Undercooked also attended the Ford car presentation earlier in the day. I posted a few of her photos of the event at the end of her concert re-cap…
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I’ll try and keep this recap short as I know it’s almost all been said. For the record, this is my first AI concert. I took my six-year-old daughter. We had fun, but there certainly were some ups and downs.
We left the house around 4:30 p.m.to get to the Staples Center because I knew traffic would be bad. I wanted to get there around 6 p.m. so we would have time to get souvenirs, etc before Michael’s set. It was hot, mid 90s, so I air conditioner on full blast while we inched our way across the Hollywood Freeway. All of the sudden, the engine cuts out in my 2007 Ford (this is important). WTF!! It’s overheated. I pull over and let it cool down. After about 20 minutes, I am able to get it started. And because I’ve had a lot of crappy cars, I know to run the heater to help cool the engine. So it’s 90 degrees outside and probably close to 100 degrees inside the car and I’m sweating like Danny Gokey. My daughter is in the backseat, with a bottle of cold water and since I have turned every vent towards me, she doesn’t feel the extra heat. I am now about a half hour behind schedule and I’m pissed about the car. I hope I’m not screwed with the warranty!
By the time we get to the venue, I’m so sweaty I thinking about buying an Adam t-shirt to change into. And I would have if I had the time. After waiting in the security line, the guy with who scans the ticket barcodes says there is a problem. He didn’t know what was wrong and he sends me back outside to the will call window. So we wait in another line, and they tell me the section I was sitting in has been closed because they moved the sound equipment there. But hey, they are ‘upgrading’ my seats. I am now in the back section of the floor seating. After I get my two new tickets, we have to wait in line AGAIN to clear security. Once we get inside, I eye a margarita bar, but since I have my first grader with me, I keep moving. I decide to find our seats and get situated. I run into another MJ poster ‘Snuffles’ and she points out Cheeks and the Skin Graft jacket guy walking over to the really good floor section. Oh to be cool and know someone who can move me out of seating purgatory!
My daughter wants cotton candy, so we go get some and it falls off the stick and lands on my black pants. So now I’m sweaty and sticky. Whatever. At this point I just have to roll with it. We sit down and I’ve got two young teens in front of me who are all about Adam. They scream whenever his face comes on the screen. I would say the crowd is a real mix of ages, with young kids, teens, Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers, and what are the calling late teens early 20s, Echo Boomers? Finally, the show starts. I have my camera, but I’m too far away to get any good shots. Plus I’m too short. I’m 5’2 and everyone is blocking my view. Also noted, no signs! Well at least not in my section. I don’t know if there is a rule against them at the Staples Center or if LA folk can’t be bothered to put sharpie to poster board, but I am pleasantly surprised.
Michael Sarver ‘ Applause! The crowd seems happy to see him in that pleasant, ‘long time no see buddy, how you been doing?’ kind of way. Michael lumbers across the stage singing ‘I’m in Love With a Girl.’ My daughter loves him and does the arm sway thing. She likes to do all of the audience participation moves. When he finishes his set, I clap really loud. I still feel bad about his tweet from a few days ago. For those who missed it, (and I’m just paraphrasing here so don’t dig it up and correct me) he said ‘I must be a boring singer because some fans had to ask me my name.’ Ouch. I think we can all agree that Michael was cast as the ‘working class hero’ of Season 8. I think he needs an outfit to reflect that. I suggest wearing safety goggles, work boots and a blue mechanic’s jumpsuit, complete with embroidered name. Of course, bedazzle that shit out of it. I tell you, people wouldn’t forget him.
Megan Joy ‘ Ok, pink dress and more pink and bubbles on the background screen. She is gorgeous, there is no denying that. She starts singing ‘Put Your Records On.’ The crowd is like, ok, yeah, that’s alright, and they clap. Now she talks about love and this one’s for those who were gypped in love and sings her second song. Not so good. No one around me complains and in fact, there is a really nice man behind me who yells support to every single idol after they perform. I know no matter how much Megan misses the mark, there’s going to one voice out there screaming ‘yeah Megan!’ I think she has talent, but has taken the wrong direction. She still has 45 shows left so maybe there’s time? Here is my idea and it’s either brilliant or really bad. Megan should sing something by ‘The Violent Femmes.’ Gordon Gano doesn’t have the strongest voice, but it is unique and his singing and phrasing are memorable. Yes, I know that would take her in a different direction than her current eye candy route, but it would give her more substance as a performer.
Scott McIntyre- Who knew he could sing in tune? Really, Scott sounded pretty good and his piano playing was great. I especially liked ‘Thousand Miles.’ I know some people don’t like his little stand up routine complete with high five, but I thought it was kind of funny. Oh, here it comes ‘YEAH SCOTT’ from the nice man behind me. Scott’s set is warm and fuzzy. He doesn’t really talk about his disability in a big way, and therefore he is inspirational. I kind of like him, even if he doesn’t always hold my attention when he sings. I did find myself drifting off a bit during his first song, ….Maybe I should catch the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow.
Lil Rounds ‘ She looks good, but I’m not keen on the outfit but I do like the hair. The first song is just ok for me. But I like ‘No One’ a lot. I could see her doing that kind of music in the future. I really enjoyed it and so did the crowd. In fact, it was my favorite song out of her set. Next up was ‘Single Ladies.’ People did get up and dance. They had the lyrics to ‘Single Ladies’ flashing on the big screen behind Lil, but I didn’t hear anyone singing them. It was a fun set and you could tell as we moved down the elimination order, the acts were getting better.
Anoop Desai ‘ It seems like a lot of people were looking forward to seeing Anoop. There is a nice applause when Anoop appears on the giant background screen dressed in white and surrounded by clouds. He looks like an angel to me. What a smooth voice he has. I thought he wore the funny glasses but I didn’t see them during this set? Everyone in my section got up and danced during ‘My Prerogative.’ This is when things started to get rough for me as I had to pick up my daughter because she couldn’t see. Also, we were an hour into the show and some people were getting tipsy. There was a drunken couple wandering around. Obviously they had crappy seats and were on the move to find better ones so they hovered in the aisles until security moved them along.
Matt Giraud- Wow, his hair is really short and it kind of looks like a Mohawk to me. I kind of liked him on the show but his nerves were a turn off. Now, he is like a different person on stage. He gets the loudest cheers in the first half of the show. I actually find him sexy. Coo coo ca choo Mrs. Robinson! I love Matt’s first song and he amps up the energy in the place. He is the right person to close the first half as he is that impressive. I can see what the judges saw in him. I also loved Georgia, but wasn’t as fond of his last song. I thought it was funny during one part of his set, Matt asked everyone to give him some cell phone light. In my day, it was lighters. Kids today, you have it so easy!!. You know how hot your thumb can get after holding a lighter on for a few minutes? Of course I had to turn on my cell phone for my daughter so she could hold it up and sway with the rest of the crowd.
Group songs/duet’â€this is getting long, so I will keep it short. Best part for me was Beggin. This is when Anoop was wearing the glasses that is from what I could see from my lousy view. The guys, especially Matt and Anoop, were terrific.
Allison Iraheta- Huge response. She is really popular with the crowd. Allison is glad to be back home. I like her little banter with the audience. I think it must be scripted because I’ve heard others mention that she talks about Danny, Adam and Kris in her set. I like her first song, but I see what people have been saying about her guitar playing. She doesn’t look quite comfortable with it. My daughter is starting to get tired but she thinks Allison is cool. I think Allison should stick with the guitar because by the end of this tour, it will be a part of her. I personally like the way she dances and moves. She didn’t sound hoarse to me. She just has that rocker voice. People were up in my section during her set.
Danny Gokey- Big applause. P.Y.T is rocking. He’s doing a good job and his voice sounds great. I also like Maria Maria and I know it’s late, but I’m going to say it. After watching the first few songs, if I had a few cocktails, I might be Danny-Curious. Really, I was pleasantly surprised at how strong he was. The crowd really liked him. He got a huge response! All was well with Danny’s set, until he started talking. He gave the tragedy vs. triumph sermon. Danny was bringing all of his baggage to the stage. I wanted to call a bellhop. Too bad, because his set was really good until then, and it just broke the flow. I know some people in the crowd liked the speech, but that just isn’t who I am. It left me in a bit of a funk.
Adam Lambert ‘ Maybe it was the Sermon on the Mount (Cheese), but the transition from Danny’s set to Adam’s set was jarring to me. So much so that my mind flew off into an entirely different direction. All I could think of was Billy Pilgrim, the character in Slaughterhouse-Five (my all time favorite book by Kurt Vonnegut.) For those who haven’t read this masterpiece, Billy is kidnapped by aliens and taken to their planet, Tralfamadore. He is exhibited naked in a zoo with a beautiful movie star so the aliens can observe human mating. This abduction results in Billy becoming unstuck in time, and he travels unwillingly at any given time, from the present to the past and to back the alien planet.
As soon as Adam began to wail WWL, wooosshhhh, welcome to Planet Fierce. And it is a wonderful place to be. It is sparkly, it sexy and oh so beautiful! (Except for the screams, the ear-splitting screams of the teenage girls in front of me. I was glad I brought ear plugs for my daughter). What can I say about Adam’s set that hasn’t already been said? Starlight and Mad World were wonderful. I did think there were some sound issues, but that seems to be the norm with these arena shows. Adam definitely was in sexy mode. Slow Ride with Allison was the hottest I had seen it. But Adam was sexy with the crowd and not inappropriately with Allison. Adam thanked Los Angeles for all their support and getting him to where he was. And we were all, ‘Yeah, you know it, we’ve got your back! ‘ The Bowie Medley was just all kinds of awesome. I really didn’t want his set to ever end, but it did. And once again I was jolted, wooossshh, to the present. Ah, someone spilt their coke behind me, and now the bottom of my purse is wet.
Kris Allen ‘ As much as Adam agitates and arouses, Kris soothes. That is why Adam and Kris together are yin and yang. They are opposing forces that complete each other. The crowd in my section stayed on their feet for Kris, even after Adam descended from the stage. I thought Kris’s voice was strong in Heartless. The crowd loved it. Killers’ song was great and the audience got into it. Kris is very popular with the LA folks. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a smaller venue. Ditto that with Adam. If you can’t see the stage, it’s not a lot of fun going. I want to apologize to Kris’s fans. I don’t know how the rest of his set went because I had to leave before his final number. I was afraid to get stuck in the after concert traffic and have my car overheat again. If I was alone, I would have stayed, but I didn’t want to be the side of the road with my daughter.
Closing thoughts ‘ Not sure if I would go to another AI concert. Or if I did, I would make sure I had better seats. By the time a performer sets the mood, their set is over so it is jarring to move from performer to another. Overall, my daughter and I had a nice time so that is what counts.
