It wasn't a show to remember, but when four former American Idols came to town this week, they did offer up some surprises to a sparse crowd of less than 900 people at Toyota Center.
Diana DeGarmo, Kimberley Locke, Chikezie Eze and David Hernandez all trotted on stage to begin the show with a medley of Christmas faves including "Winter Wonderland" and "Let it Snow." Then DeGarmo and Hernandez did a duet of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" where DeGarmo, dressed in a stunning knee-high red sequined dress, sang the pants off the barely average Hernandez. Seriously, there is nothing notable about Hernandez's voice — he consistently proved to be the weak link in the show.
From there, the Idols continually traded off on solos and duets. Chikezie did a powerful version of "Someday at Christmas," channeling Stevie Wonder and waking up a quiet crowd. Locke then rolled out "Santa Baby" with the appropriate sauciness that Madonna made it famous for.
The four-piece band that backed the Idols included "American Idol" associate music director Michael Orland on piano, a multi-instrumentalist, a drummer and a bass player who were consistently tight. But they were introduced what seemed like a dozen times. They were called out between two separate breaks, then named each time a solo came up, killing the flow of the show at times.
For the audience participation portion of the show, the Idols made the mistake of trying to split an already small audience into four groups to sing along with the "Twelve Days of Christmas." The results were, you might guess, pretty sad, although the crowd responsible for days four, eight and 12 was pretty enthusiastic.
DeGarmo then came out in what would be several outfit changes during the night to sing a truly beautiful version of "My Grown-up Christmas List," which was dented by microphone problems she admittedly suffered with most of the night.
Chikezie then provided another needed spark, again channeling Wonder with the Motown Christmas classic "What Christmas Means to Me." But in one of the more puzzling setlist choices, Hernandez then sapped the energy with a scattered (dare I say pitchy) try at "O Holy Night." This was followed by the four again returning to sing a rockin’ medley of tunes in the vein of "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree."
There was a brief intermission and then came the infomercial portion of the show where Locke hawked her Christmas album and made a pitch for her Lockeandloaded.com fitness and music cruise on the Caribbean in September 2009. Calling it tacky fails to do justice to describing the pitch. Hernandez then tried to get the crowd to remember his exit in Season 7 as the first to go out of the top 12 and pleaded with the crowd to become his friend on MySpace. DeGarmo at least tried to be genuine with her sale of her upcoming country album in singing a stirring tribute to the troops that elicited the lone standing ovation of the show.
There were a few things to like about the show, mainly that it did seem to spark quite a few smiles in the crowd. Chikezie was, by far, the standout performer, trailed closely by the adorable DeGarmo, and it offered a fun glimpse at how much each of the performers has grown since their inexperienced days on the Idol stage.
The Wanteds
In what is probably the most straightforward rock show the Red Room has put on in quite a while, Portland trio The Wanteds are set to play the venue Dec. 15. The band is touring under their sophomore album Failure Looks so Good. You can check them out at myspace.com/thewanteds. The group employs much of the same layered guitar attack that propelled the Silversun Pickups to rave reviews over the past couple of years. And lead singer Tommy Harrington’s voice cuts through the band’s sonic wall much like Billy Corgan’s did in the Smashing Pumpkins, but Harrington’s lacks Corgan’s whine. It’ll be worth checking out.
Ooh-wah-ah-ah-ah
Toyota Center is putting on its first true rock show in who knows how long next month with Chicago hard rock band Disturbed. Tickets for the Jan. 24 show go on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 13 through ticketmaster.com and cost $35 general admission.