Photo credit: Shelley, ‘natch.
‘Twas the week before Christmas
Pocatello, Idaho (known as “Poky” in these parts), is in the mountains, at an altitude of 4500 feet. It was plenty wintery there this week, due to a recent snowfall that froze before it could be cleared. It seemed to be an appropriate setting for a Christmas concert, and for a little unintentional slip sliding across the parking lots.
The concert venue is quite beautiful, much like those grand theaters of old, but with acoustics using today’s state-of-the-art technology. On Tuesday night, the house was filled to the brim with people who came to see and hear David Archuleta. My husband and I were seated in the center section, front row. I am not kidding! This arrangement had to be a Christmas miracle or a fortuitous Pocatello-for-Layton ticket trade with super fan @muldur.
The stage was elevated, but only slightly, meaning front row patrons were almost part of the action. I didn’t realize the truth of this until it was David’s turn to perform. When he came out on stage, I was literally taken aback. He stood less than five feet away from me to greet the crowd, and I wondered if I should apologize for encroaching on his personal space. I am reasonably certain this will be the closest I ever get to the dream of having David Archuleta show up to sing for me in my living room.
His eyes how they twinkled, his dimples how merry
You know the songs, you have heard the voice, you have seen the videos (Bless you, Shelley!). You may have even indulged in seven other David concerts since September (cough cough), but I bet you have never seen David like this! He was the Christmas Scrooge Exterminator. He de-humbugged the entire place with his first song and killed us all dead before the night was over. Peace on earth indeed!
Yes, I know. His live performances are always excellent, so what made this week different? A lot of little things I think, mostly having to do with David’s decision to keep singing, and to go at it in his own way. I would never speak for David, but since fan blogs are not speculation-free zones, here is mine: I suspect that his decision, which had to be monumental for him, finally came with some unexpected freedom, no apologies needed. Add in the positive reception from fans who have been waiting, and there you go. We could philosophize about this for days, but let’s just say that the whole of it certainly translates well to his performing, and he just keeps getting better.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work
David sang for 90 minutes, and gave everything he had to the audience. He was stronger somehow, more confident. He “played” with the notes like they were good friends, and changed things up on a whim. He wasn’t afraid to have a little fun, and it was contagious. He moved and he grooved like no one was watching. He sang in English and Italian and French and Spanish. When he did speak, it was in Utahan, and that was charming too.
I had an advantage being so close. I noticed things I would not have otherwise. Just a few:
- He was a “conductor” of sorts on stage, using subtle hand signals (usually to Kendra or his guitarist) to increase the tempo, decrease the volume or to signal other changes he seemed to want in the middle of a song.
- He no longer holds the mic on his upper lip. Not sure why he changed that, but all the better to see you, Mr. Archuleta!
- David and the band were engaged with each other while the music was going on. Every once in a while, a smile would be exchanged, like there was some inside joke about what they were doing, or didn’t do.
- David is very handsome. Oh, you knew that already? Well, close up, he is exceptionally striking; maturity is not harming him in any way.
- His hair is longer on top now, and he brushed through it with his fingers a few times, in rock star fashion. This gesture was extremely appealing to the teenage girls behind us.
- David is back to interacting with the audience as he sings. If he points your way, you know he means you specifically and your night is made. You could also see it in his eyes when he recognized someone he knew. Sometimes they got a little wave, or a smile.
- “Numb” – How many times have I heard it live? I count five, and this was the best performance in my opinion. It is absolutely his song now and he is quite comfortable with it, to the point of really selling it with his voice. I think he loves that song personally (he said it again), and he wants to be sure we love it too. Well, OK, David, we’re already there, but whatever you say. LOL. It received loud and sustained applause. Like, noticeably sustained applause. I hope the studio production does it justice and it rockets through the charts.
- The real magic of the night was how he managed to dive deep into every single song, from the jazzy and delicious holiday confection called “White Christmas,” to the moving and sacred nature of “O Holy Night.” He’s good. He is really, really good.
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night
–TaterZen
[ADMIN note: I just wanted to point out that the awesome TaterZen (formerly known as Archugeezer or, as I like to call her, Geezmeister) is SUPER busy but kindly agreed to do this recap and share her experience with us poor sods who can only sit here with noses pressed up against computer screens. So if you enjoyed reading this, please let her know in the comments! Merci buckets!]
p.s.
From @bradybills’ missus, Josephine Bills’ IG — talented photographer! Hire her, David! 🙂 :
p.p.s.
VIDEOOOOOOOS!!!! (merci bien, Mme. Shelley!)
White Christmas, Pocatello
Medley, Pocatello
The First Noel, Pocatello
Everybody Hurts, Pocatello
Silent Night, Pocatello
Feliz Navidad, Pocatello
The Prayer, Pocatello
Mary’s Boy Child, Pocatello
Melodies of Christmas, Pocatello
What Child is This?, Pocatello
Pat A Pan, Pocatello
Il est Né, Le Divin Enfant, Pocatello
Davidesque Banter, Pocatello
Glorious, Pocatello
O Holy Night, Pocatello
SnowAngelz: Canadian fans of David Archuleta 
Thank you! Thank you Geez! Love ya and Merry Christmas!!
Thank you for the wonderful recap. It is obvious that David is comfortable in his own skin these days. He seems to be going for it and yet he still has that same quirky charm . I sometimes don’t know what I like more, his voice when he sings or his voice when he is doing his rambling introductions. David may never be , or even want to be , a huge star, but there is no doubt in my mind that he is one of the premier talents of our time. I would rather watch a video of David with a hundred views than watch a video of the so called superstars with millions of views any day. I like quality over quantity.
Everything YOU said! 😉
Thank you for making the time create this post! ❤
Thanks for taking us back to Pocatello, Mz Tater! Despite himself, he is the shining star in our world. He will always be our number one artist!
Abrra
Thank you so much Taterzen for your most lovely recap. I so enjoyed it and your written recaps are just wonderful to read. it really is a special treat to have videos, photos and terrific recaps such as this one, especially for those of us who were not at the concerts. Much appreciated! David is still the consummate performer and I love that he is doing what feels right for him….and gonna add to my wish list……will get to see him at another Christmas concert in future! I’m sure there will be more in years to come.
So glad that you and others had the experience of taking in a fabulous Holiday concert by David. He truly is unique and always gives his best and to experience that is a gift in itself.
My, those photos are nice, the one of David and his sis is pretty picture perfect I would say. 🙂
Thank you TaterZen! Congratulations on scoring the awesome seats!! 🙂 It must have been a real strain to not reach out and touch David!! Wow! Thank you for validating our feelings that Mr. Archuleta is ‘the boss’ and in charge. I’ve noticed him at times doing a little of the conducting. I love it! It always brings a smile to my face… not that there isn’t one already pasted there from beginning to end! 🙂
It’s gonna take some time going thru the vids, so here I go!!!!
Love the recap! Love all the little details you noticed!
Thanks TaterZen, thanks Tofan!
Thanks for taking the time to share your concert experience, up close, no less. 😀 It makes everything so much more cheery and bright. Happy Holidays!
{{{{ArchuSpud}}}} thank you for making me feel like I was right in that front row with you … with a close-up view of his elbow patches and stellar footwear. 🙂
I’ve added your words about Numb to the post because, well, since videos are verboten (for now, anyway), it’s so cool to hear how a crowd that’s never heard the song responded to it. But NOW I NEED TO HEAR IT!!!! lol ♥ ♥ ♥
Sidenote: Just saw this comment on The Prayer youTube:
“Why is it that I only see comments on how great David’s voice is? What about Nathan’s phenomenal voice that rivals that of some of the greatest classically trained opera singers in the world, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli?”
I have an answer for her, of course, but will keep it to myself. 🙂
😉
A delightful recap, Taterzenugeezer, spud extraordinaire, concert fan-buddy and all-round sweetiepie. I particularly loved your use of restraint as in, “Maturity is not harming him in any way” and, “He’s good. He is really, really good.” I smiled widely at each of your bullet points because they really do describe those subtle things you notice close up (don’t ask me how I know 😉 ).
Great job with the top pic, TO. I have no idea how young female musicians can keep focused enough to play with his wattage shining so close by.
And that pic with Amber? Sooooo cute. Really highlights how much alike these siblings look.
Eeeeeepppp!!!! That is all….
Every single word is a delight to read!
Taterzen formerly known as archugeezer! So loved reading your recap! The bullets highlights are perfect. I love hearing the reaction to Numb. I really love that song. It’s my grandkids (teens & young adults) favorite from St George.
Thank you for sharing, I felt like I was there with you 🙂
Taterzen, never stop writing recaps. I’d highlight my favorite parts but then the whole thing
would be highlighted. You are a gem. Thank you.
Lol @ maturity is not harming him in any way.
((((Geezer)))) what a pleasure to read this!! Love the way you write!
Thanks for this gift!
“His eyes how they twinkled, his dimples how merry” < omgsh, how much did I enjoy, once again, the humor shared by Taterzen when she decides to write for us. Thanks for sharing & CONGRATS on your front row seats ~ only been there once in Baltimore/CFTH ~ was in such a daze…well, anyone who has ever been there understands. 🙂
Merriest of Christmas y'all!
Thank you for such a marvelous recap, Taterzen, it really is wonderful to hear how the crowd reacted and all the special details you noticed throughout the show. Made my day, thanks for sharing your experience!
And these were some numbers I at FOD (from Ali), hope she doesn’t mind me sharing them, very encouraging:
“For those of you who like numbers, I have a few for you. Since The Prayer was released one week ago tonight, I thought it would be interesting to see how that impacted his following on Facebook (where the video got tons of views) as well as Youtube subscribers and some other numbers. All this info is gathered by the NextBigSound site.
David’s official FB page got more than 42,000 new likes in the last week. Page likes are the equivalent to a follower on twitter — it means his posts to FB will show up on their news feed. So more than 42,000 people started following him on Facebook in the past 7 days.
He gained 3,096 new subscribers to his Youtube channel. That’s an increase of more than 1400% over the number of followers added the previous week.
Other than just The Prayer video, he also saw every single video on his Youtube channel increase the number of views (7 day total) over that same 7 day total from the previous week. For example, his “Words we have been waiting for” video was viewed 4 times last week. It was viewed 692 times this week — an increase of over 17,000%. His “I’m still alive” video was viewed 756 times last week and viewed 11,012 times this week. His “Bryan Adams – Heaven acoustic cover” video was viewed 2,200 times last week and viewed 13,616 times this week. These examples are some of the biggest jumps but like I said earlier, every single video on his channel saw a week to week increase.
As far as user engagement, the number of people talking about him on Facebook (posts mentioning his name) went from 14,492 last week to 445,375 this week. That’s an increase of 2,973%. Twitter mentions went from 1,575 last week to 5,207 this week.
There are more numbers I could include here but I think this is enough to fill up a post for now lol. Overall I think The Prayer video has been great exposure for David. I’m happy for him that’s it has been such a positive response and I can tell it’s been a real pleasant surprise for David himself.”
so sorry I didn’t realize that was going to be so long
My dear SnowAngelzz,
Thank you so much for this post. I loved all of it. The pictures, the videos (thanks Shelley) and the the great write up by TaterZen. You are all so talented. I was lucky enough to get to go and it was so wonderful I just don’t want it to be over. I don’t want to let it go. The joy of seeing people who have become dear friends. The joy of David whose voice and spirit leaves you wishing that it would never end. Ninety minutes that seemed like ten. Sigh
May your days be Merry and Bright and may all your Christmases have a little David in them. God Bless, Claudia
I want to add my thanks. The fan recaps are the next best thing to being there for those of us that live too far away to attend. Hopefully David will keep adding tour dates in 2016 so that more of us can go to his concerts. He will find his was to the Midwest won’t he?
BREAKING NEWS!!!
David’s finally coming to Canada! hahahahahaha
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Alberta? TOforWomen should be going to TO. It’s a no-brainer.
Sheesh. 😀
Hey, the lovely Ms. Awestruck is in Alberta! ❤
Hey that’s great! Is she going to be the spy?
Tag…. she’s it!!!!
Three cheers for Alberta!!!! It’s a step in the right direction! To paraphrase H Greeley, “Go” Northeast” young man and experience Toronto! 😀
Soooooo Happy for Mr and Mrs Awestruck to have a chance to hear David sing so close to home!
Thank you for your generously kind comments, and for allowing me to do this occasionally. I am off to another fast and furious out-of-town adventure, a holiday family gathering. It has nothing at all to do with David Archuleta, other than the fact that I may mention his name one or two (dozen) times.
May the holidays bring the best to each of you!
Have an amazing time, Tates! And the Merriest of Christmases!!!! <3334556789
Ha, TOfan, I just saw that recently about the TOFW and David going to Alberta! Yes, coming to Canada and Lethbridge of all places. 🙂 It is only one Province over from me but don’t see myself there unfortunately. This is little step though, his toes will touch down on Canadian soil, maybe one day a concert or two or three here?? Let’s keep hoping.
Love reading the delightful posts here and love all the comments from wonderful fans.
Thanks Marin for bringing over the latest stats, just goes to show you….a good release of music and the numbers can fly! Very good (and interesting) to read.
accord15, thank you for your most lovely comment. May your days be Merry and Bright too, including David’s beautiful voice.
Hope everyone’s holidays are Merry and bright and thank you again Taterzen for your most wonderful recap!
Hope 2016 brings opportunities for all those waiting and hoping to see David in concert again!
Merry Merry Christmas, Pepp!!!! ❤ ❤ ❤
And great to hear David enjoyed getting back on stage but not quite sure what he means by "it feels a bit more real this time around"… did his previous tours not feel "real"? Or does he just mean that his first Idaho & Utah shows this fall felt surreal at first? …hmmm, he is one fascinating fellow.
My guess is that this time around he is involved in most everything when before, especially his first tours, others did more of the planning. Also he was doing so much and everything was so fast paced before his mission that he didn’t have time to savor the moment. He barely had time to think or sleep. This time around he has more time to enjoy it all. It made it more “real”.
Great comment Grammyj , I think you hit the nail on the head. I don’t think David’s personality is suited to running from here to there like a chicken with it’s head cut off. I feel he needs to do things at his own pace so that he feels enjoyment and happiness and then in turn can pass that enjoyment and happiness back to us. Out of all the artists I have followed over the years, David really has that extra something that keeps me engaged and always coming back for more. I just can’t wait till he releases his new music and to see what is in store for us in the future.
I agree, moelita, I think Grammyj is right… at least I hope so, lol. It certainly always feels 100% real for all of us listening, every time he sings.