American Idol - Good Times at the Value City Arena!

The American Idol concert was really fun. Luckily, all the top 10 singers were pretty good this year - so there weren't any truly terrible performances. I've gone to this concert every year since the show began and this is the first year without any kind of singing trauma.

• Mandisa - what a voice! She got a little preachy when she spoke, but when she sang, wow! I was amazed she went as early as she did. What's great about her is she just doesn't seem to care that she's not skinny. She was dancing up a storm!
• Ace - so incredibly cheesy yet so pretty. He kept doing these running leaps from one section of the stage to another. He sang Father Figure (of course.) Before he started singing, the camera zooms in on is chest - he's pulsing it in and out so it looks like his heart was beating. Honestly, it made me feel a little nauseated.
• Lisa Tucker - sounded good, but snooze-a-rama.
• Paris - for one of her numbers, she came out wearing a Michael Jackson hat and doing some Michael Jackson moves. Two seconds later, she was lapdancing on a chair. With the Michael Jackson hat still perched on her head. It was disturbing. (Oh, Paris and Lisa are apparently BFFs. Yeah right - ham it up on stage, but I bet they secretly hate each other.)
• Bucky - I had no idea the sheer number of women who think Bucky is hot. All the ladies sitting near us were giggling and shrieking. I was shocked!
• Kellie - OK - I completely hated Kellie Pickler on the show - she was actually not bad live. She sang in tune, her voice sounded good, she was very warm and natural on stage. She may have completely reversed my hatred of her.
• Chris - by far the crowd favorite. I thought he sounded great(although he looks like a penis - and by that, I literally mean he looks like a penis). He's just kind of boring to watch - all 'let me stand here in the center of the stage with the microphone while all of you worship me.'
• Elliott - sounded good, even looked good! Someone give this boy a record deal.
• Katherine - ugh. My least favorite singer. She looked beautiful but oversang of course. She hasn't quite grasped the 'less is more' mantra. She pushes notes out of tune - it's very amateurish. Plus, she seemed very phony and annoying. Luckily she only sang two songs as she is still suffering from the world's longest bout of bronchitis.
• Last, but certainly not least - Taylor - my favorite! He was by far the best performer. He started in the crowd, dancing and singing his way to stage. His voice sounded a little tired, but he performed the heck out of his songs. He used the entire stage - something none of the other finalists did. He played his guitar too, but actually moved around with it and his harmonica solo was perfection. I was dancing in my seat!

I can't wait for Taylor's album to come out and for his solo tour - he rocks!