Final 3 Perform

It was a busy Tuesday night with American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, and the 3 hour Biggest Loser Finale so thank the lord for DVR.

Anyway, we are down to the Final 3 and this could be the strongest final three we've ever had. So, let's see how they did last night:

Danny Gokey was up first with a song that Paula chose for him to sing. It was Terence Trent D'Arby's "Dance Little Sister." What can you say. He did what he does best; sing a song with soul. It almost sounded like Danny Gokey doing Michael McDonald doing a cover of Terence Trent D'Arby. However, I liked it. As for the "Wow", it was still missing but not counting a few gaffes along the way, Danny has been pretty consistent all season. What will help Danny out this week is that it was Mother's Day two days ago so the fact that he lost his wife who was someone's daughter, thus making that person a mother, gives him some extra sympathy votes this week. Not quite the Wow" but still a good start to the show.

Next up was dark horse, Kris Allen, performing One Republic's "Apologize" chosen by Randy & Kara. This was not my favorite Kris Allen song. It sounded too much like the original. What I've liked about Kris is that he's really changed up the arrangements each week and this was pretty much an exact cover of the original. I also had to agree with Simon when Kara gave a negative critique of the performance. She chose the song so what the heck was he supposed to do. As for the performance, the high notes in the song were way out of Kris' range and it was just the wrong song choice. I can't blame him as he did the best he could do with what he was given but I would have liked a different arrangement or a different song as it was a bit disappointing. This was far from a Wow.

Then, we get Mr. Lambert, who was lucky enough to have Simon pick his song which was U2's "One." Adam starts off the song like a ballad and then steps it up a notch mid-way through. It was a great arrangement and what you have to applaud is that this guy does make the song his own each week and it's original. I had to say, compared to the first two performances, if you want to win American Idol, you have to come out and make the song your own like Adam just did. I thought it was his best performance of the season and someone should do what's been done by Abba and Billy Joel and make a Broadway show consisting of U2 songs and the show should be called "One" headlined by Adam Lambert. There was one minor yelp towards the end of the song where he stuck his tongue out like a lizard that I could have done without but great performance. He earns a double Wow from me.

Danny was then up with his second song. He chose Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" and when with the slow arrangement to try and do something different to try and get that Wow. I liked the fact that he changed it up but he's not David Cook and doesn't pull it off as well as David did last season. I'm torn on this one. His stage presence is weak but he sure knows how to sing. I didn't think this was better or worse than his first performance; it was good but still not that Wow heading into the last week of the season.

Next up is Kris Allen. When I heard his song choice, I was shocked. It was "Heartless" by Kanye West. It's a song I don't know and couldn't name a Kanye song if I tried. When I hear Kanye's name, I think: Can't Sing, Cry-Baby, Ass-Hole, No Talent. Kris comes out with the guitar and totally nailed it. If Kanye West was doing his songs like this, then I'd be a Kanye fan in a minute. I actually got up off the couch and gave my first standing ovation of the season. This was great, original, and this could be Kris' niche - take a horrific rap song and change it up. This was a total Wow performance.

Finally, it was Adam Lambert ending the show with Aerosmith's "Cryin" which I was so bummed to hear that he picked. I can't stand Aerosmith and once I head the song choice, I knew exactly what we were going to get - a similar version to the original but with that Lambert spin to it. He did a good job with it but I couldn't stand it. It's amazing how his first song could be so great and his second song could be so annoying.

So, who goes home and who's in the finals?

Back on February 12th, when the Top 36 was revealed, I wrote: "My early pick for the finals: Gokey vs. Lambert."

Then, on March 11th, I picked my Top 5:
1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Lil Rounds
4. Scott MacIntyre
5. Matt Giraud

I didn't have Kris Allen that high and was definitely off with Scott MacIntyre. I then wrote on that same day:

I'm torn who will go against Gokey in the finals as it really could be any of the other 4. But, Danny Gokey will win and I'm gonna tell you why. My wife's due date is May 31st. For our first child, we went 14 days before our due date. If you count backwards from the 31st, that gets you close to Tuesday, the 19th where the singers will perform and the following night will be the results. If I was a betting man, I'll be in the hospital when the winner will be announced. Now, we have picked out names for our future child - boy and girl. I won't give you first names but if we have a boy, the middle name we chose was Daniel. Thus, Daniel (Danny) Gokey will be announced as winner of American Idol Season 8.

Based on my earlier predictions, I'm not going to change what I said. So, that being the case, Kris Allen goes home tonight but he'll leave with one hell of a Wow performance.

If I don't catch you next week for the finals, I'll be in the hospital for the birth of the next Harrison baby but hopefully will get my recap out at sometime soon after.

Until then, Birdman Out.