American Idols Live! Tour - Rickey Report - Toronto, Canada - 07/26/08
(Here's the Rickey Report from Laff from Toronto, Canada. She was one of our cellcasters last night, woohoo! Go laff! We love you! Aside: What? Jeff thinks cellcasters have germs? Germs!)
The laff report:
What can I say, Rickey. Only for you would I suffer the indignity that is post-show Idol Bus Stalking. Well, in this case there were no buses in sight - only the ribbon blockades that separate Us from Them. What will happen in September, when suddenly there will be nothing standing between me and, say, Syesha Mercado - not even a ribbon? What will she do?? I don't KNOW!
I had 5th row floors, and it was so close, it pretty much felt like I was in my living room watching American Idol. Vocal coach Debra (Deborah?) Byrd was in the hizzouse because she does Canadian Idol in the summer, which tapes in the city. So, I have nothing much to add to what has already been said a million times about the concert, but since when has that stopped me.
CHIKEZIE - Fabulous. Great energy, great way to start the show. Loved him.
RAMIELE - Hey, she was a'iight in her sparsely bedazzled spandex! Then her mic cut out and the crew handed her another one, which also didn't work. Then she walked off the stage in search of amplification ... and 25 years went by before they found her a mic that worked. GO, TORONTO!
MICHAEL JOHNS - I wasn't expecting to like him as much as I did. Great job. Swoon-worthy! We sang "Dream On" together and we sounded good. And then I went and killed my beautiful memory of Michael Johns by trying to get his attention over at the ribbons. Yes, I wanted him to look up at my camera, so I blurted out the dreaded "HEY! Puppy Johns!". *sigh* Shoot me now. He told me he didn't mind it, but I promise you - he was just humouring me. I'm sorry, Michael Johns! It just slipped out. Oh, and you're so handsome! ;)
KLC - Nice touch adding Always to the set. I remember Season 4 didn't even bother singing "R-O-C-K in the USA" because they were so literal, they thought the Canadian audience might get confused there for a minute.
CARLY!!!! - You know what? This girl is GOOD. Whatever didn't work for her on TV totally works on stage, and I think she can carry a whole show on her own if she sticks with rock-ish material.
BROOKE - I loved everything about Brooke.
INTERMISSION - Jeff Archuleta was standing beside me during intermission, so I asked him why he won't let Archie talk to Rickey on the phone (I'm out of control). He said something we never thought about: germs! Makes sense to me. We don't want Archie catching a cold from those of us from the wrong side of the ribbon! Jeff was very nice, and he was wearing a Leafs cap!!
JASON CASTRO - Like with Brooke, I love everything about Jason Castro. He was perfect in every way. I've said this before - the quality of Jason's voice reminds me of clean swimming pool water. Does this make sense to anyone else but me?
SYESHA - After I got over the shock of "girls' night out", I could focus on her performance. She killed her last song, whatever it was. She just gave it everything she had, and the crowd went nuts (but never as nuts as any American crowd because Toronto is cool and aloof and too hip for the room.)
ARCHIE - adorable. Beautiful job, and he seems so comfortable and in control on that stage. Oh, and plenty of awkward giggling. So cute.
COOK - David remembered how much I love the guyliner, so he went whole hog last night, and smeared on Lukas Rossi amounts of black. People around me were wondering what was up with that, so I had to explain to them that it was for me. They understood. Anyway, Cook was his usual great self ... all angry-sexy and rawk and roll. He was so angry, he didn't even introduce "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing". Instead, he said defiantly, "I'm not gonna tell you what this song is. you're just gonna have to guess". And so I thought he was going to drop the f-bomb and launch into "Creep". No luck. And he was so angry, he didn't come out after the show. Which is fine because I for sure would have said something to kill that memory, too. :/
GROUP SONG - Cook did the Running Man while Michael Johns spazzed out. They did this directly in front of me and it was glorious.
One last thing: There were 2 regular-guy-type guys sitting behind me geeking out completely without shame. One guy was playing the AIR DRUM during Archie's set (can you imagine?), and the other was closing his eyes, smilin', nodding, groovin' to the music like he really was listening to the Foo fighters. I found it hysterical.
