XL'lent Xmas @ House of Blues Orlando - 12/18/09
I went to the XL 106.7 XL'lent Xmas show at House of Blues in Orlando, FL last night. The lineup was Jason Castro, Kris Allen, Leona Lewis and The Fray. Allison Iraheta was originally scheduled too, but canceled a few weeks ago. D: I ended up slightly right of center on the barricade. Jason as great, Kris was epic, I took a break to get some air during Leona, and The Fray sounded great when I came back in, though I could barely see them because the place was packed.
Also Cale (Kris's guitarist/keyboardist) gave me his setlist and Kris's pick landed at my feet. :D :D
Before The Show
The forecast was for torrential downpour all day, but I paid WAY too much for this ticket, man, so I got out my ponchos (one for sitting on, one for wearing) and went over to Downtown Disney in the morning. It ended up not even actually raining until late afternoon, and only then it was pretty light. Score.
I met up with some new friends in line (yendiders, her friend, and wildchild1222 and we got each other through the wait. Finally we got inside and all ended up on the barricade (which is padded, God I love HoB Orlando). Also, we were allowed to bring in cameras, which is a HUGE policy change that HoB made recently, so win.
Jason Castro
Jason was first up. I'd never seen him live and he was really impressive. I expected mellow (obviously) but it was a little more of a sad mellow than I figured on? But maybe that was just the songs he chose? He put on a Santa hat for Let's Just Fall In Love Again, which was adorable. Overall, it was really good, and there was a huge group of Jason fans from all around the country standing by me and it felt great to feel how happy they were. Oh, Jason. :D
Jason Pics
More pics in my Photobucket album. Password is the same as my account name: asmadasrabbits
Jason Videos
Let's Just Fall In Love Again
Hallelujah
Kris Allen
For some hilarious reason, Kris's drummer, Ryland, had a kick drum with the House of Blues logo on it; but over top, 'KRIS AllEN' had been spelled out in black electrical tape. I assume this was just specific to this show? Either way, lolol.
When their equipment set up was almost done, a woman who I am pretty sure is Lizzy, Kris's assistant(?)/manager(?), came out with a piece of paper and went around to all the taped down setlists to add something to them in Sharpie. Since I got Cale's set list at the end, I got to see what was added. :D (Stay tuned.)
Kris was... amazing. I don't even know. Seeing him perform so close up; he was all passion and talent and kicky feet and dino jaw and Kris. He absolutely pulls you in. He made me love Is It Over, which was not one of my favorites at all, and made me love the songs I already loved (basically, all the rest of the songs he sang) more. I was mostly right in front of Cale (guitarist/keyboardist) and Chris (bassist) and they were having so much fun. Ryland (drummer) was partially obscured by his cymbal, but he was awesome and Andrew (guitarist) was far away but he smiled a lot and sounded great. They have a really great dynamic together for being a band so short of a time and I can imagine it will only get better and better. We can has tour now?
At the end of the set, Cale reached out and tried to give us his setlist, but was a couple feet short (dude has LONG arms, btw, wow), so he tossed it lightly and I caught it. :D Then Kris tossed his pick and it fell somewhere near me. It ended up right next to my foot, slightly under the plastic Disney bag holding my wet poncho. I gave it to wildchild1222, since I already had the setlist and I knew it would make her stupidly happy. (I was right.) :D
Kris Song By Song Recap/Thoughts
Heartless: My favorite Heartless arrangement is the original, with just Kris and his guitar. I haven't liked any of the others at ALL, until this live version. The full band arrangement just compliments the Kris + guitar vibe in a really great way. I was so caught up in it that I totally forgot that the mash up with Gangster's Paradise part was coming. It caught my by surprise and just... floored me, actually. They all (except maybe Ryland; I wasn't looking, sorry Ryland!) sang it a cappella together mostly and wow. Four for you, Kris Allen band. Beautiful.
Can't Stay Away:I long ago figured out it was impossible for me to not at least chair dance a little during this song. But live? Oh, man. ♥
The Truth: I had been hoping he'd do The Truth and it turned out to be one of the songs added by Sharpie into the setlist. \o/ Kris put himself completely into this song, wow. So much passion in his vocals, his guitar, his face. I got the most heartbreaking pic of him right at the end. And I think this is a real testament to Kris, considering that he didn't co-write it at all. That he was able to find a place in himself to feel a song like this so intensely, it really proved that this is a huge strength he has as a musician.
Man in the Mirror: Such a great song anyways and I love Kris's take on it. Plus, it's all kind of nostalgic to think back to him singing this on the first live week of Idol and seeing how far he's come. Lovely.
Is It Over: Before the song, Kris bantered a little about writing the song with Cale over the internet over the summer. We all cheered when he brought up Cale and Kris made everyone clap for "Cale and his beard". It's one of my least favorite songs on the album, but hearing it live really gave me a new appreciation.
Alright With Me: This song is tied with The Truth and LLWD as my favorites on the album. You can easily tell it's a favorite of theirs to play and it really looked like Kris and Cale especially were getting a huge kick out of seeing how many of us at the front were singing along. They were smiling so much. :D At one point, Kris sat on the edge of the stage with the mic held out for the 'Yeah yeah yeah yeah' parts and his kicky little feet. Then he laid back on the stage for a few seconds and jumped up really quickly. My pic of him standing up is kind of hilarious. I would possibly go to an entire concert of just this song, seriously.
Christmas Medley: This was the other one added to the setlist in Sharpie. Which is interesting, considering it was a Christmas show. My guess is that they were given more time that originally planned since Allison dropped out of the show? Kris sang/played Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas alone while his band stepped back, drank water and made heart eyes at him. Then it flowed seamlessly into a great and very Kris-like arrangement of The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). It's kind of stupid how much talent he has, I don't even know.
Live Like We're Dying: Aside from how he has to do some creative breathing during the chorus live, this is the perfect first single for him. Everyone's talked about reasons why, so I won't do that, but the point is seeing it live and up close, that was confirmed times a million.
End of set thoughts: Kris was. Just. The exorbitant ticket price was well worth it for his performance alone. To me, he earned every single vote he got on Idol, every favorable word and review from judge, fan, friend or journalist, every bit of credibility he's been allotted by anyone or anything, anywhere. Every bit of that was completely validated for me last night. I was already a huge fan (no, really?) but now I'm sold on him in a way that doesn't exactly surprise me, but makes me really, really happy all the same.
Basically: my heart eyes, let me show you them.
(More Kris in later in the post! Stay tuned!)
Kris Pics
Ryland's kick drum with 'KRIS AllEN' in electrical tape.
The heartbreaking face from the end of The Truth.
HI CALE.
Notice Jason watching from the on-stage balcony (he's the one in the lighter shirt).
Sitting on stage during Alright With Me.
In the middle of standing up. I really want to make this an LOL INVISBLE CHAIR macro.
Cale on keyboards.
Cale's setlist. :D
More pics in my Photobucket album. Password is the same as my account name: asmadasrabbits
Kris Videos
I was too close to the speakers I think, so the sound is a little wonky in some parts. Usually my camera has AMAZING sound. :( Also, none of the singing or talking is me. I purposely just mouth along instead of singing when I record so as not to embarrass myself just in case.
Some of Heartless
More of Heartless /Gangster's Paradise
Can't Stay Away
The Truth
Cale during The Truth. He was RIGHT THERE and I knew some of you would appreciate this.
Kris bantering between songs. Talks about writing Is It Over with Cale over the summer over the internet. When we all screamed for Cale he told us to give it up for 'Cale and his beard'.
Kris and Cale during the Is It Over guitar break.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and The Christmas Song. It cuts off RIGHT before the end because I accidentally hit a button with my pinky. FAIL.
Leona Lewis
I left the barricade after Kris to collect myself. I needed cell phone reception and air so I ended up on the smoking balcony (lol irony) for her entire set. Which was only four songs. And apparently, I hear through the grapevine that it was pretty apparent that she was maybe lip syncing two of them? But I heard some of Bleeding Love through the door when someone was holding it open, and I thought she sounded pretty good. So I hope that's not true, because it makes me sad. :(
The Fray (Mostly More Stuff About Kris, Featuring The Fray)
We came back in before The Fray and found a place from which we could kind of see some of the stage. A few songs in, I discovered we actually had a MUCH better view of Kris and Cale watching The Fray.
HoB Orlando has balconies actually on the stage for the other performers to watch each other while still backstage, technically. Jason watched some of Kris's set from there and you can see him in a few of my pics actually.
But instead of doing that, Kris and Cale came out onto the regular balcony, which is literally just separated by mostly just a wall from the backstage one. But they chose to come out with the crowd instead. I'd imagine the view couldn't be that different and so this sort of just... charms me. They talked and laughed a lot, Cale did some air drumming and Kris sang along a lot too. After awhile, Andrew joined them, and then Chris.
Fans kept coming up to Kris and he was gracious with every single one of them, talking and taking pics, even though he clearly wanted to be watching The Fray the whole time. At one point, Issac Slade jumped up to stand on the piano and everyone was screaming, but Kris had his back to the stage and a lady's arm around his shoulders taking a picture. His head swiveled around immediately at the screams, with her arm still around him. It was kind of adorable.
I took a few pics, but I had to do it without flash given the distance, so they're blurry.
Issac Slade is the white blur onstage. Kris is at the top of the balcony steps, right above the white XL sign. Cale, Andrew and Chris (black shirt, hand over his mouth) are on the stairs in descending order beside him.
Andrew, Cale and Kris. Darker, but more in focus.
Still blurry, but zoomed.
Toward the end of the set, Kris, Andrew and Cale left to go backstage (Chris was already gone). Right about the same time, Issac brought these two fans onstage from backstage to say hi or something and it ended up being a set up for him to propose to her. It was SO SWEET, oh my God. I saw Cale stop in the backstage balcony to watch, but it's dark in there on purpose, so I couldn't see if Kris and Andrew stopped too.
Soon after, wildchild1222 and I went outside to where the bands have to leave from, due to the weird set up of HoB (the front and sides are all in Guest areas of Downtown Disney and the back is... water), and therefore usually come out if they're going to sign and take pics.
Jason came out but was in a major hurry, so he only signed a little. wildchild1222 got her ticket signed but I didn't. She's awesome and so she... gave it to me. :D ♥ We waited a long while and one else came out, so people started to leave. Then Issac Slade appeared. I stepped back and just watched, let everyone else have their moments since I'm more of a casual fan. It was cool to see. :)
No sightings of Kris or his boys and there were only about seven or so people left waiting, so we left for our cars in some suddenly seriously ridiculous wind. WTAF, Florida?
All in all it was a really great day. Kris was amazing and needs to tour RIGHT NOW so I can go to a million shows.
♥_♥
Also Cale (Kris's guitarist/keyboardist) gave me his setlist and Kris's pick landed at my feet. :D :D
Before The Show
The forecast was for torrential downpour all day, but I paid WAY too much for this ticket, man, so I got out my ponchos (one for sitting on, one for wearing) and went over to Downtown Disney in the morning. It ended up not even actually raining until late afternoon, and only then it was pretty light. Score.
I met up with some new friends in line (yendiders, her friend, and wildchild1222 and we got each other through the wait. Finally we got inside and all ended up on the barricade (which is padded, God I love HoB Orlando). Also, we were allowed to bring in cameras, which is a HUGE policy change that HoB made recently, so win.
Jason Castro
Jason was first up. I'd never seen him live and he was really impressive. I expected mellow (obviously) but it was a little more of a sad mellow than I figured on? But maybe that was just the songs he chose? He put on a Santa hat for Let's Just Fall In Love Again, which was adorable. Overall, it was really good, and there was a huge group of Jason fans from all around the country standing by me and it felt great to feel how happy they were. Oh, Jason. :D
Jason Pics
More pics in my Photobucket album. Password is the same as my account name: asmadasrabbits
Jason Videos
Let's Just Fall In Love Again
Click to viewHallelujah
Kris Allen
For some hilarious reason, Kris's drummer, Ryland, had a kick drum with the House of Blues logo on it; but over top, 'KRIS AllEN' had been spelled out in black electrical tape. I assume this was just specific to this show? Either way, lolol.
When their equipment set up was almost done, a woman who I am pretty sure is Lizzy, Kris's assistant(?)/manager(?), came out with a piece of paper and went around to all the taped down setlists to add something to them in Sharpie. Since I got Cale's set list at the end, I got to see what was added. :D (Stay tuned.)
Kris was... amazing. I don't even know. Seeing him perform so close up; he was all passion and talent and kicky feet and dino jaw and Kris. He absolutely pulls you in. He made me love Is It Over, which was not one of my favorites at all, and made me love the songs I already loved (basically, all the rest of the songs he sang) more. I was mostly right in front of Cale (guitarist/keyboardist) and Chris (bassist) and they were having so much fun. Ryland (drummer) was partially obscured by his cymbal, but he was awesome and Andrew (guitarist) was far away but he smiled a lot and sounded great. They have a really great dynamic together for being a band so short of a time and I can imagine it will only get better and better. We can has tour now?
At the end of the set, Cale reached out and tried to give us his setlist, but was a couple feet short (dude has LONG arms, btw, wow), so he tossed it lightly and I caught it. :D Then Kris tossed his pick and it fell somewhere near me. It ended up right next to my foot, slightly under the plastic Disney bag holding my wet poncho. I gave it to wildchild1222, since I already had the setlist and I knew it would make her stupidly happy. (I was right.) :D
Kris Song By Song Recap/Thoughts
Heartless: My favorite Heartless arrangement is the original, with just Kris and his guitar. I haven't liked any of the others at ALL, until this live version. The full band arrangement just compliments the Kris + guitar vibe in a really great way. I was so caught up in it that I totally forgot that the mash up with Gangster's Paradise part was coming. It caught my by surprise and just... floored me, actually. They all (except maybe Ryland; I wasn't looking, sorry Ryland!) sang it a cappella together mostly and wow. Four for you, Kris Allen band. Beautiful.
Can't Stay Away:I long ago figured out it was impossible for me to not at least chair dance a little during this song. But live? Oh, man. ♥
The Truth: I had been hoping he'd do The Truth and it turned out to be one of the songs added by Sharpie into the setlist. \o/ Kris put himself completely into this song, wow. So much passion in his vocals, his guitar, his face. I got the most heartbreaking pic of him right at the end. And I think this is a real testament to Kris, considering that he didn't co-write it at all. That he was able to find a place in himself to feel a song like this so intensely, it really proved that this is a huge strength he has as a musician.
Man in the Mirror: Such a great song anyways and I love Kris's take on it. Plus, it's all kind of nostalgic to think back to him singing this on the first live week of Idol and seeing how far he's come. Lovely.
Is It Over: Before the song, Kris bantered a little about writing the song with Cale over the internet over the summer. We all cheered when he brought up Cale and Kris made everyone clap for "Cale and his beard". It's one of my least favorite songs on the album, but hearing it live really gave me a new appreciation.
Alright With Me: This song is tied with The Truth and LLWD as my favorites on the album. You can easily tell it's a favorite of theirs to play and it really looked like Kris and Cale especially were getting a huge kick out of seeing how many of us at the front were singing along. They were smiling so much. :D At one point, Kris sat on the edge of the stage with the mic held out for the 'Yeah yeah yeah yeah' parts and his kicky little feet. Then he laid back on the stage for a few seconds and jumped up really quickly. My pic of him standing up is kind of hilarious. I would possibly go to an entire concert of just this song, seriously.
Christmas Medley: This was the other one added to the setlist in Sharpie. Which is interesting, considering it was a Christmas show. My guess is that they were given more time that originally planned since Allison dropped out of the show? Kris sang/played Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas alone while his band stepped back, drank water and made heart eyes at him. Then it flowed seamlessly into a great and very Kris-like arrangement of The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). It's kind of stupid how much talent he has, I don't even know.
Live Like We're Dying: Aside from how he has to do some creative breathing during the chorus live, this is the perfect first single for him. Everyone's talked about reasons why, so I won't do that, but the point is seeing it live and up close, that was confirmed times a million.
End of set thoughts: Kris was. Just. The exorbitant ticket price was well worth it for his performance alone. To me, he earned every single vote he got on Idol, every favorable word and review from judge, fan, friend or journalist, every bit of credibility he's been allotted by anyone or anything, anywhere. Every bit of that was completely validated for me last night. I was already a huge fan (no, really?) but now I'm sold on him in a way that doesn't exactly surprise me, but makes me really, really happy all the same.
Basically: my heart eyes, let me show you them.
(More Kris in later in the post! Stay tuned!)
Kris Pics
Ryland's kick drum with 'KRIS AllEN' in electrical tape.
The heartbreaking face from the end of The Truth.
HI CALE.
Notice Jason watching from the on-stage balcony (he's the one in the lighter shirt).
Sitting on stage during Alright With Me.
In the middle of standing up. I really want to make this an LOL INVISBLE CHAIR macro.
Cale on keyboards.
Cale's setlist. :D
More pics in my Photobucket album. Password is the same as my account name: asmadasrabbits
Kris Videos
I was too close to the speakers I think, so the sound is a little wonky in some parts. Usually my camera has AMAZING sound. :( Also, none of the singing or talking is me. I purposely just mouth along instead of singing when I record so as not to embarrass myself just in case.
Some of Heartless
More of Heartless /Gangster's Paradise
Can't Stay Away
The Truth
Cale during The Truth. He was RIGHT THERE and I knew some of you would appreciate this.
Kris bantering between songs. Talks about writing Is It Over with Cale over the summer over the internet. When we all screamed for Cale he told us to give it up for 'Cale and his beard'.
Kris and Cale during the Is It Over guitar break.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and The Christmas Song. It cuts off RIGHT before the end because I accidentally hit a button with my pinky. FAIL.
Leona Lewis
I left the barricade after Kris to collect myself. I needed cell phone reception and air so I ended up on the smoking balcony (lol irony) for her entire set. Which was only four songs. And apparently, I hear through the grapevine that it was pretty apparent that she was maybe lip syncing two of them? But I heard some of Bleeding Love through the door when someone was holding it open, and I thought she sounded pretty good. So I hope that's not true, because it makes me sad. :(
The Fray (Mostly More Stuff About Kris, Featuring The Fray)
We came back in before The Fray and found a place from which we could kind of see some of the stage. A few songs in, I discovered we actually had a MUCH better view of Kris and Cale watching The Fray.
HoB Orlando has balconies actually on the stage for the other performers to watch each other while still backstage, technically. Jason watched some of Kris's set from there and you can see him in a few of my pics actually.
But instead of doing that, Kris and Cale came out onto the regular balcony, which is literally just separated by mostly just a wall from the backstage one. But they chose to come out with the crowd instead. I'd imagine the view couldn't be that different and so this sort of just... charms me. They talked and laughed a lot, Cale did some air drumming and Kris sang along a lot too. After awhile, Andrew joined them, and then Chris.
Fans kept coming up to Kris and he was gracious with every single one of them, talking and taking pics, even though he clearly wanted to be watching The Fray the whole time. At one point, Issac Slade jumped up to stand on the piano and everyone was screaming, but Kris had his back to the stage and a lady's arm around his shoulders taking a picture. His head swiveled around immediately at the screams, with her arm still around him. It was kind of adorable.
I took a few pics, but I had to do it without flash given the distance, so they're blurry.
Issac Slade is the white blur onstage. Kris is at the top of the balcony steps, right above the white XL sign. Cale, Andrew and Chris (black shirt, hand over his mouth) are on the stairs in descending order beside him.
Andrew, Cale and Kris. Darker, but more in focus.
Still blurry, but zoomed.
Toward the end of the set, Kris, Andrew and Cale left to go backstage (Chris was already gone). Right about the same time, Issac brought these two fans onstage from backstage to say hi or something and it ended up being a set up for him to propose to her. It was SO SWEET, oh my God. I saw Cale stop in the backstage balcony to watch, but it's dark in there on purpose, so I couldn't see if Kris and Andrew stopped too.
Soon after, wildchild1222 and I went outside to where the bands have to leave from, due to the weird set up of HoB (the front and sides are all in Guest areas of Downtown Disney and the back is... water), and therefore usually come out if they're going to sign and take pics.
Jason came out but was in a major hurry, so he only signed a little. wildchild1222 got her ticket signed but I didn't. She's awesome and so she... gave it to me. :D ♥ We waited a long while and one else came out, so people started to leave. Then Issac Slade appeared. I stepped back and just watched, let everyone else have their moments since I'm more of a casual fan. It was cool to see. :)
No sightings of Kris or his boys and there were only about seven or so people left waiting, so we left for our cars in some suddenly seriously ridiculous wind. WTAF, Florida?
All in all it was a really great day. Kris was amazing and needs to tour RIGHT NOW so I can go to a million shows.
♥_♥