Season 8 tour dates announced

The dates and venues for the 2009 "Idols Live!" summer tour have been released, and the outlook is pretty bright for the Top 10 finalists. Below is the entire schedule according to AmericanIdol.com, which is of course subject to change at any time:

July 5 Portland, OR (Rose Garden)
July 7 Tacoma, WA (Tacoma Dome)
July 8 Vancouver, BC (General Motors Place)
July 10 Sacramento, CA (ARCO Arena)
July 11 Oakland, CA (Oracle Arena)
July 12 San Jose, CA (HP Pavilion at San Jose)
July 14 West Valley City, UT (The E Center)
July 16 Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)
July 17 Ontario, CA (Citizens Business Bank Arena)
July 18 San Diego, CA (San Diego Sports Arena)
July 20 Glendale, AZ (jobing.com Arena)
July 23 Dallas, TX (American Airlines Center)
July 24 Tulsa, OK (BOK Center)
July 25 N. Little Rock, AR (Alltel Arena)
July 26 Memphis, TN (FedExForum)
July 28 Tampa, FL (St. Pete Times Forum)
July 29 Sunrise, FL (BankAtlantic Center)
July 31 Duluth, GA (Arena at Gwinnett Center)
August 1 Charlotte, NC (Time Warner Cable Arena)
August 2 Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum)
August 4 Washington, DC (Verizon Center)
August 5 Baltimore, MD (1st Mariner Arena)
August 7 Atlantic City, NJ (Boardwalk Hall)
August 8 Newark, NJ (Prudential Center)
August 11 Long Island, NY (Nassau Coliseum)
August 14 Hamilton, ON (Copps Coliseum)
August 15 Rochester, NY (BlueCross Arena)
August 16 Hartford, CT (XL Center)
August 18 Boston, MA (TD Banknorth Garden)
August 19 Albany, NY (Times Union Center)
August 20 Philadelphia, PA (Wachovia Center)
August 22 Pittsburgh, PA (Mellon Arena)
August 23 Cleveland, OH (Wolstein Center)
August 25 Columbus, OH (Schottenstein Center)
August 26 Auburn Hills, MI (Palace at Auburn Hills)
August 28 Milwaukee, WI (Bradley Center)
August 29 St. Louis, MO (Scottrade Center)
August 30 Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)
September 1 Minneapolis, MN (Target Center)
September 2 Rosemont, IL (Allstate Arena)
September 4 Madison, WI (Alliant Energy Center)
September 5 Indianapolis, IN (Conseco Fieldhouse)
September 6 Grand Rapids, MI (Van Andel Arena)
September 8 Reading, PA (Sovereign Center)
September 9 Wilkes Barre, PA (Wachovia Arena)
September 10 Bridgeport, CT (Arena at Harbor Yard)
September 12 Portand, ME (Cumberland County Civic Center)
September 13 Providence, RI (Dunkin' Donuts Center)
September 14 Syracuse, NY (WarMemorial at OnCenter)
September 15 Manchester, NH (Verizon Wireless Arena)

It appears that this year's stops seem to be more focused in the upper portion of the country, specifically the northeast and upper midwest. And as usual, the west coast is pretty well represented this year. Some new destinations have been added this year, including Boston (woohoo).