Purplesmile, a regular longtime poster here at the blog, calls Manila, The Philippines home. Lucky for us, she has a first hand account of two of Taylor Hicks’ 3 recent mall gigs in the city. She also took some video and photos.
TAYLOR HICKS LIVE IN MANILA
This time last year, getting to see my favorite Idols live was purely wishful thinking on my part. Who would have thought that poor little me from this distant country would get to see two of my favorite Idols right here on home territory? And for free, at that! Not I, certainly. But it did happen! Many, many thanks to the Ayala Malls (I should shop there more ;D), who, this year, first brought my favorite Idol, Elliott Yamin, here in September, and, just more than a week ago, the first American Idol winner to visit us, Taylor Hicks, who I also am a fan of. So I went to Taylor’s first two Manila shows (the venues of which are both very conveniently located only a couple of blocks away from my office) and enjoyed them immensely.
Continue reading ‘Purplesmile’s Recap - Taylor Hicks, Live in Manila’
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Tamera’s recap from the Elliott Yamin concert at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, MD 11/5/07
I was about 15 rows back, dead center at the Kelly Clarkson concert last Tuesday. Not bad for last-minute tickets. I took a bunch of photos. You can check them out on my 
Near the middle of the show, she mixed in some of her more familiar hits, like “Thankful” and “Because of You”. Mid-show, the stage curtain came down, and Kelly did a few numbers with keyboards only, including, a soulful cover of the Patty Griffin song, 
Jordin Sparks looked exactly as I pictured her in the moment of her Idol victory. Her win was certainly no surprise after Tuesday’s show, where Blake proved to be no match for Jordin’s prowess for power-emoting treacly lyrics. Personally? I think it’s as it should be. Jordin is the perfect winner. Too bad the show ran so long we could not get some extended moments of Jordin revelling in her triumph with her fellow Idols. The confetti machine appeared to be on the fritz, too. Damn.
Well, that was a bummer. Tonight’s finale held no surprises–no “ahh” moments. Instead, we get the usual, plus a few eww moments that add up to an anti-climatic final. Out of 50,000 plus submissions, the songwriter contest produced a turd. The two never-before-heard songs by Blake and Jordin were respectively lackluster and earsplitting. And the judges comments, quite often, made me want to punch someone.
Melinda Doolittle eliminated tonight.
I, on the other hand, truly felt the contest could be anybody’s game. Particularly after Tuesday night’s episode. Melinda and Blake Lewis both outsang and outperformed Jordin Sparks. For the first time in a few weeks, she appeared vulnerable. Of course, if Jordin were vulnerable, they all were. But still, I found myself thinking that a Melinda/Blake final was in the realm of possibility.
Eep. It’s tough for me to wrap my mind around recaping the Final 3, because while the show was broadcast here on the East coast, I was actually in a club watching Elvis Costello and the Imposters put on a kick ass show. I’m on a giddy Elvis high right now, but I’ll do my best to concentrate. Here we go. 
No Top 4 surprise boot this year, kids. LaKisha Jones, who has been teetering on the edge for awhile now, is sent home. She’s a talented singer, but without any training or musical exposure she had a tough time navigating the theme nights. Any song outside of the big-voiced R&B box tripped her up. And her penchant for picking songs by beloved Idol winners didn’t help her much either.
Barry Gibb is this week’s guest mentor. He and his brothers, The Bee Gees, came out of the British Invasion of the mid-sixties and have been through a few metamorphoses over the years. During the 70’s , they became a dance band, helping to mainstream disco. And, as a staunch member of the “Disco Sux” contingency back in the day, I’m not a big fan of the music from that period. My favs all come from their early work, in the 60s, of which I was hoping to get a good dose of tonight. Alas, it was only Jordin who brought the Beatlesque Bee Gees, singing the beautiful “To Love Somebody.”
Goodbye Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson 
Well, I was a little shocked. Phil Stacey, left the competition this week after 3 very strong performances in a row. And despite TPTB’s attempts to throw him under the bus–hell because of their attempts, ’cause by now I figure America really isn’t listening to them anymore–he’d sail through to the next round. LaKisha Jones, on the other hand, made a comeback only this week after several lackluster performances in a row, and a drubbing by the judges last week.
Can I just whine for a bit? I know the charity special last week raised a lot of money for people who need it. And that perhaps it would have been some bad karma to kick an Idol to the curb at the end of last week’s Kumbaya-fest. But DAMN. I missed my boot. My week is not complete until I witness someone’s dream being crushed. And no flipping Top 5? At all? BLEAH. Ya know, if it were Top 5, the remaining contestants would be singing two songs each this week. I’m just sayin’
Sorry the recap is so late peeps. I felt like I needed to watch the special over again, and I just could not bring myself to do that right away. It’s just as well, there’s a lot of information I’d like to include in the recap that wasn’t available last night.
As of Thursday night, Idol Gives Back 
Cold opening - Ryan is standing in the control room looking very serious. “Tonight,” he says, “We are presenting a very special show. We’ve got the same 3 judges, the same 6 finalists (Each face is displayed on a monitor, the camera pans them). But one huge difference–the calls that you make will not only save your favorite contestant, (Ryan pauses dramatically and turns around) they will also save lives. THIS is Idol Gives Back.
Martina McBride performs ”Anyway,” from her newly-released album, “Waking Up Laughing“ 
UPDATE: 
J Lo sings a cut from her new Spanish Language album….
Ryan opens the show by taking a poke at the continued survival of the contestant-who-wouldn’t-die, Sanjaya Malakar, all but giving away the fact that Sanjaya is safe this week. 
It’s Latin Night kids, ready for some hot-blooded red-blooded passion? Oops sorry, you aren’t’ going to get it. Not to say there aren’t some very good performances tonight, but the kids aren’t quite up to tackling these songs with the required spirit.
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