Show #2 of 4 days, 4 shows, 4 states was Casey Abrams and friends at The Kate. Casey is from my all time favorite season of American Idol and during the show I realized that the talent that season was all SO GOOD that a lot got overlooked. Casey’s voice was just amazing. The show started out with Casey on his own, he explained that his bass was on a bench for the show because the stick that usually holds it up was left at the venue of the show he performed the night before. If that was a challenge for him, you’d never know it. He sang Lost and Lookin’, Dry Spell, Nature Boy (which he whistled part of and holy crap was I blown away and jealous as someone who can’t whistle) and Simple Life. Then he was joined by Dylan Chambers and they did an amazing rendition of Drive My Car followed by I can never get enough and don’t give up on my love, which were Dylan’s originals. Casey then said he needed to go pee and left Dylan on his own to perform Knock on Wood and What Kind of Fool. When Dylan began playing House of the Rising Sun, Casey appeared in the back of the venue to sing and did a medley of it with Amazing Grace and Row Row Row Your Boat. Dylan left Casey alone again and he did Your Song by Elton John – asking the crowd if anyone had any sun glasses for him to wear but he ended up getting bifocals from someone instead. He also did Midnight Girl and Sober – explaining that after having a surgery he has been sober for 3 years now and how much he had to drink to not be nervous on stage before, but that’s no longer a problem for him. Dylan came back out for Sara Smile, You and Me, Golden Handcuffs and Ya Gotta Respect Yourself (the latter 2 also being Dylan originals). One of the “friends” was supposed to be Hunter, but she wasn’t able to make it as she is in space… so Casey did what she probably would have done with a medley of Shallow / Barbie Girl and Natural Woman. He finished up the main set with Cougartown and Sweet Home Chicago with Dylan. For the encore he did Georgia on my Mind from in the crowd (with no mic, which he did a few times throughout the night and his ability to project was very impressive) and finally Hit the Road Jack.
I was going back and forth on if I was even going to go to this show with so much else going on, but I am glad I didn’t end up missing out!
