American Idol Tour 2010

Whether you're an "American Idol" fan or not, the concert tour in Tulsa was great. My niece, Olivia, and I bantered back and forth for months during the competition debating who would win. Her favorite was Tim Urban, and mine was Siobhan (Shibon) Magnus. Towards the end of the competition, Suz and I purchased three VIP tickets and we took Olivia and our youngest granddaughter, Sheridyn, for a quick overnight excursion to Tulsa and the concert.



Oddly enough, there are few quality RV parks in the Tulsa area. We stayed at Cherry Hill Park, which is a very nice mobile home park with several RV sites.



Each site had a concrete patio and driveway. The streets are all concrete with excellent lighting, and the park has a very nice pool and laundry. Access to the park and through it took a little maneuvering with the 40-foot coach and tow vehicle, but with the aid of the GPS it was a breeze.

Suz had a DAR project to work on, so she dropped the girls and me off in front of the BOK Center and returned to the coach with Maynard for the evening. The following picture does not do justice to the unique trees we saw outside the Center. Electronic icicles appear to shoot down the trees.



In my opinion, the BOK Center is smaller than the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, but much easier to enter and exit. Neither venue has very good acoustical value, but the seating at the BOK Center was more comfortable.

With the assistance of the ushers, we found our seats and the girls settled in for an evening of "Idols" (Note the two girls seated next to Olivia with the hats. Apparently, they're fans of "Big Mike," who often wears a similar hat).



The light show and concert introduction was very well done. The opening music and stage screens were much like the television show. The concert included the "top ten" contestants, beginning with #10, Didi Benami, and continuing with a countdown to the number one pick and 2010 American Idol, Lee DeWyze. Here's an assortment of concert pics:


(Left to right, top to bottom: Didi Benami; Andrew Garcia; Katie Stevens; Tim Urban; Siobhan (Shibon) Magnus; Aaron Kelly; Michael (Big Mike) Lynche; Casey James; Crystal Bowersox; and Lee DeWyze.)

In my humble opinion, Crystal Bowersox, by far, out-performed all the other contestants and should have won the competition for the 2010 American Idol. Crystal should have been followed in a tie for second place by Siobhan Magnus and Aaron Kelly. If I were to predict an outcome of their careers, I suspect Crystal and Aaron to go further than the others.




My biggest criticism: No matter how loud you turn up the volume, it doesn't make them sound any better. The concert was loud enough through the first 9 performers, but when the 2010 Idol, Lee DeWyze, took the stage, the volume cranked up even louder.

We called Suz during the last performance and timed it perfectly. She met us right in front of the Center and traffic, nor parking, was a problem. With a peaceful overnight rest and dreams of Shibon (at least in my mind), we returned to OKC the next morning and readied the coach for the next trip.