“American Idol” Tour Cancelled: “Idols Live!” Scrapped Two Weeks Early

America is voting no on Idols Live!

The annual American Idol summer concert tour, featuring the Top 10 finalists — Aaron Kelly, Andrew Garcia, Casey James, Crystal Bowersox, Didi Benami, Katie Stevens, Lee DeWyze, Michael Lynche, Siobhan Magnus, and Tim Urban — from the critically-panned ninth season of Idol, will end two weeks early following a lack of consumer interest and poor ticket sales.

Is this a sign of things to come for the nation’s most popular TV talent show?

American Idol producers have scrapped dates in seven cities and rescheduled nine others after a barrage of problems hit its 2010 Idols Live! Tour last month.

The organizers will now wrap up the road show on Aug. 31 instead of Sept. 16.

All September shows are now Idol-less: including Winnipeg, MB; Toronto, ON; Buffalo, NY; Cleveland, OH; and Portland, ME – while the Omaha, NE (Aug. 26) and Kansas, MO (Aug. 27) dates were also scrapped. The Bridgeport, CT gig scheduled on Sept. 13 has been moved up to July 9.

Although Live Nation, the show’s concert promoter, has offered no official explanation for the tour’s cancellation, well-placed snoops close to production are chiming in with their two cents:

“No one was very optimistic about the success of the Idols tour this summer. They knew they didn’t have big stars on their hands, and really, ‘American Idol’s’ focus isn’t about creating a successful tour, it’s about creating a successful show, week to week. But unfortunately, the tour (not doing well) reflects badly on the show, especially since there’s the ‘who will replace Simon’ situation to contend with this year.”

It’s a tough season to be a traveling musician. Last week, Lilith Fair 2010 producers said they were canceling 10 concerts amid what its organizers called “one of the most challenging summer concert seasons.”

American Idol will return to the tube — sans Simon — in January?