I agree with you that the Idols need to get out and do as many live performances as they possibly can (whether they are making a lot of money at it or not), not only to get their name out there and keep in the public eye, but because it makes them better and better as live performers.  This is exactly why I wish they would get Haley out doing more shows.  I watched her performances recently at the Oregon Rose Festival – she sounded great and looked great – but it’s apparent she is still awkward at speaking to the audience or bantering back and forth.  She just looks so uncomfortable when it’s time to speak.  And that’s something that I think would improve greatly if she was doing 2-3 shows a week.  I know she has some radio promo shows coming up, but a lot of those are really small – she needs to get in front of some larger audiences more, even if it’s a couple hundred people. 

For instance, I also watched a live performance of Carly Rae Jepsen and Carly seemed so at ease, she came out and told a little story about how they wrote Call Me Maybe – asked the audience if they thought her guitar player was cute – danced around with the song – got the audience involved, etc.  It looked like she was just having a great time up there and so the audience did too.