AI7 Tour Review
Idols Live 2008
Overall it was really fun, the concert was excellent and getting some autographs from the Idols afterwards was pretty cool.
I thought everyone was decent but Ramiele and Syehsa were at the bottom of the pack for me personally.
The setup of the concert was good, 3 songs each for 10-3, 4 for little David and 5 for Cookie.
They introduced everyone with a cool thing on the big screen with their position, I only took a picture of David's so I'll show you his. The announcer would be like #10 Chikeze and then they'd come out and do their thing.
Chikeze was of course first and he was a good opening act. He always had a lot of energy and personality and he brought that to the tour too. It would have been boring if like Ramiele or Syesha had opened up imo. His first song was "I Believe to My Soul" and I personally liked Chikeze's voice when they originally showed him on AI and I like the song so I quite enjoyed his performance. He's a good singer and brought a lot too the tour, a far better person to have on there than say Amanda. He was great, awesome way to start the show.
Ramiele was up next of course since she was #9 and her inability to pick songs for herself extended to the concert stage. One of her numbers was "If I Never See Your Face Again" by Rhianna and Maroon 5 and it was pretty shitty. I never enjoyed her on the show and I didn't particularly enjoy her in concert. She didn't make my ears bleed or anything but my favourite part of her set was definitely when her microphone when out (it was of course right before she sang a sleep inducing ballad.)
Onto #8 Michael. I have to say it was really weird having him go 3rd. I know he was the shocker boot and everything but it never occurred to me how early he went. Then again I guess he really went 5th but only the Top 10 tour so it's less strange. Anyway he was dreamy as always and his singing was excellent. He was off the show for so long so I enjoyed hearing him sing again, and live he was even better. It really is a shame he didn't get further. He opened his set up right with a high energy number, "We Will Rock You" and he was the first person who really got the crowd going. He sang my favourite performance by him on the show "It's All Wrong But It's All Right," which was of course soulful and fantastic. His last number was his favourite performance on the show, "Dream On" which was again great.
#7 was Kristy Lee who said she loved Canada and really wanted to go to Niagara Falls so she has to come back and go there. She did a song I don't know the name of first but it was great, she's great. That same lovable, endearing, fun personality she had on the show came through in concert. She changed up her setlist a little bit for the Toronto show and sang "Anyway" instead of "God Bless America" and apparently she only made the decision the night prior so the guitarist had to learn it really fast. She gave him props for doing such a great job on short notice afterward. She did great too. At this point I was so glad I hadn't spoiled myself by reading the set list for the show because I loved all the surprises I got when people sang. I was also glad she sang "Anyway" because "God Bless America" would have been sun beautifully but "Anyway" was my favourite performance on the show. She should change it up a bit more and sit that at a few dates in America, people would love it. Her set ended with some song called "Cowgirls" and there was lots of booty shaking for the "Kristy Lee is hot" people, although I'm not sure there was anyone of that variety at the show.
Up next was Carly who I was of course very excited to see being that she was my original favourite. Her song choices for the night were probably my favourite. She started off with "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence and as soon as the music for it started I knew it'd be amazing. Her vocals were phenomenal. Last night she was even more impressive than she was on the show. Loved her set. She also of course did "Crazy On You" which was one of my favourite Carly's performances on the show and she loves Heart so much that the song is always killer because she always has so much passion and wants to do it justice. I'm glad I got video of those two performances because they're definitely something I'll want to watch back. Just killer. Carly deserved to go further too, but I'm glad to see she does amazing things in an environment where she's not constantly being held to ridiculous standards or criticized incessantly on her wardrobe and other things unrelated to her talent. Amazing talent right there, I have a bad feeling she won't get a record deal but she deserves one. Love her.
#5 was Brooke and I was actually looking forward to seeing her in concert. She cracked at the end of Idol and blew it for herself but she was back on her game, made great song choices and it was really nice to see the Brooke I originally loved from the beginning of AI. The pressure of this show really took a toll on a few of the contestants and they were all much better on the tour than they were ending out their runs on the show, Brooke was one of them. She came up on stage through the bottom already sitting at her piano and pressing the first few keys of "Let It Be" and the crowd was very excited. This was one of Brooke's shining moments on the show and she shone just as brightly with it last night. I definitely took a video of it, as well as her next song. She sang "1234" by Feist one of Canada's homegrown talents for her next number and Feist is a favourite of Brooke's. Just with her guitar it was excellent. I quite enjoy Feist and this past year it was cool to see her get popular in the States, it's a cool song and Brooke did it justice. That's the kind of music she should make and I would definitely buy it. For her last number she did easily my favourite cover by her which is "Yellow" by Coldplay. I just adore her version of it and it was so awesome to hear it live after repeating on my iPod forever. I wish I had room to take a video of it but at least I already have an audio of it.
After Brooke they did the intermission. I was already getting impatient waiting for Cook to come out and do his set, especially since I knew the next 3 I had to sit through were some of my least favs.
After the break came Jason and my friend apparently hates him so she didn't come back for the start of his set. Even though I thought he lasted way longer than his talent warranted on the show I liked his set. He started out with "Over The Rainbow" which was good just like it was on the show. His second song was "Crazy" and he said he sang this one at all of his AI auditions so he credits it for getting him on the show and helping him go as far as we did. We never got to hear him sing it on the show because AI couldn't get the rights but it was very good. I took a video of this one. It made me see what the judges originally saw in Jason because from watching AI I never quite figured it out. His last song was "Daydream" which was also good. His voice is nice to listen to.
In 3rd position was the last girl standing Syesha whom I wasn't a fan of on the show and I'm not still a fan of after the concert. She decided for whatever reason to do "Umbrella" and she somehow managed to turn that into a glory note diva song. "Umbrella" for me has always been a nice, cool song and I didn't particularly enjoy her take on it. She also sang some "Beyonce" song and yelled and then sang some boring ass ballad. If Cook hadn't been coming out soon I might have taken a nap during it. The most entertaining part of Syesha's set had nothing to do with her. There were these tween girls sitting a few rows in front of us and they sang into their glow sticks and danced for every one of her songs. I looked more at them than I did at Syesha.
Number 2 really got the crowd going, deafening screams were rewarded with 4 performances from Archuleta. He started out on the piano with "Angels" complete with fog cover on the stage. There's not much to say about him. There's no denying he's a great singer but he's just not my cup of tea. He also sang "Apologize," some other song I can't remember and an excruciatingly boring song to close out his set. Loud screams and applause was of course given after each number. He was good but I was waiting for the main event.
Archuleta introduced Cook and was met with even more deafening screams than he had come in on. The moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived and I was ready with all the camera space I had saved. "Hello" was his opening number and it was fantastic, I saw a girl in the lobby wearing a shirt that said "Cook Had Me At Hello" too. He sang "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" second and his banter with the audience was the most genuine and easy going, I loved hearing him speak. His voice sounded so good so I made a video of it. His second song was "Time of My Life" and it also sounded great and I took another video. I did spoil most of Cook's songs for myself by accident so I knew his 4th song was coming and I had saved 3:30 minutes of video space for it. "My Hero" was next and he prefaced with it was a story about a girl and her family he met today and the girl had Leukemia and he talked about how it made something like singing on stage and playing guitar seem so unimportant. He then dedicated "My Hero" to her and his brother Adam of course. It was so awesome. It was a song I was really looking forward to hearing him play live and he didn't at all disappoint, I wish I had saved a little more space on my camera for the video because it was longer and I would have liked to have the whole thing. In the middle of the song he got out his camera and recorded the audience which was funny. He then left and of course the audience was yelling and screaming for him and then he came back out for his encore. He sang "Billie Jean" which I wish I had more space to record (I would have recorded the whole concert if I had the space, it was that good). Even better live than on TV, all of his songs were. I'm so glad I got to see him live and I'm looking forward to his solo tour. I wish I hadn't worked yesterday because apparently he came out and did the autographs thing prior to the show but he didn't come out after, lots of fans were disappointed by that, lots of Cook fans in Toronto for sure.
The two group numbers were excellent too, I wish there had been a few more of them. They always sounded like crap together on the show but they worked it out for the concert. Everyone except Jason/Syesha/David/David sang "One" in the middle of the show after Brooke's spiel about IGB. U2 is one of my favourite bands and I love the song so it was awesome to hear them all sing it. They sounded excellent. Carly and Michael did a chunk of it together which was particularly awesome. The other group number was "Please Don't Stop the Music" by Rhianna to close out the show. The crowd was loving it and of course that's where everyone got treated to Mavid dancing which was jokes. The girls all sounded great together and of course David singing Rhianna is love.
Excellent show. A+ to American Idol.
After the show they did an autograph line up, the Idols came out and walked the line up and signed autographs. Cook didn't come out but that's cool, hopefully he was resting up for his next excellent show. I got to see sexy Michael up close and get his autograph, I also got my favourite Irish girl's autograph and one from Brooke as well. They were all great with the fans even though it was crazy. Someone told Michael he was a great dancer and he was all like "no, no I'm really not." It was funny.
I had a great time.
Overall it was really fun, the concert was excellent and getting some autographs from the Idols afterwards was pretty cool.
I thought everyone was decent but Ramiele and Syehsa were at the bottom of the pack for me personally.
The setup of the concert was good, 3 songs each for 10-3, 4 for little David and 5 for Cookie.
They introduced everyone with a cool thing on the big screen with their position, I only took a picture of David's so I'll show you his. The announcer would be like #10 Chikeze and then they'd come out and do their thing.
Chikeze was of course first and he was a good opening act. He always had a lot of energy and personality and he brought that to the tour too. It would have been boring if like Ramiele or Syesha had opened up imo. His first song was "I Believe to My Soul" and I personally liked Chikeze's voice when they originally showed him on AI and I like the song so I quite enjoyed his performance. He's a good singer and brought a lot too the tour, a far better person to have on there than say Amanda. He was great, awesome way to start the show.
Ramiele was up next of course since she was #9 and her inability to pick songs for herself extended to the concert stage. One of her numbers was "If I Never See Your Face Again" by Rhianna and Maroon 5 and it was pretty shitty. I never enjoyed her on the show and I didn't particularly enjoy her in concert. She didn't make my ears bleed or anything but my favourite part of her set was definitely when her microphone when out (it was of course right before she sang a sleep inducing ballad.)
Onto #8 Michael. I have to say it was really weird having him go 3rd. I know he was the shocker boot and everything but it never occurred to me how early he went. Then again I guess he really went 5th but only the Top 10 tour so it's less strange. Anyway he was dreamy as always and his singing was excellent. He was off the show for so long so I enjoyed hearing him sing again, and live he was even better. It really is a shame he didn't get further. He opened his set up right with a high energy number, "We Will Rock You" and he was the first person who really got the crowd going. He sang my favourite performance by him on the show "It's All Wrong But It's All Right," which was of course soulful and fantastic. His last number was his favourite performance on the show, "Dream On" which was again great.
#7 was Kristy Lee who said she loved Canada and really wanted to go to Niagara Falls so she has to come back and go there. She did a song I don't know the name of first but it was great, she's great. That same lovable, endearing, fun personality she had on the show came through in concert. She changed up her setlist a little bit for the Toronto show and sang "Anyway" instead of "God Bless America" and apparently she only made the decision the night prior so the guitarist had to learn it really fast. She gave him props for doing such a great job on short notice afterward. She did great too. At this point I was so glad I hadn't spoiled myself by reading the set list for the show because I loved all the surprises I got when people sang. I was also glad she sang "Anyway" because "God Bless America" would have been sun beautifully but "Anyway" was my favourite performance on the show. She should change it up a bit more and sit that at a few dates in America, people would love it. Her set ended with some song called "Cowgirls" and there was lots of booty shaking for the "Kristy Lee is hot" people, although I'm not sure there was anyone of that variety at the show.
Up next was Carly who I was of course very excited to see being that she was my original favourite. Her song choices for the night were probably my favourite. She started off with "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence and as soon as the music for it started I knew it'd be amazing. Her vocals were phenomenal. Last night she was even more impressive than she was on the show. Loved her set. She also of course did "Crazy On You" which was one of my favourite Carly's performances on the show and she loves Heart so much that the song is always killer because she always has so much passion and wants to do it justice. I'm glad I got video of those two performances because they're definitely something I'll want to watch back. Just killer. Carly deserved to go further too, but I'm glad to see she does amazing things in an environment where she's not constantly being held to ridiculous standards or criticized incessantly on her wardrobe and other things unrelated to her talent. Amazing talent right there, I have a bad feeling she won't get a record deal but she deserves one. Love her.
#5 was Brooke and I was actually looking forward to seeing her in concert. She cracked at the end of Idol and blew it for herself but she was back on her game, made great song choices and it was really nice to see the Brooke I originally loved from the beginning of AI. The pressure of this show really took a toll on a few of the contestants and they were all much better on the tour than they were ending out their runs on the show, Brooke was one of them. She came up on stage through the bottom already sitting at her piano and pressing the first few keys of "Let It Be" and the crowd was very excited. This was one of Brooke's shining moments on the show and she shone just as brightly with it last night. I definitely took a video of it, as well as her next song. She sang "1234" by Feist one of Canada's homegrown talents for her next number and Feist is a favourite of Brooke's. Just with her guitar it was excellent. I quite enjoy Feist and this past year it was cool to see her get popular in the States, it's a cool song and Brooke did it justice. That's the kind of music she should make and I would definitely buy it. For her last number she did easily my favourite cover by her which is "Yellow" by Coldplay. I just adore her version of it and it was so awesome to hear it live after repeating on my iPod forever. I wish I had room to take a video of it but at least I already have an audio of it.
After Brooke they did the intermission. I was already getting impatient waiting for Cook to come out and do his set, especially since I knew the next 3 I had to sit through were some of my least favs.
After the break came Jason and my friend apparently hates him so she didn't come back for the start of his set. Even though I thought he lasted way longer than his talent warranted on the show I liked his set. He started out with "Over The Rainbow" which was good just like it was on the show. His second song was "Crazy" and he said he sang this one at all of his AI auditions so he credits it for getting him on the show and helping him go as far as we did. We never got to hear him sing it on the show because AI couldn't get the rights but it was very good. I took a video of this one. It made me see what the judges originally saw in Jason because from watching AI I never quite figured it out. His last song was "Daydream" which was also good. His voice is nice to listen to.
In 3rd position was the last girl standing Syesha whom I wasn't a fan of on the show and I'm not still a fan of after the concert. She decided for whatever reason to do "Umbrella" and she somehow managed to turn that into a glory note diva song. "Umbrella" for me has always been a nice, cool song and I didn't particularly enjoy her take on it. She also sang some "Beyonce" song and yelled and then sang some boring ass ballad. If Cook hadn't been coming out soon I might have taken a nap during it. The most entertaining part of Syesha's set had nothing to do with her. There were these tween girls sitting a few rows in front of us and they sang into their glow sticks and danced for every one of her songs. I looked more at them than I did at Syesha.
Number 2 really got the crowd going, deafening screams were rewarded with 4 performances from Archuleta. He started out on the piano with "Angels" complete with fog cover on the stage. There's not much to say about him. There's no denying he's a great singer but he's just not my cup of tea. He also sang "Apologize," some other song I can't remember and an excruciatingly boring song to close out his set. Loud screams and applause was of course given after each number. He was good but I was waiting for the main event.
Archuleta introduced Cook and was met with even more deafening screams than he had come in on. The moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived and I was ready with all the camera space I had saved. "Hello" was his opening number and it was fantastic, I saw a girl in the lobby wearing a shirt that said "Cook Had Me At Hello" too. He sang "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" second and his banter with the audience was the most genuine and easy going, I loved hearing him speak. His voice sounded so good so I made a video of it. His second song was "Time of My Life" and it also sounded great and I took another video. I did spoil most of Cook's songs for myself by accident so I knew his 4th song was coming and I had saved 3:30 minutes of video space for it. "My Hero" was next and he prefaced with it was a story about a girl and her family he met today and the girl had Leukemia and he talked about how it made something like singing on stage and playing guitar seem so unimportant. He then dedicated "My Hero" to her and his brother Adam of course. It was so awesome. It was a song I was really looking forward to hearing him play live and he didn't at all disappoint, I wish I had saved a little more space on my camera for the video because it was longer and I would have liked to have the whole thing. In the middle of the song he got out his camera and recorded the audience which was funny. He then left and of course the audience was yelling and screaming for him and then he came back out for his encore. He sang "Billie Jean" which I wish I had more space to record (I would have recorded the whole concert if I had the space, it was that good). Even better live than on TV, all of his songs were. I'm so glad I got to see him live and I'm looking forward to his solo tour. I wish I hadn't worked yesterday because apparently he came out and did the autographs thing prior to the show but he didn't come out after, lots of fans were disappointed by that, lots of Cook fans in Toronto for sure.
The two group numbers were excellent too, I wish there had been a few more of them. They always sounded like crap together on the show but they worked it out for the concert. Everyone except Jason/Syesha/David/David sang "One" in the middle of the show after Brooke's spiel about IGB. U2 is one of my favourite bands and I love the song so it was awesome to hear them all sing it. They sounded excellent. Carly and Michael did a chunk of it together which was particularly awesome. The other group number was "Please Don't Stop the Music" by Rhianna to close out the show. The crowd was loving it and of course that's where everyone got treated to Mavid dancing which was jokes. The girls all sounded great together and of course David singing Rhianna is love.
Excellent show. A+ to American Idol.
After the show they did an autograph line up, the Idols came out and walked the line up and signed autographs. Cook didn't come out but that's cool, hopefully he was resting up for his next excellent show. I got to see sexy Michael up close and get his autograph, I also got my favourite Irish girl's autograph and one from Brooke as well. They were all great with the fans even though it was crazy. Someone told Michael he was a great dancer and he was all like "no, no I'm really not." It was funny.
I had a great time.