Team Plaid

Ok, my flight arrived at 4:35pm…got my luggage a bit after 5. My sister picked me up and wanted to go to the new IKEA that had just opened a couple of days prior. I was hesitant, but said ok…as long as we made it quick. Long story short, Sister Metalhead (as she’ll be called for this recap, since she is one by her own admittance), as hesitant as she was about being dragged along, has a long history of tardiness. So despite my expressed desire to be at the show on time, we got there slightly after 7, and still had to pick tickets up from the Will Call box and pee. Imagine that.

So I missed Blake’s act to get the show started. I was very, very disappointed. :-( Anyway…on with the recap:

Let’s Get it Started – Everybody

Unfortunately, Sister Metalhead and I walked into the venue towards the middle/early end of this song. I was immediately saddened because 1) I had just spent 5 minutes, easily, in line waiting to pee at the Will Call office right before I went in because I figured the bathrooms would be packed and they weren’t, 2) the lady scanning the tickets was slow as Christmas…but they opened up a second line and we jumped on in just in time to find our seats right before Melinda started in on Proud Mary.

Baby Love, Stop in the Name of Love – Melinda and Kiki

Sounded great from what I got to hear of it, but as I said earlier, we weren’t quite in our seats yet.

Heard it through the grapevine – Chris, Melinda, and Kiki

I really did like this one, although we were just getting into the arena seating area and weren’t paying 100% full attention to it.

Rollin’ on the River – Melinda & Sanjaya

Melinda did this one well, although I could definitely do without Sanjaya. I’m definitely not a Fanjaya, can you tell?

Blaze of Glory – Phil

I was impressed. I really wasn’t expecting too much, but got more than I bargained for. Sister Metalhead said after the concert that she was like “WOAH!” when Phil came out in the black leather. I have to say, he didn’t look half bad! ;-) He sounded really good, and I was glad to see that most of the time there weren’t really any sound mixing issues.

Thanks for the memories – Sligh and Gina

Liked this one, but nothing terribly exciting about it. Sligh sounded good, as did Gina.

When God Fearing Women Get the Blues – Haley

Forgettable, although, it seemed like perhaps Haley was using a backing vocal…I couldn’t hear her very well at the beginning, but then the sound got better.

Thriller, The Way you Make Me Feel – Sanjaya

No 17-year-old kid that is this skinny should be doing moves like he does for this song. And apparently he’s growing a goatee…Sister Metalhead looked over at me and asked, “what the hell is that on his face?!”

It’s Typical – Sligh

Sligh’s vocals were actually really good and strong tonight. I didn’t feel like they were overpowering, although it did seem like he was a bit loud in some places. Overall his performances were pretty good.

Lady Marmalade – Gina, Kiki & Haley

Vocals were great, though Haley was noticeably weaker, which we all know already. Gina was rockin’ some awesome cleavage in her getup, tho!

What Hurts The Most - Chris and Jordin

I really liked this duet, even tho I really dislike the Rascal Flatts version. CRich’s nasal quality has left the building, and he sounds really good. His arms look quite good, too…just FYI. ;-)

This Will Be - Jordin and Melinda

This one was OK…wasn’t greatly impressed with it though. Seemed like there was a lot of quick, but apparent, glorynoting…which made for a loud song.

Time of the Season – Blake

I had to scramble to get the camera on and recording, so I missed the beginning of the song, which is one part that I absolutely adore. I was so expecting Gina to introduce them for some reason…I guess I was confused. Anyway, Blake was awesome, as always, and came out with the popped collar look again doing his cheesy white boy dance moves that we adore so much. Not a big fan of the popped collar, but Bshorty can make just about anything look better than it would on anybody else, can I get an ‘amen’? Screams started immediately after the first note sounded and the lights hit. This set, in all reality, was the high point of the concert.

She Will Be Loved – Blake

After TOTS, Blake went into a short commentary about being from the NW and how glad he was to be back in the NW. He loves the clean air and weather, etc. You could tell Bshorty was absolutely loving being home and even in the remotely close area. He even talked about getting to putz around Portland and getting to do some shows in the Portland area, I think, pre-AI. Then, he went into his mini-tutorial about looping (YAY! No pedal problems!), which was awesome (ding!), as always. Then he asked for the cell phone salute, which Sister Metalhead complied with as I was running the camera. It was really awesome, cause the whole place lit up like a starry night with cell phones. Then, as soon as he started beatboxing and looping the baseline for SWBL, the screams started again…and they didn’t really ever quit completely while he was on stage. SWBL/WOWY was divine. Simple as that. I recorded almost all of it, but my stupid camera quit right before the tail end of WOWY. I was so annoyed at my camera before the night was over, but at least I got most of it!

YGLABN – Blake

(he talked about getting comfy with the audience, so he took off his jacket for this one) Ok, so, I was completely looking forward to this number because I had dragged Sister Metalhead along with me to the concert. She’s not necessarily anti-AI, but has some serious reservations about the “talent” that comes out of it. Blake started his beatboxing solo, which I loved…and it was completely different than any one before it, just like he always does. Then, he starts YGLABN with the sound effects and the place just erupts with screams…and they weren’t all high pitched tweener/teenybopper screams. Blake ELECTRIFIED the audience, and he wasn’t even 15 seconds into the song yet. YGLABN was absolutely AWESOME (ding!)…You can completely tell that he’s been an entertainer from the day he was born. I still can’t really believe that I witnessed YGLABN live. It was amazing. After it was over, Sister Metalhead turned to me and said, “Wow!” I asked her what she thought of him, and she said, “He’s a GREAT performer!”

INTERMISSION – I tried to text “Team Plaid <3 B-Shorty!” so it would show up on the screen during the intermission, but I don’t think I did it early enough, cause I didn’t ever see it come up. :-( Sister Metalhead and I did use the intermission to discuss some of the B-Shorty magic that had just occurred, however. She seemed impressed with his abilities and interested to hear some of his stuff. Of course, the inner fangirl that I had been keeping restrained ever since I’d flown into the Portland airport just a few hours earlier came bursting out without any shame. “You’re such a fangirl!” is my sister’s new favorite phrase it seems, at least when I’m talking about B-shorty. I wonder why? ;-) She didn’t exactly understand the Blaker Girls shirt until I explained what they were…hehehe

America, the Beautiful – Phil and the chickies

Definitely a goosebump performance from Phil. His voice was strong and clear, definitely a memorable performance. Perhaps the most quiet the entire audience got all night besides Jordin’s You Were Meant For Me.

Crazy/Hey Jude – Guys

I loved guy’s band! Blake was lookin’ hot in his black button-up short sleeved shirt and bobbing his head like always. This boy just can’t quit moving…and I have no problem with that! I love his cheezing dance moves and guyliner! Vocals and instrumentation sounded great, the only person I thought sounded weak was Sanjaya on Crazy. The entire audience sang along to Hey Jude. Afterwards I told Sister Metalhead that I really liked the guy’s band performance, but it would be tons better without Sanjaya singing/shouting/whateveryouwanttocallit and she totally agreed with me.

Who Knew – Gina

I loved Gina, but this performance wasn’t all that memorable for me…perhaps it was because of the next act.

Ain’t No Sunshine, Virtual Insanity, Geek in the Pink – Cake

I love CRich’s version of Ain’t No Sunshine, and with Bshorty joining in, it was THAT much better! VI was good, but I liked the version he sang on the AI show a little better…then came Geek in the Pink. This song is really starting to grow on me…and I was just eating up CRich’s and Blake’s interaction while on the stage. They are HOT while performing together. I was listening/watching for the “Zero to Hero” line…and it came and passed with no visible reference to Bshorty…but then CRich sang something about the “geek with the pointy hair” and gave a big grin…I wonder who he was singing about???? ;-)

I Will Always Love You – Lakisha

Girl can sing…and she brought down the house with this one. The Portland crowd was kinda half on/half off…so I don’t think everybody ever stood at the same time until the end of the show, but KiKi got a standing O, in my book if not from everybody else, for this one. Sister Metalhead definitely agreed that girly could sing after this one.

Killing Me Softly

Moment of slience for KMS…Sister Metalhead was way disappointed when I told her about Melinda and Blake’s version of KMS and how it was cut, etc.

This Love – Chris

CRich sounded good, but his version just pales to Blake’s in comparison. Sorry Rich, but it’s the truth.

It’s Your Love – Phil and Gina

I actually really liked this duet. It suited both of their voices really well, and sounded wonderful. I think I’m really going to like Phil’s country sound.

Life is a Highway - ?, Chris and Hayley

It was a good song, sounded good, but nothing to write home about. Haley was, once again, the weakest link.

Natural Woman – Melinda

Melinda dedicated this song to the audience. I really liked how she sang this song, I thought it was the one song that she really owned the stage from the whole night.

Ain’t No Other Man - All girls but Jordin

Vocals were good, but I think perhaps this is a number that was used to get Haley’s legs on stage just one more time. She sure was strutting her stuff in that white fringed thing she was wearing.

I Who Have Nothing – Jordin

She sounded hoarse when she came out just talking, but she sang well and sucked down some water afterwards.

Heartbreaker – Jordin

Again, we got the “I love me some Pat Benatar…” line…hoarsely. She sang it pretty well, definitely better than I had imagined it to be.

You Were Meant for Me – Jordin

I think she sounds too similar to Jewel in this song. She needs to make it a little different and stretch her creativity a bit. I’m not asking her to beatbox in the middle of it or anything…but something a little different would be nice. She sounded increasingly hoarse in her intro to this song.

Broken Wing - Jordin

Increasingly hoarse speaking on the intro to the song, but she definitely let it all hang out while singing it. She seemed that she may have been shouting a bit, or at least a little too loud on some parts.

Living on a Prayer - Jordin

Again, increasingly hoarse on the intro…and she asked everyone to stand and sing. In my book, you have to earn that as a performer…you don’t just get it. Anyway, it was tons better that the vids I’ve seen from the show. Vocal coaching and rehearsal has definitely helped her on this song.

This is My Now – Jordin

Not really memorable…but I suppose I’m biased.

Snippets of different songs from each of their solos…

Perhaps this was an odd way to close out the show, but since Jordin won and Bshorty didn’t get to close out with YGLABN, I suppose it’s the best option we had…

Overall, the concert rocked…especially right before intermission! B-Shorty PWNED the applaus-o-meter. He seriously ELECTRIFIED the crowd like no other finalist did for the entirety of the concert. I was seriously proud that B-Shorty could get a pretty skeptical Sister Metalhead to admit, “well, it wasn’t a complete waste of time…” in a sarcastic way…I think I’ve planted a seed of Bshibbiness. *Squee!*

I told Sister Metalhead about B-shorty’s tentative plans for a tour at the end of the year, and said, “I’ll have to come up for that…we can hang out in Seattle for the weekend, right?” She sounded interested! *Squee!*