Next week Glee is heading back to Sectionals, which means awesome performances, including one from Dalton Academy’s Warblers! Darren Criss (Blaine) is on lead vocals for their performance of Train’s huge hit, “Hey Soul Sister.”
Check it out!
Category: Music
Tour Talk With Kris Allen
As his tour with Lifehouse comes to a close this week, Kris Allen took some time to talk with me about being on tour the past year supporting different artists, the “Alright With Me” video he did for his fans, and what he thinks is the biggest misconception about his music.
I caught your show the other night in San Francisco, it was great.
Thanks, that was a really fun show.
My friend mentioned after the show that her favorite part about your set was that you’re converting Lifehouse fans in about eight songs or less.
Tell her thanks. That’s kind of what we’re trying to do.
Can you tell while you’re performing that you are drawing people into your music?
I feel like we can tell. It takes about three or four songs. You know they’re like, “Oh, this is fun,” and by the end they’re like “Wow, that was a lot of fun!” And it’s always cool when you can win over the dudes. Girls are probably the best fans that you can have, but when you can win over the guys at a show, especially the older guys, it’s awesome.
Very cool. You’ve supported different bands this year on tour. Is it a feeling of “same thing, different band” or is the vibe different on each tour?
I think it’s a different vibe, you know? We were out with totally different kinds of artists. We went out with Maroon 5, and Keith Urban, and now Lifehouse. Also, I think the vibe really depends on the venue. With Keith, we were playing those monster fairs with like 10,000 people there. With Maroon 5, it was like smaller outdoors stuff, but still pretty big. And with Lifehouse we’re doing theatres. It’s been a blast, it really has been for every one of them.
Is it more intimidating to play a small intimate show or a large venue?
The most intimidating crowd to play for is about five people. When it’s super small and you’re just sitting in a room with friends and they’ll go “Hey Kris, sing us a song,” you’re like, “Oh no, I can’t do that.” It’s really weird.
In the beginning of the tour you had “Man In The Mirror” on the set list, and then switched it out for Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” what was behind that decision?
I think that it was a conscious decision to say you know what, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” is a little more upbeat of a song. And we’ve been playing “Man In The Mirror” forever. It was just nice to play something new, and I think when we introduce new stuff into the set everyone gets excited about it. It may not be perfect at first, and it may not even be that great, but we get excited about playing new stuff. Continue reading Tour Talk With Kris Allen
Video: Kris Allen & Lifehouse Perform at the Masonic Center
Last night I attended Lifehouse’s “Smoke And Mirrors” tour with special guest, Kris Allen. One of my favorite bands, one of my favorite Idols…as you can imagine, I had a pretty awesome time.
I brought back some video clips from the show to share!
The first two clips are from Kris’s set. I filmed part of the “Everybody Wants To Rule The World/The Way You Make Me Feel” mash-up . I also taped Andrew DeRobert’s guitar solo during “Is It Over.”
Enjoy!
Continue reading Video: Kris Allen & Lifehouse Perform at the Masonic Center
Music Review >> Glee Cast – ‘Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album’
I love Christmas music. I love Glee. The combination of the two results in an album filled with a great mix of classic and contemporary Christmas songs.
Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album goes above and beyond any possible expectations I had before I took my first listen. “Deck The Rooftop,” which is a mash-up of “Deck The Halls” and “Up On The Rooftop,” was completely unexpected. Glee definitely manged to put their twist on two popular holiday songs, and made it into an extremely catchy sing-a-long.
One of the tracks that is already getting a lot of buzz is “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which is sung by Chris Colfer (Kurt) and Darren Criss (Blaine). It’s a very sweet duet between the two, and their vocals are superb.
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” sung by the Glee ladies, is one of my favorites. The harmonizing is on point, and they seem to be reining in the glory notes a bit, which gives the song a sense of vulnerability, and allows the lyrics to stand in the spotlight.
I really liked Glee’s interpretation on “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” The song features Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) and K.D. Lang. I still watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas every year, so I really appreciated this song being on the album. Morrison and Lang really capture its spirit.
I have to make mention of Amber Riley (Mercedes), who sings “Angels We Have Heard On High.” On this song, she has a voice to be reckoned with. The arrangement for me left something to be desired, but Riley’s voice makes the song a success.
I have to say that the group harmonizing on this album is fantastic. The Glee cast really have never sounded better. There’s something about Christmas music that really brings the best out of singers.
Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album really exceeded my expectations. The album has a great combined energy of Glee and Christmas spirit.
Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album is available now. The Glee Christmas special airs December 7 on FOX at 8 p.m.
Originally posted on BlogCritics.
Song By Song Review: Lee DeWyze — Live It Up
This past New Music Tuesday, Lee DeWyze’s major label album debut, Live It Up hit store shelves. As an American Idol fan, the day the winner’s album comes out is always fun for me.
After listening to the album a couple times through, I felt the best way to talk about the album was to talk a little about each song. So here we go!
Track 01 — “Live It Up”
I feel like “Live It Up” really encompasses what the album is about, and more so sets the overall tone of the album. In a way, this entire album feels like a relationship, which I will expand on later, and “Live It Up” is that first meeting/first date. 
This track was originally supposed to be DeWyze’s first single. I do understand why it was swapped last minute. I do think that it’s a better song than “Sweet Serendipity,” but I don’t know how well it would fair on the radio.
Track 02 — “Sweet Serendipity”
Before the album came out, I reviewed “Sweet Serendipity” for BlogCritics, and for what it’s worth, the song has grown on me since that initial review.
Now, it’s still not my favorite track on the album. I still think it sounds very similar to Kris Allen’s “Live Like We’re Dying,” but my big issue that I have with the song is all the ad-lib singing, where the chorus could have been incorporated. I really noticed this during the live performances, and I just think if the extended chorus was added in before the ad-libbing it would make it that much more sing-a-long friendly.
Track 03 — “It’s Gotta Be Love”
Never judge a song by it’s cheesy title. Or it’s 30-second snippet, that upon first listen did the song absolutely no favors.
I actually really like this song. It has a fun melody, that will make it a great song to perform live. DeWyze is very honest in his songwriting about those feelings you get after you meet someone and spend time with them for the first time. Granted, the lyrics “my knees are weak, my heart skipped a beat” are cheesetastic, but the song as a whole is good.
Continue reading Song By Song Review: Lee DeWyze — Live It Up
Kris Allen Tweets “Alright With Me” Music Video
Kris Allen just tweeted a thank you to the fans, and in his last tweet included a link to a music video for “Alright With Me (A Thank You To The Fans).”
The video was directed and edited by Matthew Leonard. This is seriously better than any video treatment I could have imagined for this song! I can’t believe that Kris and KAB pulled this off without fans finding out! So awesome!
Check it out!
Absolutely love it!
Kris Allen Talks To Ryan Seacrest on KIIS FM
Season eight winner American Idol winner Kris Allen talked with Ryan Seacrest earlier this morning on the radio about his current tour.
Take a listen!
Video Source: 1
Lee DeWyze’s “Sweet Serendipity” Music Video Premieres on VH1.com
The music video for Lee DeWyze’s debut single, “Sweet Serendipity” just debuted on VH1.com!
Watch the video and let me know what you think in the comments!
First impression: I like it. I’m a fan of simple, sweet videos.
Lee’s album, Live It Up is now available for download on iTunes and Amazon.com!
Don’t forget to pick up your copy!
Darren Criss Performs “Teenage Dream” at The Mint
Over the weekend, my new crush Darren Criss performed a couple shows live at The Mint in LA.
Towards the end of his set, he played an acoustic version Glee’s new best selling single, “Teenage Dream.”
Check it out!
As much as I love his version of “Teenage Dream” on Glee (which may or may not be my new ringtone), I am loving this acoustic version of the Katy Perry song.
I am so happy that Glee has signed Darren on as a series regular, I can’t wait to hear more of his voice!
Video source: 1
Maroon 5 Perform “She Will Be Loved” at The Fillmore
Heyo! Just wanted to share “She Will Be Loved” from the Maroon 5 concert at The Fillmore from the other night.
I am sharing this video in particular, because the banter before the performance is pretty funny. I love it when Adam gets chatty with the crowd. It makes the show that much more entertaining!
Check it out!
Check out the video source’s channel on YouTube. They have most of the Maroon 5 concert from the other night uploaded!
Alright, enjoy the rest of your Saturday night!
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