ETA:
- Fans and more fans.
- Billie Jean
- Livehead was there: Tons and tons of excellent videos.
- MAVID: Pom Poms!
Cookie Hometown Concert Part 2 is tonight. Drop by and tell us about the show if you were there tonight, or send your re-cap (and any pictures and links to videos you have) to my email address at mjsbigblog at gmail.com…I’ll post your story on the blog.
Watch this Space for UPDATES…
Mavid consisted of MJ and DC using pom poms.
OOOMG! I can’t wait to see that!
I didn’t like using Pom Poms when I was a cheerleader though. LOL
Pam, are you the same Pam who posts on D-C.org? I tried to listen to the cellcasts both tonight and last night and just.couldn’t.make.it.through. I wish that I had y’all’s patience/fortitude/whatever, but the sound quality just kills me.
The sound was definitely horrid, but it did sound like there were some great moments to catch on vid.
Yes, that is me. :D I know that the sound quality can not be as good on some nights as it is others but tonight the screams for DC were ear piercing! LOL I can understand why some can’t handle the loudness. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbT5CU-hn8
Arvid hug from this afternoon. LOL
I loved that hug vid. My favorite part was DC asking Archie for a hug.
*nods* I LOVE how DC does things to get to Archie! Archie is the perfect victim! HEE
ETA OMG I watched again and I think Archie is saying to a fan girl, ” I think you want to give me more than a hug!” @_@
That is so true. LOL You gotta love Archie though. He is a good sport.
It’s way too cute how Cookie can’t stop hugging Archie
You can tell that DC has a lot of experience being an older brother. Button-pushing skills? Yup, he’s got ‘em.
I only lurk on d-c.org, but it was great to see that y’all have hit the second goal for the cancer-fighting fundraising.
Kansas City #2
First of all, may I just say that not enough has been written about David Cook’s shoulders. More on that later.
This was my first Idol concert. The last concert I went to was Muse. My favorite concert of all time was Bruce Springsteen. This gives you some context. I will admit that during a lot of the first half, I glanced around at all the children and thought, what the hell am I doing at a Starter Concert for Pre-Teens? It looked like the training bra of concerts.
But I was there for David Cook. If he hadn’t been performing, I wouldn’t have gone. The other idols are adorable kids who worked their asses off on that stage, but I have to be honest. Besides the songs in Cookie’s set, there was only one other moment that made me think, “I would have come just to hear this one song, alone.†More on that later.
Because I have so much respect and fondness for all of them, I’m not going to criticize. I’ll stick to mentioning what were the high points for me. If I exclude your favorite, it’s meant as no criticism. It’s just that some “spoke†to me, and some didn’t, though they clearly were hits with other people in the audience.
And speaking of the audience, wow. Just holy wow. Pure, packed love in a glass box, that was the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., tonight. As David Cook said, we made him proud. Awww!
Now here’s my highlight reel:
I actually really liked Kristy Lee’s first song, and I have to tell you a funny. When she sang the USA song, not many people stood up until she made the “get up†gesture with her arms and then the whole floor obediently stood, though the rest of us mostly sat. My friend looked at the people on the floor and turned to me, laughed, and said, “They do know they don’t have to stand up, right?â€
I loved Michael. My friend loved Michael. We didn’t want him to stop singing.
Brooke surprised me so much. I hadn’t been impressed with her on the show, but she was awesome tonight, in my opinion. She owned that stage and sang with confidence and joy. I loved “Let It Be,†and I really loved “Yellow,†which I had never heard before. I always think that if a singer that you didn’t expect to like that much sings a song you don’t know and still manages to make you love it, that is talent, baby. She was great, imo.
Jason knocked my socks off and won a new fan in me. He has so much more confidence on the “real†stage than he ever did on Idol, and his voice was just beautiful. His was the only set ( besides Cookie’s) where I liked all the songs.
Now comes the one song that for the first time made me think, “I’m glad I came, just for this.†It was Archie’s “Angels.†It was stunning and I felt lucky to hear it live. I also loved his second song. I was impressed by how handsome, serious, and intense he looked as he performed. He sold me on those two songs. During his set, I thought I could hear the “cold†I his voice–and he coughed once–but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of him at all, and I say this as someone who was not a fan during the show. I can tell, though, that I’m going to have to pick and choose from his music, because some of his arrangements don’t ring my bells. But now I’m happy to know that some of them will.
Broad, wide, meaty. And those are just the shoulders of the man coming up from below. Then there’s the hair, the face, the rest of the body, the modest bling, the bit of guy liner, THE VOICE, the smiles, the personality, the humor, the humility, the laughing delight at being in Kansas City, singing to a ROARING, on-our-feet, devoted crowd of people who adore him. It was an honor to be there. Others will tell you what he said and how he said it, but really, I just need to absorb it for a day or so. He was fabulous, he was grateful, he couldn’t stop laughing, couldn’t stop saying thank you, and it was just. . .wonderful. I wouldn’t have missed his performance for the world, and now I CAN’T WAIT FOR HIS SOLO TOUR!
Love your recap spritely. This AI has gifted us with several singers with distinctive sound and personality and pretty much all are likable. I am quite hopeful for their post idol success.
Awesome recap, Spritely. I’m heading off to sleep with a big grin on my face.
Here is another vid of Cookie meeting fans outside this afternoon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWE6AHR1cfw
So I got a question for those of you who have watched Idol through the years. Is this usual? The attention, the press coverage, the adulation, the bated breaths waiting for the winner’s album and solo tour.
Did Jordan garner this much love? Did other Top 10 Idols perform as well as this Top 10?
I just wanna know just how much is special here and how much is per the usual.
You know how Idol just had auditions and we’re talking now about the new 4th judge? Well, I’m having a hard time bringing myself to care. I mean really, do we fall in love with someone every year? Am I gonna love on someone the way I love on David? Right now, I can’t believe it’s possible.
Thoughts please.
I have only watched since midway through season 3 but I think this top 2 is special. I think both will do well on pop radio - David A already is - and having the top 2 succeed on pop radio is a first I think. As far as this top 10, it’s all a matter of opinion but I still think season 5 trumps this top 10.
Patchchat… I’d say Season 6 did NOT have this much buzz. Season 5 probably had more. I started watching in Season 4, but pretty much checked out after the show ended, so I can’t say about that season. I was really sad about Bo’s album, though. Clive’s “very special” album for him was not him at all.
HI PJ!
For me the answer is no. I can’t be intensely involved with someone every year, nor do I find them worth it. I’m a HUGE fan of Clay Aiken’s, and I simply don’t have time to be that intensely involved with anyone else. I wasn’t a fan of anybody’s Seasons 3, 5, and 6 and thus didn’t find AI worth watching. I did enjoy Bo during his season. David will only be the second AI alum I’ll own an album from, and AI7 is only the second AI concert I’ve attended (though I’m still kicking myself for not going to AI4).
AI is just like any other reality show. Some years are better than others, sometimes contestants resonate and sometimes they don’t. I know when you are in the first blush of fan love you don’t even want to think about anybody else.
LU!! Come to chat for a minute if you can. I just logged in!
Season 6 had the least buzz as far as I am concerned, and I have watched every season. Season 5 buzz was enormous, but I think Archie and Cook have trumped that. I really think that from top to bottom this is the best top 10 evah. Season 5 is close, but although season two was one of my favorites, they were amateurs compared to these guys. Chik, Jason, Michael, and the Davids are just on another planet, vocally few may have been better or just as good (Elliott, Clay, Ruben etc), but when you add in charisma and being current, these guys are just all that.
PDSTM
Oh crap he did say that! David, I’m shocked, lol. I love how he’s letting his hair down. Seems like there is not a problem with Dadchuleta letting him enjoy the entire experience. Certainly not the robotic kid some were suggesting he was. Anything but. Love the giggle after he agrees to yet another hug.
Timmeh FTMFW!!
OMGosh, that PDSTM was hilarious. We didn’t just get Mavid, we got Mikey Lee!!!
Livehead’s video quality (watch in high quality) is amazing. And MJ was in rare form tonight. What a spectacular dork.
I think a girl says to him, “I’ll give you a hug. I’ll give you more than a hug.” And then he says, “You’ll give me more than a hug? What?”
THats what it sounded like to me too… hahaha
In terms of buzz, of the three seasons I followed S5 had the biggest buzz. The tour was at 97% capacity with only a handful of non sell outs. S6 was a dud. I say the buzz for S7 is the two Davids. Without them, I think the tour wouldn’t draw because the other idols have fans but not huge fan bases. S5 would have sold out some shows even without Taylor/Kat because almost all the contestants - Kellie Pickler, Bucky, Elliott etc. had major fanbases. I’m not even talking about Daughtry. KLC’s numbers are already a warning sign that this might not be true for S7.
Cook and Archie are off to very good starts. Are they going to put out Carrie/Daughtry numbers? Absolutely no way of knowing at this point.
I highly doubt it. I love Cook but his success will only depend on the material in his RECORD. So far, we have no idea how his sound is gonna be like. Despite what he says in the interviews, I’m trying to keep my expectations low. Hopefully he will surprise me. :) I believe he has the talent to be great, but talent is clearly not the only factor in play (there are tons talented people out there). It’s a crapshoot (that can’t be said enough). I don’t think Jordin Sparks was anything special during her season. She’s not even that great a singer (unlike Archie or Michael) imo and I still can’t recognize her voice on the radio. She sounds like a lot of female singers out there, very generic. Still, she’s quite successful and I like her new single. Wasn’t a fan of Carrie Underwood on the show, still not a fan (nothing personal, just not into her voice) but she is VERY successful now. So…it’s always very hard to predict for me. I think DC also knows this. He always mentions in interviews how all these can go away very easily. Trufax.
KC 2nd night Hello
But no matter what happens, DC will always have a place in my heart (yeah, I know, sappy. hee.) It’s an absolute delight seeing him glowing on stage at the KC tour stops. He is quite lovely.
(ugh, sorry I went a bit OT there in the first paragraph.)
Hey guys…
Let’s keep this thread on topic…The Idol show! The whole “which season is better” is a topic for another thread. Pick it up in the headlines thread if you really want to keep discussing it. Thank you.
ETA: I’m deleting off-topic posts. Please don’t hijack the thread.
Just saw the “hug” video. Hilarious. I wonder what else Cook will do to Archie as the tour winds down.
Thanks for the link to the hug video.
I love watching Archie’s reactions to things that he finds strange. That hug from Cook was cute and unexpected. He just went along with it and then got back to what he was doing. I loved the “what?” too. Now that he’s having a chance to show more of his personality, I’m becoming a fan.
During the last show, the Idols usually find ways to play pranks on each other. This year is gonna be interesting. I have a feeling that Archie and Jason will be on the receiving end of a lot of them. LOL.
Something else from last night that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else here. . .DC made a big, big deal out of being happy to be HOME. And at once point he talked about his dad buying him that first guitar and he said something like, “you know how sometimes random events end up being synchonistic? This is that moment for me.” He pointed at the floor, as if pointing to “here, in Kansas City, in this place,” and he was emphatic.
A couple of other things–man, he did NOT phone in TOML. He sang it to us as if he meant every word of it. Same thing with IDWTMAT. He sang as if being on stage last night was The Time of His Life and He Didn’t Want to Miss a Thing.
It was so sweet.
Billie Jean
The way he goes back to the mic and says “thank you” in such a sincere way is really touching.
Not an actual ArchuCook moment but this is an adorable exchance between Archie, one of his fans and a DC fan.
spritely - thanks for the terrific recap. It’s been like Christmas morning these last few days for DC fans. I understand about the shoulders - I’ve had a secret crush on David’s shoulders for a long time (don’t even talk about the arms).
Is all right here, along with other assorted wonderfulness I wish livehead could just attend all concerts and film them for us. I love DC’s Chikizie impression!
His pure joy at being home is so great to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT59k31kIQ0
I was going to post this in the OKC thread but I dont think anyone is still lurking there.
This was at the signing, and Archie was talking to some of the his fans, and he was like you dont hate the other one(david) do you? they were like ‘no, we love him too’ and he said ” awww thats good I love him too!’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr9J2dJ7X-U&feature=user
Archucook
Theres also some random singing.. Sometimes I wonder if he thinks in song…..
I forgot about the Chikizie impression! It was hilarious. Honestly, there was so much goodiness that I’ve fogotten a lot of it already, until I’m reminded. But speaking of the shoulders. . .and we should speak of them more often, lol. . .I’ve heard a lot of people who’ve attended say he’s looking thin, but I am here to tell you that man is not thin. He’s not fat, not at all, but he’s “meaty,” very masculine looking, muscular, and “thick” as somebody described him a long time ago. I like men who look like that.
Emmajk, that is the best banter video ever! I couldn’t understand the Archuleta reference in person, but now I know what he said, lol. You can see why everybody who was there is talking about how much fun it was.
Thank you to everybody again for all the great links! When David had the audience singing the end of Hello, all that I could think of was this seemed like a dream he had as a fan at somebody elses show, and that someday the crowd would be singing along with him on one of his songs. He seemed so incredibly happy it brought tears to my eyes.
That’s the exact same thought I had. The grin on his face afterwards was priceless. Just wait until an audience is actually singing one of his own songs back to him. I want to be in there in person when that happens.
There’s more emotion and gratitude in that simple “guys… thank you” than he could put into an hour long speech. Geez.
And, in one of the links above (the Timmeh one?), only DC could just casually insert the word “serendipitous” into his banter and then put a balloon hat on his head.
You do get the sense that the band and stage people love Cookie, don’t you? I love the Timmy stuff, but he’s also had fun with the drummer, guitarist, keyboardist, and backup singers.
Oh, it was “serendipitous” he said, not “synchronistic.” I thought that seemed not quite right, but I couldn’t remember exactly. I should have taken notes, lol. Except then I would have had to look away. Nope.
I thought the Newark/TOML moment was the truly special one that he’s always going to cherish (nad he still talks about it) All joking about magic rainbow aside but that really was special, mostly because it’s his song, his first hit, and that was the first time the audience started singing the words and it was so spontaneous. When the song was finished he looked so overwhelmed and said something about how he waited his life for that moment
Mavid was great!!!!!!!!! MJ looked like a nut the whole song!
Thanks for all the videos and links everyone. Cook makes me weepy lately.
10 more shows to go… what are we gonna do peeps??
Oooh Spritely! I meant to add in my last comment.. I LOVED your recap!
It was kinda like a mystery at the beginning.. oohh what is the one song tha grabbed her??!! I love Archie’s Angels. He changes it up during different concerts and keeps it fresh. Loved the detail and thoughts especially since you weren’t a fangirl of all the idols!
I was there last night, and after a day of cars and airplanes and more cars… I’m home! WOO WOO!!
I don’t live anywhere near Kansas City, but my sister does, and I thought it would be fun to buy tickets to the KC show so we could go to Cookie’s home concert. I thought that would be a more special show than the ones nearer to me, and I think I was right. (Note: my sister was a HUGE Jason Castro fan, although Cook was her second fave. Her husband liked Cook as #1 and the other Cook #2. This will be important later.)
So I flew to Kansas City Thursday, and my sister and I shopped and had lovely cocktails at various lovely KC locations. No, I didn’t see anyone. When I went to the SYTYCD concert in Mpls-St. Paul, I saw a whole gaggle of the dancers at the Mall of America. If there was anywhere the Idols were congregating in KC, I didn’t see them.
My sister and her husband are not at the all the bus-stalking types, so I passed on that and we just did more shopping (lots of bargains in KC) and had another lovely dinner with lovely cocktails. Our waitress was slow and I was very worried we were going to be late, but we got to the Sprint Center along with a gazillion other people about five minutes before showtime, and my sister insisted we needed to park at the ramp, along with all gazillion other people. (Note to others who may attend events at the Sprint Center in the future — DO NOT PARK IN THE RAMP! I’m just sayin’.)
We were at the very top of the ramp and the elevator was packed, including a woman talking very loudly on her cell phone about her after-party passes (which got her some very dirty looks from the other people on the elevator) and she also shouted into her cell phone partner that she had seen Kim Caldwell with David Cook’s mother outside the Sprint Center and that Kim had shorter hair again. Yeah, whatev, Miss Trying to Sound Like an Insider. Maybe she was cell-certing to Rickey. What do I know? When I saw Kim later during the concert, she DID have shorter hair, so maybe Miss Trying to Sound Like an Insider really did know what she was talking about.
We got to our seats while Pop Tart guy was still yakking. I thought Chikeze was amazing (although I still like Elliott’s version of “I Believe to My Soul” better) but neither my sis or b-i-l cared for him. Crowd was very receptive. This was a pattern all night.
I thought Ramiele was AWESOME. Sis and b-i-l agreed. Sis was surprised at how much better she was in person because she didn’t like her on the show. I did like her on the show, and I was glad to see how happy and fizzy she seemed (like she was early on the show, before she lost Danny Noriega and her spizzerinctum.)
Michael Johns blew the joint away, and again, as with everyone, the crowd was very receptive. Pretty much everybody remarked on how good the crowd was, but we didn’t know if they say that every night. But that boy came off like a total star.
I took my potty break during Kristy Lee, but they both thought she was very good. I think she is a good singer, but a) I don’t like country much, and b) I don’t appreciate what I consider to be the shameless pandering of “Proud to Be an American.” Red, white and blue stripes in the audience? Really? REALLY?
Carly was fine, but her mix of songs isn’t my favorite. I liked “Crazy on You” but the Evanescence and Cyndi Lauper songs didn’t do much for me. Sis and b-i-l voted thumbs down.
Brooke was wonderful. We all loved her, and again, the crowd seemed to be in love. We agreed that Brooke is just Who She Is, so very genuine, and that she sings from the heart. It’s like we know exactly who is and that personality is reflected in every performance. The problem with Carly is that she’s more of a chameleon, and we weren’t sure who she was going to be next.
Oh well. But we loved Brooke.
During intermission, we saw Andrew Cook with someone who appeared to be his girfriend, David’s mother, and Kim Caldwell. I would say they were about three rows back from the little round projection of the stage, in the center section on the floor. We were sitting on the side and they were pretty much directly in front of us. Andrew had his arm around Kim for a while, which seemed a little strange, but whatev. They all came over and chatted with people in the front row of that side section (107-108) and seemed to be soaking up the love and taking pictures and enjoying the limelight. (The person I took to be Andrew’s gf was very cute but had total hoochie shoes on, if anyone cares about my judgment in these matters.)
Second half — my sister loveslovesloves Jason, and he did not disappoint her. I also thought he was better (and bigger) than I expected. He, like Brooke, projects this sense that he is and will always be exactly what you see, that he’s happy and centered and very real. Very enthusiastic response from the audience, including (to my ears) the most ear-shattering squeals.
Syesha was also warmly received, including a standing O for her last number. I wasn’t that into it, but the crowd certainly was.
Archuleta seemed off. I didn’t care for him on the show, so I thought he was pretty much the boy he always was, but my sister DID like him on the show and hated him in person. She kept mocking him for being a “mole boy”( his eyes were closed) and taking other potshots which surprised me. Shrug. Like I said, I thought he was pretty much the same Archie from the show. My b-i-l liked him a lot, and the crowd was absolutely bananas. The applause and love just would.not.end.
Cook was from another world entirely. He had the place in the palm of his hand, he seemed to be on Cloud Nine all night, and I just loved every single thing he did, including coming very near us (the stage right scaffolding by section 108) and standing on the bars to throw out some guitar picks. Except he muffed the throw and the first pick kind of fell at his foot and he cracked up. I swear he looked right at me when he did it and we shared a Cracking Up Moment. (I’m sure a thousand other women are right now pounding their keyboards to tell you that they shared a moment with David Cook when he dribbled his guitar pick. He has the knack of making each and every person there feel they are sharing a special, personal moment, I think. It didn’t hurt that he used the word “serendipitous,” which is the word I put up as my favorite the one time I went to the official Idol forums, when they were trying to find a word to request. They went with something else, but I still like “serendiptious” best, so again, in my very own “Killing Me Softly” moment, this felt like a special thing just for me.)
Overall, I thought he could do no wrong, the thank you at the end was adorable, and all five songs were astonishingly good. I think we sang along to bits of each of them. We were as one, boy, for a moment in time.
On the other side of the dial, my sister and her husband hated “My Hero” with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, and she didn’t like “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” either. They both thought that Michael Johns stole the show, much to my surprise. The hubby thought Michael Johns and KLC were the highlights for him, while my sister went with MJ and then Jason and Brooke. I thought Cook was a rock star (maybe a whole rock planet) and that everybody was really, really good. We agreed that they all deserve contracts and that it will be a crying shame if anyone from this group doesn’t make a career in music.
So we wound our way back to the top of the parking ramp, where we sat in gridlock for a good 45 minutes. Somebody also stuck put some Idol tunes on in their car and blasted it out, so we listened to “Always Be My Baby” and “Imagine” and “Over the Rainbow,” which was sweet of whoever did that.
I forgot to tell you that my sister loved her some Katharine McPhee during her season, and we went to see the House Bunny on the night of the first show. I actually liked that, too. Shocked the heck out of me, I’ll tell ya.
Even with the terrible parking issues, we all sort of left on a wave of good feeling, like we had all had The Time of Our Lives.
Thanks, Mia, Folkfan, EmmaJK, and IGet Cranked! (Hope I didn’t miss anybody.
smartcookie, I feel sorry for your crew that they didn’t love My Hero and IDWTMAT, lol. I know what you mean about the Personal Moment With Cookie. I was seated in row five to the right side where it should be impossible to know who’s he looking at and I’ll swear “we” had one of those moments, too. :)
Thanks everyone so much! I was at the Sat 8/30 show. I did get to see Cook and some others after the Friday night show. I emailed a “recap” of sorts to mj, maybe she will post it…. I forgot to write SO many things in my story! I didn’t put the balloon hat in there or the serendipitous guitar story moment and I got stuff out of order. I’ve never been very good at recounting things in chronological order. I think it used to make my ex crazy. Oh sorry, OT! ANYWAY, I thought while watching Idol this year and I STILL think that Cook is in a league of his own in this bunch. I BELIEVE that he will be in a league of his own out in the real world too, outside that “Idol bubble,” ya know. That 2nd KC show was just incredible. Can you feel the love tonight? LOL! I’m so glad videos and more details are here too, to help me clarify my wonderful memories. Thank you all.