AI Concert Tour - Louisville, KY 081806
OK, I think I have recovered enough for the A.I. Concert to commit it to script.
It had a HIGH high, some kinda lows and some bright sides.
Bright side: We traveled to an arena were neither of us had been (well Connie, my best friend, had seen Elvis there sometime in the 70's, but she didn't drive then, so that hardly qualifies). All went well on our trip and we didn't get lost - always a plus.
Low: On the way home it rained a little and then we had to roll about 10 miles in one lane on the interstate while they laid tar on the other lane, so I didn't get home til a little after 2:00 AM, but I am a night person by nature, so that wasn't too bad.
Low: Our seats weren't the best in the house they were a little higher than the stage, off the right if facing the stage, and placed about even with the curtain behind the stage. Mostly we saw the performer's back sides (not a bad place to be if you LOVE Taylor's buns, and I do). Their handicap seating puts the wheelchair person either in front of or behind the companion, which does not lend itself to feeling that you have enjoyed the concert with a friend; rather that you have gone alone. Aside: Handicapped people always get the short end of the stick, but they pay the same price as those who get an entire branch.
Bright side: The brief moments the idols whisked themselves over to our side of the stages, although they still were not facing us, no one was standing in front of us as they did not sell the three rows in front of the wheelchair places and the companion row.
I got to move up three rows and over three seats to take photos when the idols graced our side of the stage.
Also, we could see the open area behind the stage where the idols went back and forth from the dressing rooms to enter the little curtained area under the stage.
This lead to our getting to see Kelly meet a girl friend from the audience backstage and I took some photos, but the seats above this area were secured, so I go only go so far and amazingly even from that distance, the flash caused red eye.
We also got to see Chris and Bucky riding their neon green scooters with flashing green lights, buzzing about behind stage and back and fourth to the dressing rooms.
Most interesting, we got to see Kat putting on her own little dancing show backstage for one of the idol security people (from all appearances), in a kinda-long skirt, in her plastic splint and barefooted on the other foot, dancing with abandon whirling and twirling, sometimes in the light and sometimes in the dark. At first we thought it was her beau, but later we saw him up closer and at work and he was security at some level. My photos of the dance were not successful, most because of the darkness, the distance, and the fact that a new security girl, regaled to an empty section, wanted to be able to exercise some degree of control and would let me get any closer.
We also saw Chris do quite a bit walking around and he would always respond with a wave to the young fans above us who had somehow located the spot for watching and talked security on the upper level into letting them congregate. Every time they saw he and/or Kelli they screamed their names and waved and Kelli and Chris responded with a wave.
Bright side: I bought a ton of souvenirs, a brown Taylor shirt (why wasn't it gray?); a 8 x 10 of Bucky and one of Taylor; a tour book with gorgeous photos, which have been scanned online before so most have seen, the largest of best (of course) being of Taylor; and a poster.
Low: Today when I unrolled the poster to measure for a frame it was the wrong poster. It was the group not the awesome one of Taylor. Talk about being bummed and very irritated at myself for not unrolling it at the time of purchase.
Low: Both of us forgot our binoculars.
Bright side: They had binoculars for rent with a deal on two pair. So we did get to see the idols pretty close up and some of them are well, let us just say not that attractive, which was really a surprise.
Bright side: The concert was part of the Kentucky State Fair, which I have never attended. My friend loves 'fair food' and she was able to partake of vittles from several little trailers.
Low: Handicapped parking for vans with ramps was scarce and not monitored, so even those spaces you saw (which were of course full) had the ramp space either taken up with another vehicle or with 'motorcycles'I don't know, don't ask. This parking problem was of course exacerbated by the large number of fairgoers.
The show:
Mandisa: I enjoyed her portion of the show very much. Her voice sounded strong and amazingly good. She interacted well with the audience. She has left off pursuing Reuben apparently and has replaced him with the drummer in the band, so she sang a song for him. Her portion of the show included her God-related motivational conversation. Her duet with Ace seems unusual, they are an odd pairing, and it was vocally - OK.
Ace: Well Ace is still Ace. Hoke-ly dramatic, with the shedding of his jacket for singing 'Father Father', the repetitive extending of his arms straight out, and the extended donning of the 'beanie' (which has always for me appeared to be a toboggan not a beanie, but to each his own). I actually had a mini-breakdown in my kitchen this morning regarding this subject. On reading in the program what Ace was going to take on the tour, the last item mentioned was of course 'beanies'. For some reason this struck me as hilarious and I said aloud (to only myself of course), "can Ace even go for a short period of time without saying the word 'beanie'" at which point I laughed hysterically like a madwoman. It is possible I am headed for the deep-end. Ace's vocals were actually very good and he does well at interacting with the audience, if only it were not so phony, but the crowd loved it and their appreciation was rewarded with a beanie..(cackle-cackle)being tossed into the audience.
Lisa: I thought Lisa's part of the show was, well, it was boring. Her singing was OK, her keyboard playing was OK, her repertoire seemed to slow the pace down a little. Her duet with 'best friend' Paris included singing and dancing, during both of which endeavors Lisa was overshadowed by Paris. Lisa's interaction with the audience seemed a little strained.
Paris: Paris appeared to be channeling Janet Jackson - long straight wig, fedora, chair, and lots of dancing and bumping and grinding. Paris was in better voice than Lisa, but Paris's vocals came close to being overshadowed by her own dancing. Paris's audience interaction was a little more comfortable, but the Minnie-Mouse-on-helium voice made an appearance of course.
Bucky: Bucky seems so much more comfortable on stage now than when he was on Idol. He was singing and moving around. Hair absolutely glowing. At one point he did a stunning hair shaking sequence which I loved, loved, loved. No photos tho because in one of our 'low' points - the lights on the stage change position from time to time and when they were in the down position they blocked our view of the performers anytime they were on the top ramp and sometimes when they were transitioning. Unfortunately for me, they were down during Bucky's performance (darn it) and they totally made getting any logical photos of Bucky's hair-tossing-sequence out of the question (ah, but I have the memory). Then he donned his cowboy hat. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Bucky is very personable and I really enjoyed his exchange with the audience. A local reporter interviewed the idols and she reported today that Bucky was suffering from laryngitis. Either I couldn't tell laryngitis from his usual raspy voice or I was so engrossed in 'looking' at him, I was too distracted to hear. I had read that during one of his recent late-night forays with Taylor and LIMBO, Bucky was on voice-rest and didn't get to perform, so perhaps this is a holdover from that circumstance. Regardless, I loved Bucky's performance beginning to end, including a duet with Kelli - at least his part of his duet with Kelly.
Kelli: I was never sure during the Idol season how she managed to stay around so long. Now, having heard her perform in person, I am wondering more than ever. The crowd loved her and she interacts with her them using her humor, some of which was obviously ad-libbed seeing as how she reacted to a fan's sign reading 'Pickler for President' by telling the young man 'he was going to go far in life', then she added 'no I'm just kidding, then she tried to recover by saying, 'no, I didn't mean that, you probably will go far in life. Boy I put my foot in it didn't I? Well, surprise, surprise.' Hard to believe she would repeat that every night.
Chris: After the intermission, Chris took to the stage and of course the audience went wild. I was hoping he had developed a little more stage presence, a little less arrogance, and well, that he was different. But, he wasn't. Maybe he moved around the stage a little more than on the Idol TV show, but still not as much as some of the others. He did ask the audience if they were going to come and see him when he came back on his own tour. So, the confidence is definitely there. I personally didn't enjoy his part of the show simply because I don't enjoy that type of music, but I really enjoyed his duet with Elliott and thought it was the best performance by each of them.
Elliott: Elliott still doesn't quite look comfortable on stage, didn't go too far to either edge of the stage, and preferred the opposite side to the side were we were seated. I was surprised that his vocals weren't as strong as during the TV season. He did talk with the audience more than I would have imagined. When he, Chris, Bucky, and Ace sang together, Elliott didn't have the strongest voice of the group, but once again it was one of the better of his offerings.
Kat: A little girl and her mom in the ladies room after the show were lamenting that Kat only sang two songs, but, hey, I was OK with that. She sang what I thought was her best vocal from the season, "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" and what she thought was her best vocal from the season, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". She looked amazing in a beautiful black gown that hid her plastic splint very well, but to no avail because after telling the audience that she missed the first weeks of the show due to laryngitis and that she was still suffering and could only perform two songs, she lifted her gown and displayed her black splint and detailed her foot-breaking accident. She may have mentioned her struggle with bulimia, but if so I missed it. Can you say hypochondriac or Münchhausen or maybe just 'drama queen'. But I was distracted at this point anyway, I had already seen her private backstage show and I was hyper as a school girl awaiting the appearance of Taylor in the crowd belting out 'Jailhouse Rock' and I thankfully, finally I didn't have long to wait.
The HIGH high:
Taylor: Through the crowd he plowed, to the front below the stage, across to our side, then up on the stage. Suddenly he was singing 'Hollywood Nights', something might have happened between there - it's possible holding my breath and alternating gasping for air, I momentarily became incoherent and blacked out. At any rate, I wiggled and fidgeted while he sang and danced his way through my favorite of the night (Hollywood Nights). And I cried too. I cried through nearly every performance by Taylor on Idol this season and the tears were back during this first song. I was still awake and aware for the rest of his set, though those lights were unfortunately back down and I didn't have the best vantage point to see 'Do I Make You Proud' since he sang it from the top ramp. The man danced his feet off - but thankfully, not his a$$ - It is still there and looking FINE, FINE, FINE. If there is ever an entertainer to have to be seated BEHIND for a concert, Taylor is the GUY!!! Oh, wow!. What was it, oh, yes, he danced, and he danced, he whirled and he whirled like a whirling dervish, he Chuck Berried across the stage in both directions, he whipped himself with the tambourine and whipped me into a frenzy. He played his harmonica, 'played' being much too tame a word to describe the wailing he did on that harp, and as luck would have it, when he went to his knees, he slide, yes, it was in the opposite direction - but it probably would have been more than I could have taken at that point since I was delirious by then over those buns and his ever-lovin' dancing. Does that guy have energy! He looked gorgeous! New hair cut, slim, butt much tighter, probably from all that walking up that freakin' ramp every night, looking like a fine specimen I tell you. What a stage presence he has! Then he left the stage. What? Way too short. Then he returned. Do I know what he sang? No, sorry, I was so out of it by then. Wait, I think it was 'Living in The City' Then he left again.
The group: The group without Taylor sang Taylor's favorite Queen song, 'We Are The Champions' and together they sounded like champions. Loved it, loved it, loved it! Then Taylor returned and they sang "Livin in America" and for some reason during this song they all got in a little cluster. Ace threw a beanie (cackle-cackle), Chris threw more guitar picks (which I forgot to mention above) and Bucky threw a straw hat (aw dang, I wanted that). And then, they took bows, and bows (more Tay-Tay butt shots) and it was over.
Great band, great energy, the crowd was very into the performance, and I was HIGH, (naturally high of course). I breathed the same air as Taylor and 19,000 other gasping shouting fans and lived to tell about it, with a lot of wind to spare as the length of this epistle displays.
Getting my photos developed was another fiasco, not worth detailing, but I have them and they are NOT great. There is not one really good one to share, but I have them to serve as a reminder of a great evening and I'll cherish every blurry, grainy, way-too-far-away shot of The American Idol Live Concert Tour. You feel like you've been there too now, doncha?
check out my myspace page at
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It had a HIGH high, some kinda lows and some bright sides.
Bright side: We traveled to an arena were neither of us had been (well Connie, my best friend, had seen Elvis there sometime in the 70's, but she didn't drive then, so that hardly qualifies). All went well on our trip and we didn't get lost - always a plus.
Low: On the way home it rained a little and then we had to roll about 10 miles in one lane on the interstate while they laid tar on the other lane, so I didn't get home til a little after 2:00 AM, but I am a night person by nature, so that wasn't too bad.
Low: Our seats weren't the best in the house they were a little higher than the stage, off the right if facing the stage, and placed about even with the curtain behind the stage. Mostly we saw the performer's back sides (not a bad place to be if you LOVE Taylor's buns, and I do). Their handicap seating puts the wheelchair person either in front of or behind the companion, which does not lend itself to feeling that you have enjoyed the concert with a friend; rather that you have gone alone. Aside: Handicapped people always get the short end of the stick, but they pay the same price as those who get an entire branch.
Bright side: The brief moments the idols whisked themselves over to our side of the stages, although they still were not facing us, no one was standing in front of us as they did not sell the three rows in front of the wheelchair places and the companion row.
I got to move up three rows and over three seats to take photos when the idols graced our side of the stage.
Also, we could see the open area behind the stage where the idols went back and forth from the dressing rooms to enter the little curtained area under the stage.
This lead to our getting to see Kelly meet a girl friend from the audience backstage and I took some photos, but the seats above this area were secured, so I go only go so far and amazingly even from that distance, the flash caused red eye.
We also got to see Chris and Bucky riding their neon green scooters with flashing green lights, buzzing about behind stage and back and fourth to the dressing rooms.
Most interesting, we got to see Kat putting on her own little dancing show backstage for one of the idol security people (from all appearances), in a kinda-long skirt, in her plastic splint and barefooted on the other foot, dancing with abandon whirling and twirling, sometimes in the light and sometimes in the dark. At first we thought it was her beau, but later we saw him up closer and at work and he was security at some level. My photos of the dance were not successful, most because of the darkness, the distance, and the fact that a new security girl, regaled to an empty section, wanted to be able to exercise some degree of control and would let me get any closer.
We also saw Chris do quite a bit walking around and he would always respond with a wave to the young fans above us who had somehow located the spot for watching and talked security on the upper level into letting them congregate. Every time they saw he and/or Kelli they screamed their names and waved and Kelli and Chris responded with a wave.
Bright side: I bought a ton of souvenirs, a brown Taylor shirt (why wasn't it gray?); a 8 x 10 of Bucky and one of Taylor; a tour book with gorgeous photos, which have been scanned online before so most have seen, the largest of best (of course) being of Taylor; and a poster.
Low: Today when I unrolled the poster to measure for a frame it was the wrong poster. It was the group not the awesome one of Taylor. Talk about being bummed and very irritated at myself for not unrolling it at the time of purchase.
Low: Both of us forgot our binoculars.
Bright side: They had binoculars for rent with a deal on two pair. So we did get to see the idols pretty close up and some of them are well, let us just say not that attractive, which was really a surprise.
Bright side: The concert was part of the Kentucky State Fair, which I have never attended. My friend loves 'fair food' and she was able to partake of vittles from several little trailers.
Low: Handicapped parking for vans with ramps was scarce and not monitored, so even those spaces you saw (which were of course full) had the ramp space either taken up with another vehicle or with 'motorcycles'I don't know, don't ask. This parking problem was of course exacerbated by the large number of fairgoers.
The show:
Mandisa: I enjoyed her portion of the show very much. Her voice sounded strong and amazingly good. She interacted well with the audience. She has left off pursuing Reuben apparently and has replaced him with the drummer in the band, so she sang a song for him. Her portion of the show included her God-related motivational conversation. Her duet with Ace seems unusual, they are an odd pairing, and it was vocally - OK.
Ace: Well Ace is still Ace. Hoke-ly dramatic, with the shedding of his jacket for singing 'Father Father', the repetitive extending of his arms straight out, and the extended donning of the 'beanie' (which has always for me appeared to be a toboggan not a beanie, but to each his own). I actually had a mini-breakdown in my kitchen this morning regarding this subject. On reading in the program what Ace was going to take on the tour, the last item mentioned was of course 'beanies'. For some reason this struck me as hilarious and I said aloud (to only myself of course), "can Ace even go for a short period of time without saying the word 'beanie'" at which point I laughed hysterically like a madwoman. It is possible I am headed for the deep-end. Ace's vocals were actually very good and he does well at interacting with the audience, if only it were not so phony, but the crowd loved it and their appreciation was rewarded with a beanie..(cackle-cackle)being tossed into the audience.
Lisa: I thought Lisa's part of the show was, well, it was boring. Her singing was OK, her keyboard playing was OK, her repertoire seemed to slow the pace down a little. Her duet with 'best friend' Paris included singing and dancing, during both of which endeavors Lisa was overshadowed by Paris. Lisa's interaction with the audience seemed a little strained.
Paris: Paris appeared to be channeling Janet Jackson - long straight wig, fedora, chair, and lots of dancing and bumping and grinding. Paris was in better voice than Lisa, but Paris's vocals came close to being overshadowed by her own dancing. Paris's audience interaction was a little more comfortable, but the Minnie-Mouse-on-helium voice made an appearance of course.
Bucky: Bucky seems so much more comfortable on stage now than when he was on Idol. He was singing and moving around. Hair absolutely glowing. At one point he did a stunning hair shaking sequence which I loved, loved, loved. No photos tho because in one of our 'low' points - the lights on the stage change position from time to time and when they were in the down position they blocked our view of the performers anytime they were on the top ramp and sometimes when they were transitioning. Unfortunately for me, they were down during Bucky's performance (darn it) and they totally made getting any logical photos of Bucky's hair-tossing-sequence out of the question (ah, but I have the memory). Then he donned his cowboy hat. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Bucky is very personable and I really enjoyed his exchange with the audience. A local reporter interviewed the idols and she reported today that Bucky was suffering from laryngitis. Either I couldn't tell laryngitis from his usual raspy voice or I was so engrossed in 'looking' at him, I was too distracted to hear. I had read that during one of his recent late-night forays with Taylor and LIMBO, Bucky was on voice-rest and didn't get to perform, so perhaps this is a holdover from that circumstance. Regardless, I loved Bucky's performance beginning to end, including a duet with Kelli - at least his part of his duet with Kelly.
Kelli: I was never sure during the Idol season how she managed to stay around so long. Now, having heard her perform in person, I am wondering more than ever. The crowd loved her and she interacts with her them using her humor, some of which was obviously ad-libbed seeing as how she reacted to a fan's sign reading 'Pickler for President' by telling the young man 'he was going to go far in life', then she added 'no I'm just kidding, then she tried to recover by saying, 'no, I didn't mean that, you probably will go far in life. Boy I put my foot in it didn't I? Well, surprise, surprise.' Hard to believe she would repeat that every night.
Chris: After the intermission, Chris took to the stage and of course the audience went wild. I was hoping he had developed a little more stage presence, a little less arrogance, and well, that he was different. But, he wasn't. Maybe he moved around the stage a little more than on the Idol TV show, but still not as much as some of the others. He did ask the audience if they were going to come and see him when he came back on his own tour. So, the confidence is definitely there. I personally didn't enjoy his part of the show simply because I don't enjoy that type of music, but I really enjoyed his duet with Elliott and thought it was the best performance by each of them.
Elliott: Elliott still doesn't quite look comfortable on stage, didn't go too far to either edge of the stage, and preferred the opposite side to the side were we were seated. I was surprised that his vocals weren't as strong as during the TV season. He did talk with the audience more than I would have imagined. When he, Chris, Bucky, and Ace sang together, Elliott didn't have the strongest voice of the group, but once again it was one of the better of his offerings.
Kat: A little girl and her mom in the ladies room after the show were lamenting that Kat only sang two songs, but, hey, I was OK with that. She sang what I thought was her best vocal from the season, "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" and what she thought was her best vocal from the season, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". She looked amazing in a beautiful black gown that hid her plastic splint very well, but to no avail because after telling the audience that she missed the first weeks of the show due to laryngitis and that she was still suffering and could only perform two songs, she lifted her gown and displayed her black splint and detailed her foot-breaking accident. She may have mentioned her struggle with bulimia, but if so I missed it. Can you say hypochondriac or Münchhausen or maybe just 'drama queen'. But I was distracted at this point anyway, I had already seen her private backstage show and I was hyper as a school girl awaiting the appearance of Taylor in the crowd belting out 'Jailhouse Rock' and I thankfully, finally I didn't have long to wait.
The HIGH high:
Taylor: Through the crowd he plowed, to the front below the stage, across to our side, then up on the stage. Suddenly he was singing 'Hollywood Nights', something might have happened between there - it's possible holding my breath and alternating gasping for air, I momentarily became incoherent and blacked out. At any rate, I wiggled and fidgeted while he sang and danced his way through my favorite of the night (Hollywood Nights). And I cried too. I cried through nearly every performance by Taylor on Idol this season and the tears were back during this first song. I was still awake and aware for the rest of his set, though those lights were unfortunately back down and I didn't have the best vantage point to see 'Do I Make You Proud' since he sang it from the top ramp. The man danced his feet off - but thankfully, not his a$$ - It is still there and looking FINE, FINE, FINE. If there is ever an entertainer to have to be seated BEHIND for a concert, Taylor is the GUY!!! Oh, wow!. What was it, oh, yes, he danced, and he danced, he whirled and he whirled like a whirling dervish, he Chuck Berried across the stage in both directions, he whipped himself with the tambourine and whipped me into a frenzy. He played his harmonica, 'played' being much too tame a word to describe the wailing he did on that harp, and as luck would have it, when he went to his knees, he slide, yes, it was in the opposite direction - but it probably would have been more than I could have taken at that point since I was delirious by then over those buns and his ever-lovin' dancing. Does that guy have energy! He looked gorgeous! New hair cut, slim, butt much tighter, probably from all that walking up that freakin' ramp every night, looking like a fine specimen I tell you. What a stage presence he has! Then he left the stage. What? Way too short. Then he returned. Do I know what he sang? No, sorry, I was so out of it by then. Wait, I think it was 'Living in The City' Then he left again.
The group: The group without Taylor sang Taylor's favorite Queen song, 'We Are The Champions' and together they sounded like champions. Loved it, loved it, loved it! Then Taylor returned and they sang "Livin in America" and for some reason during this song they all got in a little cluster. Ace threw a beanie (cackle-cackle), Chris threw more guitar picks (which I forgot to mention above) and Bucky threw a straw hat (aw dang, I wanted that). And then, they took bows, and bows (more Tay-Tay butt shots) and it was over.
Great band, great energy, the crowd was very into the performance, and I was HIGH, (naturally high of course). I breathed the same air as Taylor and 19,000 other gasping shouting fans and lived to tell about it, with a lot of wind to spare as the length of this epistle displays.
Getting my photos developed was another fiasco, not worth detailing, but I have them and they are NOT great. There is not one really good one to share, but I have them to serve as a reminder of a great evening and I'll cherish every blurry, grainy, way-too-far-away shot of The American Idol Live Concert Tour. You feel like you've been there too now, doncha?
check out my myspace page at
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