American Idol's Top 10 seventh-season finalists won't be seeing much of the beach this summer because they'll be too busy performing on the show's American Idol Live 2008 concert tour, the dates and locations of which were announced Wednesday.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
"What struck us about this year's group was the depth of the talent, and we think they'll each pull in their own fan base," Iain Pirie, head of tour organizers 19 Recordings U.S., told USA Today in a Wednesday report.
Due to talent depth, this year's tour will feature fewer group numbers than usual and instead showcase the finalists as individuals.
"As opposed to hearing duets and trios sing, this year it'll be more about the individuals," he told USA Today. "We'll give them the space and freedom to do their own set. Think of it as coming to see 10 mini-concerts."
However just because their individual talents will he highlighted apparently doesn't mean fans should expect the Top 10 to perform original music.
"We really want the experience to echo the television show, so expect to hear a lot of the songs that did well during the season," Pirie told USA Today.
In addition, Pirie told USA Today the Top 10 will be "encouraged to play an instrument only if it's appropriate to them."
The tour is scheduled top kick-off July 1 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, AZ and will conclude September 13 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, OK.
"[Cities are selected based on] how big the fan base was for the show," Pirie told USA Today.
While the schedule may sound like a bummer of a summer for the Top 10, Pirie said it's actually not too bad since they're able to reach a larger live audience via the tour -- however that's also apparently a hindrance.
"We find that the toughest thing for them is going from an Idol stage to playing for more than 10,000 people," he told USA Today. "It takes some getting used to."
Despite taking in $20.9 million, Idol's 57-show 2007 tour didn't rank among last summer's 40 most lucrative tours, according to USA Today, which cited a largely unimpressive sixth-season cast and higher ticket prices as reasons.
FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!
Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!
"These tours usually do as well as that season's [television] ratings, so this summer could prove successful," Gary Bongiovanni, editor of touring trade publication and website Pollstar, told USA Today. "To some, $20 million for a tour won't sound like a lot. But when you consider that six months ago, you couldn't sell two tickets to hear these folks perform, [Idol Live] really is an amazing vehicle for launching total unknowns."
Tickets for all the American Ido Live 2008 tour dates are scheduled to go on sale Saturday, May 18 beginning at 10AM ET unless otherwise noted. More information is available via Idol's website.
The American Idol Live 2008 tour schedule is:
July 1
Glendale, AZ
July 2
San Diego, CA
July 3
Fresno, CA
July 5
Las Vegas, NV
July 7
Los Angeles, CA
ADVERTISEMENT
San Jose, CA
July 9
Sacramento, CA
July 11
Portland, OR
July 12
Tacoma, WA
July 14
West Valley City, UT
July 18
St. Louis, MO
July 19
Rosemont, IL
July 20
Columbus, OH
July 22
Indianapolis, IN
July 23
Cincinnati, OH
July 24
Detroit, MI
July 26
Toronto, ON
July 27
Rochester, NY
ADVERTISEMENT
Pittsburgh, PA
July 30
Newark, NJ
August 2
Atlantic City, NJ
August 4
Long Island, NY
August 6
Albany, NY
August 8
Hartford, CT
August 9
Worcester, MA
August 10
Manchester, NH
August 12
Baltimore, MD
August 13
Philadelphia, PA
August 14
Washington DC
August 16
Lexington, KY
ADVERTISEMENT
Charlotte, NC
August 18
Duluth, GA
August 20
Sunrise, FL
August 21
Tampa, FL
August 24
Houston, TX
August 25
Dallas, TX
August 26
Bossier City, LA
August 28
Oklahoma City, OK
August 29
Kansas City, MO
August 31
Minneapolis, MN
September 2
Green Bay, WI
September 3
Grand Rapids, MI
ADVERTISEMENT
Cleveland, OH
September 6
Bridgeport, CT
September 7
Providence, RI
September 8
Wilkes Barre, PA
September 10
Ft. Wayne, IN
September 11
Evansville, IN
September 13
Tulsa, OK
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
