Smallscreen Features
'Idol' sees Slash, duets, disaster, drug confessions as Adam and 'this one' shine
By April MacIntyre May 6, 2009, 14:04 GMT
03/05/2009 - Adam Lambert - Slash tells Adam to keep his higher register in check, good advice. Cut to the stage, and Adam is in full Ziggy Stardust glam mode, eyeliner, penciled-in brows and gloss as he just killed the song, so much so Kara practically had an orgasm describing him as "a rock god." © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos
A few thoughts about last night's show, marred by injury as the large winding stage stairs retracted incorrectly as rehearsals began.
The Idol staircase retracted when it was not supposed to during rehearsals, and stage manager Debbie Williams fell and was hurt, surrounded by broken glass. Local Los Angeles affiliate KTLA's Jillian Barberie reports that she will be okay.
Guns and Roses' guitarist Slash was an interesting mentor and perfect for the theme of the night. He gave insightful guidance to the remaining four and brought out the hard rock swagger in a few of them. The nose ring I could have done without ever seeing, perhaps a discreet stud next time?
My gut feelings about Danny Gokey have not failed me, he faltered last night and despite Simon's assessment of Kris Allen and Danny Gokey's duet "Renegade" by Styx, on my sound system, Allen's vocals sounded terrific and exceeded Gokey's for that song.
The show kicked off with frontrunner Adam Lambert in high cotton, this particular genre of music he had been waiting for, excited to learn a Zeppelin song was okayed for him to tackle. Not many people sing Led Zeppelin - for a good reason.
Slash tells Adam to keep his higher register in check, good advice. Cut to the stage, and Adam is in full Ziggy Stardust glam mode, eyeliner, penciled-in brows and gloss as he just killed the song, so much so that Kara practically had an orgasm describing him as "a rock god."
Simon says it could have been a disaster, but he loved it, saying it was going to be hard for anyone to top his performance. He was right.
(Side note, the Los Angeles Times reports today that Paula Abdul, who is on the "I'm healthy and off the 12 year drug jag" rounds with the press, makes 2 million a year with Idol, compared to 36 million to Simon Cowell.)
Allison Iraheta sang "Cry Baby" by Janis Joplin and was the second best performer, in my estimation, She did a great job and please remember that this kid just turned 17!
Ryan shares that Allison went with Adam to his "hair girl" this week. That woman can razor some straight hair! She did a good job on Allison, who looked great for her performance.
Randy had no love for the tiny singer, not digging her song choice. When he closes with "Just trying to keep it real," that's the 'Dog' death knell. Kara didn't like it either. Paula can say no unkind word and said she was a shoe-in for a Joplin biopic. Simon loved the vocals and the performance, and gave Allison a bit of the what-for, which brought out her latent chola fiestiness, which pleased the well-paid judge.
The duet of Kris Allen and Danny Gokey - "Renegade" by Styx, broke up the solo performances. Randy liked the harmonies. Kara liked the harmonies. Simon looks pained and reveals Danny, in his opinion, was better than Kris.
I will give it to Kris, he keeps it together and reveals no contempt or anger in his micro expressions as Simon essentially tells him (without saying it) that Adam has this thing locked up, prepare to be going home. Allen has class and he doesn't have the smugness Gokey carries.
Kris performed "Come Together." Slash lent Kris a guitar and Kris manned up and played alongside the guitar maestro. Slash was probably the least effusive about Allen. Kris turned in a solid performance, but the night still belongs to Adam. The judges were diplomatic. Kara didn't think it was a great performance. She thinks he was trying too hard. Paula speaks and the crowd laughs, what that was about I am not sure. Simon cut to the chase and compared his performance as "... eating ice for lunch."
The last performer was Danny Gokey who sang "Dream On" by Aerosmith.
Okay, he was flat out awful, what I heard. Horrible. Despite Slash's praise for Danny's vocal ability, the song went from bad to worse as he fell out of tune, and growls and screeched and I could barely keep with him, nearly turning off the sound to my TV. This week was a disaster for him.
Randy was metered in his comments as Kara thinks Danny took the rock attitude and swagger comments WAY too far. Kara thought he should do more early Aerosmith-(note to Kara-"Dream On" is pretty old Aerosmith!) Simon didn't like the last note at all and said it was like a bad horror film.
The show ended with the last duet of perfectly paired Allison Iraheta and Adam Lambert taking on Foghat's moldy oldie "Slowride."
Iraheta handled the lower notes as Lambert hit those operatic high notes with flourish. The pairing felt organic and sounded great as they worked the stage like pros and nailed the duet competition.
"You guys are our two seasoned rock stars," Randy said. Kara called them a rock god and goddess and praised the pair for pushing one another to be better, while Simon noted they were the winners of the duet. "Completely different than the other one, and actually, Adam, you may have given this one [Iraheta] a chance in the competition because of that."
