So last night the American Idol concert hit Charlotte, NC for the night. As per my usual, I bought a single ticket and headed out for the show. I haven’t been to an Idol concert since David Cook won, and last night’s experience was infinitely better!
First of all, my seat was fantastic. I was in row Q on the floor, which led me to believe I’d be about 17 rows back. But I wasn’t. Row Q was closer to being 10th or 12th row! So my good seat became even better. For the David Cook show I was back far enough that I needed binoculars to see the singers’ faces really well. Not so last night!
Last night I was close enough to see the spit come out of their mouths when they sang really aggressively. I love that. *lol*
Secondly, the production seemed better this time around. I really liked this tour’s set in particular. It had a short catwalk in the center that allowed the singers to come up just that little bit further into the audience when singing. They also had platforms to allow them to be up higher so that if you were sitting while people were standing in front of you, you could still see them when they went up on the platforms.
The sound was that of a typical concert. Lots of screaming girls (and grandmas), and a jacked up treble that made hearing the vocals sometimes difficult when the music really got rocking. However, I put in my headphone buds and voila – I could hear the vocals perfectly.
Here’s the setlist (which I found on another website) – tell me if you notice anything about it:
• The Girls – “Born This Way†by Lady Gaga
• Pia Toscano – Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys & Jay z
• Pia Toscano and Stefano Langone – “California King Bed†by Rihanna
• Paul McDonald – Maggie May by Rod Stewart
• Thia Megia – “Who Says†by Selena Gomez
• Pia, Thia, Haley & Naima – “Tightrope†by Janelle Monae
• Stefano Langone – “Grenade†by Bruno Mars
• Stefano Langone and the Girls doing “DJ Got Us Falling In Love.†by Usher
• Guys w/o Scotty- “Animal†by Neon Trees
• Naima Adedapo – “On The Floor†by Jennifer Lopez
• Pia Toscano – New Single! “This Timeâ€
• Lauren, Pia and Thia – “Fireworkâ€
• Casey Abrams – “Smooth†by Rob Thomas and Santana
• Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart – “Moanin'”
• Casey Abrams – “Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5
• Group Number – “Forget You†– Minus Scotty
INTERMISSION
• Lauren Alaina – “Flat on the Floor†by Carrie Underwood
• Lauren Alaina – “Like My Mother Does†New Single!
• Lauren, Haley, Thia, and Stefano – “If I Die Young†by The Band Perry
• James Durbin – “Sweet Child o’ Mine†by Guns and Roses
• James Durbin – “Uprising†by Muse
• Jacob Lusk – “Never Too Much†by Luther Vandross
• Jacob Lusk with Pia, Naima and Stefano – “You’re All I Need To Get By†by Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell
• Haley Reinhart – “House of the Rising Sun†by The Animals
• Haley Reinhart – “Bennie and the Jets†by Elton John
• Scotty McCreery – “Your Man†by Josh Turner
• Scotty McCreery – “Are You Going to Kiss Me Or Not†by Thompson Square
• Scotty McCreery – “I Love You This Big†New single!
• Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina – “When You Say Nothing At All†by Alison Krause
• Scotty McCreery with Lauren, Thia, Pia and Haley – “Gone†by Montgomery Gentry
• Entire Group: Medley James & Lauren – “Here I Go Again†by Whitesnake, Paul, Haley & Casey join with “Faithfully†by Journey, Stefano & Naima Adedapo join with “Walk This Way†by Aerosmith, Thia & Jacob join and everyone sings “Any Way You Want It/ Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin†by Journey
Do you notice how often Pia was on the stage? I hated that part. Yes, I know she has a new single on the radio, and yes I know many feel that she was booted too early. Whatever. The fact of the matter is she was booted ninth, and was given more stage time than any other female in the show – including Lauren Alaina, who came in second. Not only that, but she still does her freaky “let me raise my left arm in the air over and over as though I’m guiding a plane into the hangar” move – so annoying.
Not only that, but Paul, James and Jacob – who clearly were fan favorites based on the screams last night – got barely any stage time at all compared to Pia and Stefano.
As for individual singers, it seemed that Lauren had laryngitis because her voice was very husky when she spoke. She’s also much smaller in person than she appeared on the show. On TV she looked like she’d be a size 14-16 compared to the other girls, but in fact she’s probably only a size 8. It’s totally true that the camera is never a person’s best friend. Accordingly, Haley was VERY VERY tiny in person. *lol*
Paul was great on stage. He got everybody on their feet dancing during his rendition of “Maggie May.” Going back to the camera thing, he is VERY skinny. His legs were like toothpicks! And yes, his teeth ARE that white.
The over-50 crowd definitely loved Casey and Haley. And for good reason – they both sounded fantastic last night. Haley is just an amazing vocalist and I’m sad she only placed third. Another crowd favorite was James Durbin – he actually started his first song from the back of the arena and walked through the audience to get to the stage. Very cool and the crowd loved it. I was surprised by Naima – she was very engaging and her “On the Floor” was really well done. Stefano was good, but very cocky. You could just tell that he will be the guy who, in five years, will say, “Do you know who I am?” when trying to get into some third-rate L.A. dance club that won’t let him in. *lol*
But the song of the night, hands down, went to Jacob Lusk. Now, I was not a big Jacob fan at all. And you could tell that he wasn’t the big favorite last night either. But he DEFINITELY earned respect for his performance of “You’re All I Need to Get By.” It was BRILLIANT. Easily the best song of the night, in my opinion. And based on the huge applause he got, I’d say most of the people at Time Warner Cable Arena agreed with me.
All in all it was a fun show, whether it was watching dancing Grandmother’s rock out to James Durbin, or my sudden burst of laughter when I realized that the concert finale ended up being a cover of a Journey mashup done by the cast on the TV show “Glee.” It was definitely a good time!!
Now it’s on to “So You Think You Can Dance” in September – I bought my ticket yesterday and managed to score a sixth row seat! WOOT!
Was Moanin’ as awesome as it was when they did it on AI?
Jen: Yes, it was. Fabulous!