I’d be interested to see some of these Idol rockers to go to somewhere like Rock in Rio and see how they’re received.

Yes, I can see where festivals that feature Snow Patrol, Jamiroquai, Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, and Maroon 5 are totally for hardcore metal and punk fans.  No one who has had a rock song on mainstream radio need apply.

“Cook has described himself as “kinda emo” in interviews and tweets.  And
I honestly think that “post-grunge” is even more limiting as a
descriptor, since most people(wrongly) just assume it means
“Nickleback”, so Jackson kind of did him a favor.”

Yeah, he did – after Idol. During the show, he just said “rock”. But honestly – what Idol considered ‘rock’ was not such a much – so any descriptor, even from Randy, was ground-breaking in 2008. It’s not like the Theme Weeks then were going to allow the contestants to stay in one lane – that’s a new wrinkle since Season 10. It used to be, ‘show us your versatility’ in genres you never plan to sing in again…because it’s such ‘Good TV’.

Let’s see what they do this year coming. Heh.

Maybe they don’t, but it’s not because all rock audiences expect everyone to be “hardcore” before they merit festival appearances.  I actually think some of them would do just fine away from US program director snobbery, because they’d just be new artists like any other.

I’ll be auditioning in Chicago although I’m not sure I have a chance to win
since I’m a just a WCWG (White Clown With Guitar). Here’s hoping that 3 letters out
of 4 will be enough.

I’m already looking forward to your audition recap. 

You need also to be from the south and u can’t be blond. Blond WGWGs never win (see Casey James, Paul MacDonald, James Durbin, Casey Abrams).

I would NOT bring it. It will pigeon hole you just visually while you’re trying to get heard and seen. If they want you to play there will be plenty of guitars to grab to do so. Good luck! 

James Durbin performing at Rock on the Range 5/20/12, one of the largest hardcore rock festivals in the US.
This is how he was received:

I’d be interested to see some of these Idol rockers to go to somewhere like Rock in Rio and see how they’re received.
But none of those came from a musical competition show. I’m not saying
it’s right, but they just plain don’t get the same amount of respect.

The US music-market is very tough and artist-crowded, coming from a show considered not necessarily a talent-show but a karaoke one by many in the business, it’s not so easy for idols to find their places and respects in. Some idols have to pay their dues to get them much harder than the ones discovered on youtube for example. But there are some festivals, not necessarily #1s with big capacities, but decent ones like 10K for them maybe to apply and start with in order to get some “credit” and maybe latter they might get more of them or even bigger having already a festival-history, like applying for a credit card for the first time. The festivals are not only for rockers, there are some pretty diverse acts in the same event http://goo.gl/kFTzo, so idols might try to apply for some of them like James has done and got through his label, Haley too.

Good luck to Kitty and everyone (from this site) auditioning this year! I remember Duke was auditioning like 2 years ago-(hope I’ve got the name correctly)

“After Crystal kicked Lee’s ass during Season 9 and still lost, I gave up
all hope a girl would ever win again if she’s up against a white dude
who is prolific with instruments. I’m just now at the point where I
might as well eembrace the madness fully and just count for them to win.
:-P”

From what I’ve seen the past few years, the WG doesn’t even need to be a particularly talented guitar player.  He just needs to be able to strum some chords. Not to mention that the WG doesn’t need to be able to sing on key or follow a melody any more.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who’s offered me advice and wished me good luck! Good luck to anyone else from this site who’s auditioning! I hope we meet up in Hollywood!

mj has the rules for the Idol Auditions linked above in a PDF file – this is the relevant section:

What To Sing at the Auditions.

Be prepared to sing a capella (without musical or instrumental accompaniment), a song of your choice. You should be prepared to sing at least two or possibly three songs. If you are called back for the first recall,you may be asked again to sing two songs a capella, one of which may or may not be from a list that will be provided to you by the producer at that time. The other song, if requested by the producer, may be a song of your choice. All rules and procedures are subject to change at producer’s sole and absolute discretion.

~~~~~

Emphasis mine – so Idol can change the rules whenever they feel like it – but this is what everyone starts with. (Having 4 or 5 songs you can kill with would seem to be a good plan.)

Good luck to the two posters (so far) who want to give it a shot!