The Grand Rapids Press - 'American Idol' stars hit high note here

[ChrisKellieFan]

Good article except of course "had not performed much" is incorrect. I think Kellie was on vocal rest for just 3 shows out of 60.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/in...200.xml&coll=6

'American Idol' stars hit high note here

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

By Colleen Pierson
The Grand Rapids Press

Do you want an exact number? Try 11,679 adoring fans -- all whipped into a frenzy, screaming for their American Idol favorites -- at Tuesday night's sold-out concert at Van Andel Arena.

People of all ages were clamoring for souvenir posters, hats, T-shirts, and even seat cushions -- anything to keep the "AI" songfest fresh in their minds.

Yvette Efevbera, 18, from Big Rapids almost missed the big event. She came to visit her friend, Christina Howe, 19, of Grand Rapids, and they tried unsuccessfully all day to score tickets.

"We finally just came down here and bought two tickets from some guy for $20," Yvette said excitedly.

Once inside the concert, it was all about the fans as last season's Top 10 finalists of the hit Fox television show performed solos and as a group.

Emily Kozlowski, 7, came from Alpena dressed from head to toe in an AI cap and Taylor Hicks T-shirt while carrying an "American Idol" key chain.

"I like Taylor Hicks because he sings good, but so far I like Bucky (Covington) the best," she said.

The teenage trio of college freshmen Ann Rotenthaler, Amanda Harper and Sarah Lueders, all of Rockford, were jealous because one of their friends got to go backstage and meet the singers. "Why can't that be us?" Lueders asked.

The biggest cheers? Rocker Chris Daughtry brought down the house with his solo set, as did "Idol" winner Hicks.

The crowd was happy to hear Kellie Pickler, who has had vocal issues on the tour and had not performed much, and Katharine McPhee, who is on vocal rest but still performed a couple of songs.


Press writer Lorilee Craker contributed to this report.

[north_clt]

Thanks for posting. Not bad except for that one item.

[AshlaeSeacrest]

Thanks for posting!!

[My Angel xx]

Thats awesome! Thanks for posting! I wish I could have been there!

[kellie4idol5]

thanks for posting.

[kcboy231982]

Thanks for the post.

[gemiz]

Thanks for sharing the post with us!

[ChicagoFan]

Hi Everyone! Just got back from the concert and wanted to give everyone an update from Chicago. The concert started with a strong performance by Mandisa signing three songs. We weren't sure at this stage who if anyone would be missing from the show but after Mandisa introduced Ace the show moved along with him singing a decent rendition of Father Figure and a somewhat weak version of Harder to Breathe.

Lisa Tucker had good perfomances starting with Signed Sealed Delivered and two Elton John songs. She played piano on Your Song which was very impressive. She launced into a Beyonce number when Paris met her on stage for a duet.

I hate to say this but Paris was having a really off night. I was shocked at how poorly she perfomed Leaving on a Midnight Train and TLC's Waterfalls. She kept singing too deeply and her enunciation was very hard to understand. As Paula would say "Lets give it up for the fashion " though because she looked very cute.

Ok- here comes Bucky. He sang Very Superstitious, then grabbed his guitar and with a little group participation he sang Drift Away (gimme the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away) not sure of the title of that one. He sang one more that I can't recall at the moment and then when his chills were multiplying and he was loosing control (Your the one that I Want) Here comes our girl Kellie!

She was wearing black jeans and a T Bird Jacket, her long ponytail hair extention (she looks so much better with long hair IMHO) was waving in the back and she sang her little heart out. She shook her tookus at Bucky and ran up and down the stage having the time of her life. Of course Kellie was the one I paid $240.00 to bring my family to see and she DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!!

She outsang Bucky by a mile and was her usual cute perky self. She took a long time to thank the audience for dialing in each week and was so sweet and humble I just hope my girls grow up to be like that. She sang I'm the only one and a medley of Give them something to talk about and one other that I can't think of the name of right now. She did an outstanding job and it was worth trekking to the hall, paying too much for parking, walking half a mile to the stadium and getting heartburn at Taco Bell after the show for!

I gotta give my city props- Chicago loves Kellie and gave her a really warm reception.


After an intermission that made both my girls and my husband very antsy, the idols returned to a thunderous roar with Chris singing Renegade. He did a great job but got winded from running around the stage too much. He sang two others - sorry but its 2:30 am and I can't remember anything but the ringing in my ears. Two more LOUD songs from Chris and there goes Elliot. Oh Elliot, he is so good. Good enough to where I should have remembered the songs but let's just move on shall we.

NOW for a suprise..... here comes the familiar beating of a box drum and up on the jumbotron is the angelilc face of Kat. She really likes performing Black Horse and the Cherry Tree but the poor girl fell way behind in the song and although her floor length black dress hid it she gimped along on a broken leg. She explained that the Dr. has her not speaking all day and that this was her only chance to talk to anyone. After a brave yet a little disappointing performance of BHandTCT, she sang what is now her signature best song, Over the Rainbow. All I can say is WOW! She completely redeemed herself with that one and almost made me cry.

Last but by no means least was Taylor. He jumped, WOOOED and danced like a maniac while playing a guitar to the most songs anyone else sang.

He was so wild that my husband and I looked at each other and said "It's Like He's Drunk (ala Simon). Fun stuff tho and then after one encore all the Idols came out and sang the finale. It was overall a nice evening but a long one. The concert was about three hours and my five year old was starting to fade on me- poor baby. But hey... how lucky is she to be taken to your first concert at that age!

Thanks for letting me ramble. Go Kellie! We love you!

[werss]

^great review

[Pickled Pink]

Chicago Fan that was a really good review.

In the first review, whoever wrote it didn't realize it was Kat and not Kellie that missed a lot of concerts because of voice issues.

Oh well. Otherwise, it was okay.