'Idols Live Tour' descends on Portland, Ore.

Portland, Ore., is not a city that makes a big fuss about itself. From its single-driving-lane streets to its bicycling and microbrewery culture to its gentle hills and ever-present greenery, pleasant, livable, amiable Portland gives off a constant sense of understatement, of a city whose charms are best enjoyed at a slow meander -- not from the rear view of a speeding Ferrari.  

This weekend "American Idol" came to town. On Sunday night, the 50-city "Idols Live Tour" kicks off at the Rose Garden Arena, and all week long the goliath in entertainment has occupied the city.

Not that you'd necessarily notice at first glance. A hotel bellman, asked whether he had seen the Idols, nodded that he had; they'd been out and about for the last week -- in town rehearsing. Asked whether the Idols were mobbed when they went out, he shook his head. "I guess people in Portland don't watch much TV," he said.

On closer inspection however, something  is amiss. In the lobby of the hotel where the Idols are staying, a cluster of  teenage girls sit clutching digital cameras, waiting. Around town, little groups of people displaying not at all low-key nervous energy are to be found.

Outside the arena, in a nondescript, asphalt-heavy neighborhood across the river from downtown, all seemed sleepy on a blazing hot Fourth of July. Outside the loading dock, the tour buses waited to begin their epic journey after Sunday's show. Throughout the day, various Idols had twittered that they had picked out their bunks on the bus. In the loading dock, crew members leaned and smoked cigarretes, awaiting the final run-through.

However, in this quiet backstage scene, one small element broke the peace. Just outside the security gate, next to the driveway, seven young women sat in a circle on the concrete ground, clustered around a Pizza Hut box, signs for Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Danny Gokey lying idle at their sides (pictured above).

The women, when questioned, of course say they are Idol fans and come to bear witness to the moment when after a year in the show's bubble, the singers come face to face with their public for the first time. Mostly in their 20s -- although a few may have been a bit older but declined to furnish exact ages -- they have come from as far as Connecticut and Vancouver, Canada, for this moment. Their ranks are heavily tilted toward Adam partisans, although a lone Kris and Danny loyalist sits with them in apparent harmony.

A regular ritual of the tour is the visit to the "fences." At various points during the show days, the Idols venture out to the perimeter of the stadiums to sign autographs and pose for pictures with their fans. In what may have been a warm-up visit, the little group says, earlier in the day a few of the Idols came out -- the women all brandish their signatures proudly. Matt Giraud particularly seemed to have charmed them, singing the Fray's "You Found Me" to the women.

One of the women tells of the particularly impressive depths to which she had gone to get to see her Idols. If she didn't seem so nice, shy and nonterrifying, her tale might be a bit more, well, terrifying. As it is, perhaps it can serve as a cautionary tale to "Idol" security. This woman acknowledges that she is staying at the same hotel as the Idols. When asked how that happened, she nods and says it took a lot of work. "Some of the them haven't been too careful," she says.  Apparently since they had been in town, one of the Idols linked on Twitter to a video he'd made of a few of them hanging out in one of their hotel rooms. The industrious young fan studied the design elements in the video -- the wallpaper, the room furnishings -- and went to various hotel websites, studying pictures of their rooms until she found a match. Then she promptly checked in.

About 7 p.m. the full-dress rehearsal began for a crowd of about 30 people in the giant arena. I am barred from revealing details about the show, but can say that fans are in for a very different sort of concert than they saw last year. Last year's show delivered a great many crowd-pleasing moments, but seemed heavy in the gigantic-anthem, arena-classic-rock vein. This year's show, from its set to the band wardrobe to the songs, is, like Portland, more low-key than in-your-face, but ultimately seems a much more contemporary, cooler show. This year's singers represent the range of current styles that dominate pop radio today, heavily drawing from the alternative music territory that only Brooke White and Jason Castro ventured into last year. The entire production -- and especially the group numbers -- seems geared toward a much far less schmaltzy, current sound.

Check back Sunday night for the complete rundown, when all can be told, but suffice it to say that one of the joys of seeing the tour is that one feels one gets to see whatever promise each singer held fully realized. Free of the pressure of competition and the glowering faces of the judges, and singing songs they have had weeks to practice, rather than a day, the Idols seemed relaxed in the dress rehearsal, having a blast and sounding better than they ever had on the show. This was especially true in the first half when Michael Sarver, Megan Joy, Scott MacIntyre, Lil Rounds, Anoop Desai and Matt each seemed at his or her best and reminded one of their greatest moments of promise during Season 8.

In a stroke of amazing good fortune, the circle of seven from outside were invited in to watch the run-through and added a tiny bit of crowd enthusiasm to the empty cavern. Certainly this was not the most critical of audiences, but it would not begin to do justice to the depth of their excitement to say they were physically transformed by the experience of watching from the front row what was almost a private concert for them

During much of the show, when it wasn't their turn onstage, the Idols would come out and sit in the audience and cheer on their peers as they performed, getting shout-outs from the stage. The competition over, America's and Simon Cowell's judgments delivered, there is nothing left for them to do but to have fun and sing their hearts out on one last group road trip.

-- Richard Rushfield

Photo credit: Richard Rushfield / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Hanna]

omg This is so exciting! Can't wait to read all the updates, as our concert isn't until the end of August! :)

[Linda]

Wow! Lucky ladies to get a private concert by the most talented group of Idols!!! I am so jealous.

[Vegas Taxi Driver Dot Com]

you forgot about the constant drizzle and gang shootings in Portland.

[Melissa]

Thanks for the update! Can't wait to hear more. I have to wait until August for them to come to my area, but it'll be worth the wait. Really excited to see Adam on the big stage!!

[Ellie]

OMG! So looking forward to seeing them in a few weeks time, specially Adam. OMG, I can't wait to see Adam.

[Lina]

i can't wait to see how Adam looks like when they post up the pictures and videos! July 16 can't come faster enough! I want to see Adam right now.....xD

[Idletard]

And so the stalking begins for another season.

[maryann]

Please tell more about Adam in the concert. I know he will be the greatest singer there. Miss you Adam Lambert!