The American Idol Tour is halfway over, and ticket sales have been surprisingly bad.
The tour has completed 30 of 57 shows so far, and according to a new story in USA Today, sales have declined steeply as compared to the 2006 Idol Tour. None of the 2007 shows have sold out, and even more shockingly, half of the venues were below 60% capacity.
2006 was an outstanding year for the Idol Tour, but even when compared to the 2005 Idol Tour, this year's incarnation fares poorly.
The editor of Pollstar offered his opinion:
There are always intangibles that motivate people to see something live, and maybe there was something about last year's tour that people wanted to see vs. the acts this year.
He's absolutely right. Here are the top 4 acts on the 2006 Idol Tour: Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin and Chris Daughtry. Between them, you've got 5 big hits, 2 minor hits, and 1 annoying Ford commercial.
Here are the top 4 acts on the 2007 Idol Tour: Jordin Sparks... uh, that beatboxing guy... and, umm... well, that's all anyone knows. Between them, you've got 1 minor hit and a YouTube video of the beatboxing guy jamming out with Sir Mix-A-Lot.
Advantage goes to the Class of '06.
Now, you're probably thinking, "who would attend the Idol Tour in the first place?" That's a good point, but keep in mind, even if you think every American Idol Tour is lame, there are still degrees of lameness, and the 2007 version is the bottom of the barrel. Tickets are $60. Who's going to pay that much when the most well known guy on the tour is Sanjaya?
