Last nights show went just about how I think everyone expected it to.  I’ve said for a week or so now that I didn’t think either contestant needed to sing at all last night because as this is largely a popularity contest the large majority of the voters had their mind made up before the show every started last night.

As far as highs in last night’s show I thought each of the contestants were really smart in choosing their opening songs.  Adam chose to redo “Mad World”.  I thought it was a smart choice, as it really was one of his best performance all season long.  Simon was right though, it was a little Les Mis.  The coat and dry ice were way too much, but I guess that’s what we’ve come to expect from Adam.  Kris then took the stage to perform “Ain’t No Sunshine” at the piano.  For me this was the highlight of the night.

The low point of the night was the final song from each of the contestants.  It wasn’t either of the contestants fault that it was bad, it was the fault of the song.  No surprise that it was written by Kara DioGuardi.  It was one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard.  It was obvious that Kara was trying to write an inspirational song and she just failed miserably.  I really hope she doesn’t come back next year.  If she doesn’t then I promise NEVER to bitch about Paula Abdul being an idiot ever again.

Looks like I’m not the only one that thinks that Danny Gokey voters are going to switch over to Kris, as I said yesterday.  This article on my Yahoo Home Page basically sums it up, calling it the “Gokey Factor.”  The article also talks about the fact that last season Simon predicted a win by David Archuleta, and he was destroyed in the votes by David Cook.  Could the same thing happen tonight?  I think it will.

There has been a lot of controversary over the so-called “Christian Vote” and a red-state versus Blue State showdown.  Both contestants have said that they hope people vote based on the music.  I don’t know what show they’ve been watching, but I’m pretty sure it’s not American Idol.

I said yesterday that Kris Allen would come out the winner tonight, and I’m going to stand by that.  I like his music better, and I think he has a much more broad appeal.  That being said, I would like to see the science experiment that would be Adam Lambert’s career if he wins.  He’s going to have a career either way, but it will be a little different if he wins.

Well we are now down to the last week, and the final 2.  It’s an epic battle.  The soulful acoustic family man rocker versus the screeching flamboyant David Bowie-esque glam rocker. 

The more and more I think about this I think it is anyone’s game.  A few weeks ago I would have told you that no one was going to beat Adam Lambert.  I also would have told you that there was no chance that Danny Gokey wouldn’t be in the final 2 with him.  So that shows what I know.

Today if you ask me, I think that Kris Allen is going to pull an upset and win this whole thing.  Here’s why I think so.  Kris and Adam are polar opposites in terms of their style and in terms of their fan base.  I don’t think that there are a lot of voters that are truly split on who they are going to vote for.  I’m sure there are some out there, but they are a very small minority.  For the majority of us, as I said last week, it doesn’t matter how these two perform tonight.  We’ve made up our minds who we are voting for.  So it all comes down to who has more fans, right?  Sort of.  What about all those people like my wife who have been pulling for Danny Gokey from the start?  Who are they going to vote for?  I think Kris Allen is going to pull in most of those votes.  Gokey fans will vote for Kris Allen, and that’s what going to push Kris over the edge and allow him to win this thing.

So there it is.  My prediction.  I’ve guessed it right every night since Michael Sarver went home.  Put your money on Kris, because tomorrow night he’s walking out a winner.

Let’s face it.  Danny Gokey is a good singer.  He has a great back story that made him someone that it was easy to sympathize with.  As far as I was concerned from the start he was going to make it to the finals.  Then, he began to commit the cardinal sin of American Idol.  He got boring.

I wonder who Katy Perry is voting for?

He just wasn’t as interesting as Kris Allen or Adam Lambert.

Is it just me, or is this years final two very similar to last years final two?  I think that both of the contestants are appealing to the same demographics that the Davids were last year.  Adam is appealing to the under 23 female and gay crowd while Kris is appealing to the more conservative American Idol viewer.  We all know how that worked out last year.  I don’t know about you, but I think most of the American Idol viewers have already made up their mind on who they are voting for next week.  If it was Kris and Danny in the finals then that might be a different story, but with a contestant as polarizing as Adam Lambert in there I don’t think the performances are going to sway that many voters next week.

I’m not ready to make any solid predictions for next week yet.  I do think Adam is a juggernaut and might be hard to beat, but as I’ve said before.  There is a huge part of this country who isn’t ready for someone like him.  Maybe it’s time for them to get ready.

Last night we got two songs from each of the three guys.  One was the judges choice, and the other was the contestants choice.  Danny Gokey started it off with Paula’s choice for him which was ‘Dance Little Sister’ by Terence Trent D’Arby.  I think that Paula really hurt Danny with this song choice.  She choose a song that was a lesser know of D’Arby’s songs and it was a piss poor choice.  All the judges agreed that the vocals were dead on, but Danny made a fool of himself with his dancing.  Kris Allen came next and Kara and Randy choose One Republic’s ‘Apologize.’  I thought he sang it wonderfully, but it did sounds just like the original, and the judges gave him hell for it.  Adam Lambert was next, and Simon gave him ‘One’ by U2.  Now before I go any further I’[ve got to say that I"m a huge U2 fan, and One is one of the greatest songs of all time in my book.  That being said, I thought Adam massacred it.  He took away so much of the emotion that comes with that song and made it a perfect fit for a Broadway musical.

For the contestant's choice Danny lead us off with 'You Are So Beautiful.'  The judges all agreed that he sang it beautifully, and he did.  Is it just me or has Danny become boring?  At one point he was my favorite in this whole competition, now he just put me to sleep every time he steps on stage.  Kris followed up with an AWESOME acoustic version of 'Heartless' which was the best performance of the night.  Adam followed up with his performance of 'Cryin' which I thought was much better than his version of  'One.'

So tonight it all comes down to the votes.  I don't think there is any doubt that Adam is going to make it though, so the question is who is going to be in the top two with him?  I'm hoping it's Kris.  Lord knows I voted more last night than I have all season long.  I've said for a long time now that Kris is the only one of the contestants I would consider buying music from, so I do hope he goes through tonight.

I don't know how confidant I am, but I'm predicting that Danny goes home tonight.  It will be him or Kris, and I've pulling for Kris to stay.

Tonight’s episode gave us not only solo performances by all of the remaining contestants, but also a couple of duets.  And Slash!  With a guest appearance by Slash and the title of “Rock Week,” I assumed we would finally get some perfomances of current songs.  I mean, come on, we’ve had to put up with Disco week and songs from the Rat Pack.  But, I was wrong.  The most current song was ”Renegade” by Styx.  Not only was it not a show packed with current rock hits, but we didn’t even get a song from the 90s.

We opened the night with Adam’s rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” which I thought was pretty good.  I was surprised the judges didn’t give him a hard time about sounding too much like the original, but they rarely have negative comments for him.  My three year old did ask at the end of his performance if he was a boy or a girl, and I had to answer that he’s a boy who likes to wear makeup.  But, so is Ryan Seacrest.

Next up was Allison covering a Janis Joplin song.  To me, her performance was boring and unimpressive.  I thought the judges were fairly kind to her, but they always seem to take it easy on her.  They kept pointing out the she chose the wrong song, which was kind of funny since the clip with her and Slash clearly showed him making that decision for her.  She tried to start a little friendly banter with Simon, but that rarely ends up making you look good.

The next solo performance was Kris Allen doing “Come Together” by the Beatles.  I thought he gave a strong performance, but the judges did not agree.  Kris is consistently the favorite of my friends and I, but apparently we are not the target audience for AI.

Danny closed out the solo performances with some old school Aerosmith.  This performance seemed like a real stretch to me.  He did not look comfortable in the rock mode.  Maybe with a Slash wig he would have done better.  Seriously, does Slash expect us to think that’s his real hair?  Why is he always wearing a hat?  He’s like a hard rock Ron Howard with extensions.  Danny has never been in the bottom three, but that may change.

The “something new” of the night was the introduction of duets.  I suspect this is on-the-job training for the American Idol Live Onstage Tour, coming soon to a city near you.  Kris and Danny kicked off the duets with some Styx.  I thought Kris was a little better than Danny, but again the judges disagree.  Adam and Allison closed the show with a little Foghat.  Not only do they both like wearing black and rocking out, but as of tonight, they share the same hairstylist, how sweet.   The judges loved it and Simon made the point that Adam may have saved Allison from elimination.

So, “Rock Week” was full of old rock songs, and the biggest disaster was not the crumbling set, but rather the studded leather ensemble that Kara was wearing.  The final four is reduced to three tomorrow, and who’s going home?  I think Adam is definitely safe.  I think Danny will be in the bottom three, but survives.  The bottom two will be Kris and Allison, and I think Allison, much to the dismay of the judges, will be sent home.  And as a guest, guest pick, my wife thinks Allison is going home as well.  We’ll find out tomorrow, and JoeOnTheTube will be back next week.

The night started off with a bang as Kris Allen took the stage.  I thought he was far and away the best performance of the night.  His version of “The Way You Look Tonight” blew the roof off the house.  I am solidly in Kris’ camp now and if he doesn’t win it is a crying shame.  Allison Iraheta followed Kris and she did a very respectable job.  I still have trouble believing she’s only 17 years old.  Her version of “Someone to Watch Over Me,” is going to solidify her as a serious competitor in this competition.  I hope that she makes the final three.

After Allison the performances were all bad in my opinion.  Matt got up there and despite what Simon said, I thought he massacred “My Funny Valentine.”  His vocals were bad, and it’s just coming across week after week as a bad cross between Justin Timberlake and Maroon 5.  The award for most boring performance of the night had to go to Danny Gokey.  At one point Danny was my favorite in the competition, but now he just makes me want to hit the fast forward button on the remote.

I say this week after week, but I don’t like Adam Lambert.  Randy was right to point out that it is always very musical theatre with Adam.  Sure he can sing, but he belongs on a stage somewhere singing “Memories,” and not on popular radio.  If he wins this thing his music isn’t going to appeal to the masses and he is going to end up playing Teen Angel in Grease with American Idol’s biggest flop Taylor Hicks.  I hope he goes home and doesn’t make the finals, but I think we all know that won’t happen.  For some reason the young women voters love him, despite the fact he has no interest in them.  I blame it on the fact that he looks like a vampire from Twilight.

Of course last week we saw Lil Rounds finally be shown the door as well as Anoop Desai.  Neither were a huge surprise.  What was a surprise for most people was that it was Allison Iraheta not Matt Giruad who was in the bottom three with Lil and Anoop. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I predicted this might happen.

So, who is it going to be?  There are only really two options in my mind, Allison or Matt.  I just can’t envision an scenario where we don’t have a final three of Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, and Kris Allen.  My guess this week is that Matt’s going home.  Allison will go next week.

Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai were shown the door last night.  As I said, no surprise there.  Lil has been boring week after week and I’m surprised she lasted this long.  Anoop obviously just wasn’t that popular.  He kept winding up in the bottom three, and it seemed like he could only be lucky so many times.  The real shocker was the fact that Allison Iraheta, not Matt Giraud was the third person in the bottom three.  On Tuesday I actually said that this was going to happen.  I specifically said that there was a chance that the judges using their save on Matt would send someone on the bubble, namely Allison or Kris to the bottom, and it did.  If I was Allison I’d be worried.

At this point Idol has become just like any other voting competition, a popularity contest.  Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey could go out there and start singing old Nazi war-tunes and I still don’t think they would have any issue making it to the next week.  That’s why I’m worried about Kris Allen.  I think he is a better singer and more talented than both of those two, but he’s just not as popular.

I’m sure that Matt, will be the next to go.  I’d put a lot of money on it.  Although Allison doesn’t have the popular support.  I’m just hoping that Kris can make it to the top three and knock one of the two kings off.

Last night we had a great performance, some performances in the middle, and some down right lousy ones.  For me the best performance of the night was Kris Allen.  I don’t know about you, but if I’d never heard the song before then I would have thought that it was an original.  There aren’t many times I can say that after watching Idol.  I thought it was just great.  I’m hoping that this performance really catapults Kris into people considering him as a finalist.  He is the only one out there that I’d consider buying a CD from.

I thought Matt Giraud and Lil Rounds were the two lowest points of the night.  I’m going to go ahead and go out on a limb and say that they are going home.  I think Anoop will join them in the bottom 3, but I don’t think he will be shown the door until next week.

Were my wife and I the only ones feeling sorry for Danny Gokey last night for growing up in a house with 4 sisters?  That’s a lot of women to deal with.  And was it just me or were they cheering more for Kris then they were for Danny?

While I was doing a little searching this morning before writing this I came across an article and a video over at TMZ.com showing Simon and Randy exchanging glances about Kara when she interrupts Randy.  The looks on their faces is priceless.  I didn’t catch it last night, but it’s there for sure.  I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like Kara.  The rumor has been for a while that Paula is going to move on and Kara is going to take her place when it happens and we will be back down to 3 judges.  I’m fine with Paula leaving, but they’ve got to find someone else.  The only thing positive I can say about Kara is that she’s made Paula more likeable, not less crazy, but more likeable.

As you know the judges used their save card last week to bring Matt Giraud back.  So that means this week, two are going home.  Who’s it going to be?

I for one am thinking we might be in for a surprise.  Danny Gokey and Adam are safe, I’m pretty sure the whole world agrees on that.  I also think we know that we will for sure see either Matt Giraud, Lil Rounds, or Anoop Desai take one of those tickets home, but who will the other person be?  I think it could be Kris Allen or Allison Irheta.  If that’s the case then I think the judges will be kicking themselves for wasting their save on Matt.

As far as Disco goes, I just don’t see Allison, Matt, Kris or Anoop being able to blend it with their style.  I’m pulling for Lil Rounds to go.  She should have gone before Scott.  She is the least original contestant on the show, and it’s like a big karaoke night every time she takes the stage.  I’m betting we see a Donna Summers rip-off and Simon will tell her that it was like something out of a wedding and a bad Donna Summer impression.  Odds are she still won’t go, but damn I wish she would.