The Top 11 Perform - 3/17/09

[The4thJudge]

Tight Black T

After a few pints this show could really get good tonight. - Ryan Seacrest.

Yeah, that was about where my expectations were for Grand Ole Opry night. Not that I don't like country music. Don't get me wrong, I listen to just about everything and am quite fond of a lot of country music. I just had a little trouble with the pairing of country and this particular group of singers. Amazingly, it was not the complete and total trainwreck that I expected. Oh, there were some cringe-worthy moments for sure, but I only reached for the mute button on my remote once.

Randy Travis was the guest mentor for the night. He was probably the most low-key mentor I have ever seen on the show. I'm sure that's just his personality but it didn't make for compelling TV. Rod Stewart, now there was compelling TV!

If you watched the show last night you would have thought that the contestants only had a handful of artists to choose from. Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, and Martina McBride were the popular choices. And it was the guys who sang Carrie Underwood!

Michael Sarver opened the night with the high-energy, lyric heavy, Garth Brooks hit "Ain't Goin' Down Til the Sun Comes Up." The harmonica player sitting on the edge of the stage was a distraction both visually and aurally. I love me some harp but that did not work for me. Both the harmonica and the background singers overwhelmed Michael who seemed more concerned with getting the lyrics right than he was about projecting and letting the audience hear his vocals.

Allision Iraheta impressed me once again. I have one word to describe this kid, fearless. She kicked some country ass with her version of Patty Loveless' "Blame it On Your Heart."

While Kris Allen's vocals on the Garth Brooks song "To Make You Feel My Love" were lovely, they were not memorable. I wondered why he chose to ditch the guitar for this song and used it inappropriately last week.

Lil Rounds looked amazing. The AI stylists clearly know what they're doing with this one. But her vocals on Martina McBride's "Independence Day" were weak. She was great through the power area of the song, but everything else really fell short.

Johnny Cash was not turning over in his grave when Adam Lambert sang "Ring of Fire," he was spinning out of control. I'm all for different arrangements and originality (I was a fan of David Cook last season), but dude, that could not have sucked anymore. Indulgent rubbish is what Simon called it, and I couldn't agree more.

If I didn't know better, I would say that Scott MacIntyre was singing the same song he sang last week. I really like his voice but his arrangement of Martina McBride's "Wild Angels," made it sound just like the Michael Jackson song he sang the week before. When he said he spent hours and hours on arrangement I said, "seriously?"

Alexis Grace channeled Dolly Parton with "Jolene." I thought it was a pretty decent vocal. I like how she gave it her own vibe, and completely disagree that is was a copy of Dolly's version. The judges wished she'd dirtied it up a bit. Hmm, didn't they think she had taken dirty too far last week.

Danny Gokey took on Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," which is not one of my favorite songs at all. I'm not surprised he chose it. As with Lil, when he went with the power he was just off the charts good. I know it can't be all power, so he really needs to work on the parts of the song where he's building to it, that is often his weak spot.

Anoop Desai turned in his best performance of the competition, and as far as I'm concerned, one of the top performances of the night. He finally showed off his beautiful voice in Willie Nelson's "You Are Always On My Mind."

A flu-ridden Megan Joy (wait, when did she lose her last name?) performed a country classic, "Walking After Midnight" by Patsy Cline. For me, this song is almost untouchable. Patsy Cline was a one of a kind voice. While I didn't like her performance, I didn't hate it. What I did hate was her dance moves and the odd thing that dress did to her boobs.

Matt Giraud closed the night with Carrie Underwood's "So Small." While I thought it was a good performance, the judges were gushing. I actually heard the performance again on radio this morning and I was still not overwhelmed. *shrugs*

While Adam Lambert's performance was clearly the dud of the night, I'm sure he's not going home. I think it's between Michael Sarver and Megan Joy. I hate to say it but, bye Michael. I'm going to miss your sweet face.

Lil Dawg

Michael Sarver: He focused too much on learning all those words so the vocal was not the best. Maybe a different song would have been better?

Allison Iraheta: Really ridiculously good. I agree with Kara that Allision could probably sing the alphabet. She puts her own spin on everything and it always turns out great.

Kris Allen: His voice sounded great but I didn't feel enough passion from him.

Lil Rounds: Awkward. Off-key. She's definitely out of her comfort zone but I'm sure she'll be back next week.

Adam Lambert: Ummm.

Scott MacIntyre: The beginning was pretty shaky. It got a little better when the tempo picked up but he still was not great.

Alexis Grace: Pitchy parts. This was not her most memorable performance.

Danny Gokey: Still love him. I have nothing else to say.

Anoop Desai: THANK YOU for finally showing your voice. FINALLY. I'm not squeaking, I swear!!!

Megan Joy: Eek!! She's sick . . . so I guess I'll give her a break on the vocals . . . but somebody needs to teach her a new dance. Maybe instead of her usual potty dance she can do the sun dance or something to change it up a bit.

Matt Giraud: Very good performance.

Goodbye Megan!


Seacrest's Hair

Ahh, Country Week -- but wait! It WAS NOT Country Week. It was Grand Ole Opry Week. People just assume that you have to take a song from the Opry and sing it all country-like. Bad assumption, Lil Rounds. Bad. The reason most songs get in the Opry is because they're good, and a good song can fit into any genre.

Speaking of assumptions, we assumed the girls would go on a Carrie Underwood binge, but instead it was the boys. Fascinating, and kinda skeery.

Sarver picked "Ain't Goin' Down Til The Sun Comes Up", a song so packed full of words that Simon couldn't understand him. Curious about what other Idols have stumbled through this song, we flipped back through some other seasons' notes, and we found that LaToya London (Season 2) also had enunciation issues. So hey, Sarver, it's not just you! Anyway, it was country, and the harmonica guy distracted us. Meh.

Allison, how we love her. She sang "Blame It On Your Heart" and proved she actually can do country, and she can also be slightly cuter and slightly less edgy, what with that floral blouse under the leather jacket. Kara says she can sing the alphabet; no, Kara, it's the phone book. Ask Paula.

Kris sang "To Make You Feel My Love", which we did not know prior to this performance. His leg was incredibly jumpy; perhaps he should switch to decaf. He also needs mic lessons, as he is spitting his B's, P's, and somehow his F's. Yikes. The performance lacked energy and passion, so we were surprised that Simon liked it. Whatever.

Lil's choice was Independence Day, which she totally could have turned into an R&B song, except she thought she should keep it country. Well, she didn't miss any notes, and she didn't do badly for a black girl singing country, but... Oh, and was it just us or did she look kinda old tonight? She always looks like a Mom, but something about that Claire Huxtable hair...

We had heard terrible things about Adam's performance on morning radio today before watching (one of the problems with taping). We'd also heard his outfit was Elizabethan, but we think it was, well, Michael Jackson's jacket. Wrong week, Wicked! Anyway, we LOVED it. LOVED. F'in LOVED. Okay? We thought the slow-burn, Middle Eastern-inspired arrangement of "Ring of Fire" was utterly decadent. His performance was, perhaps, a bit racy for Idol/the 8 o'clock hour, and Danny's Christian fans were probably as terrified as Randy Travis, but we thought it was glorious. Shades of Freddie Mercury! Sex on stage. OMG. Yum. And, by the way people? No screaming.

It was really difficult to watch Scott after that. Kind of like taking the kids to catechism after the best kinky sex of your life. Anyway, Scott was wearing the same leather jacket as Allison, and it looks like they got him a better haircut. His pick, "Wild Angels", was one we didn't know, but he made it seem oh-so-familiar. We're with Simon; it was so very like last week, and we didn't care for last week, either. Yawn.

We love "Jolene", and hoped Alexis would nail it, but while it was a competent reading that fell somewhere between Dolly Parton's original and Mindy Smith's 2003 version, it lacked that Alexis magic. The middle section (where she oohed) was just terrible. She also had overly fluffy hair that made her look old. Weird.

Danny continues to make us want to shoot ourselves in the head, or maybe just watch Adam again to purge the Christianity. He chose Carrie's "Jesus Take The Wheel". Upon realizing this, our first reaction was, "Do we really have to watch this? " Danny gets the giggles in front of Randy Travis, which is just embarrassing to watch, then wears a hideous white coat that looks like a parka (thanks to Simon for ragging on it). In case you couldn't tell, we just hated everything about it... you might also be able to tell that we're really not into anything remotely Jesus-y, church-y, or Danny-y. Danny is, to us, what Adam is to, um... everyone else.

Anoop is back this week with his perfect genre, the mid-tempo ballad. Yes, they are their own genre. The arrangement was excellent, as Simon also pointed out. Even if you didn't have last week's hideous performance to compare it to, "You Were Always On My Mind" was wonderful and did not have us thinking of any of the prior versions. So is Anoop going to start a new fashion of hoodies topped with suit jackets?

Megan (Joy) is still here, and hasn't died of flu, although she's getting way too close to Seacrest for our comfort. Ryan, baby, you should wear a surgical mask around sick contestants. You're precious to us. Anyway, Megan sings "Walking After Midnight" like a goat with a dying voice, her dress is as bad as Simon thinks it is, and she's still friggin' dancing. We think that perhaps she is under the delusion that she's a scat singer, as her jerky movements kinda sorta look like how Ella moved, but with that element of potty dance/train wreck to it.

Matt in the pimp spot... he chooses a Carrie song, "So Small", which we did not previously know, and that is actually to his advantage. We don't really love him, but it was a good performance. He's safe.

Hopefully people like us will have voted for Adam in droves, maybe his Wicked castmates, some gays that maybe didn't love Lil this week... dunno. Almost everyone we know thinks Sarver's gone (they obviously think Adam's got some kind of "in") and/or hopes Megan's gone. We think it's a tough call, but we'll say that Lil and Alexis are at risk.

[Stangy]

Yay for the last review of Adam. Yep. Shades of Freddy Mercury alright. LOVED IT...everything about it. LOVE.

Danny? Gah, I know everybody likes him and he's good on the choruses, but the verses were kinda lame for me..regardless, if I had to guess at this point who will win, I would guess him.

Michael? Not for me.

Matt? Very talented, but for some reason I don't like watching, only listening. Go figure.

Scott? Lots of courage, but I think Matt shows him up sometimes on the piano.

Anoop? Cute and lovable and a decent performance.

I'm one of the few that likes Megan, but I don't think she'll be around much longer. I like Allison better than Alexis, but I'm probably in the minority on that, too. I usually am.

Mad props to Adam again..You go, Girlfriend!!!

[mari]

(03-18-2009 03:31 PM)Stangy Wrote:  Matt? Very talented, but for some reason I don't like watching, only listening. Go figure.

He looks like Justin Timberlake, especially when he puts a hat on. IMO. That's a good reason to me to not look at him!