Cook's tour with 'Idol' lacks arena rock feel

This year's "American Idol" winner David Cook looked at the large numbers of still-seated fans during his set at Nassau Coliseum Monday night and shook his head.

"There's too many of you people sitting down," he said. "We're at a rock show."

Well, actually we weren't. The annual "American Idol" tour may have some rock elements, but it's pretty far away from arena-filling rock shows. And this year's version -- despite Cook's excellent set, featuring his hit "Time of My Life" and his ever-impressive grunge interpretations of Lionel Richie's "Hello" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" -- was farther away than usual.

There isn't a lot of collaboration on this year's tour, with all of the Top 10 except Cook and runner-up David Archuleta singing their three songs -- two uptempo songs with a ballad sandwiched between -- and moving on. Considering all the singers around, it seems a little weird to need backup singers or, in Carly Smithson's case, backing vocals on tape to do "Bring Me to Life."

continue...

Comments