The "American Idols Live!" tour has packed up and headed across the state to Charlotte, where a performance is scheduled for tonight. But here are a few final thoughts on the sold-out Raleigh show at the RBC Center on Wednesday night.

First, check out my colleague David Menconi's fine review, if you haven't already. He is dead-on in noting that Garner's Scotty McCreery, left, seems right at home onstage and that Haley Reinhart already seems like a seasoned performer. And yes, an appearance by Scotty a little earlier in the show would have been preferable.

But I tended to view the show from a slightly different lens than David -- was it an enjoyable, family-friendly night out for my wife and I and our 10-year-old daughter, a huge "Idol" fan who is not quite ready for a Katy Perry or Lady Gaga show? On that measure, just looking at my kid's face, it was a big success.

"Idols Live!" is never going to match, say, a Prince or Springsteen show. No one expects it to. But for what it is — well-produced, Disney-fied singing of popular songs, with something for everyone — it works.

Highlights:

The first three stops on the "American Idols Live Tour" have been completed, and we're seeing the first reviews of how homeboy Scotty McCreery and the other finalists are doing.

"[James] Durbin got them worked up, and winner Scotty McCreery got them out of their seats," wrote Ryan White in The Oregonian, Portland's newspaper. "The 17-year-old has big presence, a classic country voice and a single called 'I Love You This Big.' "

White said the song's title sounds like "a board book for toddlers." His review, which focused a lot on the commercialism and marketing power of the "Idol" machine, said the females generally do a better job than the men.

The next stage of Scotty McCreery's "American Idol" journey begins tonight in Utah, when this summer's live concert tour gets under way.

The "Idol" winner from  Garner will be touring with the other Top 11 finalists of the past season through mid-September. After tonight's show at the Maverik Center near Salt Lake City, the finalists will head across the nation, stopping at arenas in most every medium-to-large city.

The tour will play Raleigh's RBC Center on July 27. Scotty said he's particularly excited to play here.