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Home Court: Idols from N.C. steal show
Monday, July 31, 2006
By Susan Gilmor
JOURNAL ARTS REPORTER
GREENSBORO
Taylor Hicks may have been crowned the winner of this year's American Idol, but it was Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler and Bucky Covington who got the royal welcome last night when the "American Idols Live" tour stopped at the Greensboro Coliseum.
It's no surprise - Daughtry, Pickler and Covington are all from North Carolina, and this was the tour's first stop in the state.
Daughtry, of McLeansville, was clearly the audiences' favorite - and rightly so. His performance was one -of the strongest of the night.
With his guitar slung low and his microphone stand high, he sang songs such as "Whole Lotta Love," "Dead or Alive" and "Renegade" with the kind of power that fans of the TV show had come to expect from him.
Poor Elliott Yamin was up next, taking the stage after an ovation for Daughtry that was nothing short of earsplitting. Yamin's version of "Never Too Much" was - in American Idol parlance - "pitchy." Oh, well.
Picker, of Albemarle, and Covington, of Rockingham, were both in good voice, singing the sweet-and-sexy duet "You're the One That I Want" from Grease.
On her own, Pickler simmered through a rendition of "I'm the Only One" in a red corset. And Covington sang an energetic version of "Superstition," although he was drowned out at times by the backup band, a problem that plagued several of the performers.
Hicks was as endearingly twitchy as ever. His voice may not be the strongest of the bunch, but he is just so darned entertaining to watch. He treated the crowd to some of his delightfully deranged dancing during a terrific performance of "Taking It To the Streets."
Katharine McPhee, the runner-up, sounded fine singing K.T. Tunstall's "Black Horse of the Cherry Tree" and a pretty, if overly fancy, version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Ace Young sang a decent version of "Father Figure." Lisa Tucker accompanied herself on keyboard to Elton John's "Your Song" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." Paris Bennett, sassy as ever, sang a great rendition of "Midnight Train to Georgia."
One of the highlights of the show came at the beginning, with Mandisa Hundley singing "I'm Every Woman." She then sang the sweet "If I Was Your Woman," dedicating it to former Idol winner Ruben Studdard. There's a woman who knows how to work a crowd.
• The American Idols Live tour will stop at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bobcats Arena in Charlotte. Tickets are $38.50-$68.50. See
www.charlottebobcatsarena.com or call 800-495-2295.
• Susan Gilmor can be reached at 727-7298 or
sgilmor@wsjournal.com.
Relish (Winston-Salem Journal) - Home Court: Idols from N.C. steal show
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