With the E. Rutherford, New Jersey auditions concluding yesterday, the first and second-round cattle call auditions are finished. Now, it’s on to auditions in front of Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell. Those auditions begin at the end of this week in New York City.
As auditioners are advanced to the Hollywood Round, spoilers will inevitably leak to the internet. In fact, they already have. Yes, kids, the spoiler season, my favorite season, has begun. Hooray! Here’s what we got so far:
Vote for the Worst recently published their first article on this year’s plants–a couple of would-be contestants were signed to big label deals, and another, Lara Johnston, is the daughter of Doobie Brothers’ singer, Tom Johnston. A Worster also happened to make it to the producer rounds. You can read his account HERE.
A list of contestants who’ve made it to the next round, complete with links to music and My Space pages, has already been started by that awesome spoiler, Joesplace. Check that out HERE. In light of the fact that Season 7 Top 50 contestants cut from the Top 24 are eligible to try out again this year, rumor has it that many are, including Brandon Green, Neyshia Go and Lisa Aukerman . So far, they’ve all been closed-mouthed about their progress, but I’m sure more will be revealed. ETA: Alisha Dixon, Colton Swon and Brandon Green definitely made it through to the next round…
One more note about the cattle-call auditions: An estimated 15,000 auditioned in New Jersey yesterday. Compare that to the 20,000 who auditioned in Philadelphia last year. I think it’s safe to conclude that the audition numbers are down for this year compared to last. Check out the full charts after the jump.
Bonus: Check out my fellow Idol nerd, Jim Cantiello of MTV as he auditioned in E. Rutherford New Jersey yesterday. His account is very detailed and very hilarious. Those of you familiar with his Idol in 60 Seconds videos know what I’m talking about. You can read his account right HERE.
Audition Charts after the JUMP…
*Season 8 Auditions
- San Francisco - July 17 - 7,000
- Louisville - July 21 - 10,000
- Phoenix - July 25 - 5,500
- Salt Lake City - July 29 - 6000
- San Juan - Aug 2 - 300
- Kansas City - Aug 8 - 10,000
- Jacksonville - Aug 13 - 11,000
- E. Rutherford - Aug 19 - 15,000
*Season 7 Auditions
- San Diego - July 30 - 12,000
- Dallas - Aug 6 - 13,000
- Omaha - Aug 10 - 15,000
- Atlanta - Aug 14 - 12,000
- Charleston - Aug 18 - 10,000
- Miami - Aug 22 - 9,000
- Philadelphia - Aug 27 - 20,000
* Numbers are gathered from newspaper reports and from numbers reported by Ryan Seacrest during the Season 7 audition episodes - The newspaper accounts are estimates. The episode numbers could be inflated a little…
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Don’t want to read the spoilers, sorta like not wanting to know the sex of the kid, lol. But Jim is so damn funny. I loved his audition report. He and David White are kindred spirits, kinda. LOL!
Well, one thing about the VFTW guy’s account is that it is consistent with the rumor from a while back that they are looking for “performers’ this year. Interesting.
As far as the plant stuff, I’ll take that seriously when these people actually make the Top 24. Last year folks were screaming about plants and fixing then it turned out half the so called plants never made it through, and a non-plant actually won the damn thing. lol.
Loved Jim’s Cantiello account. Haha!
OMG Jim Cantiello is my hero!
I know at least one person on that list is probably incorrect (contacting her personally on other sites). I tried to mention it but they didn’t believe me.
Ok-
From a personal perspective, i went to the jax auditions and there was nowhere near 11K CONTESTANTS there. There may have been 10K people TOTAL (that includes friends/family members who came with their idol wannabe) because only the bottom section of the Arena was filled- and that had an 10-11K capacity..and that included guests. I think Idol producers severely exaggerate the amount of people that turn out. I’d say there were maybe 7K AUDITION-ERS who tried out in jax.
Also, I’m very reluctant to believe people who say the show is rigged. Everyone has an opinion, and often times, those opinions are influenced by negative results (ie contestants who didnt make the grade and got cut). But then again, this is just my opinion. People (like VFTW) love crapping on idol because it gives them attention- and people love hearing about rumors.
I mean, if your telling me that had DA, Carly, MJ all went through the audition process and got cut (or beat out by better singers), i would find that highly unlikely. The fact is, the people they put on idol are better vocally and more interesting than everyone else. They are put on the show for a reason, because they are the best of the best and because they are relatively unknown.
Give me Carly anyday. I dont care that she had a record out. I had never heard of her. She’s never been famous. And she has a great voice.
Archie won on star search when he was like 10. Whoopie doo. This is 7 years later. He hadn’t accomplished anything career wise up to that point.
The rules clearly state that you can’t have a record deal. That’s it. So, either take fault with the rules of AI, or stop complaining. It’s not the contestants fault. Ugh. I love this show.
Wow. Next year, I’m auditioning in PR. ;)
Hey MJ, do you know if Nyesha or Lisa A. made it through round one/2? I know that Brandon, Colton Swon and Alisha Dixon did, but I dont know for sure about any others yet.
Everyone is being REALLY tight lipped…for now…lol
Don’t know! Can’t wait to find out. :). Thanks for the extra tidbits!
Squeeee! I loved ol’ fingernail boy!
OMG, Jim Cantiello’s play-by-play was hysterical!
Yay for Colton Swon and Brandon Green!
Yep, I love fingernail guy. :) For reals.
I am very interested in San Juan - Aug 2 - 300. It would seem a lot of contestants made it farther along. Maybe? I want to know how many made it to Hollywood.
I don’t know if anyone watched the short lived show Rock The Cradle on MTV, it aired during Idol season and most of the contestants were beyond awful. The show featured the children of rock stars, Kenny Loggins’ son Crosby was the winner. Well anyway, Lara Johnston was also a contestant, she was decent, very young compared to the others though. Here’s a link to her singing Respect, there are also several others on youtube.
Lara Johnston - Respect
I think the primary reason that audition numbers are down is because of all the attention that was given to the industry backgrounds of people like Carly, Michael, and Kristy. Sure, gas prices and the economy factor in, but I really think a lot of people interpreted the level of experience of these three (and perhaps some of the other finalists) as meaning “amateurs need not apply.”
On a separate note, it would be the most awesome thing in the history of the universe if a Worster got on the show and through their successful experience was trasformed from, well, a Worster, to an excitedly freaked-out contestant, on the level of the character Omer from American Dreamz.
You tried to mention it to who? Where?
JJ123, I thought her name sounded familiar! I watched that show!
It was kinda cringe inducing after watching Idol but entertaining. Lara actually seemed very sweet. I would rather her make it on idol than Olivia Newton John’s freak of nature.
You go Jim! That was a great story. I love that the Idol Machine is getting infiltrators. Makes the whole ting so much more fun.