As usual, I almost missed the first song, and I did want to change my
SD card which was not working but I decided to just enter the venue since it was almost 8:30PM already. Thankfully, I made the right decision! Ten minutes later, the first David (Archie - the other David called him that) came out, and started the show with "
Touch My Hand". I knew he would open with that song. It was the perfect opening song - upbeat, not quite famous, second song on his
CD, just enough to keep the crowd excited! (I was very excited hahaha!) (And it was a sizeable crowd - 40,000 people strong!)
Now, the ironic thing is, I don't even know these guys! Meaning, during their run, I did not follow the competition. The last AI I religiously followed was when Taylor Hicks won. After that, I just lost interest. I think I got the raw end of the deal and I'll tell you why.
Let me begin with
David Archuleta. His voice was incredibly clear, like a man-child. Moreover, he was as cute as a button, the perfect boyfriend for anyone's daughter. His voice tonight was exhilarating to say the least! I know his CD by heart and he sang each song with fantastic clarity.
Well, he did avoid some high notes though, understandably, because touring can be unforgiving on the voice of the singer, and David A. had to fly thousands of miles to get here, so I forgive him. His set was very, very solid though! He sang all the strong songs from his CD - including all my favorites - "Touch My Hand" and "My Hands".
There were several highlights from his set which I really loved. First, was his version of "A Thousand Miles" - that monster hit by
Vanessa Carlton. He played it on keyboards, and his rendition was intentionally slowed down by I think, half a beat, except of course, for the famous first few notes, which sent the whole audience roaring! I love this song too and I wished this was the one he included in his CD and not Angels. I'll explain why later. I loved his rendition, the pacing was perfect and he captured the longing the song intended to convey. Second highlight was his own incredible incredulity at the huge turnout to his show! I too, was surprised! I bought my tickets today and all the good ones were sold out! Don't ask me where I was but I had to eat my pride and I'm glad I did (hahaha!) I know many people watch AI but not this many! Final highlight for me - I loved his version of "To Be With You". In the CD, it's a duet and in this show, he sang with his keyboardist, and the result was stunning! It reminded me of that beautiful duet of
Bruce Hornsby and Shawn Colvin "The Lost Soul". The melancholic arrangement, the sound of the violin (the girl sang and played the violin!), David on the keyboard - everything gelled perfectly. There was actually no lowdown on his set. It was quick (just under an hour), fast-paced and well-executed. He did sing Angels, but I'd still go for Robbie Williams' version. I really love this song since it brings back a lot of London memories, so hearing a very young man sing it, didn't quite work for me. I really think this song is about heartbreak and loss, so although technically, David A.'s version is very good, even tonight's live version, I think he has to have his heart broken for real, for him to be able to sing this truly. If you listen to his version, the angel he may be talking about could be his mother. Oh well.....
After some fireworks and some endless poker advertisements, it was
David Cook's turn to impress. He opened with a decidedly slow-paced version of "The World I Know" by Collective Soul which I think did not quite warm up the crowd. (I was impressed though with the way he sang it.)
In my opinion, it took him sometime to warm up everyone. I guess, everyone was a bit tired too (this was an outdoors show), although his playlist, especially his choice of first few songs did not help. He sang three songs which were all new to our ears. I should know, I listened to his CD thoroughly. And he also admitted it. I think it was very self-indulgent of him to do that and he paid the price. It's ok to sing new songs if it's a US city. He lives in the US anyway and can tour there every year - if he wants. He can't come to Manila every year just to sample his new songs. So for exotic places like ours, artists are well-advised to tweak their repertoire to suit the audience - something which the fantastic
Natalie Cole did on her show last March. (Her US shows were 90% jazz, but here, she sang all her pop hits - which sent the crowd teary-eyed). Anyway, other than that misstep, he is impressive as a vocalist. His voice reminds me of Dave Grohl of the
Foo Fighters, don't you think?
I always could imagine him suddenly sing, "The Pretender", an FF song which could fit him to a T. I noticed that the crowd did not quite dig his heavy rock style. They did love "Always Be My Baby" though. That was the climax of his show, and it was his fifth song, or thereabouts. I still love Mariah's version, since that song is quite memorable to me - my 1995 sojourn in Butuan - the CD containing that song was my antidote to loneliness when I was in the wilderness, hahaha!
Anyhow, one talent of Mr. Cook is his uncanny ability to stamp his personality on a song that he remakes. And that's illustrated in the best highlight, at least for me, of his set. He sang "Little Lies" by
Fleetwood Mac, a song, I love so much, I was quite shocked when he sang it. I think I was the only one in the audience who sang it so loud, hahaha - "Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies". His version? - heavy, intentionally heavy on the guitars and the beat, just the way he wanted it to be, of course, without losing the playfulness of the original. I love his live version and if he does release it as a single, I would buy it. It's that good - and original too! Now I know why he won, hahaha! (I will vote for David A though if I could vote, hahaha, since I'm more of a pop meister).
Another higlight was his impressive live rendition of his admittedly, heaviest track on his CD, a song entitled "
Bar-ba-sol" . It was impressive how he matched the recorded one and how clear his voice and the lyrics were! Even the nuances were all there! Finally, I also liked, "Come Back to Me". I am really beginning to like this song. The lyrics are beautiful. This should have been a single, don't you think? Well, he did not sing "Time of My Life" and his "Light On" was just ok. He did pander to the audience, letting them touch him (lucky devils! hahaha!) and playing with their cell phones. He worked the crowd like a pro (I guess all those weeks competing at AI really helps!)
So whose set did I like more? I'd say David A.'s because I love his songs more and they're more of the sing-along variety. David Cook got Rob Cavallo to produce his CD, and Rob, if I remember correctly, produced "Iris" and that Alanis song, "Uninvited", so David C. was in good hands. His CD though sounds like an earlier version of the Foo Fighters with some pop sounding songs included. However, I think the work of these two guys was more solid than Daughtry, and I hazard the opinion that their performance tonight was much better than Daughtry's last year. Oh well, just my opinion.
No pictures though, sorry guys (My SD card was not working). Just check out Youtube. A gazillion kids were recording happily and snapping happily all throughout the show. Me, I was the one singing along, trying to blend my voice as closely as possible to David A., and just plain lipsynching with the gravely voice of David C. Definitely two Davids who gave a Goliath of a show!
