Saturday, March 30, 2013

127 -- Crystal Bowersox -- Thursday, March 7, 2013 -- The Hamilton -- DC

Crystal Bowersox was American Idol’s most unjust runner-up.  That is not to hold anything against Lee DeWyze -- okay, maybe you could hold a lot of things against Lee DeWyze, “‘Beautiful’ Day” foremost among them.  The reality was, though, even in a stronger season, Crystal Bowersox would have probably deserved to win that as well.

In concert last month, four years after her Idol season aired, Crystal proved that the same still held true.  Her vocals were, bar none, the best of any artist I had ever heard sing live.  They made up for the fact that she sang virtually no Idol songs at the concert, they made up for the fact that she sang ten tracks from an album that would not be released for twenty days (?!), and they made you hold out hope that the next show you saw, it could be an all-time great.  The tenderness in “Shine,” the finesse in “Crazy,” and the transformation in “Holy Toledo” made you believe. 
  
Next concert, with a little more crowd interaction and a lot more knowable songs, Crystal will put it over the top.  If she sings anything like she did on “Hallelujah” and “Bobby McGee” this time, it will be, as Simon Cowell said in his final Idol critique, ‘outstanding.’

Grade: A-

Endnote: I told Crystal Bowersox after the show that I had been so over “Hallelujah.”  She said, “Um, is that supposed to be a compliment?”  I explained that I had been so over “Hallelujah” – that her vocal made me plea for more and more verses, that I discovered new things about a song I thought was long past any sense of discovery.  That part she recognized as a compliment. ;)   

 

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