Source: INFORUM
Review: Cook keeps it real on Venue stage
It’s easy to assume David Cook is all about the fame.
After all, the guy did deliberately go on a reality TV show that shot him to the stratosphere of stardom. And he has the kind of face that compels women to scream when he simply enters a room (even if the women are wrapped in their boyfriends’ or husbands’ arms).
But if Cook’s Sunday night show at The Venue at The Hub in Fargo showed us the real Cook, the 2008 “American Idol” winner doesn’t care about the fame, the celebrity or how mothers and their daughters both stare at him with more than interest.
During a 70-minute set in front of about 900 people, Cook didn’t strike the rock star pose once. He just came out on stage, sang some songs coated with his shy passion and did his thing without acting like somebody who’s more famous for being on TV than for his music.
Case in point, when a box of Frosted Mini Wheats flew on stage, he laughed off the oddity before throwing the cereal back into the crowd. And when commenting on Fargo’s population of beautiful people, saying, “There’s a lot of good-looking people in the audience. Good Lord,” Cook came off as more folksy than lascivious.
Perhaps that’s why Cook could sing the night’s opening tune, “Mr. Sensitive,” without sounding like a method actor.
He’s just a guy who fell into fame. Not a celebrity seeker obsessed with the man in the mirror.
Unlike some of his “Idol” peers, Cook just seems obsessed with the music.
Rather than posture himself as a star in the making, he just stood in front of the mic and rocked, adding a growling intensity to “Kiss on the Neck” and covering Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies” like a kid who just discovered the Mac’s ’80s catalog.
And, despite acting like a flock of followers who remember his “Idol” days more than his self-titled album, the crowd graciously took the man for his music. His fans didn’t fidget for face time with a TV star or beg for him to take off his black vest and white T-shirt. They drank his music, even if the bulk of it felt far more fierce and edgy than the recorded product.
Cook’s most rocking tune, “Bar-Ba-Sol,” had even more intensity with a backing band not afraid to headbang during a cover of “I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight.” And his hit “Declaration” was paced with an earnestness Cook didn’t track on his record.
Yet, despite sounding like a rocker trying to shed his nice-guy approach during most of the set, Cook ended the night on a familiar note, delivering the raspy-cute vibe that vaulted him to the top of “Idol” with his mid-tempo, polite love song, “Come Back to Me.”
Cook’s fans clapped, sang along and had their arms swaying above their heads during the song. But even they seemed to respect Cook’s void of rock-star ego. They were as courteous as he was, deciding not to mob the star or beg for more as he left the stage without requesting applause or a validation of his fame.
Setlist
David Cook’s set list from his Sunday night performance at The Venue at The Hub in Fargo:
* “Mr. Sensitive”
* “Heroes”
* “I Did It for You”
* “Kiss on the Neck”
* “Souvenir”
* “Lie”
* “Bar-Ba-Sol”
* “Life on the Moon”
* “Little Lies” (Fleetwood Mac cover)
* “Light On”
* “Declaration”
Encore
* “I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight” (Cutting Crew cover)”
* “Come Back to Me”
