The schedule for the American Idols Live! Tour 2012 has been released! See Season 11 finalists Jessica Sanchez, Hollie Cavanagh, Joshua Ledet, Phillip Phillips, Skylar Laine, Elise Testone, Colton Dixon, Deandre Brackensick, Heejun Han, and Erika Van Pelt at a stadium near you this summer! (source)
Now presenting your American IdolSeason 11 Top 10! Phillip Phillips, Elise Testone, Deandre Brackensick, Hollie Cavanagh, Colton Dixon, Skylar Laine, Heejun Han, Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet, and Erika Van Pelt may be performing at a North American city near you this upcoming summer, so stay tuned for tour dates!
Next week, the talented Top 10 will tackle the songbook of Billy Joel. Whoever chooses to cover "Vienna" could potentially win my loyalty (and heart).
This week on American Idol, the remaining hopefuls were put through the test of putting on not one, but two, group performances. Traditionally, the group rounds prove to be a challenge for many contestants, as it is not an easy task to successfully blend multiple different voices together while highlighting your own vocal strengths in a matter of two minutes. While several performers fell (some quite literally), many saw their stock in the competition rise. These were two of my favourite group performances from Hollywood and Vegas (on the Viva Elvis stage).
Groovesauce (consisting of Reed Grimm, Creighton Fraker, Aaron Marcellus, Nick Boddington, and Jen Hirsh) singing Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Coming". With their high energy, strong vocal solos, and great background harmonization, it was like this group wandered off of The Sing-Off set and onto the Idol stage! Groovesauce (minus Reed) teamed up again in Vegas as 'The Lady and the Spectacles' for "Sealed With a Kiss".
There were so many solid and diverse performances during Vegas Week. The most memorable one for me was this funkified rendition of Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" by Jessica Sanchez, Deandre Brackensick, and Candice Glover. These three young powerhouses were finally able to show off their vocal prowess with big notes, high notes, and several incredible runs. I appreciated their fearlessness and fine usage of hairography.
