Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

copyright 2006 FOX Broadcasting

On Saturday, The Gryphon and I saw the American Idols live at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. I'd bought the tickets way back when the tour was first announced. I'm a big Taylor Hicks fan and thought it would be fun to see him live. Plus, this season's group of finalists was the strongest I'd seen since I started to watch it three years ago, so I thought it would be worth seeing them live.

We encountered some traffic frustrations on the way there. We decided to take Broad Street rather than the Vine Street Expressway, because we thought there'd be fewer people taking that route. I would recommend against doing this, because once you get close to the arena, especially if there's a baseball game letting out, like there was this time, the intersections get all tangled up and it takes forever.

We weren't sure if there was an opening act, but we arrived about 20 minutes late. We could hear the American Idol theme starting. Where we entered was on almost the complete opposite side of our seats, and we walked as quickly as we could to make it.

When we entered the auditorium, Mandisa was onstage, singing "Every Woman". They didn't follow the exact elimination order for the finalists (which was, in order, Lisa Tucker, Mandisa, Bucky Covington, Ace Young, Kellie Pickler), but the lowest five performed before intermission. Since there's a lot to write about, I'll write about the first half of the concert today and finish the rest tomorrow.

It was extremely dark, and we had to walk carefully to get to our seats without falling down the stairs. Not until I reached our seats did I remember that I had a little keychain flashlight in my purse! At least it came in useful when checking our seat numbers.

I'm not a huge Mandisa fan, so I don't really remember what other songs she did. Most of the audience members around us were still talking, which makes me think you could pretty much consider her the opening act.

I think she might have sung "Shackles (Wanna Praise You)", which was not my favorite song that she did on the show. But that's probably the one she did after giving a preachy little speech about how God has a plan for everyone.

Ace Young joined her on the stage then, and they sang a duet. You could hardly hear him at all. First of all, I don't think the mix was right for his voice, and secondly, Mandisa was really overwhelming him. But then you had all the little 12-year-old girls screaming their heads off in a particular pitch that just erases your entire short-term memory. I think it's been scientifically proven.

We had some decent seats, about two-thirds back on the left-hand side, in the middle of the first tier. They were the sort of seats you got if you bought them the first day but didn't try for the most expensive tickets and didn't get online the minute that the tickets went on sale. In our section were a lot of adults our age or older, plus some younger fans. The floor of the concert was primarily taken up with youngsters and their parents.

A row of 12-year-olds behind us shrieked constantly during Ace's number with Mandisa. I thought I'd experience system failure, or that I'd feel a trickle on my neck and realize my ears were bleeding. It reminded me of stories I'd heard about people who tried to see the Beatles in concert in the 60s and could barely hear the band play over the teenyboppers shrieking.

They finally settled down by the end of the duet, and only started shrieking again when he removed his jacket, revealing a typically Ace-looking short-sleeved baseball shirt. When he did "Father Figure," I enjoyed it, but the mix was still bad and he was overwhelmed by the background musicians.

He did a couple other songs, including a rock song which he hadn't performed in the competition. It really isn't his genre. On top of that, he did a another song, the memory of which is obliterated by teenage screaming. It might have been "Drop of Jupiter", which he performed during the competition.

Next up on the stage was Lisa Tucker. She came out to "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered," which ironically, was the song she sang the week she was voted off. That song was actually stuck in my head for quite a few days after she sang it, but it wasn't enough to save her from being cut from the show.

After that, she sat down at a keyboard and did two Elton John songs. First, she did a quirky, syncopated version of "Your Song", which I wasn't sure if I liked. But then she did a very emotional performance of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight". I was impressed with both her piano playing and her poise on the stage. It occurred to me that maybe she's really a piano player who can sing.

She introduced "my best friend Paris Bennett", who joined her to do a duet. They had a lot of fun with it. Then Lisa left the stage and Paris sang "Midnight Train to Georgia". It was kind of fun, but she did that annoying thing that a lot of people have complained about, which was trying to insist that the audience get up on their feet when they weren't automatically moved to do so.

She did another couple songs, one of which I think was "Be Without You", a song she sang in the competition. Then she did something that was just unforgiveable. She announced that before she left she wanted to dance and party. "Do you want to see me dance?" she asked, and the 12-year-olds screamed.

"Get up on your feet!" she called, and then started a horrendous dance. I'm not sure what the song was, but it was probably actually the Beyonce song, "Work It Out", which had inspired her to dance during the competition. But she didn't dance so much as shake her booty.

She was wearing a white sweatshirt with cut-off sleeves and really tight, white cropped pants, which I'm guessing she wore to accentuate her butt, because that's what the whole dance was about. She shook it up, down, around, sideways. The poor cameraman didn't know what to project onto the side screens and ended up taking the Elvis route and showing her from the waist up.

At this point, The Gryphon turned to me and said, "I'm only going to hell if I voluntarily imagine this, right?" I assured him he bore no responsibility for what Paris was doing on stage.

The worst part of it was when she put on a hat and dragged a chair over. Immediately, I thought, "Oh, no. She's wearing a Flashdance T-shirt. She's going to try to be sexy." She did, and it was embarrassing. Like watching a little kid dancing around the house in her pajamas, trying to imitate her favorite performers.

While there were very few adults dancing along, some dance-happy 12-year-olds joined her. Most of the people in our section had to scrape their chins on the floor at the close of the song, before turning to each other and saying, "What was that?"

There was nowhere to go but up from that. That's what we were thinking until Bucky Covington came out the door. Immediately, you saw people fleeing up the aisles, apparently deciding this was a good time for a bathroom break.

I followed suit, because Bucky was hands down my least favorite finalist. From the ladies' room I could hear him doinga halfway decent version of "Superstition." I brought back a couple light beers, and The Gryphon, who had looked pained at having to sit through Bucky, brightened up considerably.

Maybe Bucky's reception is different in some parts of the country that liked him. I'm not sure where they are. Probably the red states.

He really tried, but he just doesn't have it, not on the level of the other performers. Then Kellie Pickler joined him on stage for a duet, and surprisingly, she made him sound good. She's got enough of her own charisma to spare, so she actually made the song interesting.

Kellie has cut her hair short, which suits her. She was wearing a rocker chick sort of black leather outfit with a sequined cross on the back. We were pleased to discover that she chose to perform some country rock songs, like a Faith Hill number and the Melissa Etheridge song, "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About".

If she'd been able to stick to her own genre, she would have done very well in the competition, but she just didn't do well when in other genres. However, The Gryphon and I agreed that if she puts out a country rock album, we'll consider buying it.

Kellie was one of the few finalists to actually talk to the audience, and she read aloud a sign that someone had brought: "Kellie, have you had calamari lately?" She said, "No. For everything there's a first and a last time." That got laughs.

Of course, that dumb blonde bit also began to wear on the American public by the end of her time in the competition, as was confirmed at the end of the evening. I was waiting in line for the restroom and overheard the woman behind me talking about the finalists. She said, "Kellie can sing, but every time she talked, I wanted to shove a sock in her mouth."

Still, I thought Kellie ended the first half on a positive note, and everyone took a break, hoping the best was yet to come.

More from the American Idols concert:

July 25, 2006 - Better Half

More on American Idol:

Musings on American Idol Season 5 (2006)

Musings on American Idol Season 4 (2005)

Musings on American Idol Season 3 (2004)

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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