Watching Sitcoms

As a follow up to my many American Idol posts, I thought I’d share my thoughts from the concert. Saturday, we drove up to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to see it. This is normally about a 2 hour drive, give or take, but it took us more like 3, cause about halfway there, while driving on the Skyway through Hamilton, Ontario, we encountered a hurricane. Well, not really, but it was a pretty major storm with pouring sheets of rain, lightening and thunder, and darkness that made the street lights go on. It was intense.

Anyway, we got there about half an hour too late to see the Idols who came out early to meet the crowd. Of course. But the friends we were meeting did get to see them and get their pics taken with Jason Castro. Yay!!

The concert itself was OK. Honestly, it wasn’t as good as it has been other times. It wasn’t the singing, it was the format. And some of the singing. They basically performed in the order they were voted off the show, starting with Chikezie and ending with David Cook. They also had an emcee that started out getting the crowd all revved up. They never did that before. So Chikezie starts out and performs three songs. I don’t actually remember what they were, but I thought he was really good. Even better than I remember him.

Ramiele Malubay was next and she also performed her three song-set. Not good. I mean, really, really bad. Again, I can’t remember what she sang, but the first song was completely off key. It was almost painful. Then when she started the second song, her mike was dead and there was no music, but it looked like, from where I was sitting, that she could hear music, cause she was singing, or at least her mouth was moving, but with no sound. Very strange. Then they ran another mike out to her, and that one didn’t work either, then she had to go back stage for a moment, while they fixed what it was, and then she finished her set. I almost felt sorry for her, except that she was so bad.

Next up was Michael Johns. He sang We Are the Champions, It’s All Wrong But It’s Alright, and Dream On. He was great! I loved the whole set.

Kristy Lee Cook was next, and that’s when I left to go to the ladies room. It was funny, cause the place was empty, and as soon as I got in there, the line went out the door. Apparently, Kristy wasn’t a fan fave in Toronto. Kristy was wearing her trademark sequined tank top, too.

Then we had Carly Smithson. I was thinking of staying in the bathroom longer, but people needed to get in there. So I sat through Carly’s set, and honestly, she wasn’t bad. Not nearly as screechy as she was on the show. She sang an Evanescence song, a Heart song, and something else.

Next was Brooke White, who was pretty good. More like I remembered her from the beginning, easy going and laid back. She started out at the piano, shoeless, and sang Let It Be, then moved up to the front stage with guitar, still shoeless, and sang something else. I actually looked up one of the songs she sang, cause I’d heard it before an iPod commercial, I think; it was 1-2-3-4 by Feist.

Those six then did a group number, the same U2 song they did for Idol Gives Back, while showing pics of children from that special. The one strange thing was that the only person who got an intro was Michael Johns. Weird. (”Ladies and Gentlemen, Michael Johns!!”)

There was a short intermission, about 15 minutes, I guess, and they came back with Jason Castro. The sad part was that Jason was singing Over the Rainbow, with the ukie, when everyone was coming back in from intermission. It was all noisy and stuff, as you can see in the video I took below. Then he did Crazy and Daydream. I think I would have done Hallelujah, but that’s just me.

Syesha Mercado did her three songs, but I don’t know what they were. I thought the background singers carried her through the first song, but the last one - maybe something from Dreamgirls - was pretty good. Mostly, I just noticed her boobs sticking out from the top of her dress, so it was very distracting.

David Archuleta then performed four songs. The noise when he took the floor was deafening. Thousands of teenage girls screaming at the top of their lungs. The only song I remember was Stand By Me, which was good and included that brief verse of Beautiful Girl, which is what caused all the trouble with Papa Archuleta when he sang it on the show. Other than that, he was forgettable.

Lastly, we had David Cook, our Season 7 American Idol. David performed five songs, including Hello, Billie Jean, I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing and the winning Idol song, whatever it’s called. He was really good, and he was rocking the eye liner, which was fun.

They ended the show with a group number. One they all sang together before, but I don’t even remember which song it was. The sad thing was Jason and Syesha got ripped, since they only got their three songs and one group number, and the others all had their three songs and two group numbers - except the Davids.

Overall, I was a little disappointed. I mean, I paid $80 and traveled for hours and it wasn’t that great. I remember years with more group songs and duets and everything. This way, you only get a few minutes of the people you like and then you don’t see them again. Of course, perhaps they were recalling the unspeakably awkward group numbers from the season and wanted to stop that before it started. In which case, I guess they get a pass.

However, if I was setting up the AI concert, I’d start out with a group number, including everyone but the top two or three. Then you’d have Chikezie do his two solos, and then a duet or trio, then Ramiele’s two solos, Michael’s solos, another duet or group number, then Kristy, then Carly, and another group song before intermission. Then you come back from intermission with another group number, this one includes everyone but the actual winner, then Brooke, Jason, a duet or group song, then Syesha, David A, a group song, then Cook does his set, and they finish with a final group number with everyone. It would make it more interesting, for sure.

Here’s hoping they consult me for next year.