Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The concert was structured as a countdown, starting with Michael Sarver -- the first of the ten to be eliminated on the show -- and working its way up to number one Kris Allen, this year's American Idol.  In the first set Sarver, Megan Joy, and Scott MacIntyre performed two songs each, then Lil Rounds, Anoop Desai, and Matt Giraud sang three apiece before finishing the set with duets and a production number.


Syracuse was the second to last stop on the tour, and by now all the Idols are confident, accomplished performers.  While some were as expected, others seemed weaker in person, or stronger.  Sarver, Desai, and Girard were pleasant enough, and Joy was about the same as she was on television, but had obviously gained some confidence during the tour.  I was luke warm about Rounds during the competition, but she wowed the crowd Monday night, and won me over with a funky, joyful performance of Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).'  The real surprise was MacIntyre.  I didn't like him at all during the competition, finding him a bit Milquetoast for my taste, but he obviously stepped up his game for the tour.


The four singers featured in the second set were clearly what the crowd was waiting for, and at least three of them were in a different league.  Allison Iraheta was more force than singer on stage.  She showed more range and ability during the competition, but was obviously enjoying herself on the tour.

Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, and Kris Allen gave what could have been independent mini-concerts, each with its own style.  Gokey was superb, belting out tunes by Michael Jackson, Santana, and Rascal Flats.  His performance was inspirational, using his own story to tell the crowd to never give up on their dreams.  Gokey has reportedly decided to switch to country when he starts out on his own, but there was none of that in this concert.


Allen owned the stage, with a well produced mix of songs.  While his performance pleased, it seemed a bit generic with standards like 'Ain't No Sunshine,' and 'Hey Jude.'  He seemed to be more of a presence than he was during the competition, but it wasn't clear whether it was due to something he was doing, or the production values and the way he was presented.

As good as Gokey and Allen were, the evening belonged to Lambert.  He made every song seem like his own whether he was rocking out a Led Zeppelin classic, belting out a duet with Iraheta, or sitting quietly on a stool, crooning a hair-raisingly beautiful rendition of 'Mad World'.

The stage depended on lighting and five LED screens, but was otherwise bare except a five piece band and two backup singers.  Oddly un-stunning production values regularly plague the television show, with the odd result that the singing becomes more important.  That approach worked on the live stage as well.  While the lighting was often stunning, the band was spread out as if lining up for inspection, straggling across the undistinguished stage.

That made the singers most important, and despite the challenge of dominating a big stage in a huge auditorium, they all somehow managed it.  Even from the back of the auditorium each singer was a presence, and the crowd adored them.


American Idol is the ultimate money making machine.  By giving the audience buy-in as to who their new pop stars will be the show just about guarantees a huge following that will download songs on iTunes, buy CDs, go to concerts, and lay out 20 bucks for a commemorative program that has lovely pictures but is amazingly thin on content.  Idol 2009 coffee mugs were selling like hotcakes, and T-shirts abounded.  Colored light wands for waving to the music were also a hot item at Monday's concert.

At some point for all that to work the show has to deliver.  It does -- strangers enthused at length about why their favorite should have been the Idol, or what kind of future each budding star will have.  Monday's concert proved what it's producers already know -- America loves its idols.

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