I went to the American Idol Tour tonight. Yes, get all of your laughs out now. It was very interesting. I was hoping it would be a great big ball of cheese, but it was actually pretty good. So now, without further ado, my review:

First off, I have to say that the crowd was quite different from what I expected it to be. Lots of older and middle aged folks there, and most of them without kids. I was picturing the arena to be filled with scads of screaming pre-teen girls, but it was thankfully not so. There were lots of homemade shirts in honor of favorite contestants, but the most interesting shirt was on a woman who looked to be early-to mid-40�s. She had on a From Justin to Kelly tank top. Wait a minute, what??? First of all, why? Second, where do you even buy something like that? I felt extra shame for her. We also had the pleasure of having really good seats, but sitting in a section that turned out to have random wet seats. Of course, none of us found this out until after we had sat down and then got up for something. And the wet spots were in two round circles, and not on every seat. It was very strange. Some of the staff people came around with garbage bags for us to sit on. For some reason, garbage bags must be the new motif for any concert I go to with my brother. Last summer we went to an outdoor concert on what seemed to be the only night that it rained all summer long, and we ended up wearing garbage bags that we had brought to sit on. That�s a sexy look, right there, the arms-poked through the garbage bag dress. It�s on all the fall runways. Anyway, back to the show�.

The first act consisted of each contestant coming out and doing a solo number, with Ruben getting two. They performed in the order they were voted out, so Charles Grigsby opened the show with Stevie Wonder�s Do I Do. Charles had on a shirt and pants covered in random sewn-on patches of different sports teams. It was a little, um, ugly. Anyway, he�s pleasant enough to watch. Nothing to write home about, but he�s got a nice voice. He�s a good dancer and can work the crowd, so it was good enough for me. Next, Julia DeMato dramatically rose out of the floor lying on a white chaise-couch to sing Christina Aguilera�s Beautiful. I was VERY nervous about this one, but she sounded good. She was definitely the most improved of all of the singers tonight. Still no stage presence whatsoever, but she sounded good. Next up was Rickey Smith, singing Michael Jackson�s The Way You Make Me Feel. Hmm, what�s the best way to describe this performance? Lots of energy, but just really, really BAD. He shouldn�t sing Michael Jackson. Actually, most of the time, he shouldn�t sing at all. Just bad. And people talk about Clay being gay? No way. But Rickey? Flames are coming off that boy. It was funny to watch him as he�s supposed to be following around this little chickie back-up dancer. He wasn�t even paying attention to her half the time. Veeery convincing there, Rickey. After his song, he also threw in some �Hercules! Hercules!� as he was announcing the next act. I could feel the bile rising up in my throat at that point, but I managed to keep it down. Next up, Kimberly Caldwell came prancing out to sing a Britney Spears song that I had never heard of, Stuck. It suited her voice and she knows how to play to the crowd, so it was a pretty good performance. My favorite part of it was watching one of the camera guys try to look up her skirt for the big screens. Yes, great. After Kimberly came everyone�s favorite bleater, Carmen Rasmusen. She sang Shania Twain�s Up, and it wasn�t too bad. It wasn�t too good, but it was okay for Carmen. She didn�t really engage the audience at all during her performance, though. My brother didn�t care, though, as he pronounced her to be looking very good. So that�s who kept her in the competition for so long � guys who thought she was hot. That makes sense now. Anyway, Trenyce hit the stage next with Proud Mary, which I have to say, I love to see her perform. She just kicks the song�s ass. And she�s a true performer. There were, however, two problems that I had with Trenyce�s performance. Well, one was her intro saying how beautiful she is. Now she�s got a nice bod and all, but doesn�t she kinda look like the black version of Miss Gulch from The Wizard of Oz? Her face � it looks just like her! I can hear the bike riding music in my head now! Oooh, that woman still gives me the creeps. Yeah, so celebrate her voice and bod, but don�t be going on and on with the beautiful and gorgeous stuff. And #2? Her song just happened to be the first of a series of inappropriate flame-shooting and pyrotechnic displays. Rhode Island is not exactly the greatest place to be breaking those out after the big Station nightclub fire tragedy in February. You couldn�t do one night without them? Anyway, moving on�. Kimberley Locke kicked some ass next with Band of Gold. There�s not much more to say about that. She came, she sang, she kicked some ass. Then came the Clayton. Aww, you guys know I love me some Clay. He came out in a little suit and sang This is the Night. He was wearing far too much makeup, but his voice was in fine form, and it was the best I had ever heard him sing that song. He�s calmed down some of his facial expressions, but he�s still such a spaz, and I love that. Finally, Ruben came out and sang that damn Superstar song. If I have to hear that one more time, I swear, heads will roll! He followed that up with a random Luther Vandross song where he did more talking to the crowd than singing. It was typical Ruben. Sounded fine, but was boring. This brought us to the intermission�.

Quick review intermission: Speaking of American Idol, I finally saw the full video for Kelly Clarkson�s Miss Independent today, and I have one thing to ask � how old is she again? Why is she still going to parties where there are silly string fights? Doesn�t that pretty much stop after the eighth grade?

Okay, back to the show. I must point out that whoever was running the concert was doing a marvelous job. There were no breaks between songs, and everything started on time. It was like a Dick Clark Production! So the second half was the one I was afraid of most, because I heard it contained all of the group numbers. They were surprisingly entertaining. The guys come out first, all dressed in white, to sing The Lady is a Tramp. There�s something funny about little nerdy Clay in his white suit and sneakers, surrounded by 3 black men who are looking hip. It�s just too cute. Anyway, during the song, the girls all emerge in all black badass outfits to sing Bootylicious. Then the guys and girls have a mini sing-off reminiscent of the rockers/swingers sing-off in Xanadu. Clay and Ruben then stay on the stage to duet on The Girl is Mine. For once, Ruben shows some personality in the banter before the song, but Clay still has it all over him in spades. They sound nice together, though. Next up is the big Bee Gee�s medley. Everyone gets a shot at a solo during the songs, and you realize during the songs that Clay shouldn�t dance. Ever. He looks like one of those animatronic robots in the Hall of Presidents. He�s just goofy, but I find that endearing. After the big medley, Ruben comes out to sing a song from his forthcoming album. What followed was the worst song of the evening. I laughed the entire time. First, Ruben comes out in a shirt that is a little small, with these patchwork jeans and sideways hat, and this sort of reggae-inspired hip-hop song starts up. Ladies and Gentleman, say hello to the Gangsta Velvet Teddy Bear. It was embarrassing. He was actually saying things like, �shot callin�, yes y�allin�.� My brother leaned over and asked, �Who is he trying to be, the next Biggie Smalls?� It was just horrifying. Ruben can�t pull off the badass gangsta song. Stick to the ballads, big guy. I don�t remember the exact order of what happened next, but here are some of the highlights (and low points): Kimberley Locke wailed on Natalie Cole�s Inseparable, Clay did a nice job with Can You Feel the Love Tonight, and Trenyce sounded strong on I Have Nothing. Trenyce then sang lead on the chick number I�m Every Woman, and she just sounded really, really good. Some of the not-so-hot moments came when Rickey Smith and Charles Grigsby inexplicably sang Prince�s Let�s Go Crazy (??????), Kimberly Caldwell led some of the ladies in Pink�s Feel Good Time, and Carmen soloed on Let�s Hear it For the Boy. Surprisingly, Julia DeMato and Rickey Smith sounded nice together on If I Never Knew You, and Kimberley Locke and Ruben sang a duet about the best things in life being free. Both very pleasant enough, but Kimberley Locke brought it home with her bread and butter, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. For some reason, even though she has done that song a gazillion times, I still like hearing her sing it. She just wailed, and the crowd went nuts. Everyone hit the stage at the end for a group sing of I�ve Had the Time of My Life. Clay still proved that he shouldn�t dance.

As this was ending, we started to sneak out before the encore, but I stopped when I heard Clay come back out onstage. Like Ruben before, he sang a song from his upcoming album. However, unlike Ruben, Clay�s song was really good. It was so much better than that bland This is the Night fluff they made him sing. It was a song called Invisible, and I really hope it�s his first single because it�s just that good. And he�s very entertaining to watch, probably mostly because he�s such a goof and so ridiculous. He was doing the little hip-shake thing and I was just laughing and laughing. The final two songs were slated to be Ruben with Flying Without Wings, and then everybody singing God Bless the USA AGAIN. We decided to skip out before both. No need to hear either one.

So all in all, a surprisingly entertaining show. Trenyce and Kimberley Locke sounded superb, and Ruben was typical Ruben. Good voice, but I find him meh. (P.S. to Ruben � seriously think about picking another song as your first single. That one was just no. No. Just no.) Julia sounded surprisingly good, and Rickey was very, very bad. My brother said Carmen looked better than ever, and I�ll just take his word on that. But Clay was my boy - total nerd, but with a powerhouse voice. Love it. And extra points for the sneakers. And finally, the best part was the lack of Josh. He would have ruined the whole show for me. So thank you, US Marine Corps, for not letting him out of his duties to spread his evil to the masses. God Bless the USA, indeed.

Celebrity Boyfriend of the Day: In honor of the big AI night, I�ve got to go with the Clay Aiken.
I prefer audition Clay, but I�ll take him anyway he comes. Goofy, cutie, scrawny, born in 1978 (don�t ask), funny, and man - can that boy sing. Everything I want in a man. Woo!

before & after





2007-09-26 - Follow Me!
2006-09-30 - Site Move & Favorite Entries
2006-09-25 - Evil Easter Bunnies & Rock Climbing!
2006-09-22 - Shameful-Purchase Hiding & A New Dentist Plan
2006-09-19 - Birthday Picture/Video Diary & The Wheelmobile





Copyright 2003-2006 by Sockgirlie. Stealing is wrong.