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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > July > 25
Friday, July 25, 2008
7/25: Idols Live tour doing better than season six version
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ve been off the grid for nearly 24 hours at this journalist’s convention. Ironically, the last session I attended was about being a multimedia journalist and how to manage your time. (Me? Manage my times?) Without my laptop, I was itching to get back on the grid and update my blogs. It’s now Friday afternoon, kind of missing the mark in terms of timeliness before everyone goes off to weekend activities. But here we go nonetheless:
Not surprisingly, even with slightly higher ticket prices, this season’s “Idols Live” tour in its early going appears to be easily outflanking last year’s less interesting season six group.
MJ has compiled the first five dates vs. the past six seasons. With such a small sampling, it’s hard to say how things will ultimately play out but in terms of attendance (percentage of arenas filled), this season will probably come in third behind season five (which was closest to sold out across the board of any season) and season four. That makes sense. Season five is my favorite, too.
About 92% of seats were sold in the first five dates his year vs. 68% last year, 100% in 2006(Taylor/Kat), 96% in 2005 (Carrie/Bo), just 51% in 2004 (Fantasia/Diana), 75% in 2003 (Clay/Ruben), 82% in 2002 (Kelly/Justin). If memory serves me correct, ultimately, season two had better attendance figures than season one.
With higher ticket prices over time, this year might still pull in more cash than season five. I hope the “Idol” singers get far more money than the season one crowd, too, especially since they are doing far more concerts, too. Even if they are each paid, say, $3,000 per concert (as well as food and board), that comes out to about a $180,000 payday. I have no clue how much they are paid for real. I’ll have to ask one of the former Idols who might be willing to spill that info for at least their season.
-USA Today got a backstage to life on the tour.
A day and night spent with this group reveals friendships that have only gotten tighter, voices that have grown stronger and aspirations that have flown higher.
These are those high school drama buddies at the end of senior year, kids impossibly high on talent whose only lament is that very soon now they’ll all scatter to the winds.
-Idol Chatter notes that Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight” has made the top 200 downloads with 8,000 sold, up 36% over a week earlier and 33K total. The only other “Idol” song with upward movement is Jordin Sparks’ “One Step at a Time” with 38K sold, ranking No. 31, up from 39. The single is now up to 26 on the top 40 charts, according to Radio and Records..
Josh Gracin, in the meantime, notches his fifth top 20 country hit and third top 10 hit with “We Weren’t Crazy,” which took a whopping 40 weeks to reach that mark. Three “Idols” go back to back to back with Carrie (also on the chart with “Last Name” at 19) at 31 with “Just a Dream,” Kellie Pickler’s “Don’t Know You’re Beautiful” at No. 32 and Bucky Covington holding at No. 33 with “I’ll Walk.”
