Tour Review Auburn Hills, MI: 'Idol' summer tour lacks star performer

By Adam Graham, The Detroit News

Pretty much everyone agrees that it was an off year for “American Idol.” And so it goes with the “American Idols Live!” summer tour, which kicked off at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Thursday and reminded fans that yep, it was an off year for “American Idol.”

The signs were visible even outside the building, as the parking lot was far emptier than it is for a typical Palace concert. And inside the venue, the entire upper deck was curtained off, a surefire sign of a dud concert.

(Venue officials didn’t make crowd figures available, but an educated guesstimate pegs attendance at between 8,000 and 9,000, or less than two-thirds of the building’s capacity.)

What was missing from the show was the same thing that was missing from the season: A blockbuster, knock-your-socks-off performer. “Idol” had one in 2009 with Adam Lambert, an over-the-top house-on-fire with a voice that could rattle the rafters of an arena and a sensational sense of style to match. This year’s performers, especially top two contestants Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox, couldn’t compare, and the show — just like the season’s ratings — suffered.

DeWyze’s five-song, 20-minute set — which came near the close of the 165-minute concert — was like the coronation of the guy who lived at the end of your dorm hall who could play guitar pretty well. He seems like a good guy, the kind who if you called to help you move would give up his Saturday without question, but he’s severely lacking in star quality. His set included capable renditions of U2’s “Beautiful Day,” Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” and Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” but lacked any real spark. It didn’t do much to dissuade popular belief that he’s going to be a dull “Idol,” and the empty seats in the back of the arena by the time he went on proved he’s facing a long road ahead.

Meanwhile, Bowersox’s folky, earthy vibe didn’t easily translate to an arena setting, and she seemed dwarfed by the size of the venue. She played to the first few rows of the audience at the expense of the back of the arena, especially when she sat down on stage at the opening of “Up to the Mountain.” Bowersox is an open mic night performer who has been thrust into a role she was arguably never meant for, which is going to make her transition to the spotlight difficult. In an intimate setting she would be excellent, able to touch every person in the room, but her strengths are not suited to basketball arenas.

The rest of the show unfolded in unspectacular fashion. Michael Lynche and Casey James’ sets came and went, with the latter’s feeling as inconsistent as his stint on the show. (He’s a better guitarist than he is a singer.) Lynche’s take on Justin Timberlake and TI’s “My Love” was the riskiest song choice of the evening, with Lynche taking on both Timberlake’s falsetto and TI’s bracing rap, though he wasn’t able to physically sell the song and seemed worn out by its close.

The evening’s most pleasant surprise was Aaron Kelly, whose confident, assured vocals came off better than they did on the small screen. He didn’t lean on any songs he performed on the show, proving there’s more to him than just facsimiles of previous performances, and he sounds like he’s on his way to a viable country career.

Spooky-weird goth art student Siobhan Magnus had the night’s oddest performance, moving from her high-drama take on the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” into an unconvincingly sunny spin on No Doubt’s “Spiderwebs.” “Spiderwebs” seems to go against everything Magnus is about, and her performance of it almost seemed like a goof, but it was hard to tell whom the joke was on. She closed with Muse’s “Stockholm Syndrome,” which is much more her speed, and finished on her knees, screaming at the ceiling.

Seventeen-year-old Katie Stevens proved to be the evening’s most current performer, ably working through spirited takes on Demi Lovato’s “Here We Go Again” and Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter.” Heartthrob Tim Urban smiled his way through Goo Goo Dolls’ “Better Days” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida.”

“Remember me?” contestants Didi Benami and Andrew Garcia kicked the evening off with short, two-song sets, the latter of which included the cover of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” which haunted Garcia throughout his time on the show.

The evening closed with a group sing-along to Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You,” a sentiment fans might not share with this crop of “Idols.”

agraham@detnews.com (313) 222-2284

via The Detroit News