'Idol' finalists get another moment in the spotlight
True to its roots, the American Idols Live! tour, featuring this season's 10 "American Idol" finalists, started out with a commercial: a giant Pop-Tart mascot helping to fire up Saturday's crowd at the Worcester DCU Center. There was also a lot of shilling for Guitar Hero, complete with a "music video" featuring the singers (just like on the show!), and two awkwardly blocked, brutally harmonized group numbers.
But in an almost shocking twist, the concert itself wasn't intrinsically cheesy so much as it simply reflected what each singer brought to it. Neither Michael Johns nor Ramiele Malubay managed to carve out much of a musical sensibility, while pop-country aspirant Kristy Lee Cook proved that she was more indelible for her good-humored perseverance than her vocals. Syesha Mercado's overdramatic, melismatic belting on out-of-her-league Alicia Keys and Beyoncé songs suggested she was still trying to win votes.
Runner-up David Archuleta, meanwhile, acknowledged his own overearnestness by introducing Josh Groban's "When You Say You Love Me" as "one of those message songs that I like to do." Unfortunately, he then sang it, thus negating his self-awareness.
Others fared better. High-energy R&B wildcard Chikezie showed what a shame it was that he was eliminated so early, though it had the serendipitous benefit of giving the concert an unexpectedly strong start. Carly Smithson's pointed and powerful voice finally found its fit with "Bring Me to Life," the exact type of song she never got a chance to choose on the show. And Jason Castro's ukulele-driven "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" benefited from a light bass/keyboards accompaniment that added a lovely depth without pushing too hard.
Those performers seemed to be on their way. Brooke White and David Cook, on the other hand, were the only two who seemed fully formed already. Playing heartfelt versions of "Let It Be" and Coldplay's "Yellow" on a baby grand piano and switching to acoustic guitar for a fine, perfectly chosen version of Feist's "1234," White looked and sounded like a performer sure of herself.
But nothing compared to the chaos that ensued when winner Cook came out. He held out the microphone at one point in an attempt to get everyone to join in on coronation song "Time of My Life," but there was no singing, only screaming. But he made a canny move by changing up a power-ballad-heavy set with Foo Fighters' "My Hero," which proved that he might actually have it in him to be the rocker he's been labeled as.
By that point, the concert had gone too long without some cheese, and Cook and the others gamely trudged through one last pointless group performance of "Don't Stop the Music." And then, the music stopped. 