David Cook LIVE! At Dickinson College

Last night, I saw the Man Of My Dream, the current Idol champ, the Word Nerd himself - David Cook. The blistering rock show took place at Dickinson College before a sold out crowd, with Ryan Star as opening act.

Ryan was a perfect opening act, his modern rock sound a perfect match for my beloved Cookie. I knew his closing song, "Back Of Your Car" (and it's sexy opening line "It's the perfect time of night to be taking off your clothes now") from his stint on CBS's Rock Star: Supernova so had high hopes that he would have the same energy level as he did then. My hopes were exceeded, every song bristled with rock star swagger and oozed sex appeal. From the opening rock anthem "Brand New Day" to the humorous "Psycho Suicidal Girl" with it's acoustic opening verse and chorus that opened into a cavalcade of electric guitars and drum to the emotion-drenched love song "Last Train Home" with a great drum beat, every song was rock n roll at it's finest. Speaking of finest, Ryan may even be as hot as David. Compare and contrast:

After the short set from Ryan Star and his band we were treated to a really hot roadie/tech in plaid with great hair and glasses and beard (and a bunch of normal looking ones) setting up for the David Cook show. Seriously, if that hot roadie/tech is reading... call me.

Then David and band enter the stage to "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. Don't ask why, it was just cool as fuck. Just like David... He opened the set with "Heroes" and started a recurring theme of sounding amazing live when he just sounded decent on CD. You may recall that I was annoyed at the mix on the CD, the vocals seemed buried in the instrumentation. But live, Cook's vocals were strong and clear.

The band was tight, providing two back up guitars, a bass, occasional keyboards and drums. David played guitar on most of the songs, which included a track from his unreleased Axiom Heart disc as well as "Life On The Moon," "Mr. Sensitive" and new single "Come Back to Me." The early stand out songs were the hidden track "Kiss On The Neck" which roared like a beast and current single "Light On" but there were no bad songs in the bunch. A heavy rock cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies" was the only nod to his American Idol past, I was hoping for "Always Be My Baby" but it would not have fit well with the very strong modern rock vibe that the show provided. Ending the set was another cover dedicated to the teachers in the audience - a cover of "Hot For Teacher" which was loud as hell but got the crowd moving. For an encore, the drummer return with a striking drum solo before the band launched into the heaviest song on the record, and new rock radio single, "Bar-Ba-Sol" and finally shut the show down with "A Daily AntheM" which had the crowd waving and singing the "oh, oh, oh, oh" from the end for a long time.

All in all, the show was tight, David's banter with the crowd and his band members was easy-going and endearing and the music rocked my socks off. Even if he wasn't fine as frog's hair I'd probably still have had a great time. And at only 15 bucks, it was totally worth it. David Cook with opening act Ryan Star is currently touring, check out the dates at his website.

PS: American Idol Recap coming this afternoon/evening!