‘Idol’ contestants hit the road for tour
BURBANK, Calif. –Face to face at twin pianos, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre strike the opening chords of “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and playing in unison the two “American Idol” finalists start to sing the Journey classic.
They trade lines about small town girls and city boys, and as the song unfolds the rest of this year’s Top 10 “Idols” join in more or less in reverse order of their finish.
Michael Sarver and Megan Joy trade verses, then Lil Rounds, Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta and Danny Gokey take their turns.
As the song nears its end, Adam Lambert lets loose with one of those high swooping runs that gave him enough support to make the finals and finish second.
And standing in the back, almost unnoticed in comparison to some of the bigger personalities in the room, is Kris Allen, the most modest of “Idol” champions, taking his turn in the song but leaving most of the attention to the nine singers he bested.
The American Idols Live Tour opens Sunday in Portland, Ore., before heading around the nation with stops Aug. 14 in Hamilton, Ont., and Aug. 15 in Rochester.
As preparations for the 50-city tour started to wrap up, the “Idol” singers opened their Burbank rehearsal studio to a handful of reporters for a speed-dating-style round of interviews.
Rotating around the room in pairs, the singers talked about where they’ve been — the whirlwind, life-changing months on the TV show — and where they hope they’re headed now that the “Idol” kiss has been bestowed upon them.
Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta move around the room with the easy comfort of siblings, joking around and poking gentle fun at each other.
“I think both of us have wanted to do this for a long time,” says Allen, the soft-voiced 24-year-old from Conway, Ark. “For me since I was 13, and for Allison even longer.”
As champion, he automatically gets the biggest career boost, and says he’s currently working on picking songs for his debut album to come out later this year.
“We’re pretty much in the beginning stages, but I feel like it’s going to be a pop-rock thing, kind of what I did on the show,” he says.
Iraheta, whom the judges seemed to pick at week after week, sometimes more for her quiet personality than her big rock ’n’ roll voice, also has an album deal, and is following much the same course as Allen.
“It’s definitely going to have a rock edge to it,” says Iraheta, the 17-year-old from Los Angeles who finished fourth.
What they’ll sing: Allen says one of his songs in the show will be the Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” a switch from the version of “Come Together” that he did on the show. Iraheta says she’ll be reprising her TV performance of Janis Joplin’s “Cry Baby.”
All eyes on Adam
Though Allen won the show, you’re forgiven if you forget that and think Adam Lambert did.
More than almost any “Idol” contestant before him, Lambert was the one you talked about: his far-ranging falsetto, his rock ’n’ roll fashion, and an edgy musical style that left few watchers on the fence: you either loved it or hated it.
And so it was on press day, with Lambert probably the one reporters wanted to talk to the most, which made you almost feel a little sorry for his interview partner, Megan Joy, the young mom from Utah with the tattooed arm and a retro- styled voice.
He’s in the studio when he’s not preparing for the tour — along with Allen and Iraheta, he’s the other “Idol” star to have already inked an album deal. He’s in the media almost constantly — this week, disavowing the release of demo songs he did a few years before “Idol,” earlier this month on the cover of Rolling Stone, talking about everything from his music to his sexuality (he’s gay, but then he figured you’d already guessed that).
“I don’t think it was surprising,” Lambert says. “I would assume most people knew, or assumed it. I didn’t try to hide it, I just didn’t want to make a big announcement (during the show). And the response has been really positive.”
For Megan Joy, finishing ninth gives her a shot at realizing a few dreams — an album, maybe acting or modeling too, she says — but so far all those plans are just tentative, things she says she’ll pursue further once the tour is done.
What they’ll sing: Lambert says he’ll perform a David Bowie medley of “Life on Mars,” “Fame,” and “Let’s Dance,” “arranged with an electronic sound mixed with the original style.” Megan Joy says she’ll sing Amy Winehouse’s “Tears Dry On Their Own.”
Surreal for some
For Scott MacIntyre, the legally blind pianist from Phoenix, it’s hard to believe what “Idol” has done for him, but oh so wonderful that it has.
“I think the entire experience still feels like a surreal dream to me,” he says as he makes his way around the room with Lil Rounds, the R&Bstyled belter from Memphis. “All of the fans coming up and giving you hugs, giving you kisses.”
Michael Sarver barely made the Top 10 — he finished 10th, in fact — and so of all the others working around the room he almost seemed the most grateful to be there.
“Before we go on, I plan to go to the farthest seat from the stage, to get a sense of what it’s like,” says Sarver, who worked as a roughneck in a Texas oil field before making it on the show. “Because I think we need to see what that’s like, and make sure they have a good show. I really do.”
His partner for the day, Danny Gokey, a church music director from Wisconsin, at one point seemed like a likely candidate for the finals, before Allen passed him by, leaving Gokey to finish third.
Besides his strong voice, Gokey had a compelling personal story: his wife had died not long before he auditioned, and he wasn’t shy about sharing that story over the course of the season.
What they’ll sing: Gokey says he’ll do the late Michael Jackson’s “PYT,” while Sarver kept his songs secret, though he did say they’re numbers he didn’t do on the show.
Both Anoop Desai and Matt Giraud used a few of their extra lives on the course of the show: Desai when the producers decided to have a Top 13 instead of 12, allowing him to make the finals, and Giraud when the judges used their veto power to save him from elimination.
What they’ll sing: Giraud says he’ll do Ray Charles’ “George On My Mind,” while Desai says he’ll do Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative.”
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