Rena’s American Idol Tour 2009 Tulsa Re-cap

First off, let me say that this was my first concert ever. I was really excited to learn that the top ten would be stopping in Tulsa during the summer. I would have gone last year, but I was in school when David Cook and the other idols came to T-town. Any who, the first thing I noticed was the BOK Center. It was big. And I’m sure that it wasn’t completely sold out. Before the show began, the overhead screens played videos from Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood and David Cook. The audience mainly consisted of teenagers and their parents. It was obvious who the favorite idol was: Adam. He had the biggest cheers whenever his face came up on the screen.

I will say this about all of the idols. All ten of them have improved greatly since their days on TV. It was a really nice change to see them be confident with their songs and having lots of fun without the worry of judges, pressure and competition. I will also say that the up-tempo songs were far better than the slower ballads.

I did not like the countdown method of introducing the idols. Michael’s opening song was great and had people cheering. His second song ‘Closer’  was boring and lost the audience.

Megan Joy has way too much pink. The outfit looked extremely tight and I have no idea how she can move around in that little thing. I’m really glad she chose Amy Winehouse’s ‘Tears Dry on their own’  which is one of my favorite songs and Megan should have done this for the television show.

Scott was amazing. He brought so much energy and charisma to the performance that it made you just happy inside. At least it did for me. I also noticed his sparkly jacket and yelled ‘Sparkles!’  (I love glitter and sparkly things). He was overall great and wished he’d done more. His joke was not very funny (because I’ve heard it before on youtube) and his British accent was spot on.

I think Lil outdid Adam on the sparkly outfit. I didn’t really like her opening number and I can’t stand Alicia Keys, so her ‘No one’  (?) number was kinda boring. However, I love Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’  and Lil did an okay version of it. I did not like the words on the screen as a sing-a-long and found that they were quite distracting. She had the most improvement in confidence and stage presence.

What’s up with Anoop’s cloudy entrance? The clouds made him look like he was some kind of joke and they couldn’t come up with a creative ‘#6’  entrance? His up-tempo songs were great and the slower ballads made me lose interest. ‘My Prerogative’  was his best number and I will say that he is an good vocalist. His outfit doesn’t suit his style though. When he took the time to talk to the audience, he paused when a group of people started cheering for him and you could tell that he was really grateful to be touring.

Matt is so adorable and funny and a great piano player. ‘Hard to handle’  was BRILLIANT and ‘Georgia on my mind’  was fantastic as well. He was also one of the top ten who has improved greatly with lots of rehearsal.

I did not like the version of ‘Can’t take my eyes off of you’  from Megan and Lil. The original is just too classic and shouldn’t be touched. Matt and Scott’s ‘Tell her about it’  was the best piano duo I have ever seen. They were having so much fun that even I was dancing. ‘Beggin’  was awesome as the Act I finale. It sounded so great from all the men who looked so sharp in their suits. During most of the show I was trying to take pictures and looking at the stage lighting (being the theater geek that I am). It was really weird to see the top ten a few feet away from me after seeing them for so long on the
television and computer screen. It felt kinda surreal seeing a somewhat ‘famous person’ .

Allison rocked hard. I loved her guitar playing during ‘So What’  and the song really fit her voice well. The fans onstage were a nice touch to the rocker persona. ‘Cry Baby’  was rather boring only because it’s SO repetitive. ‘Barracuda’  was awesome and made an excellent closing number for the little rocker chick. Her set felt too short though, but we got to look forward to ‘Slow Ride’ .

Danny is much better live than on TV. He got quite the applause. The song I was looking forward to was ‘Maria Maria’  which is one of my favorite songs. And he met my expectations on that song. He was really into the music and having so much fun. Danny’s vocals were perfect for the Latin-pop sound and his salsa dancing was quite good. Why didn’t he do this song on the show during one of the more open-ended theme weeks is beyond me. I think he really would have honored his wife if he had sung something Latin influenced. I also see why he’s a motivational speaker because everyone got a taste of it. He spoke about not letting tragedy define who you are and put you down from achieving your dreams. His final two songs put me to sleep. ‘Maria’  was the highlight for Danny Gokey.

Now onto Adam. You could just feel the anticipation for this guy while Danny was on his last song. He got the biggest cheer and most of the audience was on their feet. His set was very theatrical and somewhat over the top. But that’s to be expected from Adam. ‘Whole Lotta Love’  somehow didn’t have that same sexual drive and power when he performed it on TV. ‘Starlight’  was an interesting song and diffidently not my favorite. I did enjoy the disco ball/stars effect. ‘Mad World’  was very lovely and I really liked the camera work for the screens during this song and the smoke. What surprised me was that
some people sat down during Mad World. Everyone got back up again during ‘Slow Ride’  with Allison. This is where Adam and his little sister were most comfortable onstage and really having a ball. I laughed so hard when someone threw a red bra onstage and Adam and Allison kicked it around like a soccer ball. Adam threw it back at them and the song was even better just because of the hilarity. I also really like the lighting for this song at the end with the smoke. Their hug is adorable too. Adam’s finale David Bowie medley’ ¦ well let’s just say he was working the stage. He is my favorite idol this year and seeing him perform as well as he did just makes me look forward to his new music in the fall. I will also say he is a very good vocalist.

Kris Allen was my other favorite. All of his songs were BRILLIANT. I didn’t really understand the curtain drop. He rocked the electric guitar, gave his all on acoustic and played with such love on the piano. ‘Heartless’  was AMAZING!! I love that song and all of the songs Kris did. ‘Bright Lights’  by Matchbox 20 was excellent, “Ain’t no sunshine” – perfect and ‘Hey Jude’  was one of the highlights because I was singing along and enjoying him so much. Kris is an extremely talented performer and I would not miss him if he came to Tulsa again (the same goes for Adam). It was also nice to see the other idols up there with Kris during ‘Hey Jude’  and enjoying the moment with him.

I could see the lift had almost come up too soon before the other eight idols were finished with ‘hey Jude.’  Matt and Scott were hiding and it was really cute. ‘Don’t Stop Believing’  was a fun closing number and I certainly had fun trying to take pictures of it (and kinda failed). Overall for my first concert, it was a fun night and I anticipate good things to come from these young performers. Will I go to another AI Live show? Probably not, but I would see Adam and Kris again if they came back to Tulsa.

About mj santilli 34832 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!