American Idol – Page 7 – Concert Katie

David Cook Ridgefield Playhouse 2/11/15

Katie February 25, 2015 0 Comments

Wednesday February 11, David Cook returned to Connecticut for a show at the Ridgefield Playhouse. I had bought VIP tickets and ended up needing to be at the venue for what I think was my earliest VIP time ever. It was set to start at 2:30pm – and doors to the show wouldn’t be until 7! When we arrived, we were told that Dave was under the weather and that the band would still be playing but Dave wouldn’t be singing for soundcheck because he had to save his voice to make sure to give us a great show.

Dave told us that we would have to sing for the soundcheck – and asked if we knew Declaration. I thought I did but it turns out I’m a lot better at singing along than singing it from memory! Some of the crowd told him to stop talking – but he said he’d be fine to talk, he just couldn’t sing. For the second song, Kiss You Tonight, Nick, a member of Dave’s crew came out and sang it for us. Then they were ready to start the M&G but the crowd asked for one more song so they did Lay Me Low.

Monty had his arm wrapped and told us he had to get a screw in it and then Dave did a great impression of the call he got a couple days before the tour run started to tell him that he was hurt but could still play.

Then it was time for the M&G where we were told to keep it to 30-45 seconds, but obviously that didn’t end up happening. One of the venue staff took my picture and then we did a selfie as well.

Since everything was so early, I had quite a lot of time to kill so I did some exploring around Ridgefield and found a Dunkin Donuts to treat myself to. Then I had some time to get some reading done before doors at 7!

The opening act was Artie Tobia. His songs – lyrics wise – kind of reminded me of Stephen Kellogg in that it basically told his story. He seemed to be quite well received by the crowd.

Then it was time for Dave! Everyone was hesitant to stand – but then he told everyone to get up, and they did, for the first song. The venue reserves the first 6 or so rows for their members – which I guess leads to people not all that interested in the artist to be sitting up close. After the first song, rows 2-6 sat down. I tried to stand for as long as I could – but it was nice when I took a couple of breaks that no one was standing in front of me so I could still see – but Dave did tell everyone to get up a few times throughout the set.

There was a lot of yelling from the crowd – some awkwardly timed that made Dave stop before he was going to start up a song because someone loved his hair… But the highlight of the crowd yelling came when everyone heard, loud and clear, “SHUT UP!” and Dave stopped playing and went “Me?” and then cracked up laughing and asked if it was recorded so it would be on YouTube.

Had I not known that he was sick and having vocal problems I’ve not have had a clue based on his performance. (At least until he drank some honey before the last song of the encore) It was a great performance and it has been a while since he has been in CT – he did say he had fallen in love with Ridgefield so I hope that he will come back again!

Paper Heart
Heroes / Champagne Supernova
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
I Did It For You
Last Goodbye
Lay Me Low
Fade Into Me
Wicked Games
Kiss and tell
Clocks
I’m Gonna Love You
Come Back To Me

Billie Jean
Light On
Wait For Me

American Idol Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday – American Idols Live 2003

Katie January 22, 2015 0 Comments

03-07-18

Headliner: Ruben Studdard
Opener(s): Clay Aiken, Kimberly Locke, Trenyce, Carmen Rasmusen, Kimberly Caldwell, Rickey Smith, Julia DeMato, Charles Grigsby
Cost: $56.63

Setlist:

Do I Do – Charles
Beautiful – Julia
The Way You Make Me Feel – Rickey
Stuck – Kim C
Up – Carmen
Proud Mary – Trenyce
Band of Gold – Kim L
This Is The Night – Clay
Superstar – Ruben
Never Too Much – Ruben
Lady Is A Tramp – Boys
Bootylicious – Girls
The Girl Is Mine – Clay / Ruben
Inseparable – Kim L
Can I Get Your Attention – Ruben
Let’s Go Crazy – Charles / Rickey
Let’s Hear It For The Boy – Carmen
Can You Feel The Love Tonight – Clay
Somewhere Over The Rainbow – Kim L
Feel Good Time – Girls
If I Never Knew You – Rickey / Julia
I Have Nothing – Trenyce
I’m Every Woman – Girls
The Best Things In Life Are Free – Ruben / Kim L
Invisible – Clay
Imagine – Clay / Ruben / Kim L
God Bless The USA – All

Recap:

This was the tour for the 2nd year of Idol and the first season I had actually watched. Tickets went on sale BEFORE the winner was announced or I probably would have boycotted because I wanted Clay to win! Josh Gracin was missing from the show – I believe he had been deployed again – but I remember being super pissed off that they didn’t even MENTION him.

Where Are They Now:

Ruben Studdard – Most recently he had been seen on a season of “The Biggest Loser”, he has released 6 albums since winning the show.

Clay Aiken – Most recently was running for the North Carolina 2nd congressional district election. He has released several albums, performed on Broadway and in several shows in his home state of NC. He also appeared on a season of Celebrity Apprentice and came in 2nd.

Kimberly Locke – She seems to still be releasing music (as recently as 2012, at least) and has done some work on TV, in modeling and with charities.

Trenyce – She has a career in theater now most recently in London’s West End Company’s Thriller Live

Carmen Rasmusen – Carmen hasn’t been very active in music but has gotten married and had 2 children. She now writes an entertainment column for a newspaper in Utah.

Kimberly Caldwell – She released her debut album in 2011 and has done some hosting on TV.

Rickey Smith – I can’t find much about Rickey. He sang backup with I saw Ruben in concert many years ago

Julia DeMato – Julia never did much else as far as music was concerned. She did have a baby a couple of years after Idol and was arrested for drugs and DWI.

Charles Grigsby – Charles released an EP in 2005 and a single in 2011.

American Idol Concert Train

TIC All Star Christmas Concert

Katie December 17, 2014 0 Comments

Friday night was the 2014 TIC All Star Christmas concert. If you remember, last year we had HORRIBLE weather but the show still went on – and I went – but spent the night at a family friend who lived not very far from the venue. This year the weather was much, much better though there were snowflakes here and there as I was driving to the show.

A couple weeks ago they announced that the JERSEY BOYS would be opening the show, to help promote that the show was coming to Oakdale in February. At first I was psyched because Drew Seeley is currently touring in Jersey Boys, but then I realized that with his tour schedule there was no way it was his boys at the show. And I was right. They did a few medleys to kick off the show and they did a $20 off promotion on tickets for February.

Then it was time for Echosmith – they did a short set of 4 or 5 songs, one of which they had Pat Monahan from Train join them on. They also kept asking people to stand like every other song because no one was really up to standing in the beginning of the show.

I was quite surprised that Matt Nathanson, pretty much the reason why I went to the show this year, was the next act to perform. He was super amusing, as usual. He started his set with the song “Kinks Shirt” which he said he wrote about a relationship but later explained that he imagined it all and the girl he wrote it about had no idea until he mentioned it in an article. Then he went in to his song Headphones, which I still absolutely love. Next up he said that he had to warm us up faster because it was a shorter set and said if he started playing a song – would we sing it? He started playing Sweet Child O Mine and the look on his face of pure SHOCK when everyone started singing it was worth the price of admission. Then he had us put our ARMS UP! To clap for Faster and said we could sit if we wanted but we had to dance in the chorus in our seats like our underwear were made of jello and we were at Mardi Gras. A few people nearby didn’t do anything during the song and he totally embarrassed them when he called them out. He also did Come On Get Higher with a You’re the One That I Want sing along and then finished the night with another song where the crowd sang most of it – AC/DCs You Shook Me All Night Long. (And somehow I know way more of that song that I thought I did!)

Then it was time for Ingrid Michaelson. Her set was 40 minutes and she kept mentioning how there was a clock in front of her that was counting down how much time she had left and how much she had already played. A couple of times she just counted with it and mentioned that it was distracting. I didn’t keep track of her setlist, but I believe she did: Be Ok, Winter Song, Mele Kalikimaka, Parachute, Time Machine, The Way I Am & Girls Chase Boys. There may have been more than that too. She talked about how that morning she was in New York City for a Women’s event and saw Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande (she said she’s an elf child but a hot one), and Beyonce – but none of them saw her. She also had on a pretty awesome dress that she said her cousin made for her – and was quick to point out that we shouldn’t worry because she had shorts on underneath. During one of the lulls, a group started singing Happy Birthday to her – she seemed very surprised by it (her birthday was 2 days before) and said that had never happened to her before! But she became my personal hero when she stopped a song to be a bitch to some woman who was being SUPER loud. I didn’t realize that she could be heard on stage too (she was a ways behind me!) but I guess so because she told her to be quiet during the quiet song and could go back to being loud later. (But really – if you go to a show and there is an act you don’t care about? You have 2 options. Sit there and take it in – maybe you’ll be surprised. OR go to the freaking lobby and chit chat with your friends if it is THAT important that you have a conversation at that moment)

After Ingrid it was time for Daughtry – who had quite the beard going on. They started their set with Feels Like Tonight and had a more broken down acoustic set up for the evening. Then they did It’s Not Over and Battleships. After that they were all pelted with Christmas hats (Chris said that the girl who threw them had good aim – I did see she hit the keyboardist square in the chest with his) they put them on but then said they’d wait because the christmas song was not the next song in the set. Next they did a cover of Wicked Games – which Chris said was a song that he wished he had written. Then the Santa hats went back on for a cover of Elvis’ Blue Christmas. They finished out the set with Over You, Home, September and Waiting For Superman.

Closing out the show was Train. They sang lots of songs and I thought about how I have seen them 6 times, yet can not stand them. I did consider leaving in the middle of the set but wasn’t sure if they’d pull any of the other artists out on stage again and if they did, I didn’t want to miss it. (They didn’t.) But there was a boy in the front row who was a BIG fan and pure entertainment for me the entire show – so it was nice to see him enjoying the show. Pat grabbed his hand a few times and they even blew each other kisses. It was really sweet.

I pulled this setlist from a different show but it seems about right

Cadillac, Cadillac
50 Ways to Say Goodbye
If It’s Love
Meet Virginia
Bulletproof Picasso
Calling All Angels
Save Me San Francisco
Shake up Christmas
Hey Soul Sister
Drive By
Drops of Jupiter
Wonder What Youre Doing For The Rest Of Your Life
Dream On

American Idol Concert

Scotty McCreery – December 4, 2014 Oakdale Theater

Katie December 10, 2014 0 Comments

Thursday night Scotty McCreery performed at the Oakdale Theater along with Danielle Bradbery as part of a fundraiser for the 1214 Foundation. Scotty is the National Goodwill Ambassador for this foundation which is to raise money for the community of Sandy Hook after the devastation that happened there back in 2012. He mentioned that before the show started it had already raised $60,000 for the foundation!

Danielle opened the show with a 45 minute set. You may know Danielle from The Voice – Team Blake Shelton. She did many original songs as well as a cover of Katy Perry’s Roar, Paramore’s Aint It Fun and Boston’s More Than a Feeling. She has a great voice but I thought her set was a bit long.

Scotty took the stage at about 8:30. He seemed to have everyone interested, but only the front sections stood for the majority of his set. He opened the show with the song “Now”, which was a great choice to get everyone pumped up. He talked a bit about how he was 16 when he tried out for Idol and was 21 now and that his original plan was to go to college and then move to Nashville to try his hand at music, but instead “Baby lock them doors and turn the lights down low” changed his life and the path that he was on and now he can sing for the rest of his life (but he’s going to college too!). He also talked about how moving out to LA at 17 for the show was a big change and that “Brisk is not Sweet Tea!” and that no one out there knew what Sweet Tea was. I can relate Scotty, recently someone from up here in the North told a Southerner that “Our iced tea is your sweet tea.” Nope. Not the same!! He was really funny when he chatted between the songs. He also talked about how Lady Gaga was a “mentor” on his season and we don’t know the half of it with what went on behind the scenes because they didn’t show it all and he had to remind her it was a family show. He also talked about how the producers wanted him to sing more Pop songs and he told them “I. Am. Country.”

After Write My Number On Your Hand he went around and wrote his number on some girls in the front row’s hands – the number he wrote is 919-800-7527 – they flashed it up on the screens at the end of the song as well. Give it a call if you want! Scotty will answer 😉

Before the end of his set he did a medley of the country he grew up on including covers from Hank Williams, Johnny, Cash, Elvis Presley and Alabama – complete with some Elvis dance moves!

The show ended a little bit after 10 and Danielle was doing signing and photos in the lobby after the show. The line was pretty long so I didn’t bother to stick around and wait.

Kris Allen Norfolk, CT Infinity Hall 9/7/14

Katie September 10, 2014 0 Comments

Sunday night was the make up of Kris Allen’s show at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT. I had bought VIP Tickets which entitled me to a pre-show performance and M&G with Kris! The website said that the M&G would be at 7 with the show starting at 7:30. I got to the venue a little after 6 and while I was checking my phone, putting my GPS away, etc. I noticed Kris’ band going for a run all around me. I decided shortly after to head up to the box office to get my ticket and Kris was running past me! A little weird, since I’d be meeting him at 7… but ok.

I pick up my ticket and am told that they “don’t know what is happening with the M&G” but to check back. I asked the woman taking tickets if I could sit because I didn’t want to go up all the stairs to the venue if the M&G was going to be downstairs. While she is ripping tickets a couple comes up and says “Oh we had VIP tickets but we just met him!” She looks at me and I look at her like “what?!” So we go back to the box office and they say “Yeah well the M&G was at 6 but a lot of people missed it so we’re trying to figure out what to do” I guess Kris’ people thought it was 6 but everyone else thought it was 7 because of the website!

So I hung around longer and the woman from the box office came over and told me that the M&G would be after the show and they were trying to make it so that those of us with VIP would get to the front of the line since he’d be signing for everyone afterwards anyway. She told me to go to my seat and they’d have more info later.

I was a little bit annoyed because I have been to over 400 shows and NEVER missed a M&G (though traffic has made a couple of close calls!) And if the website had no info I’d have called to confirm!

Sarah Barrios opened the show and did a mix of covers and original songs. She apologized before she started her set saying she had come down with a cold and doesn’t normally sound like this – but I thought that she was great. I may have to check her out when she is healthy because she’ll be even better!

Then it was time for Kris! I love this venue, it is so small and even though I was in the 3rd row I felt like I was practically on stage (I cant only imagine how those in the front felt!) He started his set with Young Love and said he’d be playing mostly new stuff because that is what he is excited about right now but that he’d play the first single off his first album too, but he was making us sit through everything else first and that it often gets yelled out at shows to play it.

I had read an article where he said he’d be doing song covers but wanted to do more female songs because that is less expected. One of the covers that he did was of Haim’s “The Wire” he also worked in some current popular songs for covers like Magic!’s Rude mixed in with Monster (love love loved this!) and did a medley of Sia’s Chandelier and Sam Smith’s Stay With Me during the encore. He also threw in I Want You Back (Jackson 5) with Everybody Just Wants to Dance which worked out perfectly as well.

I’d post show “highlights” but really, every song was a highlight. I can’t really single out anything that was better than the rest! Although, something that probably doesn’t happen every night is that a song ended… but the drums kept going. Oops! Random drum solo time! Kris just started cracking up. At first I didn’t even realize what happened – I thought he was just going into the next song. But then everyone on stage was cracking up so I realized that was not what was happening!

I was also super psyched that they still are doing “End of the Show” as the last song of the encore. The song is hilarious but also a perfect way to end the show.

Afterwards I found the box office and they told me to go in to the restaurant and that Kris would be in when he was ready. There was about 9 or 10 other people in there that had missed the M&G too! He came in and came pretty much right up to me. He addressed the room and apologized that we had all gotten the wrong info. We chatted a bit about remembering names and how he never can (and sometimes forgets Cale’s name haha) and our car accidents and how it affects us mentally and we freak out and think cars are all out to get us now. Glad to know I’m not alone with that. He signed my CD and there was a couple next to me that was nice enough to take my picture with Kris (and in turn I took one of them with Kris). It was a nice chat and I’m glad that it was still a private M&G and not just something rushed at the end of the show. Bummed I missed getting a performance but I guess next time I’ll get to the venue several hours early!

Paul Simon/Young Love
Better With You
Don’t Set Me Free
Beautiful and Wild
Prove It To You
Alright With Me
In Time
It’s Always You
The Wire
Lost
Monster/Rude
Everybody Just Wants to Dance/I Want You Back
Live Like We’re Dying
Chandelier/Stay With Me
Shut That Door
End of the Show

American Idol Concert

Jennifer Lopez at Foxwoods 6/21/14

Katie June 25, 2014 0 Comments

After this year of Idol, I found it amusing I had seen both Keith and Harry in concert for free, but hadn’t yet seen JLo. So of course when I saw one of the local radio stations was giving away tickets I had to throw my hat in the ring. Then I got an email that I had won. I didn’t realize that the cheapest tickets were $200! Crazy. I didn’t get the tickets in advance, we had to pick them up at Will Call that night so I had no idea where the seats would be – but for free I’ll sit pretty much anywhere. First, they couldn’t find my name on the list and I was panicking a bit – I had driven 1.5 hours and was not about to buy a ticket if they didn’t have mine – but eventually she found me and I got 2 seats in the very last row of the lower level – which were listed as $275 a pop on their website. (whoa)

Doors were supposed to be at 7, but opened up more like 7:15. The show was supposed to start at 8:00, but started after 8:30… (I just remember my friend Liz asking if it was 8:30 and I said after 8:30 and the show still hadn’t started.)

But once the show did start – it was pretty much non-stop. There was no opener, and a few interludes so that Jennifer could change her outfits. I was surprised that there was really only 1 song I didn’t know – other than the one that she said was from her new album and we probably didn’t know. I guess that just shows how many singles she has had over the years! Wow! (I did pick up A.K.A after I got home and will hopefully be reviewing it for a Music Monday one of these days!)

I think there were a final count of 6 or 7 outfits? Maybe more than that if you count when she added or took off pieces! There were a lot of dance breaks and I couldn’t believe how much moving and running around she did throughout the show. I was exhausted just watching her! Pia Toscano from American Idol was also one of her backup singers which was pretty cool.

One thing I found interesting was how few people around me stood. I guess a lot got the tickets comped because they didn’t seem like the typical demographic I had expected for a JLO show. It seemed like most of the orchestra was up and dancing, but throughout the majority of the show I could count on one hand how many were standing near me. And one poor kid was dancing and got yelled at to sit down by the people behind him! Look, if he was standing like a statue and no one in front of him was blocking his view – then mayyybeee I could see you asking him to sit. But he obviously was enjoying himself and dancing around – so don’t make him chair dance! There was also a sign when we came in that said they wouldn’t yell at anyone who was standing or dancing at their seats – and rightfully so! I wonder if the venue gets a lot of complaints from people about others standing up and enjoying themselves? There must be some reason they posted the sign?

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the show – but I definitely enjoyed myself and wouldn’t mind seeing her again! (As long as I don’t have to pay $200-$300!) She talked a bit about how she liked the East Coast in the summer too. And did a lot of “Will you sing along? I can’t hear you!” in between / during songs. If you’re on the fence about seeing her live – definitely go!

First Love / Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Love Don’t Cost a Thing
Ain’t It Funny / I’m Real
I Luh Ya Papi
Get Right
Big Booty
Girls / If You Had My Love
I’m Into You
Waiting For Tonight
Never Satisfied
Dance Again
On The Floor
Let’s Get Loud

Jenny from the Block

American Idol Concert Kris Allen

Kris Allen at the Fairfield Theater 2/19

Katie February 22, 2014 0 Comments

Wednesday night, Kris Allen returned to the Fairfield Theater once again (he was previously there in October 2012.) I had bought VIP tickets so that got me in an hour early and we got a pre show performance from Kris – which he let us pick. The first song yelled out was “I Need To Know” and he said he wasn’t sure he remembered it but would try. He struggled through it and teased “I don’t remember the words to a song I WROTE!” and said he was really embarassed. The next song called out was Heartless and he asked if we were sick of that yet and he wasnt sure he knew the words to that one either, but made it through more of the songs. He promised us that for the show he wouldn’t forget the words because he was practicing those! Then he went around the room to meet everyone, sign our posters and take photos. I told him that I thought his son was the cutest baby ever and he said “well, duh” haha He also said that life since Idol “Was awful” (kidding) and that he is working on the new album and would be playing us some new songs and that it should be out this year but he’s not exactly sure when yet.

At 7:45, Caroline Glaser took the stage. She was a contestant on The Voice but it was Season 4 which I did not watch (with Shakira and Usher) so I was not familiar with her at all. But when she started her set with John Mayer’s “Queen of California” I knew we could be best friends. I really enjoyed her set, which actually ended up also including a SECOND Mayer cover of “Stop this Train”. She currently has an EP out with 3 songs on it, which I am going to have to pick up! I also wonder if she knew that John Mayer grew up in Fairfield? (I couldn’t stick around after the show to talk to her, unfortunately)

Around 9pm, Kris took the stage. He started with the song Paul Simon, which I’m not sure if that’s what its officially been named now or not – but this was a new song that he had actually started playing when I saw him last year that had no name. Then he did Better With You – which was a bit of a different arrangement than I am used to (probably becuse he hasn’t had a full band in a while) but I looooved it.

(This isn’t my video but I loved it so much I had to track one down)
Caroline joined him on stage for Loves Me Not, but when he went to introduce her she wasn’t there to come on stage so he started teasing that a lot of things could be going on backstage and maybe she was in the bathroom. When it seemed to be taking extra long he teased that he was just going to move on without her – but she did finally make her way to the stage! He also teased because she said it was really hot but he wasn’t hot. They figured it must have been because she had on a sweater and he had on a lighter shirt. (But it did seem to cool down when Kris took the stage! Temperature wise, not performance wise or anything like that!)

He has a new song Dance that he said started as a joke but then he started playing it for people and they liked it so now I guess it is a contender for the new album! I really enjoyed all of the new songs that he debuted, so I am now looking forward to his 3rd album even more than I already was (if that’s even possible.)

He went in to a little bit of Blurred Lines during my favorite song, Rooftops. He ended the set with having everyone stand for Live Like We’re Dying and Shut That Door and even danced with a few fans who came to the edge of the stage.

For the encore, he did a song called “End of the Show” that was hilarious. Here’s another video that’s not mine… but you should check it out because I’m not sure anything I write can do it justice.

I think he ended up playing for about an hour and half. I left the show with a sore throat from singing along and had an absolute great time. It made me a little bit more bummed that I couldn’t see him in Norfolk, but hopefully he will be back around this way soon!

Paul Simon
Better With You
Don’t Set Me Free
Loves Me Not
Alright With Me
Leave You Alone
Dance
In Time
It’s Always You
Out Alive
Beautiful and Wild
Monster
Rooftops
Live Like We’re Dying
Shut That Door
End of the Show

American Idol

Idol Thoughts – RUSH WEEK

Katie February 20, 2014 0 Comments

I had no intentions of blogging Idol this year and I had no intention of WATCHING Idol this year but I decided to check it out to see the new judges panel. I absolutely LOVE their dynamic this year (and Keith and I sometimes say the exact same things, which is kind of creepy)

I still don’t think I am going to blog weekly like I used to with Idol episodes (it kind of makes the episodes less enjoyable for me because I’m trying to blog while watching and not totally paying attention as I should be), but I had to talk a bit about this “Rush Week” that they introduced this season. For those of you who aren’t watching this season – they have basically been racing through EVERYTHING. Nothing has been dragging out as it used to.

But RUSH Week takes the cake. We have the Top 30 – 15 boys and 15 girls. But throughout each of the nights during Rush week the judges picked only TEN of these 15 to perform. 5 of them rehearsed and had a song prepared but the performance will never be seen.

Did they pick the 10 I would have picked? I have NO IDEA because there are very few I feel like I “know” and very few I remember enough to say “Yeah I’m glad she didn’t go through” (And the one I can say that about I only “know” because I saw her audition for XFactor…)

Beyond that – on Thursday this now Top 20 will go down to the Top 10 and then the judges will get 3 wild cards. And then we’re already at the Top 13!?

I mean, I know they draaaag things out a lot and I can’t stand that – but this extreme turn around, I don’t think was what they should have done. They could have found a happy medium, I think.

So to sum it up – I’m not a fan of Rush Week – it is TOO RUSHED!

American Idol Concert Photos

American Idols Live 2013!

Katie August 24, 2013 0 Comments

I didn’t think that I would be seeing the Idol tour this year – and was a bit disappointed in myself that I hadn’t won any tickets. I had debated going to the Mohegan Sun show because tickets were cheap but ultimately decided against it. Earlier in the week the Webster Bank Arena had tweeted that Star 99.9 was doing a twitter giveaway for tickets. I was too late for the first giveaway of the day, but of course won the second! When I picked up the tickets I looked at the seating chart backwards and thought that the seats were in the back – which was fine because I would be there and for free and that was what mattered. Turns out I was looking at the seating chart backwards and they were actually the section right by the stage (where I try to buy my tickets) and about 8 rows up. Not bad at all!

The show was supposed to start at 7:30, but things got kicked off a little late. The show opened with the girls singing Little Mix’s “Wings”, it started out just 4 of them but then Kree and Candice joined them. It was nice to see Kree and Candice out before the intermission – I always hate when they hide them until the end!

Aubrey was up next – for those of you who don’t remember her she was the one that got voted on the tour with the sing off. She did “Sweet Dreams” and had some of the girls on background vocals. (They have long since done away with backup singers and just use the other Idols now.) I feel like Aubrey was on stage the most out of everyone. She always seemed to be there in the background.

Then 3 of the boys came out and did Justin Timberlak’s Suit and Tie – Curtis, Burnell and Devin. Paul came out and did Carrie Underwoods Blown Away and then did Summer Nights and was joined by Janelle and Kree. (The country crew)

Curtis did When I was Your Man but was way on the other side of the stage for the whole song which stunk. (As did the lighting to get any pics of it) Amber had center stage next and did We Found Love and The Way.

Then, half an hour into the show, FINALLY, Lazaro made an appearance. (I was kind of surprised and did check my watch!) They all did Locked Out Of Heaven. Then Devin came from and center and talked a little bit about how all the others thought his speech was boring so he switched it up. He also mentioned he hadn’t been to Connecticut before and we were crazy. Except for the fact that they had a show in CT just last week 😉 He did his English/Spanish song about things being Impossible.

Then the non-top 2 girls came out and did Blurred Lines. I was kind of surprised it was the girls who sang this, but it was fun. (Although “everybody get up” didn’t go over well. In fact, no one really got up at all except to give Candice a standing O after her set.)

Burnell came out and was on my side of the stage (to balance out Curtis earlier I guess) and did Everybody Knows.

Then for the final song of Act 1 they did We Are Young / Live While We’re Young mashup.

After a brief intermission it was time for Angie who did a set of Mamma Knows Best, and 2 original songs You Set Me Free and Put It On Me.

Janelle did her country songs – Better Dig Two and Where The Blacktop Ends.

Then it was time for Lazaro! Hooray! He did Feeling Good and The Edge of Glory and a couple times shouted out “How you doing Bridgeport!” (Or something similar) and an “I can’t hear you!”

Kree was up next and did Up To The Mountain, Hold on and then her single All Cried Out.

Then our latest Idol, Candice, took the stage and did End of Time, I Am Beautiful (her coronation song, which I love the message of) and her new single The Middle which was very catchy! And then Lovesong.

Then it was time for the last mashup of the night – which started with NSYNC’s Gone. And I didn’t even recognize it. While I am obviously desperately in need of an NSYNC reunion – there was just no excuse for that. They went in to Kelly’s Since U Been Gone (ugh. So sick of this song from years back) and then When I’m Gone – aka the Cups song which Aubrey and Angie played the cups for… and then of course – my favorite (if you can’t tell, major sarcasm) Gone, Gone, Gone from Phillip Phillips.

I thought in years past then they each had come out to take a bow, but the lights went back on and that was that!

Overall, a fun show and if you have the chance to check it out – do it. Especially if you can get free or super cheap tix on Stub Hub the day of 😉

Idol FINALE

Katie May 17, 2013 0 Comments

And here we are. Kree vs Candice – the finale!

Finale Part 1 each of the girls sang 3 songs – Simon’s pick, their single should they win and their favorite performance from the season.

I thought that Candice won round 1, Round 2 was a bit of a tie and Candice KILLED on round 3. There were 3 songs she absolutely brought the house down with this season (I think.) and so she HAD to do one of them again. And of course she did amazing with it again! Obviously, I am team Candice and would love love loooove for her to win!

Finale Part 2 was everyone performing. I had gone to see Matt Wertz and fortunately, my cell phone died while I was at the show so I was not able to be tempted to check twitter and Facebook and get myself spoiled. On the ride home, the DJ started saying “we have a new champion!” so I rode in radio silence for about 10 minutes until I figured the coast was clear (I wasn’t sure if he was going to play the winners single or not!) and when I turned on the radio again – The Wanted was playing. Whew.

Interestingly enough, when I started watching the Idol show – they kicked off the show singing The Wanted. Sorry, but I think The Wanted does it better. Just sayin’

The best part about watching it with the west coast (kind of) was that I could fast forward the commercials – and well, anything that I thought was too boring too 😉

Interesting that JHud and Adam Lambert performed. An effort for Idol to show that hey, sometimes they produce ok talent that actually goes somewhere? and I thought Angie’s Idol was Colton. Why didn’t she sing with him? (Actually, on second thought. I’d rather Adam and Jessie J over Colton any day)

(Now I’m getting kind of itchy to go on Facebook and Twitter. But I still have about 50 more minutes to go. I think the last time I missed a finale was Ruben/Clay and Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist! (Well, Facebook may have but it was before my school was added to it.)

I love the little clips they are showing of the contestants talking about silly stuff. “She always wants to stand up but her skirts are too tight so she can’t” lol And Devin as Nicki! OMG.

And Candice wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I have just written what may be my final Idol Thoughts post. (I’m not 100% sure I’ll even watch next season, but if it annoys me half as much as this season there’s no point for recaps. We’ll see!)