If I Could Be a Live Audience
You know, as we revisited some of the old performances from David this past week, I’m always struck by the reaction of the audience in response to The Voice.
No, I’m not talking about screaming teens and tweens.
I’m talking about grown men and women standing at attention, sometimes even before David has finished a performance! I got that vibe from his finale performance of “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” I definitely felt it from the thunderous applause and standing ovation that he received from his “Silent Night” rendition with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
I’ll always remember Paula Abdul whooping and hollering in response to David at the finale or the back-up singer brought to tears when he sang “Heaven.” Or how about when the legendary Rita Moreno could be seen mouthing the word “amazing” after listening to his tender “Contigo en la Distancia” (or that anonymous woman swooning audibly when his Voice rings out “mi alma-a-a-a”)?
You know: those moments when you would give anything – anything – to have witnessed The Voice LIVE!!
I am forever grateful, as the Archie lovers would say, that “We’ll always have Verona!” 😛
So, what say you, dear readers? Which live performance would you have sold your soul for just to see David in the flesh and to let his Voice wash all over you? Please take my latest poll! 🙂
Posted on November 3, 2012, in polls. Bookmark the permalink. 36 Comments.
Soul Davidian 
all of them
I agree, Ray, all of them were fantastic. No doubt about it, David has a very special gift in his voice.
So very true ray, they all have something so wonderfully unique and memorable. I watched him sing Angels in Toronto and I was actually hypnotized, no exaggeration. We watched him sing Silent Night with the MOTABS and once again he was spellbinding to the last breath of the last note. In both places he held the audiences captive. With Silent Night, the emotions went a little deeper perhaps because it has been the most recent.
SB
DLTSGDOM! On the last thread, the Rexburg “Imagine” was mentioned. I just listened to it and I would have loved to have been there too.
Misc. comment – I love how David sings the word “I”; it’s his money note. 🙂 The “And I…” in “BEGIN.”; the gentle “I wanna be..” ~1.35 secs into “In This Moment”, and the “I’m a dreamer…” in “Imagine”.
Oops … I meant to say the “And I…” in “Broken”. But I’m sure you guys knew what I meant. 😉
I really had two choices. The AI finale performance and the Alma Awards Show performance. I would have loved to have witnessed either performance by David live in the audience. There was just so much excitement at the AI finale but David’s performance at the Alma’s in the Spanish was just amazing.
It’s hard to put into words how powerful it is to hear him in person. I kept getting tearful without even neccessarily relating to the meaning of the song–it was just the beauty of his voice that did me in.
But meaning-wise, I was particularly touched by his halting version of Man in the Mirror in Anaheim.
I think I would have liked to have been at the performance of Imagine in Silicon Valley, out on the lawn, where he sang the whole song. Personally, I would get too bothered by the Rexburg version where he leaves out the “no religion” verse (correct me it I’m wrong), because I think he’s turning it into a recruiting tool for his church, which seems so opposite to it’s intended meaning. There was no time constraint, or other reason I could see for him not to sing the whole song. His dad has said people joined their church when they heard him sing it on AI.
cc – I respect your right to your opinion on the left-off religion verse of Imagine at BYU but I feel compelled to say that I don’t share your opinion that it was done to make the song into a recruiting tool for his church at all. In that performance I do believe it was left off in deference to the fact that he was playing at BYU, which is a religious university. I sincerely doubt that he was looking to convert people to the Mormon faith at BYU. Talk about preaching to the choir lol. Yes, I know there are some students who attend that are not LDS but I am highly skeptical that he was trying to convert anyone that night by singing Imagine. He has sung the full version multiple times before at places where he would be much more likely to find those who are not already of his faith. I think he was just trying to be respectful to the environment he was in.
But that’s just my humble opinion and since I’m not in David’s head I can’t know what his full intentions were.
What I do 1000% agree with you on is how difficult it it so explain what its like to hear him in person. No recording can ever do his voice true justice. And I, too, watch that impromptu Man in the Mirror performance over and over. I actually think the imperfections in it make it one of my favorites. The contrast between him trying to remember the words and then the way his voice sounds when he sings it out on the chorus. Its ridiculous. Another one that I truly wish I had been there for!! I hope he might cover the full song some day.
The term “recruiting tool” was a poor choice of words, though according to Jeff, that’s how it worked when he sang it at AI. But I don’t have such a kind view as you do on the omission of the verse at BYU. Even at BYU, they must know the original song, and possibly even realize that it was written by an atheist. If he thinks they can’t deal with it as it was meant to be, why sing it? I love “Amazing Grace”, but I ‘m not going to pretend it’s not a religious song, though I could choose to think of it just in terms of finding peace and comfort in a non-religious sense. I’m not saying that David doesn’t have the right to take whatever meaning he wants from a song, it just seems to me that he’s co-opting it for religious purposes, which isn’t to my taste. To me, “Imagine” shows that inspiration isn’t the sole province of religion. JMHO.
It’s funny about “Man in the Mirror” because I was there, but I was so preoccupied trying to help my daughter record it with my new camera, that I was too distracted in that moment to really take it in. 😥
cc halo….I mentioned the performance of Imagine in Rexburg on the last thread. Back in the 1960’s….dating myself here!….I was a big fan of the Beatles and John Lennon. The song Imagine always reflects unity, peace, and brotherhood to me. David stated on American Idol that the third verse is his favorite one and it has always been my favorite one, also. To me, it reflects the message of the song beautifully. I had never heard that anyone had been converted to the Morman faith because of it. I guess that just went right over my head! LOL The aspect of that performance that touches me the most is the sincerity, compassion, and purity with which he sings it. He makes me believe that peace and brotherhood could really be possible.
I also agree about the “Man in the Mirror” performance. It is chilling to hear his voice soar in the chorus!
Hi, Spirit. I agree about the meaning of the song, but cutting out one verse seems really unnecessary given the lack of time constraints at Rexburg, as opposed to the AI performance where it was necessary. I much prefer his performances that include the entire song.
“The aspect of that performance that touches me the most is the sincerity, compassion, and purity…
you summed it up for me too. on another note, i didn’t know john lennon was an atheist. my interpretation of the “and no religion too” line was that religious beliefs can be very divisive.
and since #mic was mentioned, does anyone know how he’s doing (in general)? is david’s mom still performing? how is the man that helped launch fanblast doing? i think his name was brett.
We’ve seen how divisive religious beliefs can be even here in our happy happy David land, lol.
Don’t know about any of the others, but really recently Lupe sang at a multicultural event at her church. Sorry I don’t have a link.
I wonder about what #mic is up to too. It is kind of funny that there is no mention of him. Not that it bothers me. lol I remember brett.
maybe we could ask sunny or kbestor, lol.
Just a little gossip, since you asked: there was a photo on Facebook (since removed) that showed Lupe sitting at a banquet table with a nice-looking gray-haired man, and they were wearing a matching yellow tie and gown combination.
😯 was he wearing a cap? –jk
I said a nice-looking gray-haired man. OOOh, mean!
But no man shows up at a banquet in a bright yellow tie on accident.
lol.
Oh my, you all are in fine form! The extended silence from mic has been deafening (not that I mind). I do wonder if he’s working at all. Maybe he’s a massage therapist…
Lol. Or maybe he’s found some music artists to manage.
Lupe?
I agree with everyone about David’s singing of “Man In the Mirror” in CA. In that brief and unrehearsed singing of the song I found shades of brilliance in his performance and he did not even realize it. David needs to cover that song. I found this video today of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxbxlWoA5XY
when he sang imagine on al,i dont,, remember anyone saying he was mormon on the show at that time
It was just one of those TMI things Jeff said. I don’t really get it either.
I have not heard anything about Jeff since David left. I’m surprised that he kept such a low profile. I thought he would be more involved with BEGIN. Whatever he did to assist with that album was not made public.
Brett was a family friend with health issues. I haven’t heard anything about him in a long time. He use to defend MIC, but stopped after the massage parlor incident. I don’t think he was involved in starting any fansites. Richard Parkinson is the one who started FOD.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Lupe is dating. She is a beautiful woman. Not that you have to be pretty to date. MIC might be dating too. Who knows?
Lupe is a beautiful women. She should date and I would think that she is.
thx for the clarification. the fod website used to have a link to information re. brett identifying him as a friend of the archuleta family. for that reason, i thought he had helped to launch fanblast (with richard).
I love these:
Terrific. I actually quite dislike this song. lol They made it sound really good.
I always enjoy the videos you post Peter. This one was fun.
I love Jimmy Fallon’s videos with music artists too. They are so good and clever. lol Thanks for posting.
I just saw on “The Voice” that TDC’s Marlie has written a novel available via Amazon.com entitled: “You Belong to Me”. If you don’t own a Kindle, instructions were provided on TDC explaining how to download a Kindle app to your PC.
“…you can use the Kindle for PC version. When you go to Amazon and to the page for the book, look over to the right under the “buy” box and you’ll see a link to get a Kindle app. They have them for phones, PC, MAC and a cloud version. Once you have that you can download the book.”
Off topic but so very important.
PLEASE VOTE tomorrow!!! Make your voice heard. And please keep in mind that not all Mormons are like David. He is an exception to most human beings in character, compassion & honesty and that includes Mormons.
Jus’ sayin’
The presidential race is a dead heat in most all of the polls. The CNN poll also indicates geographical divides, with the president leading in the Northeast, Midwest, and urban areas, and Romney ahead in the South, West, and suburban and rural areas. Very interesting. It is important to vote tomorrow especially if you are in a battleground state. It is possible that one will win the popular vote and one will win the electoral college . So glad that David is not here right now and stays out of politics. The music/entertainment business that David is in is mostly very liberal democrats and that will not change regardless of the election. I noticed this tweet from Donny Osmond a few weeks ago when someone asked who he will vote for on twitter: ” Who r u voting for in Pres Election?” I’ll keep that to myself. 😷 But whoever you support, please get out there and vote!” Smart Guy that Donny. lol.
I happen to be in one of the battleground states. I turn the channel when either candidates ads come on. I am OVER IT. IMO, one of the candidates should have been smart and three days ago announced, they will give the citizens a break and pull the plug on the ads- They should have argued they were in touch with the man on the street and would TRUST them to vote their conscience. I believe that would have garnered them significant votes.