The Top 24 are now set. 

Here’s the list from American Idol

Are you surprised about some who didn’t make it?  I think most of the decisions were fair.  As we got to see the singers a little more, the cream rose to the top.  

My early favorite to take it all? Tough one, but I’m partial to James Durbin and Haley Reinhart at this point in time. 

Who do you think will be the next American Idol?

So for the first time ever, the American Idol hopefuls left Hollywood to sing in Vegas.  I’m still wondering why.  I’ll tell you what I didn’t enjoy…the stage performances…smoke, lights, beds..yeah beds.  What was that all about? Can’t we just have them sing at this point in time? 

Anyway, the singers sang the Beatles and outside of one performance, I didn’t really enjoy it at all.  The only one good performance was  xxxx.

The combo of Jerome, Tatynisa and Lakeisha was entertaining but the only singer with any potential was Tatynisa.  As a group, they were Gawd-awful!  I’m not sure what Stephen Tyler heard, it was a small train wreck. 

I thought Paul and Kendra had a delightful rendition of “Black Bird”.  The two of them harmonized well together.  Paul has a great voice, but I’m curious to see how he handles some bigger notes.  Kendra has a great sultry voice.  I like them both.

I was awaiting Haley Reinhart and Jacob Lusk’s performances, because I enjoy both of their voices.  I was a little scared to see them both together with Naima Adedapo.  Naima rocked, Haley’s voice seemed to falter at one point and Jacob’s voice seemed to struggle (maybe too high an octave for him?), dunno.   The judges disagree with me…how dare they?  I didn’t like this group together. 

Another memorable peformance was delivered by Tim Halperin and Julie Zorilla.  Tim’s voice was stunning and Julie was strong and confident, and together they were remarkable in “Something in the Way”.

Hands down worst performance of the night was “Hard Days Night” from Chris Medina and Casey Abrams….the jumping up and down the bed was horrible….and SPOILER ALERT….Chris Medina gets sent home after that display of weirdness.

On that note, yes Medina left to a teary eyed J-Lo.   I think Medina went as far as he could go in this competition.  Ashley, now a newlywed (bizarre stuff there, huh?), also went home….and tonight we get the rest of the Top 24.  Can’t wait!

You can watch American Idol tonight on Fox Providence beginning at 8pm.

Melanie Donnelly got the golden ticket to Hollywood.   Unfortunately, she didn’t make the cut once there.  Her voice is Idol quality and as she tells us, the judges gave her some advice for future attempts on the hit show. 

Here’s Melanie’s appearance on the Rhode Show from Monday.

and here is my background piece which aired before Hollywood began.

Now we get to really focus in on the cream of the crop.  While there were some duds…there were a number of bright spots in Round 3 of Hollywood Week.

My favorite performance of the night was Casey Abrams‘ rendition of “Georgia on My Mind”.  Wow.  When he first started strumming the bass, I was thinking to myself…”this ain”t going to be good”.  Well, it was…and it was the strongest performance of the night.  His musical sense, creativity, poise, and voice all were excellent.  While we didn’t get to see all 100 performances last night, I think Casey’s was probably the best.  However, I don’t really remember seeing Kris Allen  or Lee Dewyze at this early stage in the game.  Nonetheless, I think Casey will go deep into this competition.

Another strong performance was given by the June Bug, Clint Jun Gamboa.  I’m sorry, though.  I’m soured on Clint.   He had better do something quick that gets America to fall in love with him.  A good singing voice may not be enough now after the ousting of Jacee from Clint’s group.

Another notable performances include Haley Reinhart whose growl wowed the judges in her version of “God Bless This Child”.  I love her bluesy voice and see her getting into the top 24…maybe higher.  Thia Megia also delivered a strong performance with her take on “What a Wonderful World”.     I would like to see Thia open the throttle a little more, though.  She had the opportunity a couple of times last night, but she didn’t go for it.  

A couple of people who disappointed me are Chris Medina and Carson Higgins.  We all know Chris Medina’s story by now and he’s got very good talent.  We may not know Carson Higgins’ story as much, but I was very impressed with his group performance.  Last night, both guys made a poor song choice….My Perogative.  Carson didn’t really sing it and from the little we heard of Chris, it wasn’t strong at all.  

Everyone I mentioned made it through to the next round.  The remaining group of contestants are headed to Vegas to sing Beatles’ songs.  

You can catch the Idol’s singing the Beatles on Wednesday beginning at 8pm.

What better time to start this year’s American Idol blog, than during Group Night!  This is the time when true colors emerge, and we got to see all colors of the rainbow….some colors were pretty dark while others were brilliant.  My wife and I often cringe when Ryan Seacrest says “this year’s talent could be the best ever”.   That’s AI code for “these people stink, but we need viewers”.   To back up that statement, I reference Season 6…the Jordan Sparks year.   Seacrest said that statement about 500 times that year…and it was more than obvious that the talent that year left a lot to be desired.  This year, I’m hearing the host say these words, but I’m believing them.

Beyond the drama, there were some amazing group performances!! Actually, I don’t rememeber group performances being this good.  Granted there were some bad ones (the Spanglish group), but many of the performances were stellar!

The group of Keera Lyn Ford, Ashton Jones, Jacqui Elliott and Ashley Sullivan was my absolute favorite for the night.  I think the judges of Stephen, J-Lo and Randy loved it!  They reminded me of the singing group En Vogue, and I got shivers while listening to the them.  I’m sure Ashley was glad she stuck around (in case you missed it, this Western Massachusetts native almost walked off the show). 

The best drama of the night surrounded the adorable 15 year old, Jacee Badeaux.  He was kicked out of one group, but was easily welcomed by another group.  Jacee’s performance was very good, not incredible, but he remained extremely classy despite his troubles.  When he started weeping….my God…you’re not alive if you didn’t feel for him!  I hope he goes far in this competition. I’m not sure he’ll make it to the Top 10 in this crowd of talent, however.  On the other hand, Clint (with all of his amazing talent), now is seen in a very bad light.   Kicking Jacee out of his group could hurt Clint if America judges him.  He had better be good if he wants to have a sniff at the top 10!  On the other hand, Scott Mcreery, was bold for apologizing for not sticking up for Jacee.   The group of Scott, Clint, Francis and Monique are quite the group of talent….and all forces to be reckoned with. 

Oh and the creativity award goes to the group who brought Stephen Tyler up on stage…their singing was pretty good, too!  Unfortunately for the group, Lauren Alaina was the only one who moved to the next round.  The performance was entertaining, however.

Like I said earlier, brilliant and dark colors emerged last night.

More cuts tonight! Can’t wait to see who gets it next!  American Idol continues tonight at 8pm on Fox Providence.