GREENSBORO -- A long banner hung on the rail in the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday night.

"We love you Anoop! The UNC Clef Hangers & Senior Varsity Fans."

Chapel Hill's Anoop Desai came home to North Carolina Sunday during the "American Idol" summer tour to the cheers of his friends and fans.

After his first song, "You Were Always on My Mind," the crowd stood and roared, with his friends and family cheering the loudest.

Desai pointed them out and thanked them for being there, remembering that it was just a year and half ago that he sang with many of them at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill.

Before the concert started Sunday, Desai said his most memorable experience on tour so far was in Charlotte on Saturday, when North Carolina fans gave him a warm and rousing welcome. It was probably much like that for Desai in Greensboro.

"It was really special for me to be onstage, to be home in front of a North Carolina crowd and be appreciated like that and have them stand up and cheer for me as long as they did," he said.

Onstage is where Desai comes alive. It's a chance to release his emotions and put it all out there, he said.

"That's me," he said. "That's real."

"When I'm onstage, that's when I'm in my element," Desai said. "It's what I love to do. When I get onstage, I actually get the opportunity to do what I love to do. That's the real me."

He croons, falls to his knees, dances and swings his hips.

"The kind of stuff I do on stage is the same stuff I did when I was at Carolina. It's become something I'm proud of," Desai said.

Desai's friend and fellow "American Idol" alum Adam Lambert said he admires Desai's voice.

"Anoop, his voice is so technically skilled," Lambert said. "He can do very, very difficult things with his voice. His tone is beautiful."

Lambert also appreciates Desai's intelligence and humor backstage and on the tour bus.

"He's quiet," Lambert said. "He's not one of the more rambunctious ones. He always makes me laugh. I'm not going to lie, some of the things he says go over people's heads."

Lambert -- who is already working on his album, which is due out in November -- said he hopes Desai will have a record deal soon.

"I wish him tons of luck on that," Lambert said. "I don't think he needs my wish of luck on that. I think that's going to happen."

Desai is hoping for a record deal, but can't make any announcements yet.

"It's the same thing I say all the time," he said. "It's what I am working toward."



Desai is under contract now with 19 Recordings, but that contracts ends at the end of August, leaving him free to talk to any record label.

But for now, he must operate under certain restrictions that preclude him from talking directly with any record companies.

"The whole thing is a process," he said. "It's a really convoluted process. There's no direct communication."

But that doesn't mean that people who have talked to record industry people haven't talked to Desai about some possibilities for the future.

"I hope and would like to think, I would have something solidified by the end of summer, by the end of the tour," Desai said.

Desai already has a contract for his first solo gig, performing at the N.C. State Fair in October. He's working with 19 to put together a band and hopes that some of his friends will be playing in it.

"I hope that they can play actually," he said. "My buddies are some of the most talented people that I know."

Desai still thinks often of his friend Eve Carson, who encouraged him to try out for "American Idol." He still carries his "Eve" pin in his pocket when he's on stage.

"I still think about her all the time, of course," he said. "It's her presence that inspires me more than anything."

Carson, who was the student body president at UNC, was murdered on March 5, 2008, in Chapel Hill.

When the Idols performed in Atlanta last week, Carson's parents attended the show.

"I got to speak to them and see them for a little bit, so that was a big moment for me," Desai said.

Desai often thinks of Carson before he goes on stage, he said.

"It's just knowing that she would be proud -- that pumps me up before shows," he said.