American Idol Live Tour 2012 - Concert Review - 7/11/2012 Scottrade Center - St. Louis
Overall Impressions:
I attended the July 11th stop on the American Idol Live 2012 Tour at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis and I wanted to share some pictures and video from the concert with those of you who are thinking about attending or who would like to attend but won't be able to.
The show was a lot of fun and this group did a much better job of getting the crowd pumped up and on their feet than last year's cast, who I saw at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.
I'm not sure if it was the fault of the Idol Tour crew or the venue, but the sound was pretty terrible, particularly for the first half of the show. The Scottrade center is where the St. Louis Blues hockey team plays their games and like most sports arenas the acoustics are pretty horrible for concerts, but the main problem was that they had the sound jacked up so loud that it was distorted pretty badly for the first half. It was a bit better after the intermission break.
Partly due to the sound and partly due to some lackluster performances/poor song selections the first half the show kind of dragged, but the second half was really good. The most popular contestants based on crowd reaction:
1) Phillip Phillips - no surprise he was the winner after all and seemed to be popular with young and old alike
2) Joshua - this one kind of surprised me. St. Louis is a kind of retro-music loving area and there's a strong bible thumping contention, so I guess maybe it makes sense, but I really didn't expect it
3) Skylar - this one was not surprising. People in the mid-west love their country music
4) Colton - far and away the most popular among the under 16 crowd. You'll be able to hear the squealing teenagers who were directly behind us on the Home video.
5) Erika - this one was surprising to me as well. I thought she was great, but she did exit the competition fairly early on, so I didn't expect her to be so popular.
All the top ten got a good crowd reaction, but those five were definitely fan favorites. I'm not sure how much the people who attend these shows reflect the general t.v. audience but I was struck by two things. 1) The vast majority of the audience was females in the 30 - 60 and 8 - 15 age range (plus their parents), which wasn't really surprising. 2) The crowd was 99.9% white, which kind of was for a event taking place in the St. Louis metro area. Given the WGWG trend, made me wonder just what percentage of the crowd that has quit watching Idol is the non-white demo.
The Performances:
1. “Sing” – Group (without Phillip)
This was a great choice for an opening number. Lots of energy, got the crowd up on their feet right away.
Skylar and Heejun in the opening number - Sing
2. “Master Blaster” – DeAndre Brackensick
Much like the two hole on American Idol, the second slot at the show went to a performance that wasn't horrible, but wasn't very good either. Deandre did his usual bopping around, hair flipping thing, but this song just fell flat. I don't think the band really did a great job capturing the reggae groove and the blaring sound system didn't help. Deandre did have some decent dance moves at least.
Deandre - Masterblaster
3. “Undo It” – Hollie and Skylar
This one was pretty forgettable for me. I remember being really surprised that Holly actually sounded better on this country song than Skylar did. I liked Skylar a lot on the show, but something in the sound setup really seemed to enhance the nasally quality in her voice in a bad way. She brought a lot of energy to the stage though. She was one of the Idols I had the hardest time getting a picture of because she kept moving around the stage so much.
Hollie and Skylar - Undo It
4. “Glitter In The Air” – Erika Van Pelt
Far and away the vocal standout of the show was Erika Van Pelt. Even the bad sound in the first half of the show didn't diminish her outstanding vocal on this song. Of all the idols she seemed to have the voice that could best fill up a large arena and her sound reminded me a lot of Pink. She was a favorite of mine on the t.v. show, but she sounds even better live. She really commanded the stage and looked and sounded like a pro.
Erika - Glitter in the Air
5. “Moves Like Jagger” – Hollie Josh Erika Colton
This number was one of my favorites of the night. Joshua was really a standout on it both vocally and with his dance moves. I wish I had been videoing this song because Joshua's "moves like jagger" are something that really need to be seen.
Erika, Colton, Joshua & Hollie - Moves Like Jagger
6. “Green Light” – Heejun Han
I love Heejun. I really do, but....this was terrible. It wasn't the worst performance of the show, but it was close. He brought good energy to the stage, but his vocal was just....ugh. Sorry Heejun :( He was also hard to get a picture of because he was always moving, so sorry about the blurry pic too.
Heejun - Greenlight
7. “Party Rock Anthem” – Heejun Han, Deandre and Jessica Sanchez
Party Rock Anthem was the low point of the first half of the show for me. It was a fun idea I guess, but none of these people should ever, under any circumstances, attempt to rap. They need to rap even less than Matthew Morrison needs to rap. Terrible performance of a terrible song. They did try hard with the dancing and such, but it was just not pleasant.
Jessica, Heejun & Deandre - Party Rock Anthem
8. “Everyone Talks” – Group Boys (minus Phillip)
I actually don't remember this song at all, so here's a picture!
Deandre, Joshua, Colton and Heejun - Everyone Talks
9. “Whole Lotta Love” – Elise Testone
This song got one of the best reactions from the crowd, particularly the over 30 set. Elise is my favorite of the 2012 Idols, so of course this song was a highlight of the show for me, but the bad sound diminished it a bit. Ironically, the volume being cranked so high seemed most detrimental on this song. You'd think that setup would be perfect for a rock song, but with the band being so loud, the sound was so distorted it marred the vocal a lot. Still a great performance and a lot of fun.
Elise - Whole Lotta Love
10. “Rumor Has It” – Elise (Deandre, Erika backup)
This song was my favorite of the show. Partially because of Queen Elise of course, but surprisingly, partly because Deandre was really rocking it out as a backup singer on this number. As a matter of fact, Deandre sang backup a ton during this show and his backup singing was actually one of the highlights for me. I'm sure being a backup singer was not his dream when he tried out for the show, but if he wants to work consistently in the music biz, I think this might be his best route. He's really good at it, both from a stage presence standpoint and vocally. Unfortunately due to the spotlights none of my pictures of this performance turned out.
11. “Meant To Live” – Colton Dixon
This is probably going to annoy Colton fans, but this was far and away the worst performance of the concert. Like Skylar, the sound setup really enhanced the nasally/whiny quality of his voice in an unpleasant way. Unlike Skylar, he was also horribly off key throughout this miserable song. None of that diminished the teenage girls love of him though and I guess that's the important thing....
12. “Never Gone” (original) – Colton Dixon
Just as terrible as "Meant to Live."
13. “Piano Man” – Colton Dixon
This one was better than the other two Colton songs, though I hate his whiny, emo version of this Billy Joel song. The teenagers loved it.
Colton - Piano Man
14. “Just the way you are” / “What Makes You Beautiful” – Group – Hawaiian Tropics theme
This was pretty meh, but I'm not a fan of either of these songs, so I was pre-disposed to not be that interested in it. Definitely ended the first half with a whimper instead of a bang.
Colton, Hollie, Jessica, Erika and Joshua (plus part of skylar and Elise's heads)- Just the Way you Are/What Makes you Beautiful
INTERMISSION - they ran the same freakin video reel both before the show and during intermission and I wanted to scream by the hundredth time they ran that commercial for Dinair, but they also showed some clips of Haley, James Durbin and Lee Dewyze that were actually decent. They played some of Haley's cd before the show and I liked several of the songs quite a bit.
15. “Why You Don’t Call Me” – Jessica Sanchez (Joshua and Deandre backup)
I found the song and Jessica's performance to be boring, but her voice sounded great. Jessica, Erika, Elise, Joshua and Hollie were definitely the class of the field just in terms of pure vocals. Pitch perfect and her voice had a warmth and fullness live that it never had on t.v. Still didn't have the power of Erika, Elise and Hollie, but her voice has a lot more character live than on t.v.
Jessica - Why You Don't Call Me
16. “Proud Mary” – Jessica, Deandre, Josh
This number was fun and had great energy, but wasn't Jessica's best vocal. It was perfectly fine, but just not the type of song she needs to be doing. That chick from Glee did a much better version on the Capitol 4th show. Joshua and Deandre were great as the backup singers/dancers on this one and it was probably Jessica's best performance.
17. “Best Thing I Ever Had” – Jessica
Another good vocal, but boring performance.
Jessica - Best Thing I Ever Had
18. “Gunpowder and Lead” – Skylar
This number got a huge reaction from the crowd. Her vocal was still really nasally, but her performance was very good and really got the crowd going. I don't like this song very much, but I like Skylar, so I enjoyed it.
Skylar - Gunpowder and Lead
19. “Stay With Me” – Skylar
Another crowd favorite and about the same as Skylar's other songs.
Skylar & Colton - One of the Group Numbers
20. “Rolling in the Deep” – Hollie (Erika and Elise backup)
This number was the biggest surprise of the show for me. It was incredible. Next to Erika, probably the best vocal of the night (note that I don't think she's the second best vocalist, just on this night had the second best performance). I really didn't think Hollie had the voice for this song, but it was fantastic. Not Adele fantastic, but hey, who is? More so than any of the other girls, I could really see Hollie being a commercial success if she can get someone to write some catchy tunes for her. She's reasonably cute, the young girls like her, she has a strong voice and surprisingly good stage presence. I always thought she was just middle of the pack on the t.v. show, but she really impressed me live. The crowd went wild for it.
Hollie - Rolling in the Deep
21. “Give Your Heart a Break” – Hollie
I actually don't quite remember this one, so here's another pic!
Hollie - Give Your Heart a Break
22. “Runaway Baby” – Joshua
Even though I kind of hate Bruno Mars, this song was one of my favorites of the show. Joshua turned in a great performance on the vocals and it was just a great, fun, high energy performance. Joshua really has a great sense of fun on stage and he's a great live performer. He's also one of the best vocalist in the top ten. Pretty much everything he did from lead to backup was good. Erika and Elise did a great job on backup vocals on this one.
Joshua, Erika and Elise - Runaway Baby
23. “It’s A Man’s Man’s World” – Joshua
This one was a hit with the crowd, but I didn't care for it. He didn't really do a bad job with it, I just thought his version was way too busy with too much screeching and pointless runs. Just didn't fall into the pocket.
Joshua & Deandre - the tropical themed group number
24. “I Knew You Were Waiting For Me” – Joshua and Jessica
They both sounded really good on this one and neither was too over the top. My favorite performance from either of them. This one was also a fan favorite.
Deandre & Joshua - Singing backup for someone I think
25. “Superstition” – Phillip Phillips
I am not a Phillip Phillips fan. I thought he was very mediocre on the t.v. show. However, I found him to be much more compelling live. He has good command of the stage. He engages the audience well and his voice, while not super impressive, is the sort of voice that is better live than on a recording. The fans all loved him and I actually enjoyed his performances much more than I expected to. My mom, who is a huge P2 fan, of course loved it.
Phillip - Superstition
26. “Nice and Slow” – Phillip Phillips
Like Superstition, not a remarkable vocal, but still an enjoyable performance.
27. Somebody That I Used To Know” – Phillip and Elise
Definitely a highlight of the show for me and a huge crowd favorite. Partly because I love the song and partly because I love Elise, but Phillip did a pretty nice job with it as well. You can hear the teenagers behind us screaming in the background of the video.
28. “Volcano” – Phillip Phillips (with Jessica)
When this song started, I didn't recognize it and I was like boring! and shut my video camera off and then when it got to the chorus, I was like, oh that song! So I videoed one chorus just so you could hear how Jessica did as opposed to the backup singer from the t.v. show.
29. “Home” – Phillip Phillips (with Deandre and Colton)
I love this song, so this was one of my favorite moments of the show. Colton kinda veered off the harmony line for a bit, but overall it was a good performance. You get another dose of screaming teens on the video. Enjoy!
30. “Raise Your Glass” / “Glad You Came” – Finale
This was a great way to close the show. Everyone did their parts well, the performance had great energy and these songs are a great feel good way to close out a concert. I don't know if the local media was doing some event, but there was a huge pack of young girls camping outside the arena waiting for the Idols to come out when we left.
Erika,Hollie, Skylar & Elise - Finale
There you have it. If you're a fan of the show, I would say the American Idol Live Tour is worth the price of admission. I had a great time. Not every song was a gem, but there was plenty to enjoy for everyone.