9.12.06

Finally, my American Idol concert review and video/picture upload! :)
(This is going to be a VERY LONG post)

I would have done this yesterday but going on 4 hours of sleep wasn't good.

So, the concert was Sunday night here in Austin. In one word - FUN!!
I wouldn't say that everyone just blew me away. Some of the performers seemed tired, which is completely understandable. Their schedule is crazy!
But it was LOTS of fun to see them perform live after watching them on TV for so long. And they all seem to be really close friends.

OK....first, the videos! My digital camera has a great video feature, so I took advantage of it. It was funny because I think Bucky was performing and I was taking a video and all of a sudden it said, "memory card full." ACK! There were still several performers left, including Chris and Taylor! So I sat down and erased a bunch of video that was already on there, ha. (Kellie, Paris, Lisa)
Had to prioritize. :)

Here are the videos from the concert:


Mandisa was FABULOUS!!! I love her style and her confidence. She has strong faith in the Lord, too.
Here she is singing "I'm Every Woman." (sorry the audio/video don't stay in sync in some places)




Here is Ace singing George Michael's "Father Figure." This was his first solo song.
Let's just say he knows how to play the crowd, especially the females.




Chris has some kind of voice! WOW!! The place was going crazy for him.
(sorry this one got a little out of sync, too)



Ace again, this time between songs talking to the audience, then
putting on his trademark beanie cap. Again, major audience player. :)
(you can hear me laughing a little because my husband was making
hilarious comments..haha)




Just a short clip of Chris singing some Bon Jovi.
Love the hat!
**********************

Now here are just a few of the many, many photos I took.
We were on the equivalent of the 17th row, so with the
terrific seats and my camera zoom, I got some pretty decent shots.
Some of them are blurry because some of the performers would NOT
be still! :D

You can click on any of the photos to see a larger version.
















































Before the concert started, I looked over to the side seats and Will Makar was
standing there talking to a few people. So I went over and asked him for a picture!
He was really sweet. (he was in the top 24 contestants)



******************************************

There were some really big Taylor fans sitting next to us at the concert.
That was fun! They told us that Taylor's band, The Little Memphis Blues Orchestra,
was playing at Antone's downtown right after the concert. So, after
rearranging our childcare for Noah, we decided to go!

Come to find out, Taylor's band is booked locally at a lot of the stops
for the American Idol tour, and Taylor always goes and sings with them.
THAT is loyalty. So cool. :)

So we get there and LMBO played for about an hour. They are
an AMAZING group of musicians. WOW! We said we would
have come just to hear them play. So talented! About an 90 minutes
after we arrived, Taylor showed up! He sat upstairs for a few minutes, then
came down during the second set and played and sang probably 6 songs.
He was IN HIS ELEMENT. You could tell he loved being on the small bar
stage. One of the things I missed about him when he was on American Idol
is it seemed they had him quit doing the signature Taylor moves, like the jerks back,
saying, "hey!" and that blues-y face he does with his chin. Well, not in this setting.
He was the OLD Taylor, from the auditions. I could have listened to him
all night! And the best part is there were maybe 300 people there...and we were
about 10 feet from the stage. :)

Here are some photos and video clips from Antone's:



Here he is, jamming on the harmonica!





And here is my favorite clip, where he does lots of "Taylor" moves!
(Sorry it's sideways)













When Taylor left, we left. It was almost 1:00 a.m. and we were beat.
We found out later that during the next set...Bucky, Chris, Ace, and Elliott
all sang!! (BIG BOOOHOOOO!) There were supposedly some record execs there, filming and scouting, so they were doing some singing for them. SO sorry we
missed it, but we were tired. If we had KNOWN they were coming, though, we
definitely would have stayed, ha. :)

OK, so that is my American Idol post! Now, that was a lot of work...so leave me a comment! :D

- Jennifer

"Seek to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life."
- Alexander MacLaren