Final 7 Performance Night

The performers are all dressed somewhat conservatively, with mostly earth colors. Alicia Keys is the mentor. She was the top selling R&B artist of the last decade. She should do well. She is really smart, and she would have been a standout Idol contestant herself. She graduated from a prestigious performing arts school at 16 years old, as the valedictorian.

The singers, the songs-

Casey James, “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac

He sloughed off the last note a little bit, but the rest of the performance was outstanding. Casey showed who he is very succinctly tonight; playing some lead guitar and riding the pentatonic scale over the top of the melody. He was somewhere between Delbert McClinton and Johnny Lang. Because he had only that minute and a half to work with, he was forced to make a choice: Start out slow and build, or just start out in overdrive. He chose the latter, and the whole thing was very energetic. B+

Lee Dewyze, “The Boxer” by Simon and Garfunkel

He changed one chord at the start of the la la la part. I liked the change, and I liked his energy during the crescendo into the last chorus. He could cut this version and put it on an album; I would buy it. A

Tim Urban, “Better Days” by the Goo Goo Dolls

This song really fit Tim well, and he was as good as he’s ever been. I have been hammering on him, but I have to credit Tim for working to improve every week. He missed a note or two, but he wasn’t badly out of tune. It’s not out of the realm that the Teflon One might make it to the top five, and maybe even beyond. While Siobhan peaked early and is struggling to live up to that, Tim started out from a much lower standard and can give the appearance of improving and taking steps forward. B

Aaron Kelly, “I Believe I can Fly” by R. Kelly

He started out behind, and once in awhile he would catch up to it but then with a “beep beep” the roadrunner of a song would just take off and leave him standing there with his anvil. Aaron was noticeably pitchy in parts, and he never seemed to get on top of the song. C

Siobhan Magnus, “When you Believe” by Mariah Carey

She sang scared, too worried about Simon’s revenge (from last week when she talked back to him) to relax. If someone like Katie or Tim had to sing like this it would have been a disaster, but Siobhan was able to sound really good despite having almost no air in her lungs. The wooden performance itself rates something in the low B to high C range, but the degree of difficulty raises her performance to a B+

Michael Lynch, “Hero” by Nickelback

It was powerful, and Mike did what Mike does. The band drowned him out for most of the song, but that’s not his fault. He really looks strange with a guitar, even when he is playing a fairly large one. He just dwarfs it. B

Crystal Bowersox, “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield

She sang the first verse acapella. She stumbled a bit on her first glory note, but she came right back and nailed the next one. She broke down at the end in tears. She explained later that it was the first time that her Dad had been there so see her. A-

Safe to in Danger-

Crystal

Lee

Casey

Mike

Aaron

Siobhan

Tim

The bottom three will probably be Tim, Siobhan and either Aaron or Mike, with Tim and Siobhan standing there at the end. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Siobhan, but I’m not sure that staying on the show to get more abuse from Simon is doing her any good.