American Idol Top 9: Bagpipes + Didgeridoos = Awesomeness

It was an interesting night on the Idol stage tonight. The Top 9 performed songs from the Lennon/McCartney songbook, yielding mixed results, but I have to say I really enjoyed watching tonight, and I loved that we got to learn a little more about the contestants...from the other contestants since there was no mentor. Overall tonight had many interesting and beautiful performances, of course there were some stinkers as usual , but overall, good show! Lets recap the performances shall we?

Aaron Kelly, “The Long and Winding Road”
Aaron did another slow, kind of boring, typical-Aaron performance. I was hoping he would do something different, something uptempo, like Kara suggested, but alas, it didn't happen. Sure, Aaron is cute and has this kinda David Archuleta vibe thing going on, but he just seems to do the same kind of performance week after week. Yawn. The last time I found him interesting was when he sang "Angie" during Rolling Stones week. I think Aaron could be bottom 3 material tomorrow night.

Katie Stevens, “Let It Be”
Next up was Katie Stevens and believe it or not...she stayed in tune! I thought she gave a beautiful performance tonight and it was the first time I didn't cringe or want to fast forward the TV. She gave us some emotion and stayed in tune and I really liked it, I'm glad too because I don't want another woman to go home yet! 3 in a row is too much, it is already a sausage fest, please just take a week off and send Tim home.

Andrew Garcia, “Can’t Buy Me Love”
Going third tonight was Andrew Garcia. Andrew really changed around this song and I thought it was kind of corny like Randy and Simon said. It was all "boppy" and kind of a mess. I did enjoy it more than all of his other big stage performances though, besides "Forever", but that isn't saying much.

Michael Lynche, “Eleanor Rigby”
Big Mike did "Eleanor Rigby" which is a song that I have always loved. It tells a haunting story. Big Mike rearranged it and I thought he did a great job making it sound contemporary, while keeping the haunting story vibe to it. He rocked it out and showed a different side tonight and I really liked it. And again, I agreed with Kara over Simon, Kara said it was contemporary and "you could hear this on the radio", while Simon said he was "confused." Wasn't anything confusing about it to me Simon, it was my favorite performance by Michael so far, he dropped the cheese, dropped the R&B crooner-ness, and he rocked it out.

Crystal Bowersox, “Come Together”
Crystal really rocked it out too! She got on stage with her trusty ole guitar this week and a special guest: a guy with a tribal looking instrument called a didgeridoo. At first I thought the didgeridoo was distracting and weird, but as Crystal sang and strummed her guitar, the two really worked well together. She showed more spirit and looks like she had fun and it was another awesome performance from Mamasox. By the way, I love how it showed the contestants call her Mamasox too!

Tim Urban, “All My Loving”
Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh UGH. I'm sick of Tim Urban, I loathe him more than Sanjaya! Sure he has a good attitude and he takes the bad critiques like a man...good for him, he is still a bad, boring singer. He sucks the soul out of everything he sings and I am just sick of him. In the video before his performance the contestants mainly talked about him smiling a lot and his wide grin, which is kind of creepy to me. I loved how Randy felt the need to judge him based on a "Tim Scale" like he's a kindergartner or something. I was appalled that Simon actually had positive feedback for him. Please go home tomorrow. Please.

Casey James, “Jealous Guy”
Casey finally shaked things up tonight and did something that didn't resemble a Karaoke bar performance. He slowed things down and got all emotional, and it kind of worked. It was an emotional performance, you could see it in his face and hear it in his voice, and it was nice to hear something new from him. However, I still think that Big Mike and Lee Dewyze have him beat, so I don't think that he will make it any further than the top 5.

Siobhan Magnus, “Across the Universe”
Siobhan also slowed things down this week and gave an emotional performance as well. I thought it was really pretty and the song really fit her. Also, she finally did not do a screeching high note at the end, which was a welcome change, and pleased the judges. I hope she can make it to the top 5 as well, but I could see her being in the bottom 3 tomorrow, I hope not though because she is interesting and quirky and I like seeing her on the show, she's someone to look forward to, like Crystal and Lee.

Lee Dewyze, “Hey Jude”
At the start of his song tonight, I thought it was kind of a mess. It was all over the place and kind of weird and I expected more...and I got more about 1 minute into the song. Towards the middle and the end of the song Lee really got into it, especially the "Na na na na" part. He got the audience singing along with him and he even lured a giant bagpipe played onto the Idol stage somehow. I thought it was unintentionally funny when the bagpipe man showed up, but Lee's performance more than made up for the weird bagpipe choice. In the pre-performance video the Idol contestants said how much of a worrier Lee is and how he is always down on himself and saying he is going to go home. Lee has that sexy rocker tone to his voice, and it sounds so radio-ready, he just needs a big self-confidence boost.

Well that's a wrap for Lennon/McCartney songbook night! What did you think? Did you overall enjoy yourself like I did? I think it was one of this season's better live shows and I hope they can keep this going into next week and the rest of the season. My predictions for the bottom 3 tomorrow night are Tim, Andrew, and Aaron, but judging on America's decisions so far this season it will probably be Tim, Katie and Siobhan and Katie will go home. I really hope that doesn't happen! Anyways, I'm out for the night, leave comments and be sure to watch Idol tomorrow for the results and to see Rihanna, Jason Derulo, and David Archuleta perform!