American Idol – Final 4 (Performance Show)


Good Evening, America! Can you feel the excitement in the air? Yeah, me neither. But we are down to the Final 4. That means after tonight, there are only two performance episodes left before our winner is crowned. But that also means we have lots of filler between now and then to keep us occupied. Not tonight though. Tonight is all about the singing. So, let’s get to it. This… is American Idol!

The Idol Producers, showing their true evil nature, make me relive how my Adam Lambert- Martin almost went home last week. (I had finally started sleeping through the night again. I didn’t need to see that.) Seacrest says that there were a few accidents during the afternoon that prevented our Idols from having a proper run-through, so tonight is “very live”. (As opposed to other weeks when it’s just “kinda live”.) Tonight, besides being Rock Week with Special Guest Mentor Slash, our Idols will be pairing up for duets. There is no doubt in my mind that that will be interesting. (Fingers crossed for an Adam-Allison duet!) Seacrest also hints that this is a special week for my Paula Abdul. (I already know what it is, but we’ll get to that in a bit.)

Adam Lambert-Martin is up 1st with “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin. Adam is back to his Rock Look which is like a cross between David Bowie and Dr. Frankenfurter. This song is an excellent choice for him. Adam takes Slash’s advice which helps him to wail without screaming. And just when you think it’s over, he goes in for a big ending, Adam style, and it’s just awesome!

Allison Iraheta is 2nd with “Cry Baby” by Janis Joplin. I was hoping for some Heart or Blondie, but if she’s gonna do Janis, why not “Piece of My Heart”? Allison looks wonderful tonight, and Rock is definitely her element. Her sultry voice is perfectly suited to the low verses. The first chorus is amazing, but the second verse is very repetitive of the first, style-wise. I was really hoping she would build to something amazing and blow it up at the end. Not saying I didn’t like it because I did love it, but I was so hoping this would be the week for her to kill it.

Danny Gokey and Kris Allen are the 1st Duet of the evening with “Renegade” by Styx. (This means that we do get an Adam-Allison duet! Yay!) They start out sharing the acapella lead, but when they begin the harmony, it’s amazing. (Kris outsang Danny here). Then they kick it up, again taking turns, but this time being a tad pitchy. (Here, Danny definitely outshines Kris.) For the end, they get back into the harmony, and instead of trying to blend, Danny attempts to outshout Kris. Overall, it was good, but a little disjointed.

Kris Allen is our 3rd soloist with “Come Together” by the Beatles. (If you weren’t around last season for me to extol the virtues of the movie “Across the Universe”, I’ll say it again. Go rent/buy the movie. It’s like “Moulin Rouge” with Beatles songs, and it’s completely fabulous.) This is one of my favorite songs by the Beatles, so he better not muck it up. Of our four finalists, I felt Kris would have the hardest time with the Rock theme. (So not his style.) Tonight, it’s like the good kid next door is trying too hard to show that he’s a bad boy too, and it doesn’t really work. It’s very nice, but that’s all it achieves for me. Nice. (Unless Danny comes out and gives his worst performance of the season, I think Kris is going home.)

Danny Gokey is our last soloist with “Dream On” by Aerosmith. This song is more suited to Adam’s vocal pyrotechnics. I’m so afraid that Danny is getting into the “Me too” mode, thinking that if Adam can do it, he can too. The first part isn’t bad at all. It’s not his best stuff, but it’s not bad. The first few sets of “Dream On’s” were good, but at the end, he’s just screaming words into the microphone, and then for the last note, Danny’s just screaming. Not on pitch. Not even close. Worse than strangling a cat. That was not pleasant. I think my ears may be bleeding. And yet… Danny’s so proud of himself. (He won’t be once he watches this back.) I take back what I said about Kris going home. After that, Danny deserves to hit the bricks. (But I have a sinking feeling that Danny’s going to walk away with the title this season. America loves a nice guy with a good sob story who doesn’t rock the boat.)

Closing the show are Adam Lambert-Martin and Allison Iraheta doing a duet on “Slow Ride” by Foghat. (This is the moment I’ve been waiting for all night!) They take turns on the verses showing off some vocal gymnastics. The chorus harmony is a bit bumpy, but the bridge and ending are nothing short of fantastic. This was everything I wanted it to be! The complimented each other extremely well. If anyone had a problem with either of their solo performances, this performance should have erased any of those thoughts. I agree with Simon, if there was a Battle of the Duets, Adam & Allison were the clear winners.

Well, that’s our show for tonight. Overall, I loved it. Adam and Allison shined in a week that was meant for them. If all goes as it should, Danny and Kris should be in the Bottom 2. Tomorrow night, we’ll be visited by Chris Daughtry, No Doubt, and my girl Paula Abdul will take the stage to perform her new single "I’m Just Here for the Music"! (Words cannot describe my level of excitement over that!) Tune in tomorrow to see how it all goes down. Same Steve Time. Same Steve Channel.

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