So its down to 3. They had their parades and now its time rumble.  The judges picked a round of songs and the finalists picked a round. Let the games begin. The judges round of songs was first. 



Danny Gokey started with a song Paula Abdul picked for him, Terrence Trent Darby's "Dance Little Sister". It was solid, not stellar or amazing but solid.  It was a good song for his style and range, however this white man can't dance.

Kris Allen covered One Republic's "Apologize" chosen by Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi.  He showed his musical talent by playing the piano as well.  Kara ripped into him saying it wasn't all that, the arrangement was lacking and he should of did the acoustic guitar thing.  Simon then let's her have it saying she is the one who picked the song and needed to own some responsibility.  It was a good cover, like Gokey, it was solid yet not out of the park.

Adam Lambert sang U2's "One" which Simon Cowell picked, being his favorite song of all time.  He then proceeded to butcher the song in true Lambert fashion like only he can.  I don't care if the guy can hit amazing high notes if they were never intended for the song it is killing the song, and not in a good way.  All the judges LOVED it.  REALLY? Did we watch and listen AGAIN to the same performance?
Is Paula still handing out Lambert-Love-In drugs during the commercial break?  I'm sorry, you ask any U2 fan from the hardcore to the casual listener and they will tell you that flat out sucked.  You couldn't even tell what it was he was singing.  I reeled myself back in from getting all emo over it, jumped on wikipedia, looked up butchered song and low and behold there it was, Adam Lambert's "One" cover.

The finalist's song choice round was next, and markedly better.

Danny busted out with Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" and kicked it up another notch. This song was a perfect choice for his raspy vocal stylings and had most of the women in the audience screaming and cheering upon conclusion.  The judges seem to be in agreement with crowd on this one.

Kris went on to sing Kanye West's "Heartless", acoustic guitar in hand, and blew it out.  It was arguably better than the original, and the increasingly popular The Fray's version.  It would not matter if this guy goes on as he stands right now he could play opposite the likes of John Mayer or Jason Mraz and do just fine.  He is relevant, he needs very little if any molding and shaping to sell records right out of the gate.  Kris is our favorite to win.



Adam then concluded the show with his version of Aerosmith's "Cryin'" with painted nails, Spock-like monitors in his ear, and the signature leather jacket.  He may have the rocker look more than the others but it is not a fashion show, it is a singing competition.  It is not a screaming in key competition or reaching extremely high notes without your voice cracking competition.  This performance left me crying for wasting my time listening to it.  If that weren't bad enough, the judges went on to chime in with how awesome he was, and amazing.  Again, drinking the AI Lambert flavored Koolaid. — Don't drink it.  

It still bakes my noodle how a little persuasive marketing can get so many to follow, in this case, deafly.  We will see tomorrow, but I am hoping that the final ends up being Danny and Kris, with Kris winning it all.  I have yet to buy an Idol cd, I would run right out and buy his.

thoughts, cogitations, and hypostulations by Erik Thureson