Throwback Thursday: Sweet Sixteen Edition

Every Thursday when we don't have a show, we take a look back at Kris' career via video.

Well, this week I got very excited because my alma mater, the University of Virginia, made the sweet sixteen in the NCAA Basketball tournament! So excited that I promised you guys a special celebratory post.

Sadly, Kris has yet to play Charlottesville, the lovely city where UVA is located. I do not understand that at all because his sound is PERFECT for the lively C-ville music scene, there are awesome venues there that regularly book other Fleming Artists and there are some great college radio stations there that his music would fit perfectly on. But he hasn't, so I don't have any handy videos for TBT from there.

So with the obvious thing out the window, I have decided to celebrate instead by creating a fun little Virginia Sweet 16-themed Kris YouTube playlist for you! The videos on the list are all performances I really enjoyed, and they were either a) shot by Virginians (who traveled to shows in Atlantic City or Washington DC) and/or b) shot in Virginia (mostly at the Jammin Java show, but I did work CNU in there) or c) best of all, shot by Virginians in Virginia. For fun, I tried to follow his more recent set list order, so that we here in Virginia can imagine what a Kris show would be like now should we ever get one again. Unfortunately, none of us who live here in Virginia have shot the new songs, and the one show he did them at in Virginia yielded very few videos (as it was for CNU students only), so I subbed in older ones shot by VA/in VA for all but End of the Show (which is in there!). So all of the videos are good stuff; enjoy!

p.s. I've been having fun with the NCAA pool that JakeVP set up. I'm in 3rd now!  The good news is that I have the most possible points left (in part thanks to my beloved Cavaliers). My (biased) bracket is here if you want to check it out.

2013: The Year in Kris Allen Live Performances (Part One of Two)

Every year, I try to keep a YouTube playlist of Kris' live performances and get it out to my followers as a thank you for following me. I look for a good video of each performance and try to make sure that people who don't normally post video are included as well. This year, with the Out Alive tour, we ended up with a five part playlist (YouTube allows 200 videos per list, and I left some room on each one for missing songs.).

So for those of you who really need to catch up on Kris, you are all set! Before I list the playlists, a few acknowledgments. First and foremost, thank you to every single person who has live tweeted a Kris show, posted pictures and/or posted video. You may not even realize this, but many Kris fans truly appreciated it!

Special shout-outs to @ameeliu15 and @headonfire1105. You'll see their videos a lot. Thank goodness they went to Kris shows and were nice enough to video every song! Also special shout out to @maryet34 who makes invaluable playlists for almost every Kris show. These were super helpful for compiling my lists!

So here's Part One! This part covers the January 2013 shows in the first month of the Out Alive tour (from Killington, VT through Tulsa, OK). I'm sure those who went to a show during this time frame will remember how amazing it was that Kris even was able to perform given his terrible accident at the beginning of the year. I went to the Vienna, VA show in January and remember just feeling grateful that Kris was OK. Highlights here include his performance of Where Are You Amy (dedicated to the citizens of Newtown) in Ridgefield, CT, and awesome covers of Where Doves Cry (Prince), Breakdown (Tom Petty) and Cry Me a River (Justin Timberlake). Since the East Coast loves them some Kris, you will find the Boston, Philadelphia and Vienna videos to be especially popping.


And here's Part Two! This part covers shows from Albuquerque, NM (January 31), all his west coast Out Alive shows, and goes through Aspen, CO (February 20). Yes, there are that many shows and videos! Kris was an enormous trooper considering he was recovering from a serious injury, and he deserves a ton of credit for not letting his fans down and continuing with the tour.Highlights during this playlist include some great requests (Wicked Game (Chris Isaak), Jealous Guy (John Lennon) and High and Dry (Radiohead) are my favorites). Standout shows in this part included San Diego, Agoura Hills, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.

 
The playlist for Part Three runs from February 21 (Denver) through the Sophia's Heart cruise and on through the first few shows of the spring leg of the Out Alive Tour (through Plymouth, NH, April 25). Highlights here include first performances of Kris' original songs Fighters, Love Too Much and Unique, as well as some great covers of Tighten Up (The Black Keys) and In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel). Shows that stood out for me included the cruise, Chicago, Ann Arbor and Toronto.


Click here for my second installment, with the rest of the year's playlists and a look back at Kris' stats! In the meantime, please let me know your Kris highlights in the comments, and if you spot any videos I've missed, or corrections to be made, please hit me up and let me know! --KAL

List: January 15, 2013: Jammin' Java, Vienna, VA

Jammin' Java
Vienna, VA (Washington, DC)
January 15, 2013
8:00 pm EST

Opening: Jillette Johnson



Well tonight brings you one of the best lists of the tour. Of course, being from Northern Virginia, I'm biased, but Kris loves DC, DC loves Kris, and the shows in this area are always amongst the best. The list is already flailing and we just woke up. (I'm on it! See if you can figure out which one is me and you're welcome to follow on Twitter.) On top of it, this is Kris' first show in Virginia proper and this state is made for him musically, so I'll expect him to book some dates in Virginia Beach and Charlottesville after he sees how much we Virginians enjoy his music! ;P

This venue is an interesting one. It's in a strip mall and it doesn't look like much, but there is a lot going on behind those doors. During the day, it's a coffeehouse (hence the name) and hosts concerts for young children with family friendly acts. At night, it rents out for private events (my teen attended a large Bat Mitzvah here) and hosts concerts with national up and coming acts and longtime favorites.

So with a lot of list regulars tonight, me flailing wildly and excited northern Virginians, you are going to have fun! This would be a good night to go visit littlepawns.com and chat with other Kris fans in the chat room while the show's ongoing.

Updated: Set List: January 15, 2013, Jammin' Java, Vienna