Thursday, July 31, 2008

David Cook Meets Girl Who Asked Him on Date

Remember this incredibly awkward moment of television history?



Well, here's the follow-up:

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Friday, July 4, 2008

David Archuleta's Idols Live! Set Videos


"Angels" (Glendale, AZ)


"Apologize" (San Diego, CA)


"Stand by Me" (Glendale, AZ)


"When You Say You Love Me" (Glendale, AZ)

David Cook's Idols Live! Set Videos


"Hello" (San Diego, CA)


"Time of My Life" (San Diego, CA)


"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Glendale, AZ)


"My Hero" (Fresno, CA)


"Billie Jean" (San Diego, CA)

Guitar Hero World Tour Commercial


This is the commercial they play at the end of intermission on the tour. Told ya it wasn't very exciting.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Idols Live! Tour ~ San Diego Recap

Yesterday my friend Kim, my 7-year old daughter Hannah and I headed to San Diego from the LA/OC area for the Idols Live! concert. It was our first Idol tour experience, and Hannah's first ever concert period. The three of us will be joined by five others for the LA concert on Monday. The would-be two hour drive down was uneventful, save for the 45 minutes it took to get from the off ramp to the Sports Arena which is located less than half a mile away. Seriously. This got us into the venue shortly after 7 pm but the show started a bit late so we didn't miss anything. We had floor seats towards the back and spotted Jeff Archuleta chatting with Dave White and Todd Smithson nearby just as the lights dimmed.

Kim had volunteered to help with the live audio feed for Rickey.org and we're told the sound quality turned out great. We have no pictures/videos of our own (long story) but will try to get some on Monday. The following photos were taken by MJ who attended the Glendale show. The only physical inconsistencies I see between the Glendale and San Diego shows are Syesha's hair and DC's watch. The group picture was taken by fellow San Diego correspondent Kristin for Rickey.org.



Chikezie opens the show with “I Believe to My Soul” and performs it differently than when he did on AI. He talks about how his Idol experience began right here in SD. (I know he auditioned there this year, but what about the other three years he tried before that?) "Caught Up" is more catchy and energetic but I will choose Usher over No-More-Eze any day. He finishes with John Legend's “So High” and it's pretty sleepy.




Ramiele takes the stage with two back up singers and does stilted choreography to “I Want You Back." Her voice is eerily similar to the Jackson 5 and her outfit is like something out of Star Wars: The Sparkly Chronicles. In fact, it seems wardrobe decided to go the way of KLC and put the sparkles on blast for pretty much everyone. Lullaby segues into “Love Will Lead You Back” which is a really odd song to be singing in that outfit but definitely sleep-inducing. She finishes with Maroon 5's “If I Never See Your Face Again” and the background singers mimic Adam Levine perfectly and drown Rami out completely. I like that she chose a cool contemporary song but it doesn't suit her at all. Ramiele is the only contestant whose set doesn't contain any songs she performed on the show.




Michael gets a huge cheer as he descends the stairs with "We Will Rock You." He segues into "We are the Champions" after hitting the center and it is the first highlight of the night (there aren't many). Then he does “It’s All Wrong But It's All Right” for the ladies and there's lots of head bobbing of course. He closes with “Dream On” which he jokes he's been assured won't get him kicked off the tour the way it did the show. I brace myself for the feral cat screech I know is coming but the high note is mercifully in tune this time. Michael is the only contestant whose set doesn't include anything we didn't see on the show.




Kristy Lee does a lot of hip shaking to “Squeezin the Love Outta You.” Her song choice reminds me of Kellie Pickler's ill-fated "Suds in a Bucket." Girl has the entire country songbook at her feet and she chooses some obscure nothing song? She appeals to middle America again with a reprisal of “God Bless The USA” complete with (new and improved!) American flag screensaver and a shout out to the troops. She finishes with more hip shaking to another country song I don't know called “Cowgirls” (which I hear is her favorite song). Her all-white half-sparkly outfit is highly reminiscent of Elvis's legendary rhinestone jumper, especially with all of the hip shaking.




I was totally looking forward to hearing Carly's take on “Bring Me to Life” because it sounded like a great idea on paper. In reality she was so screechy I didn't hesitate when Hannah demanded a bathroom run. Carly's weird finger-gloves (the opposite of fingerless gloves) also proved to be a distraction. She was much more in tune and "on" for her second and third songs, “Crazy on You” and “I Drove All Night,” respectively.





Brooke reprises “Let it Be” on the piano and it's pleasant but doesn't capture the magic of the first time. She then grabs her guitar and encourages the audience to snap along to "1,2,3,4." Then it's back to the piano for the next highlight of the night as she delivers a smokin' rendition of Coldplay's “Yellow” which she wishes she had written herself (and can be found on her "Songs from the Attic" album). She is illuminated in yellow beams and there is a yellow star screensaver.


Then the contestants who have performed thus far join her on the stage to sing U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and they roll footage of Idol Gives Back on the screen. We are encouraged to continue to give back, and it is at this point that the realization that I just spent $80/seat for tickets, $20 for parking, $4 for a small soda and God knows how much for gas when there are children fighting for their lives makes me sick to my stomach.

At intermission we head to the ginormous line for the restroom just to be safe. A pair of drunken 50-somethings clutching beers get in line behind us, and the younger and drunker of the two proceeds to annoy everyone in the line. Then the other one takes the liberty of COVERING MY DAUGHTER'S EARS WITH HER HANDS in an attempt to shield her from the bad language spewing from her cohorts mouth. Um, yeah. Oddly, the majority of the audience seemed to be composed of 30 and 40-somethings (cougars!) including several couples and young kids, not the fangirly teenyboppers I had to deal with at rehearsals.

Back in the arena, Corey the warm up comic leads a Guitar Hero play-off, and encourages a kid to do air guitar for a copy of the new Guitar Hero game. The Guitar Hero video the top 10 recorded dressed 70's-garb plays on the screen, and--aside from the wigs the Davids wear--it's really pretty unfunny.



Jason kicks off the second half with the Hawaiian version of “Over the Rainbow” complete with plugged-in ukulele. He then switches to guitar to do the song the Dreadheads have been waiting to hear for months that couldn't get cleared for the show: “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. I wish I could say it was worth the wait, but I wasn't altogether impressed. Still love him though, especially since he chose “What a Day for a Daydream” as his closing song. It is at this point security tells me Hannah can't stand on her $80 crappy fold up chair. Comeback I wish I had thought of sooner? "Oh, so are you going to hold her for the last 10 songs then?" (Nobody stands for Syesha, but you already knew that.)



Syesha chooses to do “Umbrella” for her opening number which is a great fit for her but again, if given the chance I'm going to choose the original artist over her. Then she does her best Alicia Keys impersonation for “If I Aint Got You” and it is so forced I want to gag. Her hair was on full afro wattage and looks terrible--here's hoping it was a one-off and she'll go back to the cute hairstyle pictured. She closes with “Listen” from the Dreamgirls soundtrack and I apparently zoned out because I can't recall any of it.



The crowd goes wild as Archie and a piano rise from underneath the stage. He reprises “Angels” and it is very pretty. Next he does “Apologize” and it's one of my favorite performances of the night--much better than when he did it at the finale with One Republic. Then it's “Stand By Me” complete with the controversial “Beautiful Girls" interlude. He finishes with Josh Groban's “When You Say You Love Me” which I could have done without.





David Cook pleases the crowd with the full version of “Hello” complete with the original AC guitar, and it's the last true highlight of the show for me for it. Next it's the requisite “Time of My Life” followed by the slightly odd reprisal choice of “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” He dedicates his next song to Adam in honor of his battle with cancer and while he never did it on AI, we've seen him perform “My Hero” elsewhere. He uses an all new brown guitar not seen on the show that has the letters AC formed in bronze plates. The new guitar also accompanies him for his encore performance of “Billie Jean” which is performed in a cloud of smoke so thick that I seriously worry about the state of his lungs come September.


He leaves the stage, and the top 10 return in new outfits in their descending order to perform “Please Don’t Stop the Music.” Cook doesn't get to do his "your hands around my waist" line the first time around, but Carly is saddled with the hilarious (at least when she does it) "I just came here to par-ty!" line again. Red and blue streamers shoot out into the audience and we're done.


Spotted on the way out: A car with the words "COUGARS FOR COCK" painted on the side. Had fun trying to explain THAT one to Hannah...

Kim's supposed to help with the live audio feed again on Monday, so check out Rickey.org between 7 and 10:30 PST. Then come back here the next day to see what I've posted.

Cook & Archuleta: Handstand-Off!


The David's engage in a handstand-off in the parking lot of the San Diego Sports Arena before the July 2nd show, and Archie wins by a mile! Love how Archie took the time to tuck in his shirt. No underage belly exposure for the Angels, LOL!


Idols Live! Tour ~ Set List

Here is the complete set list for the Idols Live! Tour:

Chikezie:

“I Believe to My Soul” (Donnie Hathaway)
“Caught Up” (Usher)
“So High” (John Legend)

Ramiele:

“I Want You Back" (Jackson 5)
“Love Will Lead You Back” (Taylor Dane)
“If I Never See Your Face Again” (Maroon 5)

Michael:

“We Will Rock You/We are the Champions” (Queen)
“It’s All Wrong But It's All Right” (Dolly Parton)
“Dream On” (Aerosmith)

Kristy Lee:

“Squeezin the Love Outta You” (Carolyn Dawn Johnson)
“God Bless The USA” (Lee Greenwood)
“Cowgirls” (Kerry Harvick)

Carly:

“Bring Me to Life” (Evanescence)
“Crazy on You” (Heart)
“I Drove All Night” (Cyndi Lauper)

Brooke:

“Let it Be” (Beatles) *piano*
"1,2,3,4" (Feist) *guitar*
“Yellow” (Coldplay) *piano*

Group song: "Pride" (U2) - Only the contestants who have performed thus far participate, IGB footage on screen

Intermission

Guitar Hero video: Top 10 dressed 70's-style, lipsynch to “We’re an American Band” (Grand Funk Railroad)

Jason:

“Over the Rainbow” (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version) *ukulele*
“Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley) *guitar*
“What a Day for a Daydream” (The Lovin' Spoonful) *guitar*

Syesha:

“Umbrella” (Rihanna)
“If I Aint Got You” (Alicia Keys)
“Listen” (BeyoncĂ©)

David Archuleta:

“Angels” (Robbie Williams) *piano*
“Apologize” (One Republic)
“Stand By Me” (Ben E. King) with “Beautiful Girls" (Sean Kingston) interlude
“When You Say You Love Me” (Josh Groban)

David Cook:

“Hello” (Lionel Richie) *Original AC guitar*
“Time of My Life” (David Cook)
“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith)
“My Hero” (Foo Fighters) *NEW AC guitar not seen on the show*
ENCORE: “Billie Jean” (Chris Cornell version) *NEW AC guitar not seen on the show*

Group number: “Please Don’t Stop the Music” (Rihanna)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Idols Live Tour ~ Glendale, AZ ~ Spoilers

The tour kicked off in Glendale, AZ today and spoilers are trickling in from Idol Chatter and MJs Big Blog.

I will be attending the San Diego show tomorrow and post when I get back.