American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008 (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008 was a summer concert tour in the United States and Canada that featured the top 10 contestants of the seventh season of American Idol, which aired in 2008. This tour followed in the tradition of other American Idol summer tours following the completion of the season in May. The 53-date tour which covered 49 cities started on July 1 and ended on September 13.

The tour was sponsored by Kellogg's Pop-Tarts and Guitar Hero.

Performers

David Cook (winner)	David Archuleta (runner-up)
Syesha Mercado (3rd Place)	Jason Castro (4th place)
Brooke White (5th place)	Carly Smithson (6th place)
Kristy Lee Cook (7th place)	Michael Johns (8th place)
Ramiele Malubay (9th place)	Chikezie (10th place)

Show overview

In a departure from previous tours, where the shows consisted of many duets and/or group performances, shows from this tour were crafted as a series of mini-concerts for each contestant because of the diverse talent working in different genres. Each performer performed their own set of song - three songs for the tenth place finisher Chikezie, increasing up to five songs for the winner David Cook. Each of the two segments of the show ended with a group number.

Most of the finalists on the tour chose to reprise at least one song they had previously done on American Idol, apart from Ramiele who selected a whole new set of songs. Others chose songs they had wanted to perform on the TV shows but were unable to, or performed but not shown, such as David Cook's My Hero (Foo Fighters), and Jason Castro's Crazy (Gnarls Barkley).

The participants of the tour themselves had planned on an ensemble performance as revealed by David Cook on EW.com's Idolatry, where the possibility of a live collaboration of "Barracuda" featuring himself on guitar, Jason Castro on drums and Carly Smithson on vocals was mooted. The suggestion was however rejected by Idol tour producers.

Set list

• Chikezie: "I Believe to My Soul" (Donny Hathaway), "Caught Up" (Usher), "So High" (John Legend)
• Ramiele Malubay: "I Want You Back" (The Jackson Five), "Love Will Lead You Back" (Taylor Dayne), "If I Never See Your Face Again" (Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna)
• Michael Johns: "We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions" (Queen), "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right" (Dolly Parton), "Dream On" (Aerosmith)
• Kristy Lee Cook: "Squeezin' the Love Outta You" (Redmon and Vale), "God Bless the USA" (Lee Greenwood), "Cowgirls" (Kerry Harvick).
• Carly Smithson: "Bring Me to Life" (Evanescence), "Crazy on You" (Heart), "I Drove All Night" (Cyndi Lauper)
• Brooke White: "Let It Be" (The Beatles), "1234" (Feist), "Yellow" (Coldplay)
• 10th - 5th place contestants: "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (U2)

Intermission

• Jason Castro: "Over the Rainbow" (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole), "Crazy" (Gnarls Barkley), "Daydream" (The Lovin' Spoonful)
• Syesha Mercado: "Umbrella" (Rihanna), "If I Ain't Got You" (Alicia Keys), "Listen" (Beyoncé)
• David Archuleta: "Angels" (Robbie Williams), "Apologize" (OneRepublic), "Stand by Me" (Ben E. King)/"Beautiful Girls" (Sean Kingston), "When You Say You Love Me" (Josh Groban)
• David Cook: "Hello" (Lionel Richie), "The Time of My Life" (David Cook), "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Aerosmith), "My Hero" (Foo Fighters), "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson/Chris Cornell)
• All 10 contestants: "Don't Stop the Music" (Rihanna)

Additional notes

• Kristy Lee Cook sang "Anyway" (Martina McBride) in place of "God Bless the USA" in the Toronto show.
• Michael Johns did a short a cappella version of "Light My Fire" on the anniversary of Jim Morrison's death at the Fresno show.
• David Cook and Michael Johns did a short dance together, different for each show, at the final group song for most of the shows. The producers stopped their dance performance for a few shows, but relented due to fans' demand.
• During the intermission, a video of the Top 10 performing "We're An American Idol Band" in 70s outfit was shown as part of Guitar Hero World Tour rockumentary, and a Guitar Hero contest for the some members of audience was held.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance			Gross
				Sales	Capacity	Percentage
July 1, 2008	Glendale	United States	Jobing.com Arena	10,277	10,938	94.0%	$630,137
July 2, 2008	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena	8,602	10,109	85.1%	$535,103
July 3, 2008	Fresno		Save Mart Center at Fresno State	6,494	10,723	60.6%	$420,698
July 5, 2008	Paradise		Thomas & Mack Center	5,925	7,661	77.3%	$374,795
July 7, 2008	Los Angeles		Staples Center	11,739	12,358	95.0%	$709,598
July 8, 2008	San Jose		HP Pavilion at San Jose	12,095	12,095	100%	$718,721
July 9, 2008	Sacramento		ARCO Arena	11,269	12,246	92.0%	$671,592
July 11, 2008	Portland		Rose Garden	8,451		86%	$500,592
July 12, 2008	Tacoma		Tacoma Dome	8,780	10,786	81.4%	$544,820
July 14, 2008	West Valley City		E Center	17,359	19,172	91.0%	$1,059,660
July 15, 2008
July 18, 2008	St. Louis		Scottrade Center	9,719	12,123	80.2%	$576,318
July 19, 2008	Rosemont		Allstate Arena	13,101	13,101	100%	$773,060
July 20, 2008	Columbus		Schottenstein Center	9,349	12,636	74.0%	$560,391
July 22, 2008	Indianapolis		Conseco Fieldhouse	6,570	8,117	80.9%	$421,506
July 23, 2008	Cincinnati		U.S. Bank Arena	6,343	10,730	59.1%	$409,676
July 24, 2008	Detroit		Joe Louis Arena	8,672	10,908	79.5%	$526,887
July 26, 2008	Toronto	Canada	Air Canada Centre	12,188	13,694	87.4%	$733,968
July 27, 2008	Rochester	United States	Blue Cross Arena	8,398	10,530	79.8%	$513,490
July 29, 2008	Pittsburgh		Mellon Arena	10,261	11,740	89.0%	$611,385
July 30, 2008	Newark		Prudential Center	23,457	27,357	85.7%	$1,409,954
July 31, 2008
August 2, 2008	Atlantic City		Boardwalk Hall	12,473	12,473	100%	$741,949
August 4, 2008	Uniondale		Nassau Coliseum	22,341	24,204	92.3%	$1,348,285
August 5, 2008
August 6, 2008	Albany		Times Union Center	8,867	11,394	77.8%	$531,572
August 8, 2008	Hartford		XL Center	9,804	11,675	84.0%	$601,871
August 9, 2008	Worcester		DCU Center	10,791	10,791	100%	$643,194
August 10, 2008	Manchester		Verizon Wireless Arena	9,133	9,133	100%	$561,192
August 12, 2008	Baltimore		1st Mariner Arena	9,478	11,998	79.0%	$580,464
August 13, 2008	Philadelphia		Wachovia Center	11,182	14,111	79.2%	$677,765
August 14, 2008	Washington, D.C.		Verizon Center	10,441	11,672	89.5%	$633,315
August 16, 2008	Lexington		Rupp Arena	8,217	10,347	79.4%	$511,096
August 17, 2008	Charlotte		Time Warner Cable Arena	9,511	11,559	82.3%	$580,672
August 18, 2008	Duluth		Arena at Gwinnett Center	10,016	10,016	100%	$627,239
August 20, 2008	Sunrise		BankAtlantic Center	9,183	12,463	73.7%	$571,260
August 21, 2008	Tampa		St. Pete Times Forum	9,810	13,192	74.4%	$605,483
August 24, 2008	Houston		Toyota Center	8,720	10,076	86.5%	$533,616
August 25, 2008	Dallas		American Airlines Center	9,501	10,837	87.7%	$582,500
August 26, 2008	Bossier City		CenturyTel Center	5,924	7,439	79.6%	$376,342
August 28, 2008	Oklahoma City		Ford Center	6,376	7,926	80.4%	$397,292
August 29, 2008	Kansas City		Sprint Center	24,369	26,059	93.5%	$1,408,171
August 30, 2008
August 31, 2008	Minneapolis		Target Center	9,977	11,478	86.9%	$602,112
September 2, 2008	Ashwaubenon		Resch Center	5,556	7,495	74.1%	$349,598
September 3, 2008	Grand Rapids		Van Andel Arena	7,689	10,225	75.2%	$472,623
September 4, 2008	Cleveland		Wolstein Center	7,226	10,269	70.5%	$441,364
September 6, 2008	Bridgeport		Arena at Harbor Yard	8,184	8,184	100%	$506,269
September 7, 2008	Providence		Dunkin' Donuts Center	8,884	8,884	100%	$547,070
September 8, 2008	Wilkes-Barre		Wachovia Arena	7,722	8,587	89.9%	$476,959
September 10, 2008	Fort Wayne		Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	4,780	7,438	64.1%	$301,785
September 11, 2008	Evansville		Roberts Municipal Stadium	3,940	6,359	62.0%	$230,814
September 13, 2008	Tulsa		BOK Center	12,177	12,177	100%	$696,375

Response

The 2008 tour was far more successful than 2007's. Sales were up 38% in revenue per date and average attendance number up 35% compared to 2007. The average percentage of seats filled was 85.1% compared to season six's 68.4%; and 9 out of 53 shows were sold out.

It is ranked as the 24th biggest grossing tour of 2008 on Billboard's Year-End Music Charts, earning $29,906,507 from a total of 493,296 tickets sold.

Tour summary

• Number of shows - 53 (9 sold out)
• Total gross - $29,906,507
• Total attendance - 493,296
• Average attendance - 9,307 (85.1%)
• Average ticket price - $60.63
• Highest gross - Rosemont, Illinois - $773,060
• Lowest gross - Evansville, Indiana - $230,814
• Highest attendance - Rosemont, Illinois - 13,101 (100%)
• Lowest attendance - Evansville, Indiana - 3,940 (62.0%)

Idols in Concert for the Holidays

Due to the success of the 2008 tour, Fox and 19 Entertainment have decided to hold a tour called Idols in Concert for the Holidays. The former Idol contestants headlining the tour include David Hernandez (season 7), Diana DeGarmo (season 3), Kimberley Locke (season 2) and Chikezie (season 7).

Date	City	Country	Venue
November 29, 2008	Pittsburgh	United States	Byham Theater
December 1, 2008	El Paso		Plaza Theatre
December 4, 2008	Englewood		Bergen Performing Arts Center
December 10, 2008	Salem		Salem Civic Center
December 11, 2008	Mobile		Mitchell Center
December 19, 2008	Akron		E.J. Thomas Hall
December 20, 2008	Davenport		Alder Theatre
December 21, 2008	Waukegan		Genesee Theatre

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