The American Idol tour rolled into Mountain View, CA over the weekend. The entertaining show at the Shoreline Ampitheatre included favorite songs from the past season, as well as some unexpected song choices. 
Didi Benami kicked off the show with The Rescues’ “Lay It On Me.” Benami’s vocal was fantastic, but starting off the show with a song that the crowd isn’t familiar with makes it hard to hype up the show. Benami closed her two-song set with the Kara DioGuardi-penned, “Terrified.”
Andrew Garcia was up next performing Paula Abdul’s, “Straight Up.” This new live version has a bit of a reggae feel to it, makes it just that more fun to hear live. For his second song, Garcia performed the Maroon 5 hit, “Sunday Morning.”
He had the crowd up during the song, however it would have made more of an impact if he had chosen to perform the song sans guitar. Garcia has a strong and fun stage presence; it would have been nice to see him utilize the stage just a bit more.
Katie Stevens followed by opening her set with Demi Lovato’s “Here We Go Again.” Pop music definitely seems to be Steven’s niche. Disney would be smart to snatch her up, she could definitely build quite the fan base with the teen set.
Steven’s closed her set with Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter.” She definitely has the chops to perform the song, however she came off like she was trying to sound more like Aguilera’s original vocal, other than letting her own voice take the spotlight.
The moment that the perfectly coiffed Tim Urban hit the stage, the girls went wild. Their piercing screams were present through both of his songs, Goo Goo Dolls’ “Better Days” and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” Both songs seemed to be arranged to fit his voice, and his performances definitely benefited from that.
Urban has a certain swagger to him onstage, as he did well when it came to working not only the stage, but interacting with the crowd. Plus, his trademark smile never faded once throughout his set.
Siobhan Magnus was up next, and opened her set with her popular take on The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black.” With this one song, she pretty much confirmed in my mind why the Idol judges this past season should have waited to use the save to give Magnus a second life in the competition.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Thanks for the thorough review and allowing me to experience the event through your writing.
2 - Kirsten
I am glad you enjoyed the review!
3 - Paul
Nice review. Do you think the concert would have been better if there was a host of some kind? It seemed pretty disjointed to me, which you referenced in your review. Because each performer is so different, having a host, or at least an announcer, might have created some continuity, or at least smoother transitions.