American Idol rocked last night, but, in the end, it was business as usual on this show: Adam Lambert ruled!
As we rundown each finalist’s rock ‘n roll routine, we’re gonna ignore the duets between Lambert and Allison Iraheta, and Danny Gokey and Kris Allen, because they were nothing more than time-fillers.
We’re also gonna try to ignore Gokey’s painful scream at the conclusion of “Dream On,” but that may be a challenge. It continued to pierce our ears long after the audition was over.
- Adam Lambert kicked off the show with a Led Zeppelin classic, “Whole Lotta Love.” Randy Jackson simply said “This is the Adam I love, dude,” while adding that the performance should erase any criticism that Adam is nothing but a Broadway singer. The only problem, as Simon pointed out, no one would be able to top this all night.
- Allison Iraheta tried with the Janis Joplin song, “Cry Baby,” but Randy and Kara didn’t think it was the right choice for her. Still, Simon hopeully helped her stave off elimination by saying her progress has been “completely staggering.”
- Simply put, Danny Gokey sucked on Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” The primal scream at the end was a weak attempt to sound like Lambert and it annoyed our staff that the judges refuse to really criticize Gokey. Both Randy and Paula gave him him “A-plus” for his effort, while Paula simply asks the crowd who liked Danny Gokey. Nice job, panel.
- Kris Allen was also weak, as he chose a classic by The Beatles, “Come Together.” This really isn’t his genre of music. Good ol’ Simon described it all as “rather like eating ice for lunch,” meaning the performance was forgettable and unsatisfying. We think.
Which American Idol satisfied your craving for rock ‘n roll last night? Click on each photo for a larger shot of each finalist.