Saw the Idols Tour 2009 last night in St. Louis. It was an enjoyable concert.
They basically did a count-down, starting with the Idol theme music, and then introducing #10, the oil rig guy. He did two songs; and then everyone through #6 did two songs each. I particularly enjoyed Scott (the blind kid)'s performance. He was on the piano, and joked with the audience. Once they got to #5 (Girard) they let him do 3 songs(I think #6 did 3 too, but can't remember). Then they did a ensemble piece for the first six. Matt and Scott did a dueling piano thing which was pretty cool. Indeed, Matt impressed me a lot. He is one talented kid.
During the intermission (largely to give the band a break), they ran the Idols Ford commercials, and also ran former Idol music videos (Daughtry, David Cook, Carrie Underwood); there was some sort of text to a trivia contest to win backstage passes for after the show, but it was a premium text message, so I didn't try it.
The second half was amazing. They started with Allison, and boy did she rock. The woman was amazing, and had the house on their feet. Then came Danny. I am not big into his music, but he also did well, and had the crowd going. The house absolutely erupted when Adam came on (indeed, anytime his face was shown - during the intermission in commercials; or in the intro video sequence starting the show, there was huge applause. They probably let the intensity build for a minute, with a dark stage when it was Adam's turn to come on stage.
Adam did 4 songs; one with Allison - which was spectacular. The whole place was screaming. I have to admit I had not been to a show where the crowd was so hyper and engaged in a long time. Adam was, without a doubt, the star of the show.
Finally, it was Kris' turn. He got his fair share of screams, and the crowd was excited for him, but it was - not surprisingly - anti-climactic. He got to perform 5 songs, and while there was energy, it just was not like it was with Adam. That said, after an amazing rock performance, it was hard to come out with an acoustic guitar. He did one song with the acoustic, then did a second one with a les paul. That surprised me - he can play the electric well; and I enjoyed that. THEn he switched entirely to piano for 2 songs; again, the tempo was slow - and it just did not fit the buildup that there had been. Finally, there was an ensemble piece by all 10. That was a lot of fun.
The show started around 7:10, and ended just before 10pm. It was a lot of music; and was really enjoyable. It truly felt like you were at American Idol, watching the show. If next season's cast is as talented as this year's, I'd consider going again.
I know there is a mix of people here who think Adam is or is not talented, but all I can say after watching that performance live is that he will have an incrediblly bright future. The guy really was awesome. I also think Kris will do better than I expected (assuming some of the stuff he played is on his forthcoming CD - I recognized none of it), it was a good mix of stuff.
