'Idol' tour tickets are expected to sell quickly

HUNTINGTON -- Jim "Front Row" Perdue knows the competition is going to be tough on Saturday.

And Perdue knows concert-hungry competition.


The Huntington resident, who once camped out seven days for a Reba McEntire concert in Charleston and who earned his nickname over years of standing in ticket lines, said Saturday's "American Idol" ticket sale is going to be a hot one.

"They may have to call me " 'fifth row,' " Perdue said laughing. "But I hope to get my tickets through the radio station."

Saturday at 10 a.m. about 9,000 tickets will go on sale at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena for the Sept. 15, concert by "American Idol's" Top 10 performers.

Those performers include the top two finalists, Jordin Sparks (a former back-up singer for Kenova native Christian pop artist Michael W. Smith) and Blake Lewis, who square off next Tuesday in the "AI" season finale.

Other contestants on tour will include Melinda Doolittle, Chris Sligh, Gina Glocksen, Haley Scarnato, Chris Richardson, Lakisha Jones, Phil Stacey and the controversial Sanjaya Malakar.

Tickets for the concert are $48.50 and $65, and will also be on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets, as well as online at www.ticketmaster.com.

If you want tickets, Amanda Weiss, marketing manager at the arena, said get there early since last year's visit by "American Idol" sold out in about 30 minutes, becoming the fastest sell-out in the arena's history.

Those tickets went on sale just hours after Taylor Hicks was declared the "American Idol" for season five on live television.

"Last year when they went on sale, we had no idea it was going to do it that quick," Weiss said. "I left for the dentist and when I got back they were running up to me saying pull the promotions because all the tickets are gone."

With good reason to expect a repeat swift sell-out, Weiss said there's a couple tips folks can do to speed up the process of buying tickets. There's an eight-ticket-per-person limit.

The main thing is to bring cash, and, of course, sometimes people at home in their PJs letting their fingers and credit card do the walking on Ticketmaster's Web site have as good a chance as anybody of scoring good seats.

But those folks will miss out on all the Saturday morning festivities as WKEE 100-FM rolls out its second American Idol Sing Off for a pair of front-row tickets starting at 9 a.m. at the arena plaza.

The judges, who promise to play nice, will award one singer a pair of front row tickets, but everyone who enters the singing competition will have their name put in a drawing for "Idol" seats as well.

Judging from last year's sing off at the arena, Jason King was thinking what they could really use this year was a gong.

"I was supposed to be the 'Simon' judge, but it's hard to put down a little kid with mom standing right there," King said laughing.