View some gorgeous photos from this concert here courtesy Heather! Also, check the comments to read recaps from Charles C and Kelly.
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The Idols hit the Staples Center tonight!
If you’re going to the show tonight, we’d love to hear about it! As usual, post your recap in the comments, or email it to us at teamplaid@gmail.com along with any pics and/or videos you may have.
This post just came in from never knew at TWOP:
Hee, Blake just asked the LA crowd “why are you sitting down? Don’t you know you’re at a rock show?”
LOL. I love him. He sounds great and he was quite chatty before starting SWBL.
LOL.
I love him too.
Why does he has to be so adorable? Why?
Blake, you rock!
Warning!
Sexy Blake pic. He is so HOT! Sorry, but can’t help be fangirly at times.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w195/blakesangel/P1040717.jpg
Enjoy.
I don’t know. He just is! It just makes you want to squish him! LOL
Hey with pics like that, no apology necessary.
Haha. He did the same thing in Nashville, mid-TOTS. :)
Here is another update from Never Knew:
The beatboxing tonight was SICK. He did it for a long-ass time and he would, like, set up one rhythm, and then seamlessly switch to another, then kick back to the original one. Totally different styles and syncopations, it was really cool. Then at one point he slowed it way down, was making the record skip, and then whipped it back up to fullspeed without missing a beat. Really rad.
Cisco’s running around taking pictures of everything.
She thinks he got a haircut, but she’s not sure, it might just be how he has it spiked. And he “let Pete Wentz put on his eyeliner again.”
Another update from Never Knew:
“Hee, I heard about half of the Cake duet, they sounded great and my friend said they were doing some kind of “shibby little shuffle” in unison. I don’t know WTH that even really means but it sounds cute.”
that was a sexy Blake pic!
I just got back from the AI show at Staples Center. My friend and I had a lot of fun and totally got into the spirit of it all.
The show was a mix of really good performances, some really bad stage presence, a few surprise performances and this being Idol, cheese.
Let’s start in the dairy section: Cheese can be fun. Lady
Marmalade was certainly grade A cheese. Lakisha, Gina and Haley in these cheap feather hairdresses. Lakisha and Gina actually sang pretty well and had good stage presence while Haley worked her legs and pelvic thrusts. But the ulitmate cheesy moment was the opening of the second act with Melinda, Lakisha, Gina and Haley in WWII WAC outfits harmonizing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy as Phil rose to the
stage in his sailor outfit and he proceeded to sing America the Beautiful. Phil did a good job singing it and milking the patriotism. It was a little too much for me, but there’s an audience for it. And Phil fills out his sailor suit pretty well.
In fact Phil was one of the pleasant surprises of the evening. Strong voice, decent stage presence and he looked better than he did on the show. He had one of the best outfits of the night–a long leather duster for his solo Blaze of Glory. He could have a future in Nashville.
Gina was another pleasant surprise–good voice and fun stage
presence. She should have gone further on the show. She did a fine job of injecting some life into her duet with Chris Sligh.
Sligh was the worst. Negative stage energy. A black hole of
entertainment and showmanship. The energy totally left the room when he did his solo–loads of people flocked to the restrooms and the snack lines when he came on. Watching him dance to the opener, Let’s Get It Started, was comical. I did not enjoy him at all–fortunately being the 10th place finisher, he didn’t have a whole lot to do.
Haley was pretty forgettable too, though at least she has good looks, great legs and an inoffensive blandness which makes her much easier to take than Chris Sligh.
Best performances of the night were Blake and Lakisha.
Lakisha had the strongest vocal with Whitney’s I Will Always Love You. She raised the roof on that one and got the biggest ovation of the night. And she was a lot of fun in the ensemble numbers she did–she should have a good career doing gay pride events and the like, she’s a natural for such gigs.
Blake was amazing. Very charismatic and certainly the most musical of the Idols. His version of She Will Be Loved/With or Without You was magical as he combined beat box, guitar and pedal loops to weave a musical spell. His beatbox prologue and You Give Love a Bad Name brought the house down as well. I was really impressed with the beatboxing right before Bad Name. And that man can move on stage. I’m really looking forward to catching his solo show after he completes his Idol committments. Blake was by far the crowd favorite–loads of girls were screaming for him whenever he appeared. At intermission, my friend called his partner and reported that Blake was the best and my friend is a Fanjaya.
The Cake section of the show was fun as well. Blake and Chris work well together. Lots of energy and showmanship from both boys. I screamed Cake a couple of times during the performance. I told you I got into the spirit of it all.
Chris Richardson did well for himself. He was used a lot during the show in duets and ensemble numbers. He was at his best with Blake, but he was fine in all of his appearances and was a crowd favorite. He soloed
with This Love, which he had the uneviable task of performing after Lakisha’s showstopper. But he did a decent job of it and kept up the energy level. However, I think Blake’s version of This Love on Idol this past season was stronger than Chris’ concert version.
One of the more interesting numbers was the guy band performance of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy and The Beatles’ Hey Jude. All the AI guys were playing instruments and singing. It wasn’t that bad, though the chemistry was thrown off by Chris Sligh’s presence on stage–I really don’t like him and I don’t think he meshes well with the rest
of the guys. Still anytime Blake started to sing during this
number, the crowd just went nuts.
Melinda’s solo was You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. Good vocal, but there’s just not a whole lot there in terms of stage presence–unlike Lakisha, Blake, or Sanjaya,
she does not command you to look at her. Sorry to say, but she’s a background singer through and through.
Speaking of Sanjaya, he was a lot of fun. Favorite moment was when he ripped off the lower part of Melinda’s skirt during their duet of Proud Mary. His vocals were shaky at times and he has a tendency to shout, but he’s got fearless peformer quality to him of not being afraid to
make a fool of himself on stage and he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve to draw attention to himself, particularily when he’s on stage with weaker performers like Melinda or Chris Sligh. Sanjaya was a crowd favorite.
And then there’s your American Idol, Jordin Sparks. My friend had to leave in the middle of her set because he has to work tomorrow. He wasn’t the only one. She has a very good voice, but her stage presence needs a lot
of work. Her second number was a cover of Pat Benatar’s Heartbreaker–a rousing rock song. Pretty much the entire Staples Center remained seated with their arms crossed. Her closing number, Livin’ on a Prayer, wasn’t much more successful. I find Jordin’s performance persona very odd–her patter is very much that of a young teen; she
can’t do uptempo songs, but she sings dreary ballads very well. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on her. She has a likability to her and raw talent, but when you put her next to Blake or Lakisha or even a Phil Stacey or Sanjaya, she just doesn’t measure up.
The worst performance of the night was a dreadful rendition of Ain’t No Other Man (performed by Gina, Haley, Lakisha and Melinda). This number preceded Jordin’s solo set and I can’t help but to wonder if the number was designed to be so bad to make Jordin seem stronger in comparison. That number was straight out of a bad cruise ship
revue. In the first show of the tour, Melinda and Blake performed Killing Me Softly. That number was cut–it should have stayed and Ain’t No Other Man should have been given the axe. It was that bad. Only Chris Sligh’s solo was worse.
Anyway it was a fun night. There was some interesting characters in the audience. My faves were these two girls I spotted before the show. They had their hair in Suzanne Somers/Chrissy Snow pigtails. They were wearing tight, neon spandex short shorts which really played up the cameltoe. One girl wore a tshirt asking Blake to marry
her; the other asking for Chris Rich’s hand in marriage. Lots of small children in the audiences, plus some gays (one guy had an I Love Chris shirt on), some hot girls in Blaker Girl shirts, and some seniors as well.
All in all, it was a very cheesy and fun show (with a few spots that dragged, especially in the second act), elevated by electrifying performances from Blake Lewis and Lakisha Jones.
Here is a cake pic from never knew at TWOP of last night’s show.
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/3873/cake1xo4.jpg
There was also this comment from never knew:
Oh, and my friend said that when B came out for TOTS, he had his tie loosened, his top button open and his jacket collar popped, hee. And spiky hair and mad eyeliner. She said it was pretty much amazing.
I posted a couple of reviews from mjs and TWOP from the Anaheim concert under the Anaheim thread, they are very good reviews for Blake.
I totally agree and I don’t know if she can grow out of it. Jennifer Hudson had the same uptempo problem in season three. Thats part of the reason she was voted out so early. Recently I have heard Hudson attemp uptempo songs and she still sounds horrible. Nevertheless, her slow power songs are amazing. All I can say is Jordin better stick to R&B, country, or face a very steep uphill climb.
Charles, thanks for your recap! Glad you enjoyed the cheesefest that is the AI tour. I saw things a bit differently with some of the performers, but it’s probably just my musical taste differing.
For instance, Sligh doesn’t have great stage presence, no, but for me, his voice more than makes up for it. He’ll be a better recording artist or songwriter than live performer, methinks. And I thought Melinda commanded the stage with a power I never saw on tv. *shrug* But I do totally agree with you about Jordin. It’s really weird how she really cannot handle an uptempo song at ALL when it comes to performing and having a presence on stage. It really is night and day with her when watching her perform an upbeat song and a ballad.
OK, I just had to bring over some pics that had been linked on TWOP:
Am I sexy? Hell to the YES!
I’m on the JumboTron!!!
DEFINATELY rockin’ the guyliner!
Awww…cute Bshorty smile!
Laura,
That first pic just about killed me!
Hey Charles C! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cheese last night. :) Loved your recap, and how you described SWBL as a musical spell. Truer words were never spoken! Also, the pigtailed Caker Girls cracked me up. I’m big on people-watching, so to me one of the most fun things about the Idol concerts is scoping out the crowd, lol.
those pics are killer!!! i love them!!!!!!!!!!! the first one and the last one espeically…lol
Agree, that last one…just makes you want to…!
This is still my favorite pic:
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w195/blakesangel/P1040717.jpg
*faints*
That is a great one, Maracaibo.
OMG. Thanks Laura. All those pictures were great, especially the first and last ones. So sexy and then so sweet. Love ya’ Blake
I was there at the LA show!! woo!
I was so excited to see the seats I got from stubhub.com. (someone on Team Plaid mentioned them earlier. TY so much!)
I really was looking hard for Blake in his costume, and of course the crowd got excited when the opening number started. It was good, but I wasnt paying so much attention because Blake and Jordin, my favs, both soon exited the stage.
Phil’s Blaze of Glory killed.
Sanjaya’s The Way You Make Me Feel was as good as it could have been for his voice, I think. His dances moves were cute though. He has a great personality.
Haley’s When God fearin’ women get the blue was alright. She and Sanjaya were the weakest of the night.
Chris Slighs Typical was very good. His voice guitar sounded nice together.
Gina was also extremely good…
Surprises of the night: Gina, Chris Rich, Chris Sligh
Blake was, of course, awesome. The sound mix was having loudness problems during she will be loved, but time of the season and you give love a bad name rocked the house. The beat box intro was just insane. Everyone was lovin’ it. (and he had his hair spikey again!!)
Phils America songs were beautiful. The mix of patriotism and vocals were stunning.
The guys idol band and lakishas i will always love you were the highlights of the night for me. LaKisha of course, got a standing ovation. Crazy and Hey Jude were fun songs to sing along to, and you could tell that all the guys were having a blast. And when Blake came out on stage, the screams were just insane. LA loved them some Bshorty! lol. It was cool watching him jam on his guitar, too.
Jordin came on for her solos and proved why she won. She did great in all of them. I even like Livin’ on a Prayer.
Can’t wait for Blakes debut album (and Jordins)!
btw-
yes, i also saw those 2 pigtail girls wearing blake and chris shirts. They were sitting next to the stage, and i think one of them gave Blake a white hat which he passed to lakisha. then he took it back and passed it to jordin before wearing it. you could so tell they get along great together (but we already knew that)!
oh, and most of the text messages were ILYs and marry me’s to Blake. lol, Duh. :)
Overall, awesome concert! Loved every minute.
Also, if anyone has more Blake concert pictures, please post them here beacuse my camera wasnt working very well… Thank you!
(I have a Blake scrapbook in case you were wondering
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c39/occlaikens/idolstaples/
my staples pics.. got in the after party too, but apparently blake showed up after we left >_
Heather, your pics are awesome! I added a link to your album up there^
Kelly, thanks for your recap! Cute story about the hat! I’m glad you had fun. :)
I always love Heather’s pics :) Argh, too bad about missing Blake at the afterparty!
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