Lambert delivers performance worth idolizing Review

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Lambert delivers performance worthy of idolizing

Adam Lambert isn't an American Idol, he's a rock star.

If it wasn't already obvious from his performances on television, the American Idol runner-up solidified it with his stunning performance Friday night when the "American Idols Live!" tour stopped in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center.

Lambert makes the other finalists, even winner Kris Allen, look mostly like a bunch of talented and charismatic karaoke singers. He's one of the rare performers on the megahit television show who transcends its pageantry and overworked vocal covers with a blast of relevancy.

For the most part, America got it right with their votes and the show got better as the countdown narrowed down to the top. The show gave each of the 10 finalists on the tour a few songs to shine, hyped with glitz and booming videos.

An intermission split the top four from the rest, and the first half was pretty rough: Michael Sarver (No. 10) slopped through the thankless job of starting the show, followed by Megan Joy Corkrey (9), whose brash voice was undercut by a thoroughly by-the-books interpretation and heels so high her ability to remain vertical onstage seemed like a greater feat. It was a bit exhausting to watch.

Scott MacIntyre ( Cool

rose up next on a stage lift at his piano, his easy stage presence a relief. He joked good-naturedly about Simon Cowell and the fall-out from host Ryan Seacrest's ill-fated high-five with him ("the high-five heard around the world," said MacIntyre, who is legally blind). He accompanied himself solidly on songs like Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles," but his treacly singing didn't bring anything new to them.

And that's the problem with the majority of American Idol singers. Without a fresh vision for a song, they resort to simply singing the hell out of it. Many do that well: Lil Rounds (7), looking like a young Oprah clone, put a whole lot of herky-jerky force into Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." Anoop Desai (6) does a perfectly beautiful version of "Always on My Mind" and shoves impressive sexual bravado into "My Prerogative."

But so could a lot of singers around the country. The first glimmer of freshness came with Matt Giraud (5). When he leapt onstage with "Hard to Handle," he punched a hole right through all that slick and stuffy talent show-iness, and kept going with a ringing falsetto on "Georgia on My Mind."

The first half ended with a flurry of duets and group sing-a-longs, most memorably Giraud's and MacIntyre's piano duet of Billy Joel's "Tell Her About It," and most forgettably Rounds' and Corkrey's life-sucking cover of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You."

The show took off in the second half. Allison Iraheta (4) pounced and swaggered around the stage for Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby" and Heart's "Barracuda." In interviews, she comes across as just another 17-year-old girl, but onstage she wears the skin of a woman 10 years older, somehow injecting the music with a decade of hurt and joy beyond her years. But as powerful as her singing is, she still gives songs the good ol' American Idol vocal treatment. "Cry Baby" would be that much stronger if she just held back 10 percent and gave it some breathing room instead of beating every line into submission. Give her time and she'll probably figure it out.

The crowd gave a neighborly welcome to Milwaukee's bespectacled Danny Gokey (3), and he gave it right back with his trademark "P.Y.T." and a soaring cover of Santana's "Maria Maria" (including a great Latin dance break, a nod to his late wife, Sophia).
But the whole time, the crowd lusted after Lambert. He was worth the wait, and he easily upstaged Allen, whose only real shining moment was an absolutely genius cover of Kanye West's "Heartless," a performance the "Idol" judges felt cemented his place in the show's finale and gave him the momentum to claim the crown.

Lambert hit the stage like a live coal, dressed in leather coattails and pants. If the ultimate performance is to create a world onstage, he succeeded: he's a tripped-out, Depp-esque Willy Wonka tour guide looking to strap the audience into a rollercoaster ride through his X-rated fun factory.

His shot up Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" with enough thrusting and theatricality to fill up two Alliant Energy Centers. It was flat-out better than the original (and I'll stand by that sacrilegious statement). That's probably his only cover that transcends the original, but he still owns every song, especially his closing David Bowie medley.

With a few exceptions, like Allen's "Heartless," Lambert was the only one Friday night audacious enough to actually steal a song, twist it around like origami and own it. Future American Idols, the heat's on.

kcisar@madison.com

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