'Idol' worshipers give stars a sweet start to their tour
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- By 8 a.m. Wednesday, 11 hours before showtime , 19-year-old Alicia Twohig of North Reading was in line outside the
Each wore a homemade costume modeled on a favorite ``American Idol" contestant and carried a gift-wrapped, customized teddy bear to give the Idol should the opportunity suddenly materialize.
``We're the biggest fans you'll ever find," Twohig boasted as she maintained her watch throughout the humid afternoon. ``We've been barred from trivia contests for knowing too much Idol stuff."
Ten yards behind Twohig stood Samantha Stephens, 17, a high school student from York, Maine. Stephens bows to no one when it comes to ``American Idol"-atry. Named the number one ``Idol" fan after the second season of the hit television show, or so Stephens claimed, she described herself as ``the loudest, craziest, most obsessed fan there is" while anticipating Wednesday's kickoff of the American Idols Live Tour 2006.
``I'm not a stalker, though," Stephens said. ``I'm just hard-core into the boys" on the show. Chris Daughtry and Elliott Yamin are her favorites among this year's ``Idol" finalists, continued Stephens, who had just returned from a backstage meet-and-greet with Daughtry and four other Idols, courtesy of a local radio-station giveaway.
At the extreme end of ``Idol" fandom, perhaps, Twohig and Stephens nevertheless fit nicely with the atmosphere surrounding the launch of this summer's Idol-palooza tour, which continues tonight at the DCU Center in Worcester and could hardly be more popular if it co starred Beyonce and the two surviving Beatles.
Featuring the 10 finalists from this season's ``Idol" sing-off -- in order, winner Taylor Hicks , Katharine McPhee , Yamin, Daughtry, Paris Bennett , Kellie Pickler , Ace Young , Bucky Covington , Mandisa , and Lisa Tucker -- the show embarked this week on a 60- date US tour that ends Sept. 24. McPhee, who was ill, did not perform in Manchester, but her absence didn't seem a buzz kill to thousands of fans eager to see their Idols in person and willing to open their wallets wide to do so.
Another fan who like Stephens had managed to get on the VIP guest list, Billie Jo Hatch , from Augusta, Maine, was positively giddy after her pre-show meeting with several of the performers, which lasted about as long as a Simon Cowell smile.
``I didn't know what to say to Chris [Daughtry]. I just sort of stood there," Hatch confessed. ``It's just good to see them, because they're average people trying to make something out of their lives," she continued. ``I told Lisa [Tucker] I feel like I knew her."
Asked about being on tour and away from the competitive pressures of the show, members of the Idols troupe seemed nearly as enraptured as their fans were.
``I feel free, man," Young said during an abbreviated session with reporters. ``I don't have to worry about Simon, Paula [Abdul] , or Randy [Jackson] criticizing my performance. Now I'm performing for the people who gave me this chance."
``The pressure's off," Covington agreed, ``except now we're looking for careers."
How is it to go from relative unknown to touring pop star? Covington laughed. ``It's not that we were kind of unknown before," he said. ``We were completely unknown. Actually, there's still a lot of `Bucky who?' out there."
Tucker , at 17 the youngest of the touring Idols, admitted to being ``a little nervous" about traveling by tour bus, even though the guy and gal Idols have separate vehicles with luxurious accommodations on board.
``I guess we'll play games and have a lot of girl talk," said Tucker, who's discussing a future acting role in a TV sitcom. Like the other nine Idols, she remains under contract to 19 Entertainment Inc., the tour's producer, until summer's end. After that, she'll be free to pursue her own management and recording deals.
Quipped Young, ``The only thing we need right now is an attorney."
Well, maybe bodyguards, too. Because the tour and its stars appear to be under a level of control normally reserved for presidential campaigns and Rolling Stones tours.
On Wednesday, members of the print media were granted all of seven minutes to interview four Idols. Photographers wanting to shoot the concert -- forget backstage -- were required to give tour officials control over any images they wanted to use. (At least two, including the Globe, refused and left.) Lucky fans invited to meet the Idols, meanwhile, were warned against posing for pictures.
At one point, the press contingent was reduced to interviewing a 7-foot-tall Mint Chocolate Chip Pop - Tart (Kellogg's Pop - Tarts is the official tour sponsor) who responded only to yes-or-no questions.
``Do you travel on the boys' bus or the girls'?" the tart was asked.
``He has his own bus," a handler said. Oh.
Pop - Tarts could be the ideal ``Idol" tour sponsor. After all, they're sweet, yummy, reasonably digestible, and contain virtually no nutritional value.
The show itself was a nearly three-hour, power-pop romp touching musical bases from soul (Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder) and rock (Elvis, Led Zeppelin) to pop (Elton John) and country (Patsy Cline). Each Idol had at least two solo numbers -- Hicks, the last to appear, got seven -- plus a duet or two and a part in the all-cast finale. Stage banter was minimal, and what scant sexual suggestiveness there was never crossed the line to raunchy.
Without Cowell's scowl, though, for all its slickness ``Idol" onstage felt a little like ``Idol" declawed -- even if the signs held up by fans in the arena (``These Chicks Love Hicks," ``I've Got McPheever") said otherwise. Then again, isn't summer entertainment meant to be full of sweetness and fizz?
Even a nonverbal Pop - Tart could answer that one.
Joseph P. Kahn can be reached at jkahn@globe.com. 
