Post by glennb4u on Aug 10, 2010 9:46:10 GMT -5
Here are my thoughts (and only my thoughts) on the American Idol Live 2010 stop in Dallas Texas.
As we were pulling out of our driveway to make the trek downtown, I realized that I had forgotten to grab the duct tape that I planned to use to hang my banner. I pulled back in the driveway, went back inside to get the tape and when I got back to the truck, my daughter seeing the tape says…. “OMG Dad, you are not planning on kidnapping her, are you?” I laughed so hard that I think I leaked a little. What a great way to start the evening. I did tell her no.
After arriving and parking the truck, we ventured to the American Airline Center where we saw a group of fans gathering outside of the Old No. 7 Club. When I asked someone what was going on, nobody really knew, but some thought that the Idols may come out. I don’t know if they ever did. One thing my daughter did so kindly point out to me was that I (as an old guy) was pretty much the only one of my kind there. There were a few young men holding hands of their ladies who had on the “I Love Casey” shirts. I thought that was ironically funny. Being the only old guy there didn’t bother me until she pointed it out to me… thanks dear.
We eventually got to our seats which happened to be in a luxury suite (thank you Craigslist) directly right of the stage. Not the greatest seats for a concert, but only because we had no view of the stage monitors that showed various clips of the Idols and the live feed of the show. The crowd was a nice size crowd, easily 8-9 thousand on hand. We shared our suite with a nice family of screaming Lee, Casey, Big Mike, Tim, Andrew and Aaron fans and the other old guy in the place who was there to see Crystal. For those that know, I had a nice (rather large) banner to hang, but after getting to our seats, I realized that it was going to hang right into the seats below us, but after seeing it, my suitemate said to me…”who cares, let’s get this baby up”….so we did. Turns out that nobody ever sat in those seats, so no harm done.
Show time.
The show is basically 10 individual concerts going in the order of being voted off the American Idol stage with a smattering of not enough group numbers for my taste. I won’t go into detail, but here are a few thoughts about the performers/performances: (These are my thoughts/experiences and I’m sure do not reflect the thoughts/experiences of the 9 million screaming 12 year olds in attendance, especially the ones sitting right next to me)
• Didi Benami – Nice voice, but forgettable.
• Andrew Garcia – Nice stage presence, loved Straight Up.
• Katie Stevens – Wow. Loved this kid. Great voice, lot’s of energy. Got the show going.
• Tim Urban – Hometown crowd for Tim and he was on his game. Sounded great. I think Tim has something. His voice was good and his stage presence was good.
• Siobhan Magnus – Killed it with her opener “Paint it Black”, the rest of her set was a mess, mainly because I had no clue what was going on. She did a lot of jumping up and down and head banging, but I couldn’t tell you what song(s) she was performing. She sure seemed to be having a blast though.
• Aaron Kelly – One of my favorites of the night. His pure country style was music to this old man’s ears. His family better be house shopping in Nashville, that’s where he belongs.
• Big Mike Lynch – His opening song dropped my jaw. His soulful voice was fantastic…but then he proceeded to put me to sleep with his next song. I’ll use that recording instead of Melatonin from now on. His final Justin Timberlake song just confused the hell out me…I had not one clue what I was listening to. He sounded like he was hurt, or in pain for most of it.
• Casey James – Another homecoming. He was great. I happen to enjoy his bluesy voice/sound, I just wish he did. While he did sing, he spent more time speaking through his guitar playing, which he can do extremely well. The crowd loved him and he reciprocated that. His set was energetic and fun.
• Crystal Bowersox- Her four song set was over before I knew it. Her velvety voice is mesmerizing and she just has a knack of taking you to a better place. My personal favorite was her version of “What’s Up” as the crowd sang along with “Hey Hey Hey Hey… I said Hey Hey Hey, I said Hey…What’s going on!” Loved that. “Up to the Mountain was spine tingling. She singled out a young boy for a sweet moment. I will steal some words from the Idol Dawg (Randy Jackson)… “Incredible….Incredible.” I could go on and on here, but you guys already know. Too bad my banner wasn’t big enough.
• Lee Dewyze- Lee was the surprise of the night for me. My only experience with him of course was from TV where he seemed a little shy and low energy. Well folks….that has changed. He commanded that stage and performed like a Champion. His set was as powerful as his voice and he brought the crowd home. Very well done. I may lift my personal boycott on buying his CD and I’m not mad at him about beating Crystal anymore.
Overall, it was a fun night. I personally would have liked to see more group songs, but I can tell you that this top 10 is good, each and every one of them. They all sounded great and looked like they belonged up on that stage.
As we were pulling out of our driveway to make the trek downtown, I realized that I had forgotten to grab the duct tape that I planned to use to hang my banner. I pulled back in the driveway, went back inside to get the tape and when I got back to the truck, my daughter seeing the tape says…. “OMG Dad, you are not planning on kidnapping her, are you?” I laughed so hard that I think I leaked a little. What a great way to start the evening. I did tell her no.
After arriving and parking the truck, we ventured to the American Airline Center where we saw a group of fans gathering outside of the Old No. 7 Club. When I asked someone what was going on, nobody really knew, but some thought that the Idols may come out. I don’t know if they ever did. One thing my daughter did so kindly point out to me was that I (as an old guy) was pretty much the only one of my kind there. There were a few young men holding hands of their ladies who had on the “I Love Casey” shirts. I thought that was ironically funny. Being the only old guy there didn’t bother me until she pointed it out to me… thanks dear.
We eventually got to our seats which happened to be in a luxury suite (thank you Craigslist) directly right of the stage. Not the greatest seats for a concert, but only because we had no view of the stage monitors that showed various clips of the Idols and the live feed of the show. The crowd was a nice size crowd, easily 8-9 thousand on hand. We shared our suite with a nice family of screaming Lee, Casey, Big Mike, Tim, Andrew and Aaron fans and the other old guy in the place who was there to see Crystal. For those that know, I had a nice (rather large) banner to hang, but after getting to our seats, I realized that it was going to hang right into the seats below us, but after seeing it, my suitemate said to me…”who cares, let’s get this baby up”….so we did. Turns out that nobody ever sat in those seats, so no harm done.
Show time.
The show is basically 10 individual concerts going in the order of being voted off the American Idol stage with a smattering of not enough group numbers for my taste. I won’t go into detail, but here are a few thoughts about the performers/performances: (These are my thoughts/experiences and I’m sure do not reflect the thoughts/experiences of the 9 million screaming 12 year olds in attendance, especially the ones sitting right next to me)
• Didi Benami – Nice voice, but forgettable.
• Andrew Garcia – Nice stage presence, loved Straight Up.
• Katie Stevens – Wow. Loved this kid. Great voice, lot’s of energy. Got the show going.
• Tim Urban – Hometown crowd for Tim and he was on his game. Sounded great. I think Tim has something. His voice was good and his stage presence was good.
• Siobhan Magnus – Killed it with her opener “Paint it Black”, the rest of her set was a mess, mainly because I had no clue what was going on. She did a lot of jumping up and down and head banging, but I couldn’t tell you what song(s) she was performing. She sure seemed to be having a blast though.
• Aaron Kelly – One of my favorites of the night. His pure country style was music to this old man’s ears. His family better be house shopping in Nashville, that’s where he belongs.
• Big Mike Lynch – His opening song dropped my jaw. His soulful voice was fantastic…but then he proceeded to put me to sleep with his next song. I’ll use that recording instead of Melatonin from now on. His final Justin Timberlake song just confused the hell out me…I had not one clue what I was listening to. He sounded like he was hurt, or in pain for most of it.
• Casey James – Another homecoming. He was great. I happen to enjoy his bluesy voice/sound, I just wish he did. While he did sing, he spent more time speaking through his guitar playing, which he can do extremely well. The crowd loved him and he reciprocated that. His set was energetic and fun.
• Crystal Bowersox- Her four song set was over before I knew it. Her velvety voice is mesmerizing and she just has a knack of taking you to a better place. My personal favorite was her version of “What’s Up” as the crowd sang along with “Hey Hey Hey Hey… I said Hey Hey Hey, I said Hey…What’s going on!” Loved that. “Up to the Mountain was spine tingling. She singled out a young boy for a sweet moment. I will steal some words from the Idol Dawg (Randy Jackson)… “Incredible….Incredible.” I could go on and on here, but you guys already know. Too bad my banner wasn’t big enough.
• Lee Dewyze- Lee was the surprise of the night for me. My only experience with him of course was from TV where he seemed a little shy and low energy. Well folks….that has changed. He commanded that stage and performed like a Champion. His set was as powerful as his voice and he brought the crowd home. Very well done. I may lift my personal boycott on buying his CD and I’m not mad at him about beating Crystal anymore.
Overall, it was a fun night. I personally would have liked to see more group songs, but I can tell you that this top 10 is good, each and every one of them. They all sounded great and looked like they belonged up on that stage.