It was an awesome ending to an otherwise boring season on American Idol and Lee Dewyze broke down even before he was announced the American Idol winner while Simon Cowell managed to tear up a little during his farewell speech.
I was shocked and in a good way when the opening song was the Top 12 singing Alice Cooper’s “Schools Out” (For Summer) and saw Orianthi jamming on the guitar. Then the rock legend himself actually appeared on the Idol stage and I was like WOW, this dude has gotten old but he can still rock it! I think the rock element was long overdue this season so kudos to whomever brought Cooper to the Kodak Theatre this evening.
The first video clip for Simon Cowell was his best insults over the last ten years and Randy, Ryan and Kara all pretending like (well maybe they weren’t really pretending) they were ecstatic about it. It was by far the best fun and had me rolling.
Siobhan and Aaron pair up to sing “How Deep Is Your Love” and I loved the harmony but the two of them singing a love song? Come on now! That’s taking it a little far lol and I know it’s all in fun but it was a little creepy. They are joined on stage by The Bee Gees and I was kind of like what? I mean “Staying Alive” was like 3 decades ago.
Big Mike is up next singing “Taking It To The Streets” and is joined by Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers. I’m just tapping my foot wondering wth is up with all the old music. I was raised listening to all this and if the target audience was my parents I could see coming in with all these guys but the younger generation don’t even know these songs much less who these guys are lol. We need current and relevant!
The Top 6 girls come out singing “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera and I’m holding my breath waiting for her to appear and thank God she comes on stage and belts it out and I’m like there is someone who can sing and who is NOW!! She sings “You Lost Me” from her upcoming album and is amazing.
Now it’s time for the Top 6 guys to get their chance to sing on stage and I’m thinking here comes some Enrique Iglasias but no, we get Hall and Oates. The guys sing “I Can’t Go For That” and are joined on stage while singing “Maneater” and continue to sing with Hall and Oates on “You Make My Dreams Come True”. Tim Urban actually sounded decent during his solo, as good as anyone else up there.
Crystal Bowersox then gets her duet and it is with Alanis Morisette. She sings “Ironic” and introduces Alanis and they strut around onstage singing “You Oughta Know”. The phrase “would she go down on you in a theatre” was changed to “would she go with you to the theatre” lol. I used to sing this song to my exhusband quite a lot lol.
The best moment of the entire evening was Casey James singing “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”. I kept looking at my husband saying, “Do you think Bret Michaels is there?” Is it Poison without Bret? I never thought he would be able to do that because on the Celebrity Apprentice just last Sunday he looked like he was in so much pain. When Bret came out on stage I jumped up like it was 1990 and I was at the concert. I love Bret and Casey so seeing them paired up was a dream come true for me. In case anyone missed it, here is the video from youtube.
Lee Dewyze gets to sing a medley of hits with Chicago because he’s from Chicago. I guess the Idol producers found humor in that or something. So Crystal gets Alanis and Casey gets Bret and the winner sings with Chicago. Doesn’t seem quite right to me but whatever.
General Larry Platt is back with Pants On The Ground and he’s joined by a group of hip hop dancers who at the end drop all their pants just as Platt says, “keep your pants up”. It was pretty funny and honestly, he was probably the most popular ‘contestant’ they had all season.
Paula Abdul graces the idol stage to bid farewell to Simon and she’s still as ditzy as ever. You gotta love crazy ass Paula. She wasted no time jumping in his lap while all previous winners with the exception of David Cook sing “Together We Are One”. They are joined by many former idol hopefuls to sing their tribute to the man who gave them a start in the music industry.
It was a touching moment and made more so by Simon’s emotional speech to everyone. He actually teared up a little and made me realize just how much I’m going to miss this guy. This is the end of a ten year era for American Idol because you all I know as well as I do that things will not be the same once he’s gone. He was the show.
The last performer is Janet Jackson and the Top 12 get to perform one last time with the pop queen. She is singing a slow song and sounds eerily like Michael which made Matt and I miss him all the more. R.I.P. Michael, you truly changed music and there will never be another king of pop.
The moment has arrived and the envelope is handed to Ryan. People all around the country are holding their breath. Lee is crying on stage and Crystal puts her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Ryan says dim the lights and slowly announces that Lee Dewyze is the season 9 American Idol. He pretty much loses it and has a hard time singing “Beautiful Day” amid all the fire and streamers and tears. Congrats Lee! Hope you rock that first album.