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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2007 > September > 12
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
9/12: Idols live concert review
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For some of the sixth season finalists, this is truly a farewell to “Idol” and the beginning of a new career. For others, it’s a farewell in the public spotlight period. For “Idol” tour organizers, this is a cash cow. And for the audience, it’s a mental souvenir, a way to pay homage to people we voted for (or didn’t) for months this past spring.
Having been to all six of these “Idols Live” tours in a row, I have to say this one was structured differently than the past ones when they would have each person do some solos, mix in a duet or trio, going from 10th to the winner. There was more use of instruments, more multiple combos, more modern songs and for one year only thanks to Blake, tons of beatboxing (none by Jordin). Despite the overall lack of star power that depressed attendance, the producers managed to take advantage of the strengths of the final 10 to pull off an entertaining show covering at least snippets of 37 songs over three hours (including a 30-minute intermission.)
They paired compatible people with some success. LaKisha and Melinda together, for instance, did some decent Motown while Chris Richardson and Blake beatboxed and rockers Gina and Chris Sligh covered Fall Out Boy. The Sanjaya-Melinda “Proud Mary” combo didn’t work out so well partly because Melinda lacks the Tina Turner aggression and Sanjaya is, well, Sanjaya.
As usual, staging was relatively spare but the “Idol” tour organizers added backup singers for the very first time instead of using backup tapes. And the light rigging was far more sophisticated, with four circular rigs that were lifted up and down depending on what lighting they wanted.
While the average attendance of the first 30 dates was just 63 percent vs. 93 percent-plus a year ago, the Gwinnett Arena was fairly full; I’d say it was about 90 percent. But a year ago, Atlanta was able to absorb two dates at the arena rather than one. So demand is way down. And ticket prices have edged up over the years. In fact, the higher-priced tickets were more expensive than the Sept. 22 concert here with Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello.
I hated the opener, “Let’s Get It Started” simply because the Black Eyed Peas annoy me. Fortunately, it was the only true “group sing” they did. At the end, they dispensed with the group sing (past years have featured songs such as “Living in America” and “Lean On Me”) and opted to have each person sing a clip of an earlier solo. It’s marginally less cheesy that way. Sure, the show had a fair share of cheese, including any time Sanjaya showed up or the “Lady Marmalade” trio of LaKisha, Gina and poor Haley. And we wouldn’t expect anything less from “American Idol.”
Anyway, here are my impressions of each of the contestants, from 10th to 1st.
Chris Sligh He got quite a bit of stage time and did a fine job with the least familiar song of the bunch, Mute Math’s “Typical.” And it’s true: he has improved his stage presence since “Idol.”
Haley Scarnato Bless her heart. She tries but she’s like a raindrop on a windshield after a summer thunderstorm and the hot sun hits it. After a minor sizzle, she evaporates from your mind. At least she has those amazing legs. She keeps them in jeans for much of the concert, then unveils them near the end during “Ain’t No Other Man” and I have to say, she has all the makings of a great go-go dancer. Gina Glocksen She impressed me more than she did on the show. She came across cool and confident without any attitude. Her take on Pink’s “Who Knew” was one of my favorites of the night though it helps that I do love that song. The closest past “Idol” she reminds me of is Ryan Starr and Gina is far better in all ways (except maybe Ryan’s belly button.)
Sanjaya Malakar He’s 17 years old and not quite ready for primetime vocally or in the dance department. Lucky for him he possesses a weird charisma that translated for a few fleeting moments, but other times, he was simply doing a bad imitation of Michael Jackson. As noted by other reviewers, his moonwalk is no better than any random person on a sidewalk. And yes, he did wield a mean tambourine during “Crazy.”
Chris Richardson This Virginia man got a lot of stage time and he landed in fifth place for a reason (tied with Phil, more or less, since they were eliminated at the same time). He’s got a decent voice, decent stage presence and does decent covers of songs like Maroon 5’s “This Love.” But is he exceptional? No. He’s clearly a nice guy, but it’s going to be a tough slog for him out in the real world.
Phil Stacey This guy has Ryan Seacrest-like charm in the sense he has the best hosting skills of this bunch. He is also the one most likely to namedrop Atlanta and try to get people to stand up or clap. His performance only solidified my conception of him in the spring: good voice, modest stage presence, better go country because that’s his own chance to break through a la Josh Gracin.
LaKisha Jones She didn’t touch “I Ain’t Telling You I’m Not Got Going” but opted for the equally difficult torch song “I Will Always Love You.” Sure, she more or less aped Whitney Houston’s version but wow, she did a stunning job nonetheless. Easily. this was the best vocal of the night.
Melinda Doolittle She excudes sweetness and light but she simply lacks that true personality to become a big star. We knew that already. I did enjoy her “(You Make Me Feel Like a ) Natural Woman” and giving the spotlight briefly to the female backup singer, an homage to her past.
Blake Lewis He did what he did on the show: beat box. A lot. Probably too much. Then again, his ability to create an a capella song with that looping device during “She Will Be Loved” was oddly mesmerizing to behold. And “You Give Love a Bad Name” is still great fun.
Jordin Sparks Our “Idol” winner did us proud. She is incredibly versatile and her vocals sounded amazing tonight. In fact, her versatility is her strength and her weakness. She sang a little R&B (“I Who Have Nothing”), singer-songwriter pop (“You Were Meant For Me”) country (“Broken Wing”) and rock (“Heartbreaker” and “Living on a Prayer”), all quite well. But who is Jordin Sparks? We’ll have to find out. Her dance steps are still clumsy but she’s improving little by little. For now, her charming, youthful, 100 watt smile and that eyebrow lift she makes warms our souls and makes us hope for great things.
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9/12: Idols live meet and greet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sitting in the exact same spot here at the Gwinnett Arena I did last August to kill time between the meet and greet (which was at 3) and the concert (which starts at 7.). It’s on the second level near the smoking area, out of harm’s way. Nobody bugs me here.
For the media meet and greet, the show producers typically brings out four or five contestants. They gave us Chris Sligh, who I already interviewed; Haley Scarnato (ditto); Gina Glocksen; and Chris Richardson. In other words, none of the top 5. Oh, well
I spoke with each of them for a few minutes and didn’t get anything earthshattering, not that I’d expect it.
Chris R. (above) did say that the turnout at Greensboro last night was poor. That’s probably because there was no hometown love this year in the form of Clay Aiken or Chris Daughtry. He also said he will be doing some beatboxing tonight with Blake, which should be amusing. He said he had beatboxed before but he purposely avoided doing so on the “Idol” show because he didn’t want to be a copycat.
Speaking of copycat, he said he has hung out with Justin Timberlake and almost ended up on Timbaland’s new album but he got onto “Idol” instead. (He and Timbaland both live in the Hampton Roads, Va. area.)
I asked Richardson about the VMAs. He missed Britney but saw Chris Brown. “He’s fantastic. He did a great job being as young as he is.” I agree!
Sligh (above), who wore a Boston Red Sox shirt (he’s been a fan since he was seven years old), said he regularly checks my blog and MJs blog and said he had posted a link to my interview Monday night and asked his fans to post comments. And he thanked me for the interview, noting that he’s had reporters who seem to troll web sites like Television Without Pity and conclude that everybody hates him. He said he literally had some reporter ask him why everyone hates him. (Hate him? Why Chris? Sanjaya is the one a lot of people hate!). And he said one reporter took his most negative quote out of a 15 minute interview and used it. I said that’s just part of the territory and the fortunate part of doing this blog is I can be far more comprehensive and provide more context.
I didn’t get much out of Gina Glocksen (above) beyond the fact there is so little drama backstage and everybody likes each other, yada yada. No shock there. She does look like she’s lost weight and seems quite personable. When I told her about the USA Today story noting that attendance is way down from past years, she said this tour is getting better reviews than past ones. That’s probably true although that didn’t really address the issue of lower attendance.
Haley was better looking in person than I thought she was on the show
“It doesn’t bug me,” said Haley (above), about the lower attendance numbers. “We made tour. That’s a blessing in itself. We get to go out and it doesn’t matter if it’s 10,000 or five.”
I had a contact at Marquis Jet, Lisa Senters, who provided me access to that company’s meet and greet with all ten contestants. I decided to use that as a venue to take pictures. I got shots of nine (except LaKisha, who didn’t show up for some reason to the meet and greet) while they signed, scattered throughout this blog entry. Sligh had a sign made saying he can’t talk, doctor’s orders, which was amusing. (Then again, he did talk to me, so he did technically defy the doc on that front.)
ABOVE: I forgot to have my flash on so this shot blurred. I should have taken another one.
After the signing, the Marquis Jet/NetJet folks got to mingle with the contestants with food and drink for a few minutes. Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks hung around the longest talking with the little kids. They were struck by Frances Mitchell, an adorable 7 year old from Atlanta who looks like Annie. They asked her to sing something and pretended to be the TV judges. She softly sang “My Favorite Things.” Melinda and Jordin then applauded like Paula. It was cute.
I spoke to Sanjaya for a few moments and asked him if he saw Chris Brown at the VMAs, who did a nifty Michael Jackson move during his set. Unlike Chris Richardson, Sanjaya hadn’t. He didn’t know about that. I then asked if he did the same and he just kinda grinned. I then told him Clay had sung “The Way You Make Me Feel,” too, which surprised him. I forgot to ask if his sister was around because she’s been at several tour dates.
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