Chuck's Grand Rapids MI Recap
Before we get into the recap for the August 15, Grand Rapids, MI show, I should make a few disclaimers. The first and most important is that I have not been to a big concert in years. YEARS. And as such, this is my very first American Idols Live! concert. I voted for Mandisa every week, then voted for Paris, Elliott and Katharine. And I am not, repeat, not a member of the Soul Patrol. (Which makes me a minority, so I should get benefits and discounts from the government, right?) I did not have front row seats. I did not get to do to the meet-and-greet. (Sadness!) And as a whole, as a person, I tend to be “nicer”. Some of my classmates in my English class even agreed that I’m more of a Paula Abdul-type when it comes to doling out criticism. (Nice paper! I loved it! Just learn how to write in complete sentences and it will be perfect!) So be forewarned.When I walk in to the Van Andel Arena and go through the gate, I was amused to see that they had a area set up for karaoke. If only Simon could judge all of them! Although there was this one older lady who sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow beautifully. At first when I heard the song while walking around, I thought they were playing McPhee’s single! The people who were dancing, however, were not quite so impressive. Though the helpers looked like they were having lots of fun, so I couldn’t help but laugh.
I eventually found my seat on the second level and sat in waiting for the show to start. During that time I quickly established that there must have been a 15 to 1 girl/boy ratio at the concert. My row had about two guys (myself included), and the rest were all girls. Walking around the crowd later on would only help prove my theory. While waiting, there were two Pop-Tart mascots warming up the crowd, both in the aisles and on stage. And they were having fun with each other too, doing gun fights and dancing, all sorts of silly mascot-y-type things.
Now that I’ve rambled on long enough providing “context” for my evening, I’ll dispense with concert details. When the lights were lowered and the low ominous music started to play, people started to cheer. When we saw some shadowy figures come out on stage, the crowd went wild - until they realized that they were the band. There were murmurs of mixed disappointment throughout the arena. (It was kind of funny, actually.) THEN the band started to play the American Idol theme music, and the crowd went wild. I never thought that theme music would give me goosebumps, but it did. Man, I miss that music. That may very well be the best part of the show, hearing the theme music. (You all can slap me later if you want for those sentiments. I’ll understand.) And I miss last season, too. The video montage they played during the theme didn’t help me move on!
Then, Mandisa opened the show with I’m Every Woman. Man, she’s a great singer. And I’m not saying that because I think she’s one of the most talented singers in the competition. I’m saying it because she is one of the most talented singers in the competition. She sang it with power, but it wasn’t overwhelming, like reports have said in previous cities. After the song, she talked about how Kat, Kellie, Paris and Lisa all have boyfriends, but she spends her nights talking to her Mom. She then said that she wanted to “dedicate this next song for the fellas. Gentlemen, this is for you.” She then started singing If I Were Your Woman, with seemingly ease and artistry. It would sound great on her album. I’m just saying.
(For what it’s worth, Mandisa was wearing shoes on-stage. ^_^)
She then gave her 20-second inspirational speech to the young people, and started singing Angel. The crowd went NUTS when Ace came out to sing with Mandisa. And I know it’s getting kind of cliché to say this now, but they sound really good together. I was really, honestly surprised by how good their duet was. After the duet, Mandisa left the stage and Ace started to sing Father Figure. And yes, the crowd went wild when Ace took off his jacket. Losers. Heh.
For this next part, I must apologize. While transcribing from my video, I realized that Ace was taking about all of Grand Rapids, not just our women, when he said that we have beautiful people here. And actually, he just complimented our eyes. “We had the day off yesterday and I was just blown away. And y'all have beautiful eyes.” [laughs from the crowd] “Everybody. I like it here.” He’s still a chump, though. A very smart, clever chump. Who can sing well. His second number, Harder to Breathe was good as well.
And next is the little starchild, Lisa Tucker! If she doesn’t become the next Alicia Keys, or maybe even the next Norah Jones in about, say, 10 years, then there will be no justice in the universe. I’ve heard previous reports that she was real quiet and kind of hard to hear. Well, not tonight! She was loud and clear as a bell. As usual, she opened up with Singed, Sealed and Delivered, and as far as I could tell, didn’t forget any words. (Stevie Wonder, nay, Simon Cowell would be so proud!) She got a good reaction from the crowd, too. She seemed kind of taken aback by how much applause she got here in GR! She seemed really, really relaxed and calm during the two songs she sang while playing the piano.
I must say, the Lisa/Paris duet was only so-so. Mainly because Paris has such a deeper, stronger voice and it kind of washed Lisa’s voice out of the picture. But they were having fun on stage, and it wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t too great. After Lisa left the stage, Paris started with Midnight Train to Georgia. And she can sing it, don’t get me wrong. But I hate it when she dances to it. (I didn’t like it early on in the competition, either.) It’s a slow, emotional song, about starting life over again after it kind of fell apart. DON’T GYRATE TO IT! Ggggrrr…. And she did great on the vocals, but the Beyonce song bugged me to. I love Paris, a lot, but I like her more when she does more of the “grown-up” stuff. But hey, at least this way too she could go on So You Think You Can Dance?!
Bucky’s voice, in my opinion, was the weakest of the night. But considering he’s been on voice rest (Kat, Kellie, and now Bucky? Sheesh!), I guess I can give him a pass. The crowd didn’t even get too much into Drift Away. And if I weren’t busy taking video clips and pictures, I would have sang and swayed and done all that stuff. It’s a great song, you people! SING IT WITH HIM! (I should have put my anger issues in my disclaimer…) And unless I forgot to take a video clip to remind me, I don’t think that he sang Superstition. (I honestly don’t remember.) So let’s hope someone else can remember Bucky’s set better than me! J
The Bucky/Kellie duet was cute, but forgettable. For her first song (I’m the Only One? I’m terrible with song names.) she was kind of too deep and low, but frankly, I was seeing the Pickler in person and was not going to complain. Then, it was the most anticipated moment of the night: Pickler’s monologue! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
During break, I had my picture taken with a cardboard cut-out of the ten finalist. And it made me happy. (I think I need to re-examine my life now.)
When break came back, we got to hear the band play the theme music live, AGAIN! That seriously made me really, really happy. (As you can tell, it does not take much.) And then, it was Chris Daughtry time. And judging by the crowd reaction, he was the main reason everybody came that night. He started off with Whole Lotta Love, and though I was busy switching back between video and camera mode all the time, I didn’t see any thigh/hip action going on during that song. Heh. He did really good on Wanted Dead or Alive, and on Renegade. (I assume it was Renegade, judging by past recaps. I’m not into that kind of music, so I don’t really know…) In-between songs, he noted the crowd reaction and then asked that when he goes on tour to promote his new album if they’d want him to come back to Grand Rapids. He got a HUGE reaction to that. Needless to say, I think he just penciled in GR for his tour.
The Chris/Elliott duet was great. I really just can’t add anything more to that, can I? I should note right now that Elliott came out wearing a MSU shirt. Remember that detail for later on, okay? Okay. His set, Never Too Much, Moody’s Mood for Love and Trouble was really good. I don’t think he fumbled on lyrics, pitch or ANYTHING during those songs. He’s really a great, great singer.
The boy’s song, Patience, was very forgettable. Sorry, guys. Your vocals were great, but the song was just kind of blah.
Next up was the set that people are still getting familiar with, Kathsrine McPhee! She started off with Black Horse and the Cherry Tree. She was half-good: She was kind of weak and off-key with the “Woo-hoo” parts, but everything else was great. She mentioned that she was off the tour for three weeks due to being sick and being put on complete vocal rest, and that she’s still on limited vocal rest, so when she comes out she can actually sing and talk, so she likes this part of the night a lot. She then went on to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow like nobody’s business. Honestly, Judy Garland and Jane Monheit have NOTHING on McPhee’s version(s) of this song. NOTHING. That song was a crowd favorite, too. Everybody went nuts when she started to sing it.
Of course, as you all know, there’s only one person left for the night: Taylor Hicks! He started off with Jailhouse Rock, starting off at the opposite end of the arena and worked his way through the crowd towards the stage, assisted by security, of course! He then went on to sing Hollywood Nights, Living for the City, and Do I Make You Proud. And then, applause, dimmed lights, and the band walks off stage. The (fake) end!
We all start clapping and cheering, louder and louder, not only because we want more, but because we’ve read concert reviews before and know that we still have two group songs left before the show is over, so WHERE ARE THEY? We clap and clap and clap, and the band gets back up on stage like “Oh, let’s give them a fake encore!” The fake encore consisted of Taylor Hicks singing Taking It To The Streets, and then the two group songs. (Katherine was there for the final one.) The group songs were only okay, but hey, it made the concert longer, so more bang for my bucks!
And… end concert. For real this time. Positively. No more fake encores. After spending 10 minutes being pushed around through the crowds, trying to make it to the steps downstairs to ground level, I found out that the Pop-Tarts people were handing out a free Mint Chocolate Pop-Tart. And it was chilled, too! And I’ll be completely honest, being Dutch and cheap, getting a free Pop-Tart made my night. More so than even seeing the Idols in concert. I got free food. THAT, my friends, is very exciting. (And it was a good Pop-Tart, too!)
Well, I certainly didn’t mean to write a small book (sorry about that, mj!), but now you pretty much know what the GR concert was like. Every singer got a lot of love from the audience, and they showed that love right back. Most of the singers even went down to the people in the front row and shook hands, did that running-and-slapping-hands thing, or in the case of Kellie, found a middle-aged man and sang a verse or two to him. All in all, it was a very fun experience. And hopefully season six will produce contestants good enough to make me come back next year!
