My Idol Concert Experience!

Well, tonight, I made the 45 minute drive to Peoria, IL, to see the Idol concert. I paid $160 for floor seats (albeit in row 31), and hoped that my money would be worth it.

We got there early (I drug my poor fiance to the concert) and found our seats. We discovered that we could actually see quite well! I didn't bring my camera though, because I figured that (like many other concerts I'd been to) it wouldn't be allowed, and I didn't want to walk all the way back to the car to put it away. Yeah, so there was pretty much no security, and I definitely could have had it. Oh well.

Mandisa was up first. I wasn't ever a big fan of hers during the show, but I really liked her tonight. She sang "I'm Every Woman," some song I can't remember the name of, and then "You are my Angel," which was a duet with Ace. I thought it was very nicely done.

Ace continued from there, singing "Father Figure" and "Harder to Breathe." Yes, he's incredibly hot and he really knows how to work the crowd. There was a lot of pointing and waving and putting the hand on the chest and that type of thing. He also threw one of his famous beanies into the audience. Some lucky girl will probably sleep with that under her pillow for the rest of her life. He did a nice job overall.

Next up was Lisa Tucker. She started with "Signed, Sealed Delivered," and then proceeded to play/sing "Your Song" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." I was very impressed. She plays the piano beautifully. I always liked Lisa and wish she wouldn't have gotten voted off so early. She then introduced her best friend, Paris, and they did a very cute rendition of "Waterfalls," complete with choreography!

Paris then sang "Midnight Train to Georgia" and then, she told us about how much she loves to dance. She danced and sang her way through "Crazy in Love." I wasn't as impressed with her tonight as I was with her on the show, but I still like her. She's really cute in person. Oh, and she had straight hair extensions in tonight.

Then, Bucky came out and sang "Supertition" and "Drift Away." I like Bucky. He was pretty much what I expected. Kellie came out and joined him for "You're the one that I Want." It was done fairly well.

Kellie sang "Only One" and "Walking After Midnight." She was pretty much what I expected. After she was done singing, she talked for a little bit. She pretty much thanked everyone for voting and for supporting them and helping to make their dreams come true. She said that she hopes that the roller skates she used to deliver burgers at Sonic are permanently parked. I could tell that she was very sincere and seems to be a very sweet person.

Then, there was an intermission....

Next up was Chris. I really have no idea what his first song was. It was really hard rock, whatever it was. It was very loud. I actually wasn't very fond of it. Chris is my 2nd favorite, I just wasn't thrilled with that song. Then he sang "Dead or Alive" and "Renegade." And then for the best part of the evening, Elliott joined him for "Savin Me." Wow, they are impresive together. I loved it. However, I was really impressed with Elliott. It looked as if his earpiece was not working. He kept playing with it and kind of looked over at Chris and threw his hands up in the air as if to say "What the heck is going on?" He didn't look too happy. However, he did not hit one wrong note. If he hadn't been messing around with it so much, you wouldn't have known there was a problem. I think it got fixed by the end of the song because he quit playing with it and looked much more relaxed.

THEN IT WAS ELLIOTT!!!!!!!!!!!! Clothing report: White T-shirt with "Pink Floyd" in red letters across it, dark jeans, converse-style tennis shoes, and a gray hat, similar in style to the one on the cover of the AI Encores CD. Also, 3 bracelets (green, blue, and red). So, he got ready to sing his first song. I was screaming like an idiot, causing my fiance to roll his eyes at me and the kid in front of me to cover his ears...oops. However, I am entitled to scream for Elliott. So there. Elliott sang "All My Love" first. The crowd mostly stayed standing for that one. It was upbeat and he did a nice job of using the stage. Then, he did MMFL. Honestly, I've never really been a huge fan of that song, but I'd listen to Elliott sing the dictionary, I love his voice so much. People mostly sat down during that song. It was a nice, soothing relief from the RAWKER set that we'd just heard. I think Elliott must be taking lessons from Ace or something, because he certainly pulled out the hand gestures on this one. When he sang the line "come and do anything with me that you want to," he made this seductive "come here" motion with his hand. And in the "come and put our two hearts together" part, he clasped his hands together. His last song was "Trouble." So, you know that look he did on the show, where he looked to the side and kind of squinted his eyes a little and we got a view of his beautiful profile? Yeah, he did that. It was hot. I almost passed out. He's way hotter in person than on TV, if you can believe that. His stage presence has improved SOOOOOOOOOOO much. He looked like he was having an absolute blast. I think that the crowd enjoyed him too. People seemed pretty intently focused on him while he was singing. He threw his cute little wave in there several times.

Following Elliott's set, he, Bucky, Ace, and Chris sang "Patience." It was very impressive. They sounded great together.

Then, Kat came out. She said she loves being on stage because she's still on vocal rest and it was the only time she was allowed to talk. She could only sing two songs, so she did "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and SOTR. She did sound great and she looked beautiful. She looked more tired than the rest of them though.

And then, Taylor. Yes, he came out dancing down the stairs, much to the surprise of the people sitting in that section. He did "Jailhouse Rock." He also did "Hollywood Nights," "Livin' for the City," and "Do I Make You Proud," which he dedicated to our troops. I thought that was nice. For his encore, he did "Takin' it to the Streets." And if you thought Taylor danced crazily during the show...wow...it was like, 10x that. I was sure he was going to injure himself by the end of it. But, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Taylor. You can tell he just has so much fun and loves what he's doing.

Following crazy Taylor, places 3-10 came out and sang "We are the Champions." Not much to say about this one. It was nice. I did notice that everyone except Elliott had changed clothes (and hairstyles, in Paris' case...she now had two braids in her hair).

Lastly, all 10 of them sang "Livin' in America." It was a fun number. At the end, as they were exiting, 9 of them were waving to the audience. Elliott was blowing kisses to the audience. It was probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen. He just makes me smile.

I didn't stay around to stalk the busses afterwards. I figure that the Idols were probably tired after such a long show. I really have a newfound respect for them. That is hard work to do that day in and day out. They were ALL great. I really have no complaints. I enjoyed every set and was not bored for one minute.

Oh, and one other thing. I think all of them said "How you doin' Peoria?" or something to that effect. I think that exactly zero of them knew where Peoria was before today. I was amused that they all acted as if they knew exactly where they were!

Elliott is definitely an AMAZING singer. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to hear him live. I'll definitely remember tonight for a long time to come.

Great recap KK. The part about Elliott and the hand gestures is cute. It sounds like you had a great time! :bunny:

Thanks so much for posting your recap, KK. It was great. I wish more people would be like you. I wish more concert-goers would take the trouble to post.

Thanks for posting your awesome review. Sounds like a great night. Elliott is amazing live. I hope that I get to go to another AI concert before the tour ends.

Hi Krazeek,
Well it sounds as though you're $160.00 was money well spent!Great recap. and so glad you had such a good time!




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Great review! Glad you had such a great time, thanks for sharing!!

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Thanks KRAZEEK ,for a great review. It was really thorough. Loved it!!! It does seem ( as Sherwood said) that hardly anyone posts recaps anymore. There are a lot of us who won't get to the AI concert and really appreciate all these little and not so little nuances and/or quirks of the contestants that are noticed by their fans in the audience. Thanks again. :rocker:

Great review! E's so adorable! :wub:

but it's weird that Kat said she's still on vocal rest. People have met her at the meet and greets and said she was talking fine.

I'm glad you have all enjoyed my review! I did have a SUPER time! I bought those tickets 3 months ago and almost went crazy waiting for yesterday to get here! I can't even put into words how amazing Elliott was on stage. I like him now more than I ever have. I can't wait for him to release a CD!!!

I think Kat was off vocal rest and then was put back on partial rest because she wasn't all better. They must be concerned about her getting nodules on her vocal chords, which is a very severe problem which causes the need for surgery in some cases and could be lethal to a singing career. I'm not a huge Kat fan or anything, but I could tell that she did want to be there and sang as much as she was allowed to sing. She did apologize for not being able to sing more, but I'm sure her fans were happy that she was able to perform at all.

I too enjoyed your review. I look everyday to see who has written about the concert they attended and not many are doing that anymore. I loved the way you expressed yourself and read many of your comments to my family and we laughed at your word images. So good. T hanks. :D

Loved your review. It was heartfelt. I saw Elliott in Atlantic City and I relived it through your eyes as I read your review. Elliott is indeed so charismatic and loved him in person too.

Elliott is so cool and gives a great show. I love the way he sings and smiles. He just makes me feel so happy when I watch him.

Thanks again for the great review!! I enjoyed it emmensely!!

I was there too. I didn't realize how many people from my town, Streator, were there. We met up with some people in Chillicothe and the one guy had painted this amazing picture of all the idols sitting on a couch. When he got to the show the security said he was too late to meet the idols but the head security guy decided to take it backstage and all of them signed it. It was so cool.

I was really high up so I didn't think the sound was great. I couldn't hear Bucky at all, only the band. I thought Mandisa and Lisa were very talented. I thought Chris was too heavy rock for me, even though I am not THAT old. My girlfriend is a huge Chris fan so she was screaming the whole time. And of course, I loved Elliott!

I was amazed at how you really get sucked in when you are at the concert. I was thinking it would be cheezy, etc. and here I was, during "Do I Make You Proud" waving my arms and singing! Too funny!

Even though my mother didn't watch the show too often, she had a really good time too!

Thanks for the great recap. :D

Awesome review!!!!!! Thanks for sharing with us!!