American Idols Live! Tour 2006

2006 summer concert tour

American Idols Live! Tour 2006 was a summer concert tour in the United States featuring the top 10 contestants of the fifth season of American Idol, which aired in 2006. It was sponsored by Kellogg Pop Tarts. The tour started on July 5 and ended on September 24 covering 60 dates, the biggest tour thus far. Initially 39 dates were planned, but 21 extra dates were later added due to demand. It followed in the tradition of other American Idol summer tours following the completion of each season in May. Runner up Katharine McPhee missed the first 17 shows of the tour due to severe bronchitis and laryngitis, She also missed her first rescheduled show on July 27 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to cancelled flight caused by bad weather. At the concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, McPhee tripped backstage before going on, and a hair line fracture to her left foot was later discovered when she was taken to a hospital after the show. Bucky Covington was absent from the August 13 performance at the Savvis Center in St. Louis due to an illness. Kellie Pickler was absent from the first Atlanta show on August 3.

The show featured a series of individual performances with each contestant performing a set of songs. Many also performed a duet with the next performer in the transition between the sets of songs. In the first half the contestants performed in random order, in the second half the last four performed in elimination order, starting with Chris Daughtry and ending with Taylor Hicks. The second half also featured a number of group songs, with a traditional group performance ending the show. Some changes were made in the earlier shows due to the absence of Katharine McPhee.

Katharine McPhee joined the tour after her illness for the July 28 show in Washington, D. C. She did two solo numbers – "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and the group number "Living in America". She sang just two solo songs until San Diego when she added "Think". Kellie Pickler was sick for the first Atlanta show on August 3, 2006. Katharine McPhee performed in bare feet after she fractured her foot in Charlotte, North Carolina (not in slipper sandals or gardening slippers that had widely been reported), and performed barefoot for the rest of the tour. She wore a cast on her left foot after the accident until August 22 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The girl's group songs "I'm A Woman", "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" were removed from the set list soon after Katharine's return. Taylor Hicks also removed "Sweet Soul Music", "What's Going On", and "Don't Let Me Down" from his song list. Taylor Hicks' band LiMBO also toured at the same time as the American Idol tour, following many stops of the American Idol tour. Taylor Hicks often performed at their 'after party' shows, occasionally along with some of his fellow American Idol finalists.

Date City (All U. S.) Venue Attendance Gross Sales Capacity Percentage July 5, 2006 Manchester Verizon Wireless Arena 18,937 18,937 100% $1,099,302July 6, 2006July 7, 2006 Worcester DCU Center 20,863 20,863 100% $1,202,620July 8, 2006July 9, 2006HartfordHartford Civic Center 12,02912,029100%$654,494July 11, 2006AlbanyPepsi Arena 11,71611,716100%$594,356July 12, 2006HersheyGiant Center 8,86610,50084.4%$499,058July 13, 2006 East Rutherford Continental Airlines Arena 29,332 29,332 100% $1,576,419July 14, 2006July 15, 2006 Uniondale Nassau Coliseum 25,332 25,332 100% $1,413,926July 16, 2006July 18, 2006Wilkes BarreWachovia Arena 7,7327,732100%$460,112July 19, 2006ClevelandWolstein Center 10,12710,127100%$554,523July 21, 2006RochesterBlue Cross Arena 10,78610,786100%$579,479July 22, 2006PhiladelphiaWachovia Center 14,83915,49995.7%$791,159July 23, 2006Atlantic CityBoardwalk Hall 12,34312,343100%$720,068July 25, 2006BridgeportArena at Harbor Yard 8,1258,125100%$516,109July 27, 2006PittsburghMellon Arena 11,75012,35995.1%$593,595July 28, 2006Washington, D. C. Verizon Center 14,18014,48497.9%$763,248July 29, 2006RichmondRichmond Coliseum 9,9359,935100%$595,551July 30, 2006GreensboroGreensboro Coliseum 15,33715,337100%$773,655August 1, 2006CharlotteCharlotte Bobcats Arena 12,55614,19088.5%$632,566August 2, 2006ColumbiaColonial Center 11,37312,07994.2%$615,051August 3, 2006DuluthArena at Gwinnett Center 10,15610,52996.5%$587,466August 5, 2006SunriseBankAtlantic Center 12,95013,28497.5%$729,962August 6, 2006TampaSt. Pete Times Forum 13,98914,32297.7%$728,473August 8, 2006BirminghamBJCC Arena 13,04113,33497.8%$694,363August 10, 2006 NashvilleGaylord Entertainment Center 12,88914,34589.9%$675,515August 11, 2006ColumbusValue City Arena 12,64113,29995.1%$657,118August 12, 2006MilwaukeeBradley Center 11,74613,15189.3%$631,857August 13, 2006St. LouisSavvis Center 14,29714,93995.7%$761,603August 15, 2006Grand RapidsVan Andel Arena 11,41311,66397.9%$619,256August 16, 2006DetroitJoe Louis Arena 14,08114,96994.1%A$733,732August 17, 2006IndianapolisPepsi Coliseum 10,58210,582 100%$564,314August 18, 2006LouisvilleFreedom Hall 14,05614,056100%$580,980August 19, 2006RosemontAllstate Arena 13,39013,69797.8%$745,107August 20, 2006PeoriaCarver Arena 8,5369,82586.9%$476,008August 22, 2006Saint PaulXcel Energy Center 14,93315,46696.6%$758,311August 25, 2006San DiegoiPayOne Center 10,62411,17695.1%$582,441August 26, 2006Los AngelesStaples Center 13,42714,11595.1%$680,394August 27, 2006AnaheimArrowhead Pond of Anaheim 11,52212,21794.3%$642,245August 29, 2006SacramentoARCO Arena 12,66613,20096.0%$678,120August 30, 2006San JoseHP Pavilion at San Jose 12,80213,52494.7%$674,043September 1, 2006PortlandRose Garden Arena 9,564 92%$506,054September 2, 2006TacomaTacoma Dome12,80414,42488.8%$686,214September 5, 2006 DenverPepsi Center 10,89113,02483.6%$561,170September 7, 2006 Grand Prairie Nokia Live 12,094 12,290 98.4% $729,172September 8, 2006September 9, 2006HoustonReliant Arena 7,08810,84598%$431,949September 10, 2006 AustinFrank Erwin Center 8,67910,84580.0%$447,256September 12, 2006 DuluthArena at Gwinnett Center10,60510,94596.9%$598,353September 14, 2006HuntingtonBig Sandy Superstore Arena 7,5527,552100%$434,145September 15, 2006NorfolkConstant Convocation Center6,738 $377,389September 16, 2006ReadingSovereign Center 6,9877,24096.5%$408,589September 17, 2006SyracuseWar Memorial at Oncenter 6,048 94%$357,758September 19, 2006HersheyGiant Center8,84210,0388.1%$495,755September 21, 2006PortlandCumberland County Civic Center 6,0746,27596.8%$368,552September 22, 2006 ProvidenceDunkin' Donuts Center 9,7179,99297.3%$555,038September 23, 2006BridgeportArena at Harbor Yard8,7808,82999.5%$538,263September 24, 2006Wilkes BarreWachovia Arena8,1888,51996.1%$479,558

The 2006 tour was a huge success, with an average attendance of 96.1% capacity, and 20 of its shows sold out. It ranked as the thirteenth biggest grossing tour of 2006 in the Billboard year end chart, with a gross of $35,291,883 that doubled the previous season's revenue, and 646,996 tickets sold as totalled from the 59 shows reported to Billboard. It is still the most successful Idol tour yet.