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‘American Idol’ finalists ready for U.S. tour

‘American Idol’ finalists ready for U.S. tour

In two weeks, the Top 10 contestants of Season 8 of “American Idol” will climb aboard buses for the final rite of an Idol’s passage: the 50-city concert tour set to kick off in Portland, Ore., on Sunday. For the Idols, the tour represents a chance to play rock star in packed arenas and also the biggest paydays of their careers. The singers reportedly will receive checks of $100,000-plus for the four months of labor.

But before the road, there are songs to arrange, dance moves to choreograph, wardrobes to fit and a few last moments of peace.

Last week, a giddy first-day-of-school feeling reigned over lunch at the Idols’ Burbank rehearsal space, where the 10 convened for their first group rehearsal. Over beef kebabs and chocolate cake, the mood was cheerful and hyper as this year’s winner, Kris Allen, along with Megan Joy, Matt Giraud, Michael Sarver, Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds chatted, breaking sporadically into Journey’s ubiquitous “Don’t Stop Believing.”

Because these are people in their 20s, one topic kept coming up: Can one resist the call of Twitter?

Desai, Giraud and Sarver are all committed tweeters. Rounds, Joy and Allen have thus far held out. Giraud told Desai that he knew they would be friends when he saw Desai had an iPhone. This year has marked the first in which, thanks to Twitter, “Idol” contestants have been able to speak directly to the public. But that has presented challenges.

“I tweeted that I was at Disneyland,” Giraud said about a trip a week earlier, “and when I came outside there were six people waiting for me.”

Another question put to the table elicited groans: What is the dumbest thing you get asked by the media?

“Did America get it right?” Desai said to nods of agreement. He added, “What are you going to do after the tour? They expect you to have your whole career planned already.”

“How did you feel when …?” Rounds said.

“When you were voted off,” said others, finishing the thought. “When Simon called you …”

Lunch over, they were soon in rehearsal, where the giggles continued during a run-through of the finale: Journey’s classic power ballad, which the group sang while being put through their paces by a choreographer and a voice coach.

During one pause, Danny Gokey broke into a rap: “You know if I’m on my iPhone, I am Matt Giraud.” Giraud, using the lull to text or tweet, glanced up and laughed.

They reached the last lines of the Journey song when it transitioned into “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” and then back to the final crescendo of “Don’t Stop Believing.” Despite the giggles and the jokes, the group delivered the concluding harmony with force, fists raised in the air.

As the rest teased Giraud about the weak angle of his extended arm, the perfectionist Adam Lambert stepped forward to confer with the vocal coach. “That transition to ‘nah, nah, nah, nah, hey, hey,’ felt sloppy to me,” he said.

[Thanks: http://www.sfgate.com]

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