American Idol rocks crowds in Minneapolis, By FAYE WHITBECK, Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS — Booted by the Republicans from its usual annual venue at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, the top 10 performers from American Idol presented their touring show to a deafening crowd of about 12,000 at the Minneapolis Target Center on Aug. 31.
Starting with No. 10, the singers performed in order of the date each left the show, and each sang several numbers — most of them songs originally performed on the FOX TV hit series.
An exception to that was David Archuleta, who brought thunderous applause and screaming from the Minneapolis gathering. Archuleta did not perform John Lennon’s “Imagine,” a favorite on the TV show; but instead sang a song he said he wasn’t allowed to sing in the contest: “When You Say You Love Me,” released previously by Josh Groban.
One Twin Cities fan held a sign calling Archuleta the “big enchilada” which AI top dog David Cook thought was hilarious and announced that he would begin calling the young star by that nickname.
Cook comfortably pandered like a rock star to the crowd and at one point, recognized the face of an old school mate in the front rows who had made fun of him “cause I couldn’t hit the ball.” Cook chuckled, “Look who’s laughin’ now!”
Most of the personalities presented the same, including stoner-like Jason Castrow who did deliver a stunning rendition of “Over the Rainbow” accompanying himself on the ukulele, which hushed the audience.
Kristy Lee Cook exhibited showmanship and was dressed in stark white sparkles. Her performance included Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” which brought down the house when she sang the lyric “from the lakes of Minnesota.”
Carly Smithson appeared to be in top physical form and sang her songs in a sea of green lights, likely to focus on the singer’s Irish heritage. All top 10 performed in front of a huge video backdrop of custom designs while two gigantic TV screens enlarged their images on both sides of the arena.
The following day, hotels all over the Twin Cities area were filling up with people from across the nation, there to attend the Republican National Convention.