First off, I am a big Kradison fan. Love all three from the season and thought that they were the real Top 3. But, I decided to come with an open mind and give everyone a chance. I will say that the concert was AMAZING! I felt everyone sounded so much better live and were definitely more comfortable without the whole voting process and getting grilled by the four judges. Plus, all the idols got love from Charm City; we definitely were hyped tonight. Though, every single time Adam was on the screen, he got the loudest screams. No matter if it was his whole face or just like a set of eyes (from the Mixed Up music video), he got the screams.
One negative though was while waiting for the concert to start, they kept recycling Carrie Underwood music videos and it got tiring. It went Carrie, Carrie, Daughtry, Carrie, Cook, and then back to Carrie. Like 19E, you do know that their are other successful idols like Kelly, Archie, and Jordin.
Now on to the idols:
#10 Michael Sarver- I was not a big fan of him during the show. I honestly felt that Alexis Grace should have been in his position. But, he really surprised me. He got the people in the floor section to stand up and sing along to his songs. People sang along to “In Love with a Girl” and “Closer.” He does not have the best vocals out of the idols, but he sounded so much better live and had so much energy while on stage. You can tell he really loves being on stage. Also, before the show when he was signing autographs he said that he is working on his album..good for him. I definitely left becoming a bigger fan of him. Not only because of his set, but because of how incredibly sweet he is with the fans. He not only signed every autograph before the show, but after the show he went around the barricades twice to sign autographs and take pictures. he is definitely a big ol’ teddy bear.
#9.Megan Joy- Also, not a real big fan of her on the show, but I actually really liked her set too. Her voice sounded better live, but the problem she has is that she really does not have any good stage presence. maybe one of the reasons is that tight pink dress and high heels she was wearing prohibited it. But, she really lost the crowd after Sarver got them hyped up. Now, the crowd gave her love, but they just sat down when Megan started singing. I felt bad because she tried to get the crowd to clap their hands, but they really did not follow suit, which prompted Megan to say “Yay 5 people clapping” or something like that. I did not like her wardrobe or her visual background. It was too much Barbie Pink and that is not Megan Joy. She is unique, but she really did not showcase that uniqueness tonight. There is a place for her in the music industry: with all the Adele, Amy Winehouse, but she needs to work hard if she wants to make an impact on the scene.
#8 Scott:
One of the biggest surprises of the night for me. I did not think he had it in him. His vocals were beautiful and he really got the crowd in it. The crowd that was lost during Megan’s set, were back on their feet for him. Now, he did have problems enunciating with “Bend and Break” and “A Thousand Miles”, but vocally he was on point for me. He was so much better live and is amazing on Piano.
We all know about his “high five” joke, but still when he talked about it and imitated Simon Cowell, I still laughed. He was engaging and fun.
After the show, when he came to the barricades, he was so sweet. Plus, Todd is a gorgeous man (had to throw it out there.) The crowd chanted for Scott, and he got to all the fans he could. He’s got a great spirit about himself and I love
that.
#7 Lil Rounds:
At the beginning, I was not really feeling her set, because I felt like it was nothing original she was doing with the Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige songs. Sounded just like the original. but, she definitely got the crowd and me back with “Single Ladies.” Good choice by Lil, and I love that she had the lyrics on the big screen behind her. Plus, Lil has a great body and was shaking her hips. Looking at the crowd, they were pretty much doing the “Single Ladies” dance and were into it. Definitely a good choice to end the set.
#6. Anoop
Anoop! I love me some Anoop and so did the crowd. He also said he had a place in his heart for B-more, since he has family that lives here. He starts with “Always on my Mind”, and his vocals are awesome with this song. This is the man
we saw on the show. he can really sing the ballads amazingly well. he has that crisp voice to carry it off. next, he goes into “Mad”, and this is definitely the Anoop I can see on the music scene. kind of doing the whole Ne-Yo thing. Again vocals were spot on and the crowd loves it. Then, on the final song, ” My Prerogative”, which sadly most of the fans referred to it as the Britney Spears song and not Bobby Brown. Anoop shows off some sexy moves, and I can’t help but feel kind of turned on by him (haha…) Now, vocally it sounded kind of karaoke, but really I was just dancing to much to really care.
Meeting Anoop after the show, man he is so tall and hotter in real life. And the crowd definitely loves him, getting Anoop chants
#5. Matt
The other big surprise of the night. I really became a much bigger fan of Matt after seeing him live. He starts with “Hard to Handle” and the crowd absolutely loves him. I loved that he kind of brought the Jerry lee Lewis vibe to his piano playing during this performance.
“Georgia” is next, I really liked this performance too. Vocally, it was absolutely fantastic, but performance wise it was kind of boring.
“You Found Me” ends his set, and I never liked The Fray, so this may be bias, but Matt absolutely was better then the original on this song. Now, I think he should have ended his set with “Hard to Handle”, but really I can’t be mad since “You Found Me” was an awesome performance.
Meeting Matt before the show was awesome. I bought him a stuffed Tigger and gave it too him (also twizzlers for the group.) he loved it and gave me a hug. Then when he moved on to the next person, i told him “Thanks for doing this” and he came back and gave me another hug and said “Thank you for the gift.”
Group Performance:
I really liked it. Though, I kind of felt that I could have done without Megan. I loved the dueling pianos though, awesome job by Scott and Matt. Lil and Anoop’s rap was such a delight and “Beggin” was definitely my favorite form this performance. Plus, all the guys looked great in suits..:)
Intermission:
Decided to stay in my seats, since I did not want to miss Allison.
#4 Allison
I get what people were saying about Allison’s introduction, it basically comes out of nowhere and just hits you. When Allison’s video was being played, she got a LOT of love from the crowd, especially from the young girls. The crowd instantly stood up when the beginning chords of So What hit.
So What- First thing I noticed was that Allison definitely got better with playing the guitar, she seems more comfortable with the instrument. I love Pink, but definitely felt that it was one of her weaker songs; however, when Allison sang it, I was loving the song. She just put her own spin to it and got me dancing out of my seat. The crowd was singing along and really into it. It was cute, I saw some parents putting their young children on their shoulder and just started dancing…I could totally see that happening in Allison’s solo tour.
Cry Baby- Absolutely loved her performance during Top 4 week, but seeing it live was outstanding. This song had the entire crowd singing along too. Plus, the crowd was just so into it. Like I saw some fans just throwing their arms in the air and just feeling the energy Allison was putting out there. I never got to chance to see Joplin live, but seeing Joplin’s performances on You Tube and
such and comparing it to Allison, she definitely has that Joplin spirit in her. She just puts so much of herself into the performance, you can’t help but be in awe of her.
Barracuda- My favorite from her set, though her set was basically perfection. Now while Cry Baby was vocally her best song, what I loved about Barracuda was: 1. Absolutely hated this song from Heart and Allison made me love it, 2) seeing her interaction with Carlos Santana…I loved when she introduced him, Tim made this movement, and Allison said ” Doing Barracuda here with Tim, who is about to shoot me with his guitar. They have become so comfortable with each other, and its really. Now, I know Tim is married, but seriously he must “feel something” when he has this beautiful young woman all over him during the performance. This was definitely the hardest song to get pictures from because she just moved around the stage every second; Covering the entire stage. The crowd was definitely feeling the music and just moving their bodies to the music. The young kids loved it too.
One negative is that Allison’s set was short (though I knew she would be back out for Slow Ride.) I thought her set was amazing from start to finish. This girl is going to be Superstar.
What I noticed was how Allison converted some fans too. At the barricades, I remember some parents talking saying that she can’t believe Allison performed like that and one of the daughters spoke and said that “yeah and she is only 17.” They felt that Allison could really be successful since there really was no one like her out there. Its one thing to already have a fanbase, but to be able to gain more fans while on tour is absolutely essential. Another cute thing was seeing young siblings (brother and sister, could not be older then 10) the brother had a Adam shirt on and the sister had an Allison shirt on. A lot of Allison fans were the young girls (teens and pre teens) and their parents definitely became bigger fans. Which is so important because that is the audience Allison is going for.
#3 Gokey:
I was not a fan of him on the show, and that really did not change during the concert. Now, he got a lot of love from the crowd though. He does have a good voice and sounded better live, but I just found his set kind of cheesy and was not really into it.
I kind of felt bad for him though, he is in a position where everyone was just waiting for Adam to come on stage. But the crowd was still giving him love. “P.Y.T”, was just like what you saw on the show and as energetic you will see form Gokey. Which, is a let down after seeing Allison before hand.
“Maria, Maria” was next, and really this was not a good choice for him. You need the spice and sultriness to pull this song off and he just did not have it. Now, he was a better dancer then what he showed on the show, but it still felt kind of cheesy to me.
“What Hurts the most”, the crowd was definitely into this song and sang along with it. Good choice for him. In the beginning, I did not feel any real connection, but it got better towards the middle of the song.
Now, I was kind of afraid about him speaking next after reading twitters, but really I was kind of inspired by it. I really liked it and it was shorter then I thought it would be. he then ends his set with “My Wish” and I felt that this was his best song. Definitely brought the emotion to it. Good choice to end the set.
Now, while I am not a fan of Gokey vocally, personally he is such a sweetheart. Seeing him after the show, he got to every fan and took pictures with everyone he could. Plus, he is really good looking up close. One of the nicest guys out there.
#3 Adam Lambert
Now when Danny was finishing his last song, you can definitely feel the anticipation from the crowd. After Danny’s set end, and the lights went black, the screams were coming and this is where I got my headache. The people that sat down during Danny’s set, immediately stood back up when Adam’s intro video came on.
WLL- Oh man, You Tube videos do not do this performance justice. First, I love that he kind of arranged this song differently. he had his Elvis hair and his makeup was gorgeous. The man is just sex on a stick. I was at a crossroad-should I take pics or should I just marvel at this man humping the mic stand? hmm…I mean, this man just commanded the stage and he had this swagger that he knew he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hands…including me. Now, I loved his performance on Rock Week, but seeing it live was 1000x better, especially him making that mic stand his bitch.
Starlight- I actually was not a fan of this song, even though I like Muse. But, Adam brought this certain quality to the song to make me actually love it. He had this feminine type voice while singing…not saying it in a negative way..I really loved it. His voice was technically brilliant during this song…so crisp and fresh.
Mad World- This was the point where the crowd should have gone silent, and just listen. but some of the girls kept screaming. I love Donnie Darko, so when Adam decided to do this song, I was jumping for joy. Another song where he demonstrated his vocal range–he can go so low, then reach those high notes (where a normal guy would have to get kicked in the groin to reach that high note.) but Adam is from planet fierce. This is where you just sit and listen. I just closed my eyes and just listened..moving my head back and forth.
Slow Ride: This was a huge crowd favorite, and even after the show (at the barricades), people were talking about how they thought this was a highlight of the concert, how Adam/Allison voice mesh so well together, and that they should do a duet together. I would like to see that happen too (they would have a big hit on their hands) Anyway, you can just tell that these two absolutely adore each other. When Allison is singing, Adam just has this huge grin on his face the entire time, like he just loves watching her perform. then you have Allison who just mouths the words when Adam is performing. It was a joy to see two people who just genuinely like to be on the same stage together, respect each other, and know that they are great friends off stage. So much sexiness going on, loads of chemistry. They have definitely amped up the performance every tour stop. I will say that I did not feel a brother/sis vibe between them during the performance, it was definitely one of flirty friends. This was the point where one of the funniest moments happened: Allison goes to the left edge of the stage and sees a woman with the pink bra. Allison starts pointing to Adam, knowing the bra is for him. Allison turns her head for a second, and before you know it Allison dodges a bra that was about to hit her in the face. Allison completely lost it, and Adam cracked up, he almost lost it too. Allison then threw the bra to Adam, and Adam chucked it, though it landed on the edge of the stage. The end was completely adorable: you had both singing each other’s names, then the adorable hug, and Adam kissed her on the cheek at the end..awwww loved this duet even more.
Bowie Medley- After Slow Ride, I lose it again when Adam strips his jacket off to reveal those biceps. he has definitely been working out. Anyway, he definitely brought more nastiness to this medley then on other tour stops. I loved his dancing..where I felt Danny’s dancing was kind of cheesy, Adam’s dancing was just plain sexy.
Adam fans were very diverse: young old, male and female. He had the cougar crowd down. Though it was kind of weird seeing someone my mom’s age with blue streaks in their hair and glitter.
#1 Kris Allen
Now, i know their have been reports about how people were leaving after Adam to get to the barricades, but I give it to Charm City cause they stayed for his set. Now, Kris did not get the same enthusiastic crowd noise, Adam got, but he got A LOT of love from the crowd.
“Heartless”- One of my favorite performances of the season, and he does not disappoint. His vocals are pure and amazing. His version is definitely so much better than Kanye and The Fray.
Some artists are where you have to watch, Kris is the artist where you just want to listen too. I loved his vocals.
He then goes into “All the Things That I’ve Done.” Thank god Kris decided to replace No Boundaries with this song. Baltimore is loving Kris and Kris is feeding off this energy. Another great performance.
He then gets behind the piano for “Ain’t No Sunshine.” And this shows what an amazing instrumentalist Kris is. To go from guitar right to piano is amazing. What I loved about Kris and this song was just how passionate he got with this song. I mean he looked lie he was possessed and he made that microphone, bench, and that piano his bitches. It did look like he was making out with that microphone…haha
He then goes into “Bright Lights.” Another showcase of how awesome Kris is. The way he can work a song and make it into his own. This is the type of music I can see him doing and truly succeeding.
His final song is “Hey Jude.” He makes this song so upbeat and puts his own little spin into.
Now, I loved both Kris and Adam in two completely different ways- Adam’s set is like he is just completely taking over you, ravishing you if you would say. While, Kris set is more intimate, like he is seducing you- whispering into your ear. Makes you feel like your the only person in the room with him.
Oh and meeting Kris was absolutely amazing. This guy went through every single person at the barricades before the show. I mean, he even talked with some people on the phone. I got him a stuffed Mickey mouse and he was so shocked that the gift was for him. I got a nice hug from him and then I interjected saying “Wow, even Kris Allen is taller then me.” he got that sad puppy dog look (haha)
and then we took a pic. He is so small in person, but made entirely of muscle. he is so gorgeous too. Did not hurt that his shirt was basically unbuttoned, and had those tight pants on.
The entire group comes back out for “Don’t Stop Believing.” I just love seeing the idols interact with each other. You had Allison/Anoop, Allison/Megan, Kradam, Krallison, etc… Loved the little chest bump at the end with Megan and Allison. Plus, when those tow girls were walking off stage, Kris joined them and put his arms around them.
When I was at the barricades, at my spot, the idols that fans wanted autographs from the most was : Adam, then Allison, Kris/Danny, Anoop. Now, it could be different for other people, but from where I was standing, those were the idols in demand. Plus, I think our crowd was a lot calmer then most, Every idol that came out got chants from the crowd. But, of course there were the “Adam” and “We Want Adam” chants.
I recommend this concert for everyone. All the idols were better live and its such an enjoyable experience. Plus, all the idols are extremely nice and respectful. Just be respectful back.
My favorite sets were Allison/Adam/Kris/Matt
Top 5 performances:
1. Slow Ride
2. Cry Baby
3. Whole Lotta Love
4. Heartless
5. Barracuda/Mad World
