By Alexandra Pecci
Correspondent

When 17-year-old Katie Stevens missed her senior prom, her fellow “American Idol” contestants stepped in to lend a hand.

“I was out here in Los Angeles, so me and the Idols had a little pool party,” she said. “It was prom theme, except everybody had to come in their sweatpants. It was a dress-down prom.”

The Connecticut native will appear along with the other top-10 finalists when the American Idol Live! tour comes to Manchester’s Verizon Wireless Arena on July 14.

Even though Stevens won’t spill which songs she’ll be singing on tour, she does promise that the show will be “amazing.”

“It’s so much better if it’s a surprise,” she says.

Stevens was pegged as a front-runner early on in the competition, making it to the top 10 and continually wowing the judges with performances like “Let it Be” and “Wild Horses.” Even though she was voted off the competition on April 14, she’s hoping to score a record deal when the tour’s over, and plans to start writing music during the tour.

“I started writing music about three years ago, so I’m just gonna try to get as many ideas as I can while I’m on tour and then be able to have those to work with in the future when I’m writing an album,” she says.

Although the teen admits to being nervous before she performs, she doubts audiences will see any nerves during the 49-city tour.

“I always have nerves before I sing anywhere, whether it’s in front of five people or 5,000 people,” she says. “I never let them get in the way of how I sing or how I perform, so I’m going to use my nerves to my advantage and try to work them into my performances.”

Stevens didn’t need to win “American Idol” to be swept up in its star power. She got to work with Season Eight runner-up Adam Lambert when he was a mentor, saying that the glam rocker was able to help not only with singing advice, but also on the whirlwind experience of being an “American Idol” contestant.

She says another highlight of her experience was getting to sing with Christina Aguilera during the finale.

“That was insane, because I’ve looked up to her since I was like 6 years old. So to be able to sing with her and be able to meet her was just amazing. I have no words,” she says.

She was also a part of Simon Cowell’s last season as a judge on the program. She says Cowell is actually a “very nice guy” who might come off mean, but is “just being honest.”

“I was so honored to be part of Simons’s last season and to be able to be part of his tribute,” she says. “I watched ‘Idol’ since I was 8, and he’s such a big part of ‘Idol.’ So to be able to meet him and be able to have him on the show to be able to critique me and give me his honest view; it was really incredible. And I was happy I was here for his last season.”

To her fellow New Englanders, Stevens offers heartfelt thanks for the votes and help in her journey. And she has another imploring message: “If they haven’t bought tickets (for the ‘American Idol’ tour), they need to go onto LiveNation.com right now! Exclamation point!”

If you go:
What: American Idol Live!
Where: Verizon Wireless Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester.
When: Wednesday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m.
How: Tickets are $54.50, $69.50. Learn more: LiveNation.com.