The American Idol summer tour of Season 12 contestants will be delayed until July 19. All shows scheduled for June and early July have been cancelled.
Following each season of Idol, the show’s contestants usually get together for a tour, set up by show co-producer 19 Entertainment, of the U.S. during the summer. This year’s tour was supposed to start on June 19 with a show in St. Louis, the hometown of 10th place finalist Curtis Finch Jr., reports Yahoo!. However, the venue posted a message on Friday that the show was cancelled.
“Production rehearsals have been pushed back by two weeks which unfortunately affects some of the early dates on the tour itinerary,” the statement reads. “The American Idol Live! 2013 concert scheduled for June 29 at Chaifetz Arena has been cancelled.”
A tour spokesman sent Yahoo a similar statement, noting that the tour has been whittled down from 40 to 30. Idol fans in Tulsa, Kansas City, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City and Las Vegas will not get to see the contestants because of the change.
While low ticket sales weren’t the official reason, once can’t be blamed for assuming that it played a part. This past season of Idol drew the worst ratings in the show’s history. The finale only had 13.4 million viewers.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the tour is promoted by AEG Live and Claire’s is a sponsor.
Idol has been in a state of flux following the end of the season. Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey and Randy Jackson have all confirmed that they won’t be back and it’s expected that Keith Urban will not return either, even if he is interested.
Here are the dates that were cancelled:
June 29 - St. Louis, MO
June 30 - Kansas City, MO
July 2 - Minneapolis, MN
July 5 - Detroit, MI
July 6 - Rosemont, IL
July 8 - Tulsa, OK
July 10 - Broomfield, CO
July 12 - Las Vegas, NV
July 13 - Ontario, CA
July 14 - Oakland, CA
image: Fox