Christy's St. Paul, MN Recap

My review is coming a little late and I’ll just give a warning right away. I’m Minnesota Nice to the bone when it comes to stuff like this. I hope I don’t sound too much like Paula Abdul, but here it goes …

To start, I just have to mention that I had the opportunity to meet Ace before the show and all the stories are true. Great guy, nice as can be, and even more good looking in person.

I’d also like to say that I saw Renee and her friend after their little field trip to the meet-and-greet (I was the girl sitting a few steps down talking to the woman with the cute little boy) and I APPLAUD you ladies for that fabulous display. With the security as ridiculous as it was, that’s the kinda stuff I like to hear.

Now, on to the show. I had floor seats in the 13 row in the center and they were GREAT. I had a pretty good view of everything. Anyway, after the endless amounts of poptarts ads and awful text messages, out comes Mandisa. Now, I really enjoyed her on the show, but wow! The girl can SANG. Everyone was up and dancing during ‘I’m Every Woman’ and she started off the show nicely. She toned it down with the second song, and while I wasn’t a big fan of it, she sounded great. Glad to see she’s not calling out Ruben anymore. Maybe he finally called her? Heh …

Ace: Let’s start by stating the obvious: this guy is hot. He knows it. Everyone in the audience knew it.  The FF striptease was classic Ace Young …But let’s not forget, this guy can also really sing. I’m a big Ace fan, and I’ve been pleased to read previous recaps in which people thought Ace was better than expected. The same held true tonight. He got a lot of cheers and though I could tell he sounded a little tired (who wouldn’t?), he brought some great energy and stage presence to the show. Did I mention that his jeans looked like they were painted on? Well, they were. And it was fabulous.

Lisa: Not a big fan of her on the show, but there’s no question that she can hold her own up there. I wasn’t feeling SSD, but the two Elton John tunes were very good.

Princess P: Everyone loves Paris. She had a lot of family and friends in the audience and she brought it. I thought ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ was great, and while some of the dance moves she pulled out for ‘Crazy in Love’ made me blush a little, the energy she brought with it overshadowed some of the less-than-stellar vocals.

Bucky: Oh Bucky. He’s a down home, country boy who can’t say Lake Minnetonka to save his life, but I adore him. There’s something about that ‘aww shucks’ vibe he gives off that just makes him very endearing to me. That said, I didn’t think the energy was brought down at all with his set.  Lots of people were up and clapping along.

Kellie: The contestant that I disliked the most this year … The duet with Bucky was a little odd. The country concept was cute, but something was just off for the entire song. Anyway, she was cute. She spoke a lot to the crowd and was very personable and gracious, even though the speech did sound very rehearsed. I still don’t care for her singing, but I think her personality will carry her far if she plays her cards right.

Chris: Oh man … Minnesota loves them some DAUGHTRY. He received, by far, the loudest cheers of anyone. It was nuts. I’d been expecting a good reaction, but it still blew me away. At one point, he asked something like “If I come back here on a solo tour, would you guys come see that?” Did he really have to ask? Heh.

Elliott: First off, I loved his shirt … ‘Savin’ Me’ was fantastic and I thought his whole set sounded really good. People sat down after his first song, but everyone was still very into it. When you leave out Paris, I think that the cheers were noticeably louder for all the guys than for the ladies, although everyone was really well-received.

Katharine: Was it just me, or did Kat sound really different on the show than she does live in an arena? I don’t know whether that was a good or a bad thing, but … I thought she sounded a little off during ‘Black Horse …’ but SOTR was right on. She mentioned that she was still on a strict voice-saving schedule, but during the soundcheck those of us listening could definitely hear ‘Think’ being rehearsed.

Taylor: He didn’t speak a lot to the crowd (‘it’s all about the music’), but had everyone on their feet. Great energy. I’m still not sure how I feel about his dancing. At one point earlier in the concert this father in the row in front of mine started dancing in that embarrassing way that all fathers do and I laughed and felt embarrassed for his children, who were cringing and making a point to look away. That’s kind of how I always feel when Taylor dances. But at the same time, I can’t look away. Anyway, everyone knows his set by now and I’ll just say that I really enjoyed him.

Now onto the pointy pose songs … A lot of cheese, but fun nonetheless. During ‘We Are The Champions’ I held up my sign (‘That’s one hot piece of ACE’) and since the people in front of me left early (what kind of parents make their little kid leave an Idol concert before the winner even finishes his set? Pssht), Ace saw it and pointed at me. So that was my fangirly, jump-up-and-down moment of the concert.

Overall, I thought the concert was entertaining and fun. Anyone who watches the show can appreciate what all these people are doing and I definitely recommend buying tickets if you don’t have them already.