So last night was the American Idols Live concert, brought to me by Pop-Tarts, at the Air Canada Centre here in Toronto. I hadn’t intended to go but was roped in when my sister’s husband was unable to attend and an extra ticket was up for grabs. My family’s thoughts were that “Rick watches American Idol every week, he’ll enjoy this!”, whereas my thoughts were that the only reason I watch every week is to see children get told off by grouchy old men, and this was unlikely to happen. Regardless, you haven’t lived until you’ve sat with 15,000 screaming 12-year-old girls to watch an R&B concert.
* The American Idols know the art of the cheap pop. Toronto this, Canada that. Blue Jays hats, Raptors jackets, and Maple Leaf jerseys. Clay wore one of those I Love T.O. shirts, which my sister informed me actually states “I Leave T.O.”, which is the unfortunate truth. He also noted he’d been here two days and “ain’t seen one person cough”, prompting more girl cheers.
* My girl Carmen Rasmusen looks even better in person, excusing the lousy lesbian (ie. “Capri”) pants she wore all night long, and she sang very well. In fact, every one of them sang extremely well. There must be something about losing the stress of weekly contest performances and judges that brings out the best in people because each of them sounded like pros. Carmen also confirmed my suspicions that she IS the younger, poppier sister of Neko Case. Same voice.
* Julia DeMato is H-O-T in person. She was second up, lying across a couch and singing Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful”, and did it spot on. Impressive.
* Conspicuous by their absence were Josh Gracin (active duty), Corey Clark (legal issues), and Vanessa Olivarez (not invited). No mention was made of any of them.
* 20 minute intermissions suck, especially when the same people aren’t performing at all times. What do they need a break for when they only sing every 3rd or 4th song?!
* Clay was definitely more popular than Ruben.
* I made it home in time to see Last Comic Standing on time shifting.
* I had Shrimp and Crawfish Etoufee at Big Daddy’s. And it was good.
I can’t think of anything else to say. Interesting, entertaining concert that I wouldn’t necessarily care to do again in the future. It’s hard to listen to music you don’t like for three hours, regardless of the fact that everyone was surprisingly good at singing it. I’m listening to some Peter Stuart now to remind myself of what real music sounds like again.. ;)
Cheers!