Soul Patrol! Taylor Hicks Live in Trinoma Mall (Dec. 20, 200

Ayala Malls brings to town another American Idol just months after giving us the amazing Elliott Yamin. This time, it no ther than the champion of Season 5 (same season as Elliott), Taylor Hicks. He is well remembered and loved as the grey-haired blues singer from Alabama, who was unbelievably only 29 years old at the time of his AI stint. Up to now, I still find it hard to believe that he isn't older than that!

Honestly, I was pulling for Elliott that season. But Hicks captured the hearts of the AI audience by being unique in his singing and dancing style, as well as his demeanor. After the winning the coveted AI crown, however, it seemed difficult to market Taylor's type of music to the young pop music crowd. After his coronation song "Do I Make You Proud" went to Number 1, he had no other single of note on the Hot 100. Even his album became obscure soon after debuting at the top of the Billboard 200. However, no way am I going to miss this opportunity to catch him in action. I am so sure a LIVE Taylor Hicks concert will be a more memorable experience than his CD.

During the Elliott show I watched (my review here), by 630pm, the Glorietta 4 Activity Center was already full, and even the standing room around the stage were already very crowded. In contrast, tonight at the Trinoma Mall, there seem to be less people as there were still a lot of seats left empty at that same time. It was only full past 7pm when the show was beginning.

Taylor Hicks came out rocking and rolling with "Runaround". Now I had a copy of his album when it came out last Christmas, but I barely remember any song from it, sorry. Good thing he introduced each song, so I can identify it here. This was followed by "Heart and Soul" and a Bill Withers cover (the title of which I did not catch) which were both good and rollickin', though they were unfamiliar with me.

The concert momentum began to pick up with more pop sounding songs with hooks like "Just to Feel That Way" and "The Maze". One of the show's highlights was a Ray Charles sounding blues number called "The Right Place" (video). Taylor was really in his element is these blues songs.

The next songs were all very familiar to me already. In his American Idol song, "Taking it to the Streets", Taylor brings out and plays his harmonica (video). This was very much awaited by the audience as they roared in approval.

After that, he went right into his Number 1 single "Do I Make You Proud?" (video). This was his most recognizable and "sing-along"-able as can be judged by the audience participation. He followed this with "Heaven Knows" which was familiar since I believe it was released on radio for a while. This was an extended version, as he also plays his harmonica, and goes into all his "Soul Patrol" dance moves.

As his final song, he starts with a blues version of "White Christmas," in inimatble Hicks style. Then somewhere in the middle though, he speeds the tempo up into a rock-a-billy version to fit his dancing and harmonica. Great way to wrap things up.

It was a fun and very satisfying concert overall. He seems like a great guy, though he did not really talk to audience personally too much. He actually threw his harmonica into the audience as a gift! There were autographed copies of his first CD for sale at the venue, which were lapped up by the Taylor diehards despite being priced at P600 each. There was a meet and greet after show, to which I did not have tickets again. Next time, I should really jockey for position at the concierge at 10 in the morning. No more cool Mr. Nice Guy, hahaha! Especially if they are bringing over Katherine McPhee...
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