It's just like seeing some old friends

Standing in line at the will-call booth before this year's "American Idols Live" concert experience, Brandon Rogers -- the Season 6 contestant voted off just shy of being included in this tour -- was not besieged. Nor was he ignored. He was joked with, smiled at, warmly appreciated. America's cuddliest hit show produces stars like this: regular-sized, with gifts not too far beyond the norm and an amiable desire to share them.

Inside Staples Center on Monday, the Idols who did make the cut spent 2 1/2 hours reinforcing the idea that our television heroes and we fans who make them shine are all friends, united by good humor, wholesome energy and the contents of the latest Top-40 hits compilation. The concert's set list was a homage to corporate radio; the gang dipped into hip-hop, country, modern rock, oldies and plenty of Bon Jovi.

Many song choices enhanced the images formed by weeks of exposure to these former unknowns: big-voiced, willful LaKisha Jones did well with Whitney Houston's signature "I Will Always Love You," while earthy, gospel-schooled Melinda Doolittle delivered on Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

Gina Glocksen, rocker chick, sang a Pink song while dressed in black. Haley Scarnato, known more for va-voom than voice, wore tight pants or short skirts, but as the designated sex symbol of this strictly PG night, she might have found a better-fitting bra.

Several Idols reprised personal high points from the competition, including Blake Lewis, rough-voiced at first but wowing as usual with a dose of beat-boxing and that Bon Jovi magic.

During their run on the Fox Network, this bunch sometimes seemed light on talent and, frankly, dull. But they eventually jelled, and their camaraderie became a story in itself. Sanjaya Malakar, who took the season from bland to bloggable, aided the concert's congenial mood as well. Playing Ike Turner to Doolittle's Tina during "Proud Mary," or moonwalking and crotch-twitching through Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel," he was a merry player in a postmodern romp, shifting stances with every restyling of his famous coif.

This regard for pop as a place where styles, sounds, races and generations intermingle is the crowning achievement of "Idol." The show's annual live tour allows parents and children to share a musical experience satisfying everyone's taste -- moms sang along to the Jewel song Jordin Sparks performed, the tykes went crazy for the Maroon 5 songs Lewis and Chris Richardson took on, and Sparks dedicated a country weeper to her grandfather.