ with Stefano and Pia was next. Pia was much more enjoyable during this performance and the crowd went nuts for Stefano. I was really surprised how he not only held his own with Pia, but they actually sounded really great together. Plus, I love this song.
Paul was up next with ‘Maggie May’ and had about half of the crowd up from the beginning. He had to prompt everyone else after the first verse, but eventually got everyone up. You can tell that Paul has been working the stage for a while. He is just so comfortable up there and is so enjoyable to watch. We didn’t get to see too many crazy-Paul dance moves, but we got a little. I just adore him and this performance solidified this.
Thia was next with ‘Who Says”. I’m embarrassed to say that I like this song, but I still wasn’t looking forward to this performance. However, she has improved a lot since the show and kept me mildly entertained, but my sister was back on her phone during this song. I read on here earlier this week that someone thinks she should be released from her 19 contract so she can sign with Disney. That is the best idea for her I’ve heard yet. She literally oozes the Disney sweetness. I’m thinking a Hannah Montana/Glee type of show for her where she does a lot of singing and not too much acting. Overall, she grew on me though.
‘Tightrope’ was next with Thia, Pia, Naima, and Haley. I thought this was such a random song for them to choose for these girls to sing. Usually the beauty of singing cover songs is that people know them and can sing along to them. Lucky for me (and my sister), I researched and downloaded it two weeks ago, so we were at least sort of familiar with it. They sounded good together, but nothing crazy.
Stefano was up next with ‘Grenade’. I thought this was a good song choice for him and he sounded great. He annoys me a little bit because since there is so much passion when he sings, I feel it comes off a little fake sometimes. I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but maybe it’s because he seems so cocky sometimes. Of course the place went wild when he tore his shirt off, and you can’t deny that he’s pretty darn sexy. I think he needs to do some guest spots on the Jersey Shore.
‘DJ Got us Falling in Love’ with Stefano and the girls was good. Enjoyable, but nothing memorable.
The boys singing ‘Animal’ was fun. James took his tail off and gave it to a fan on the left side of the stage (this fan got a lot of action, with the tail and then both Casey and Scotty sang directly to them later on).
Naima’s ‘On the Floor’ was not a performance I was looking forward too. I only sort of like the song, and that’s probably only because it has some Idol ties. But she was the greatest surprise of the night. She has improved immensely since being voted off and the African dances that drove me so crazy during the show were so fun to watch in person. I am also totally in love with the pants she was wearing and have got to find a way to get my hands on a pair of them! She definitely earned 2 new fans with this performance.
Time for Pia’s single. I’ve downloaded it and like it. She wasn’t nearly as boring during this as she was with ESoM, but still lacks a lot of stage presence. The regulars on the Idol blog on the AJC.com website were all making fun of her ‘squatting’. I agree since that seems to be about all she ever does.
‘Firework’ was one of my favorites from the night, although this is where Lauren’s tired voice stood out the most all night. I liked the color scheme with the red, blue, and black dresses. I was also glad to hear her do something a little less country (although I want her to stick with country from here on out!). The crowd was really loving Lauren during this, and I don’t think they minded her voice being a little off.
Casey was awesome on the bass with ‘Smooth’. After seeing how he dresses off the stage, I never thought I’d say this, but he is super sexy up there with his little growl. He just owns the stage and the crowd was loving him.
Haley and Casey with ‘Moanin’’ was awesome. They have such great chemistry together and I loved her dress during this performance. I wish more people had stood up during this one because it is so unique from a lot of the other songs we got throughout the night. Casey was great again with ‘Harder to Breathe’.
‘Forget You’ was just a super fun number. Their choreography is super cheesy and not all of them got into it all the way, but this was a cute, cheesy, and very Idol way to end the first half.
Lauren opened the second half with ‘Flat on the Floor’. She sounded great and we didn’t hear anything too bad with her voice. She pointed a lot to her family and friends in the front on the right side of the stage. After this song she thanked everyone again for coming out. She said she recorded 5 songs the day before for her album and that it ‘must be a world record’. She apologized that it did take a toll on her voice and that she’d have to change a few notes for ‘Like My Mother Does’. And as she always does when she sings it, she pointed to where her mom was sitting.
Like My Mother Does still sounded great, even though she didn’t hit the high notes. She also changed the word ‘mother’ to ‘momma’ sometimes which was cute and sounded very Lauren and sincere.
I like Lauren’s version of ‘If I Die Young’ better than The Band Perry’s, so I loved this performance as well. Towards the end, you could start to hear the strain on her voice, but the crowd was still on their feet loving her. I liked that Haley, Thia, and Stefano sat on stools to back her up here, and I honestly didn’t hear them too much during this song.
James was next coming in from the back. The crowd was up and loving him. There were A LOT of James fans in the audience, probably the most next to Lauren and Scotty. Both of his songs were great and he did a super job of working the stage. If he was still sick this night, you couldn’t tell it from these performances.
Poor Jacob… everyone sat down as soon as he came out (except for one older black woman two rows back who was scream-singing with James and being a dancing fool up and down the aisle) <- Wish I had gotten a video of that actually! He sounded great on both numbers, but was almost begging people to stand up, so I made my sister and me stand during his second song, with Pia, Naima, and Stefano, out of pity. He just seems so sweet…
I loved both of Haley’s performances. Her ‘House of the Rising Sun’ was seriously amazing and was probably the best vocal of the night. As much as I was hating on her for a few weeks during the show, there is no denying that girl can SING! I love ‘Bennie and the Jets’ anyway, so I of course enjoyed this one, as did the audience who were on their feet. There was also some rising tension in there towards the end of ‘Bennie’, as the audience could just feel that Scotty was coming soon!
The winner’s montage was a cool little touch. It gave me goose bumps seeing all of the winners ‘win’ all over again. The place was going nuts once his name popped up and it seemed like an eternity from the time the band started playing to when we actually saw him.
Both ‘Your Man’ and ‘Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not’ were fabulous, flawless performances. The crowd was still loving him at the end of AYGKMON. Girls all around us (and probably us a little too) started squealing when it came time for ‘I Love You This Big’. As corny as the coronation songs are (maybe that’s how they get their name?), I always end up loving them (even No Boundaries, which I’m still a little embarrassed to have on my iPod). He is a great performer and has a wonderful stage presence.
I absolutely ADORED Lauren and Scotty’s version of ‘When You Say Nothing at All’. I like watching them together. I like hearing them together. And I really hope that they record a duet later on in their careers like they’ve talked about before. ‘Gone’ was a fun number with the girls all dancing around him and he sounded great, of course.
For the finale: I liked hearing Lauren and James together for ‘Here I Go Again’. Everyone else’s portions were good, not great, until we got to ‘Any Way You Want It/Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’’. This was fun and they all danced around acting very silly. Hopefully there are some videos around somewhere because James, Casey, and Scotty did this dance move together on the stairs that sort of resembled a bird that was hilarious, but you’ll have to see it because obviously I can’t explain it.
Overall I loved it! Season 8 and 10 have been my favorites, but Season 10’s tour wins between the two on pure talent. The entire show was enjoyable and there was something for everyone to enjoy. I am now definitely a Haley and Naima fan, and everyone else grew on me too.
Now… we did a little stalking after the show. We weren’t hardcore enough to leave our seats early to get to the barricades, but having been to many a concert at the Gwinnett Arena, I knew where to go to still get a glimpse of them. We stood on the second row of the parking deck where we had a perfect view of the door they came out of to sign. Pia was out first, then Paul, Stefano, Thia, Naima, Jacob, Haley, in that order, sort of. All of them stayed out for quite a while.
Scotty came out next and ran down to the far end, so we didn’t see him for a while until he made it back out our way. Once he was back in our sight, my sister convinced me to move down to the barricades since they had begun to clear out. She is going to Belmont University in Nashville to play basketball in the Fall, and word on the street is that Scotty is going there once he graduates high school. She was dying to tell him that she’d be there and to look her up once he got there (if it ever happens). Unfortunately, right when we got down there, he went inside, so I got a picture of the back of his head as he was walking away. Right after he went in, Lauren came out with her dad and brother. We didn’t see much of her, but her dad and brother stopped to talk to the people in front of us for a while. They all seem like such nice people and are so proud of her. At midnight, they all had to stop signing like normal, so they could get on the bus to Raleigh. James and Casey were the only two to not come out that night.
This is where the stalking comes in…
We figured out that if we stood on the other side of the parking deck, we could see the buses. We saw Lauren’s mom sitting down there with some people and a guy in a plaid shirt that we later figured out was James. Casey was walking in between the buses in his socks, so we yelled ‘we love you Casey!’ He waved back at us and blew kisses. At this point, some other girls figured out what we were doing and came over too.
***Out walked Haley and Stefano. I wasn’t paying super close attention here, but my sister and the other girls were… As they went to get on their separate buses, it looked like the two of them kissed each other goodnight. There was definitely a hug, and it looked like a kiss, but we can’t be sure. Everyone but me was apparently watching much more closely and were all convinced, however.
Lauren was the last one out with her dad and brother. We yelled at her too (at this point it was just my sister and me again), and she waved up and blew kisses to us. She hugged her mom, dad, and brother good-bye and got on the bus, while her family all loaded into their SUV and drove off, probably following the buses to Raleigh. I’m assuming her mom is seizing every opportunity to not ride on the tour bus! We watched until the buses pulled away.
Is it too soon to start counting down the days until Season 11?
