Kris Allen: Out Alive Tour

Last Friday I had the pleasure of seeing Kris Allen live at a tiny venue called The Constellation room in Santa Ana, California (Orange County). Named the Out Alive Tour, after a track on his newest album Thank You Camellia, it eerily also stands for Kris surviving a bad car accident on New Year's Day. While driving with his wife (who is pregnant) they got into a head on collision and Kris broke his arm and required surgery. As a result he's currently unable to use his right hand and thus performing all of his shows acoustically, with his band mate playing the guitar and Kris only playing a tambourine at times - which I really enjoyed.

Before I really get into my review I just want to try to explain what an amazing voice Kris has. Yes, he won American Idol so he has talent. And I certainly love his albums. But seeing him live is really special. He has so much passion and you can tell he feels his lyrics and is genuinely happy performing. I've been to a lot of concerts. Literally somewhere between 75 and 100. I dare to say that Kris has one of the best, if not the best, live voices I've ever heard. Super impressive.

The small club was super intimate. It was really cool to be packed into a tiny venue with maybe 100 fans - tops - in attendance. Luckily we were pretty close, which is always fun. What wasn't fun was the crowd. It was such s strange experience because there were a lot of middle aged women gushing over Kris. Last week I joked that I am a puma because I have a crush on him and he's two years younger than me. But these were real life cougars, no joke.

Two of the said cougars were COMPLETELY wasted. These ladies bitches were practically knocking me and over because they were so belligerent. I even got my hair pulled twice! Had I not got kicked out I literally would have punched them both. What's worse is they were so obnoxious, loudly talking during the whole show. It was so hard to concentrate with their yelling. Kris was having a hard time too because they were so distracting. At one point one screamed it was her 47th birthday and wanted him to sing to her. When he told her to "sush" they cussed him out. On top of that they thought it was funny to throw stuff at him and even hit him once. What's the point of going to a show and acting like that? Thanks for nearly ruining it for me and everyone else.

If you are able to get to one of the remaining shows of the Out Alive Tour, do it! He plays through May and I promise you'll enjoy yourself. Plus, since he's playing small venues tickets are about $20 after all of the taxes and fees. Check out Kris Allen's site for dates (it's been down for maintenance so you can also see the tour on  his Facebook page).

And buy his album, Thank You Camellia! This time around he didn't have to make the album as an American Idol winner, but got to do his own thing and write his own songs. If you want to just try a few songs, my favorites from his newest album are "My Weakness", "Better With You", and "The Vision of Love", and "Alright With Me" and "Live Like We're Dying" from his first, self-titled album.

I'll leave you with a clip of a performance of "Better With You" from Friday night. Enjoy!