The American Idol Concert in St. Louis

A couple of nights ago I went to the American Idol Tour in St. Louis. It wasn’t really a tour, it was a concert, but who cares, anyway, it was about 3 hours and there were ten people – the top ten American Idols. I had been really excited. Unfortunately, my Mom wasn’t with us, she was helping my Grandma move, but we didn’t just buy 4 tickets, we bought 6 tickets. First there was my brother and dad, then there was my cousin Curtis and then my second cousins Mary Jo and Madison.

We had good seats. We were looking right down at the side of the stage and there were also two big screens. And out of all the concerts we’ve been to, it was the loudest. I couldn’t see one person who didn’t like it. It was so loud we had to use earplugs, but the earplugs unfortunately didn’t work too much so it was still pretty loud. Then we gave up trying to block the noise and just listened.

The concert started with lots of commercials. First there was one trying to get you to buy a very weird new car – they tried to say all the American Idol people drive this car, you should drive it to. In the commercial there were weird combinations, for instance there might have been half of a wheel at the bottom, for the body Alison (who was one of the top 4) and the head of Adam who came in second and then a big pink hat – you’d never know it kept swapping. But whenever there was a part of Adam or Kris or Danny, everyone would be like “whoo” because they were the top three. Kris came in first (unfortunately, I was rooting for Adam), Adam came in second and Danny came in third.

The concert started with #10, Michael Sarver; I gave him an overall 3 on a scale of one to ten. I liked the background stage and the lights, but his singing wasn’t the best.

Then came #9, Meghan Joy who I rated an overall 6 then #8, Scott MacIntyre who I rated another overall 6 then #7, Lil Rounds – I decided to rate her an overall 6 and a half. The way I remember these ratings is that I told my Dad the ratings during the concert and he wrote down notes [ed. note – I wrote them in the dark, which was a little hard, but they’re reasonably decipherable – anything to support Simon’s blogging habit]. After Lil came #6, Anoop Desai – I gave him a seven and three quarters. I liked his last song the best, it’s kind of hard to describe, but all I can tell you is he was really, really good [ed. note, he really rocked on a version of Bobby Brown’s My Prerogative].

After Anoop came #5 Matt, who we like to call “Matt in the Hat.” I don’t really like the hat much, he looks all weird. His songs were good. So I decided to rate him a 7 and a half. And the way the singers got up on stage was because there was a little square in the stage that you stood on and then you could go down or up (you’d only go down if you’re on the stage, up if you’re below the stage). It was really cool to see Matt come up on it with a piano. [ed. note – Dad really liked his rendition of Georgia on My Mind]. After Matt, there were three songs, all combination songs – the first one was Megan and Lil, then a piano duel between Matt and Scott [Billy Joel’s Tell her About It] and then for the last one all six teamed up and did Beggin’ by the Four Seasons. Then it was time for a twenty minute intermission. During the intermission we got some water and had to rest our ears and stretch our legs.

After the intermission they did the top four. It went Alison, Danny, Adam Kris. I thought it should have gone Allison, Kris, Danny Adam. Unfortunately it didn’t go that way. Her songs were very good, I rated them a 10, a 9.5 and a 10 [So What by Pink; Cry Baby by Janis Joplin; Barracuda by Heart] Her last song was Barracuda which I know from Guitar Hero #3 – if it’s your first time playing, it’s one of the hardest songs, but after you’ve played Guitar Hero awhile it’s very easy.

After Alison came Danny Gokey. Danny was my second favorite on the TV show but unfortunately he came in third. I rated him a 9 and three quarters. [ed. note, he introduced his last number, Rascal Flatts’ My Wish by talking about his own personal loss just before the Idol competition and saying “Never be defined by a tragedy… don’t let bad things kill your dreams” – it was very moving. Here's a link to him performing it earlier on the tour...]

Then the lights were going off and on and for a second I thought the power was cut off and then Adam appeared. His first song was Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love. I rated that song a 10. Then he did Starlight, by Muse which I also rated a 10. Then he did Mad World by Tears for Fears – it was my favorite song in the concert. [Here's a link to Adam doing it on the show ]I also saw him do it on the show, except on the show he was wearing all black robes and there was a lot of blue smoke. Then Adam and Alison did Slow Ride by Foghat, which I also remember from Guitar Hero as one of the first songs I did (although I started with The Story of My Life but I’ll get into that in another blog). [ed. note, Adam finished his set with my favorite number of the concert, a David Bowie medley of Life on Mars / Fame / Let’s Dance. There are rumors that Adam has been asked to be the new front man for Queen, and he certainly can pick up where Freddie Mercury left off]

Adam’s overall score I would say was a definite 10.

And then came Kris. I didn’t like Kris because he came in first and I wanted Adam to come in first. But unfortunately I can’t change what already happened. Kris’ final overall score was about an 8 and a half. Hey Jude was a really good song, I gave it a 10, but I wasn’t rating it just for Kris, because he was joined by the other idols.

Then all the idols came on stage and did Journey's Don’t stop Believing which I thought was the most appropriate song they did in all American Idol because it told all the idols even though Adam came in second it wasn’t the end of Adam, I’m guessing that he’s going to try out next year. And to all the people who want to get onto American Idol it’s saying that you can’t stop believing in yourself, you just can’t even if everyone is like “you can’t do it, you can’t do it” you just can’t say no.

For the last and final ending, I shall say 'bravo' and 'go on' to anyone who wants to join American Idol. I’m not stopping you, I’m encouraging you, Go On!