Adam Lambert performs at AI Tour

OAKLAND – It took eight seasons, but I finally saw an American Idol Tour show Saturday night at the Oracle Arena.
There is so much to say, so we’ll spread it out over several blog entries.
First, we’ll recap the show.
Hands down the winner is the production crew. The presentation, the graphics, the pace of the show. Pretty much flawless. They tried, and did a terrific job, of matching the graphics on the huge backdrop to the 10 performers.
The performers. This was different from AI the television show. All 10 had a chance to sing multiple numbers, all songs lasted much longer than the minute or so they got on the show. Of course, they weren’t being judged so the pressure might not have been there, it was just a different type of pressure. And by Saturday night they were five shows into the 50-show Tour so they had time to iron out the rough spots.
Crowd favorite? No secret there, overwhelmingly Adam Lambert with Kris Allen a “sorta” close second. Anytime Adam’s face even appeared on the promo screen the crowd roared. And when he appeared out of a mist and the darkness on stage for his set the crowd of 9,000 went ballistic.
Crowd not-so-favorite? Well, they were polite probably to excess, but Megan Joy was obviously out of her league with this group. Song choice? Presentation? Connection with the crowd? I don’t know, maybe all three, but she would have been better walking around behind Adam if she wanted to hear genuine applause.
As far as the rest of the top 10…
Shockers? Well, there were some.
Shockingly good: Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, Michael Sarver.
Shockingly not-so-good: Matt Giraud.
Not-so-shockingly what you’d expect: Anoop Desai, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta.
The best: Adam and Kris.
The crowd was mostly very young, but a not-so-small group of 40ish types were in attendance. Not many Boomers. And, oh, yes, there was a group of 10 “50-somethings” in pickup trucks from Gilroy tailgating, grill and all, in the parking lot two hours before showtime.
The venue … Oracle’s stage was fine and as mentioned the production crew top-notch. The sound? Not the greatest, but then again what would you expect from an arena that has held up to 16,000 for concerts this year.
So, was it worth the $69.50 for a ticket five rows from the stage. Well, if you were a season-long devotee of the show, certainly. If you dno’t know Adam Lambert from Adam Ant, then no.
We have much more coming your way on this, including interviews with five of the 10 performers and lotsa pictures. Stay tuned