Former American Idol finalist, Jennifer Hudson, was accompanied by a choir as she took the stage today at the memorial service for Michael Jackson.  It was a powerful and touching moment and I had held it together pretty well until the very end when they played Michael’s speaking part from the song.

image: Newscom

I noticed that the heavily pregnant Jennifer looked up several times during the performance and I’m sure she could relate to the pain the Jackson family felt since she lost her own family last October.

Watch the moving musical tribute:

To promote their sophomore album, Leave This Town, Daughtry are embarking on a 13-date club tour.  The album drops on July 14, 2009 and the tour begins on August 2, 2009 – that’s plenty of time for their fans to learn all of the new songs!

Even though it’s not a lot of dates and locations, I think that club performances are a lot more intimate and makes the band seem more accessible to fans.  I think it’s great.

It’s also the first time that the group will be performing many of these songs on stage and I really love those early days while a band gets used to performing a song live.  There is so much honesty in it and you really get to see how they grow from being unsure and a little uncomfortable on the first tour date to how polished and relaxed they sing a song at the last show.

The tickets go on sale July 11, 2009 but the first 50 people in each tour area to pre-order their album from www.DaughtryOfficial.com will get free tickets!  It’s a win-win situation!  There will also be a limited number of VIP packages on sale from July 8-10.

Here are the dates:

Aug 2    Orlando, FL         House of Blues
Aug 4      Boston, MA          Showcase Live
Aug 7      Columbus, OH        LC Pavilion
Aug 8      Chicago, IL         Vic Theatre
Aug 9      Minneapolis, MN     The Cabooze
Aug 11     Nashville, TN       Cannery Ballroom
Aug 12     Memphis, TN         Minglewood Hall
Aug 14     Houston, TX         Warehouse Live
Aug 16     Denver, CO          The Gothic Theatre
Aug 18     Phoenix, AZ         Marquee Theatre
Aug 19     Los Angeles, CA     Henry Fonda Theater
Aug 20     San Francisco, CA   The Fillmore
Aug 22     Las Vegas, NV       Pure

image: DaughtryOfficial.com

The American Idol top 10 from Season 8 will perform in their first show this Sunday (July 5, 2009) in Portland, Oregon and I’m sure their fans are excited to see them perform live.  I never get to go since I’m up in Canada and they don’t have any stops here (but they should - Canadians watch the show too!).

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Ray Mickshaw / FOX

I had never thought about it but I read on E! Online that there are just two tour buses (one for guys and one for girls) but the guys have it a little rougher since there are just three girls on the tour while there are seven of them!  Scott MacIntyre and Michael Sarver both complained that their bus was overcrowded with Sarver saying: “I just wish it was part of the budget to have a third bus. It’s like the testosterone tour this year. No one is looking forward to the cramped boys’ bus.”

In the article, they asked each of the 10 contestants about what they will be doing on the tour (lots of goodies so check it out) and it definitely sounds like it will be a tour with a lot of variety since each set is tailored to each contestant’s style.  During the season, I was so amazed by how different the contestants were from each other so I think it will be a fun concert.

We know that one of their group numbers will be “Don’t Stop Believing” but I thought that the info about Adam Lambert’s and Kris Allen’s sets was very interesting.  Lambert will be doing a David Bowie medley and I know it’s going to be incredible!  I love Lambert and I love Bowie so I’m super jealous of any of you who get to see it.  Oh well, there’s always YouTube.  Kris will be doing five songs including my favorite Beatles song “Hey Jude.”

For more tour information, check out the American Idols Live page on the official site.

Former American Idol finalist, Kellie Pickler, performed at the 2009 Country Stampede Music Festival which took place from June 25-28.  The four-day event is the largest annual music festival in Kansas and, this year, it featured a great lineup including Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley and Blake Shelton among others.

It looks like Kellie really enjoyed herself which is great.  It’s so important to love what you do and I always hate to see someone performing who looks like they’d rather be somewhere else.

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Last year’s American Idol winner, David Cook, sang a version of “Billie Jean” while he was competing on the show and it was a huge hit.  I loved what he did with the classic song and I’m sure the fans on his tour were hoping he would perform it as a tribute to the late Michael Jackson. 

I saw this video on MJs Big Blog and it brought tears to my eyes.  David mentioned “Billie Jean” and the crowd went nuts with excitement but it was short lived – David said that he didn’t want to “half-ass it” since he hadn’t practiced the song in a while but, instead, he asked his audience to participate in a moment of silence as he dimmed the lights in honor of the King of Pop.  Very classy.

REO Speedwagon made a stop in Salt Lake City during their “Can’t Stop Rockin’ Tour” and guess who jumped up on stage with them?  American Idol season 7 runner-up (and Salt Lake “area” native), David Archuleta.

I spotted the video of the “Roll With the Changes” performance on MJs Big Blog and, while it isn’t the whole thing and the quality isn’t great, you can see how much energy David is putting into it.  Still, fans of REO Speedwagon don’t seem like the type to also adore this squeaky clean cutie pie but he did get some good applause (not quite like the accolades he gets from his young fans, though).  Watch it here:

Jennifer Hudson will be going on tour with R&B singer, Robin Thicke, and the singer/actress sat down with Billboard.com (during a conference call) to talk about the experience.  The shows will kick off with a performance in Albany, NY on March 31, 2009. 

"I’m excited to get out and meet the people and sing for the people," Hudson said. "I always love to perform live. The only other tour I’ve been part of is the (American) Idol tour, so this’ll be more intimate and personal."

She also explained that it made more sense to be a co-headliner than to go it alone since she doesn’t have enough material to fill out a solo tour.  "I’m in a weird place," Hudson said. "Like, ‘Wow, everybody knows Jennifer, but where do you place her? Who do you put her with? Where do I go?’ That was the hardest part of the puzzle to put together. I think we came out with a great solution." I agree and I’m glad her reasoning skills outweigh her ego because I hate when artists decide to headline a tour when they’ve only had two or three hits (ahem, I’m talking to you, Lady Gaga). 

I wish I could see them in concert!  Anyone have tickets and/or are planning to go?

image: Bauer-Griffin

The "American Stars in Concert: Spring Break" tour kicked off yesterday (if you went to the show, I’d love to hear how it was!).  The show features performances by American Idol finalists Melinda Doolittle (Season 6), Chikezie (Season 7), Gina Glocksen (Season 6) and Phil Stacey (Season 6).

Here are the tour dates are as follows:

• 3/15/09 - Ft. Pierce, FL at Sunrise Theatre
• 3/18/09 - Panama City, FL at Marina Civic Center
• 3/20-3/21/09 - Dallas, TX at Dallas Symphony
• 3/25/09 - Lancaster, PA at American Music Theatre
• 3/26/09 - Kalamazoo, MI at Wings Stadium
• 3/27/09 - Dearborn, MI at Ford Center
• 3/28/09 - St. Charles, IL at Arcada Theatre
• 3/30/09 - Marion, IL at Marion Cultural and Civic Center
• 4/15/09 - Worcester, MA at Hanover Theatre
• 4/16/09 - Springfield, MA at MassMutual Center
• 4/17/09 - Morristown, NJ at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts
• 4/18/09 - Glenside, PA at Keswick Theatre
• 4/24/09 - Boise, ID at Morrison Center
• 5/1/09 - Ivins, UT at Tuacahn Center for the Arts

Melinda has been pretty great, updating her comings and going on Twitter.  If you haven’t added her already, you should! - http://twitter.com/mdoolittle

On Twitter this morning, Jordin Sparks, told her followers to Google her name and then hit “news” for her big announcement.  Of course, I followed her instructions which led to me discovering that she will be touring with the Jonas Brothers this summer! 

Jordin will perform with the trio on select dates but information about that hasn’t been released yet.  In the meantime, here are the tour dates!

» June 20 - Dallas, TX @ New Cowboys Stadium
» June 22 - Tulsa, OK @ BOKCenter
» June 24 - Denver, CO @ PepsiCenter
» June 26 - Nampa, ID @ IdahoCenter
» June 27 - Portland, OR @Rose Garden Arena
» June 28 - Tacoma, WA @ TacomaDome
» June 30 - Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
» July 2 - Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
» July 4 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Stadium of Fire (on sale now)
» July 5 - Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre
» July 7 - Omaha, NE @ QwestCenter
» July 8 - Minneapolis, MN @ TargetCenter
» July 9 - Milwaukee, WI @ BradleyCenter
» July 10 - Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
» July 13 - Washington, DC @ VerizonCenter
» July 14 - East Rutherford, NJ @ IZODCenter
» July 17 - Boston, MA @ TD BanknorthGarden
» July 20 - Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
» July 24 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center
» July 25 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mellon Arena
» July 26 - Detroit, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
» July 28 - St. Louis, MO @ ScottradeCenter
» July 29 - Kansas City, MO @ SprintCenter
» August 1 - Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Events Center
» August 3 - San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion at San Jose
» August 4 - Sacramento, CA @ ARCO Arena
» August 5 - Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center
» August 7 - Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
» August 11 - Phoenix, AZ @ Jobing.com Arena
» August 13 - San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
» August 14 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
» August 15 - New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena
» August 16 - Birmingham, AL @ BJCC
» August 18 - Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum
» August 19 - Ft.Lauderdale, FL @ Bank Atlantic Center
» August 21 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jacksonville Veterans’ Memorial
» August 22 - Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
» August 23 - Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena
» August 25 - Nashville, TN @ Sommet Center
» August 26 - Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
» August 27 - Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
» August 29 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
» August 30 - Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
» August 31 - Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place

American Idol season 7 runner-up, David Archuleta, will be traveling to the United Kingdom to perform for his British fans. 

I was really surprised that he was including European dates but I’m happy he’s making that big leap across the pond.  I hope it goes well for him. 

He’ll be opening for McFly.  Here are the planned tour dates:

April:

21 - Wolverhampton Civic
22 - Blackpool Opera House
24 - Edinburgh Corn Exchange
25 - Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
26 - Newcastle City Hall
29 - Portsmouth Guildhall

May:

1 - Hammersmith Apollo
2 - Southend Cliffs Pavillion
3 - Ipswich Regent
5 - Croydon Fairfield Hall
6 - Oxford New Theatre
8 - Manchester Apollo
9 - Leicester De Montford Hall
10 - Cambridge Corn Exchange

image: Amazon.com