The Top 3 Perform – Goodbye, Kris!

It’s the 300th episode of American Idol! Have I really spent 300 or more hours with Ryan Seacrest? Awesome. He introduces the “Three Amigos” (lame!) and the judges. Randy is the same as always. Kara had some kind of blowout. Paula is hiding behind her chair. Simon is feeling feisty tonight! I have a way of knowing these things.

Adam, Kris & Danny have reached the hometown heroes stage of the competition; keys to the cities, blah blah blah, bumrushing. What?

Tonight they will each be singing two songs; one judge's choice and one their own.

Danny Gokey (Paula’s choice) – Dance Little Sister – Terence Trent D’Arby
I don’t know this song really, so it’s hard to tell if it’s an imitation and if the judges will think it’s original or if Paula will back him up simply because it’s her choice. It sounds super cheesy to me with a popcorn chorus. And scatting vs. saxaphone? What is that? Definitely not a highlight of this show, which is what it needs to be at this point. Randy thinks it was a good start with lots of energy. Though Kara thinks his tone is good, she knocks his dorky dancing. Paula gives him props for his choreography so we know she’s high. Simon complements his vocals but thinks the sax thing was lame and that he could have sung a better TTD song.

During Danny’s numbers Simon tries to drug Paula with some chloroform and drag her off the stage. It’s so cute how OCD poster boy, Ryan, gets so uncomfortable when things get a little out of hand on his show.

Kris Allen (Randy & Kara) – Apologize – One Republic
The mayor hands Kris a GIANT box with a tiny little phone in it to find out his judge’s pick. Kris is at the piano which is an interesting choice for this song. I love this song, and I love Kris, but maybe not the two together. It seems like he’s trying a bit to hard. It’s a weird mix between trying to make the song his own and performing an imitation. He seems a bit reprimanded already as he gets up from the piano. Randy backs up his own song choice. Kara tells him it was a nice performance, but wishes he had hit it out of the park. Paula stumbles over some nonsense and mentions one bad note. Simon, still kind of miffed that Paula got away during the commercial break, knocks Kara’s critique. He’s really on fire tonight. I LOVE it. I completely forgot what he said about Kris, though.

Ryan tries to step in to break up the... oh wait, now Kara is strangling Simon! What is going on here?!?!

Adam (Simon’s choice) – One – U2
Is Adam wearing silver make up like a pretend robot street performer? Does Adam ever cease to amaze me? The answer to both questions is NO! This is probably Adam’s straightest performance on the show to date, and it’s absolutely beautiful. When he gets to the big section it kind of goes all screechy and crazy Adam-like. Not sure I love it, but what will the judges think? Look, at this point (and pretty much from the get go) it’s impossible to criticize Adam’s singing because it’s pretty much perfect. So it all comes down to a matter of taste and I think he has proven himself to be the lone Krispy Kreme doughnut in the middle of a Weight Watchers meeting. Randy is the only one with me (insert weight joke here). Kara is starry eyed. Paula is speechless. Simon is gloating.

Danny Gokey – You are so beautiful – Joe Cocker
Booooring. Danny pulls out all the stops in one more chance to pay tribute to his dead wife. It’s overwrought, overemotional, and I’m totally over it. Sorry Danny. I know I will probably be looking at you up on that stage next week, but I’m not going to like it. Not even for a minute. Randy tells him he can really, really, really sing. Kara calls him stunning and nothing else. Paula lost her breath and her brain. Simon calls it a vocal master class. Oy vey.

Kris Allen – Heartless – Kanye West
So far I like Kris’ song choices the best. But as of right now I haven’t heard him sing. So well see how this goes. I will admit I am totally biased towards the popular songs as opposed to the classics. I can see why people might pick Danny over this, but I think it’s pretty amazing. Randy likes this version better than all the other versions produced of this song. Sweet. Kara calls him bold, brave and fearless. Paula rambles on while Simon rolls his eyes at her. When it’s finally Simo's turn he beats around the bush quite a bit before telling him he’s back in the competition.

Adam Lambert – Cryin' – Aerosmith
I’m so glad they saved this song for last because I can tell from the first note that it’s going to be so totally awesome that the audience is going to completely lose their shit harder than they have all season. I bet if they showed the judges table they would all be making out with each other while patting themselves on their backs. If that’s possible. Randy tells him he should be a rock star (um, isn’t he already?). Kara says see you at the final, but not with a lot of confidence. Paula’s talking about flying around. Simon refuses to suck up, because he doesn’t want the voters to forget to vote for Adam, because he’s so inherently awesome that they would just assume he’d be there.

See you in the finals, Adam!

[ed note: I wasn’t really blown away by any of the performances tonight. I remember being pretty blown away last season during the Top 3, so here’s to hoping the Final Two don’t disappoint!]