I waited to do my recap as I was still gob smacked by Adam’s performance and I wanted to attempt to do justice to the other 9 Idols. I, like others who have previously recapped went for Adam, but also wanted to enjoy the whole concert. I had decent seats, right above floor level. I forgot my camera and therefore didn’t get any pictures and you know what? I am glad I did because I could concentrate on the concert and really paid close attention to everything.
Michael was a surprise for me. He gets involved with the crowd and the crowd responded well. I think he is learning a lot on this tour and it is starting to show. I liked his first song the best. Megan is quirky and her voice could find a niche and it was stronger than I had anticipated, bandzilla did not drown her out. She is strikingly beautiful. She needs more stage presence but was better than on the show. She got a fair amount of applause.
Scott set was overall good and I preferred his first song. He just doesn’t sing with any emotion and I think that is why he doesn’t grab me even though I enjoyed his piano playing. He joked and got laughs and had a good response from the audience.
Lil is still a bit of a puzzle. Her set is mixed with good and not so good. She definitely has potential but it still seems like she is trying too hard and
is forcing her performances. I think she would perform a lot better if she just relaxed and went with it. The crowd did wave with Single ladies and she got a lot of applause.
I enjoyed Anoop’s set and he was the first one to get everyone on their feet with My Prerogative. He didn’t put any glasses on. He sang well but there seemed to be something missing, I don’t know if he was having an off night or not. He also got very good applause.
People stayed on their feet from Anoop’s set through all of Matt’s performance of Hard to Handle. He was very on and got everyone into the song and
is a natural for the stage. He did have some good moves for Hard to Handle. People sat down for Georgia but were still into the song. He completely lost the audience with the Fray song.
The group song was better than I thought. Michael had his best vocals on Suspicious Minds. Megan and Lil are a little mismatched. The guys did better on their part and the dueling piano segment was good. Intermission was a long 20 minutes. I decided to stay in my seat and not get caught up in the mad rush.
Allison opened up So What like a rocker chick’ hair blowing, great vocals, huge voice that filled the arena. The guitar worked for that song IMO. Cry Baby was great, better than on the show. Her enunciation was better but went out the window on Barracuda and why can’t she put that word into the song more than once? The crowd was energized and how could anyone resist her energy and enthusiasm? Once she involves the audience more in her performances she will be a fantastic headliner. So What is different as she is standing in one spot and has to look directly at the audience. The other two she is in her own little world dancing and twirling away. Allison will be a star; she can carry that stage without any problem, and all her quirky movements work for this size stage. She got really good applause and love from the crowd, the most so far of the night.
I was a bit surprised at how much I liked
Danny’s set for the most part. I can now understand why the judges liked him so much as his voice has a really good quality live. He needs to amend his speech because it really is in the evangelical vein and doesn’t belong in this type of venue. PYT had everyone on their feet and dancing. People were kind of up and down during his set. He should have switched his set around to break up the two Rascal Flats songs. I enjoyed Maria, Maria. He is still a bit out of his element but is starting to get the hang of performing. Danny really was very well received and got quite a bit of applause and love from the audience.
When Danny left the stage you could feel the anticipation in the audience. When you saw Adam walk on stage it was like some kind of kinetic energy was unleashed and Staples Center erupted into mayhem. I was shocked, this is L.A. with rock stars galore coming through or living here not to mention the stars of the entertainment business. He commands your attention. WLL was naughtier but there was incredible energy for the whole song; it may have been his best performance of WLL to date, when he sang ‘Wo’ ¦maaaa’ ¦an’ is was chilling and the clunk of the microphone stand was a good effect, you knew what was coming, and the riffs at the end were fabulous. Starlight was wonderful and magical ‘my favorite of the night. On Mad World the echo everyone is hearing is definitely intentional and makes it more haunting and ethereal. Not everyone was singing but the audience enjoyed it. Slow Ride was good in that he used both is upper register and his lower register a lot. The Bowie Medley was his best to date, also. His struggle to get the effing jacket off was hilarious. Something underwear-like was thrown onstage and looked at it, but then ignored it, if it had been a bra I think he would have picked it up. Then he yelled ‘You better get up out of your seats, Bitches. Dance!’ I know people may be
shocked but really here in L.A. calling someone a ‘bitch’ is slang like calling a song ‘sick’ or ‘dope.’ (Now you know someone means the other ‘bitch’ when ‘f**king bitch’ is said) He dances more during Fame and Let’s Dance and was really on. His voice got stronger with each song. I really didn’t want his set to end.
The crowd remained on it feet for Kris’ Heartless and I know a lot prefer his acoustic version but bandzilla playing on it helps in the transition from Adam to Kris. (I did my best as I despise Heartless). I liked the Killers song and I think the reason most people are having a problem with it is his fans never saw the rocking side of Kris on the show except for We Are the Champions. Kris is more pop rocker than he is a balladeer ‘ it shows on his face and in his joy of playing those types of songs. People were kind of up and down for him depending on the song. I think Ain’t No Sunshine brought the audience way down and his voice showed some hoarseness and they stayed more down thereafter. His best singing performance was Bright Lights, he really got into that song and it showed. Kris got lots of love from the audience. He asked for people to sing along on the ‘I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier’ line and there were a lot of people singing along, waving cell phones and glow sticks. People also sang along to Hey Jude as he raced around the stage holding out the microphone. Good going Pocket Idol.
The last group song was better than I expected but since the video monitors only show disco ball I didn’t realize Meagan didn’t join in until I got on
line here. Adam was really dancing more towards the end and he was trying to get Kris to dance more and when he did his now infamous knee move Kris threw his head back and cracked up. I think the ‘proposal’ thing is going too far in the fandom. That’s it, other than they really need to change Megan and Anoop’s videos for their sets. Horrid. As I mainly went for Adam and clearly prefer him I hope I gave a fair assessment of the concert and don’t get any tomatoes thrown my way.
