'Idols Live!' tour kicks off in Portland

The American Idols Live! tour last night kicked off to much fanfare in Portland, Ore., at the Rose Garden. As expected, oodles of illegal fan videos found their way onto the net, including the one below of Kris Allen closing the show with The Beatles' "Hey Jude" with the rest of the Top 10 joining him onstage in the final chorus:

Another performance that seemed to receive a lot of buzz was Adam Lambert's duet with Allison Iraheta on "Slow Ride," which was a performance that got a good amount of acclaim during Top 4 week. Watch the performance below:



As for the reviews, they varied widely depending on the source. For example, Scott D. Lewis of The Oregonian had much praise for Adam but left little room for positive things to say about Kris:

Then it was time for the real show, and it belonged to Adam Lambert.

The slightly androgynous gothy singing sensation absolutely tore up "Whole Lotta Love" and, with help from Iraheta, transformed the classic rock dude anthem "Slow Ride" into something sly and fun.

Finally, the huge hall was full of energy.

And then some guy named Kris Allen came onstage and did a few dull songs, including, oddly, "Hey Jude" to end his winner-but-losing set.

What really matters, though, is what the fans thought, and most of them agreed when it came to Adam. On Idolforums.com, member Weazzy had this to say about the runner-up:

The crowds favorite was obviously Adam. They went crazy before the show whenever they showed his pic on the slideshow thing. Well Adam is Adam haha what's to say...He had his little dance moves things whatever you wanna call them haha I love him.

Of the 15,000 or so available seats in the arena for the particular configuration, roughly 12,000 fans attended, which is a pretty good figure to start off the 2009 tour with. The Top 10 will next perform tomorrow night at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Wash.