Wednesday, December 2, 2009

David Archuleta in Ann Arbor Review

I've been replaying David Archulet'a Christmas Concert over and over in my mind. It was clear that David was in his element on Friday night as he performed with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. Throughout his two part set, David proved to the audience why he ALMOST won American Idol: not only because of his gorgeous voice, but also his sweet, humble, awkward personality. The concert had it all: traditional Christmas music and catchy pop songs. The combination made for a once in a lifetime experience. If there was ever a show to see David shine vocally, this would be the one.

He opened up the show with an amazing rendition of "Angels We Have Heard On High" that gave me goosebumps. David chatted awkwardly with us in between each song, explaining his connection to the music and rambling about the acoustics in the beautiful Hill auditorium. He was obviously nervous, as he was being backed by one of the best symphony's in the state of Michigan. However, David's near perfect vocals made up for it. I was skeptical toward how the pop songs would sound, but David proved me wrong. The fan favorite tunes "Zero Gravity" and "Crush" accompanied by the symphony were made new and different, and David adjusted to the change easily. My personal favorite from the first half of the show was "To Be With You", a ballad off of David's debut album. I also enjoyed the cover of the Five for Fighting song "The Riddle".

By the second half, I was speechless. David's vocals were out of this world. I have heard him sing live before, but nothing was quite like this. I sat with my jaw open during David's Latin rendition of "Ave Maria". I can't quite describe to you how good it was, but it may have been my favorite David performance yet. Although it was in Latin, David had a strong emotional connection to the song and belted out the notes so perfectly. At the end of the night, David had successfully moved the entire audience to tears and up on their feet for a standing ovation.

I believe that this concert was a highpoint of David's career. I know his fans are eager for David to return to his more standard pop concerts, but I think performing with the beautiful symphony in a gorgeous auditorium was critical for audiences to hear David's vocals.

4 comments:

Unknown said... Add Reply

Yay! First of all Megan you write so good!! Second.. I agree with everything! LOL but you already knew that. I know it had almost been a year since you saw him, but I AM GLAD YOU GOT A CHANCE!! Now you got see what I always going on and on about...LOL. He's def little Melinda. or maybe Melinda is big david? LOL. Hm interesting.

crmoriarty said... Add Reply

Megan, thanks for the great review of David's concert in Ann Arbor. I saw him in Salt Lake City, Utah on 11/24/09. He didn't have a complete symphony orchestra like he did in Ann Arbor but in the 2nd part of the concert where he sang his Christmas songs, he had a string section and an obo player along with his regular band. David was fantastic that night. In the lst part of the concert David sang: Crush, A Little To Not Over You, The Riddle, Fields of Gold, Prayers of the Children & Zero Gravity with his band. I was so glad I went to this concert because David was amazing!!!!

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Erin said... Add Reply

So glad you had a great time! I'm still waiting to see him in concert.