Feather your hair and slip into your skin-tight white jeans, because it's Bon Jovi week on American Idol!
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I was pleasantly surprised by last night's show. None of the six remaining contestants are rockers, and I feared an evening of karaoke-level arena-rock strutting and a high cheese factor. Instead we got four good performances and some quality mentoring.
Are you ready to rock?
Phil, "Blaze Of Glory" -- Going into the show, Phil was the only singer who I thought had a shot at shining. When he disclosed that he was a big Jovi fan, though, I feared we'd get a straight karaoke version of this 'Young Guns' chestnut. His rendition was pretty much by-the-book, but it was also the best of the night, an entertaining crowd-pleaser which showed off the strongest part of his voice. When Phil gets voted off tonight (which I'm almost certain he will), he can look back at this performance and country night and be proud.
Jordin, "Living On A Prayer" -- A serious mis-step from Jordin, who couldn't handle the low parts of the song, otherwise know as "the verse." Once she got into the chorus, she was better, but the first verse was beyond bad. Even some rather selfless help from Jon Bon Jovi ("just go ahead and change the melody if you need to") couldn't salvage this one.
Also, for the first time I think Jordin's age worked against her. Say what you want about Jon Bon Jovi's lyrics, but they do capture a specific time, place and attitude. I did not for one second believe this Arizona teenager as she sang about Tommy the dockworker and Gina the waitress.
LaKisha, "This Ain't A Love Song" -- Leave it to late-era Jovi to provide LaKisha with the spark that she's been missing for so long. She took ownership of this song in way she hadn't done since the Jennifer Holliday pinnacle oh-so-long ago. I've been worrying over the last few weeks that one of the unworthy boys would sneak into the top three ahead of Kiki but now I'm hopeful she'll get as far as she deserves.
Blake, "You Give Love A Bad Name" -- Innnnnteresting. I think it says a lot about 'American Idol' that a Doug E. Fresh-meets-311 interpretation of a #1 single could be thought of as "Edgy" or "hip." But in the AI milieu, it was exactly that. Big ups to Blake for doing something interesting and playing to his strengths.
The funny thing is, I think he could have done quite well with a straightforward take on the song. I didn't think he had the voice for it but when he did the choruses "normally" he more than held him own.
Simon said it will garner a love it or hate it reaction from the voting public, and if that's the case he should end up with enough votes to escape elimination.
Chris, "Wanted Dead Or Alive" -- Dropped his esses, sang nasally, inserted runs where they didn't belong, was totally unconvincing as a rocker. Worst performance of the night.
Melinda, "Have a Nice Day" -- Another great performance straight out of the "Fake it 'til you make it" school of rock. It was very obvious that Melinda was unfamiliar not only with Bon Jovi, but possibly with rock music in general. And yet, she was able to connect to something in the music that worked with her style (much as she did on country night), channeling early Tina Turner and effortlessly donning the trapping of the rawk: devil horns, a sneer, and shimmying back-to-back with the guitarist. If she had chugged a fifth of Jack and puked on Randy (and if she hadn't fallen painfully behind the beat at the end of the song), she would have locked up the top spot yet again. Instead, she has to settle for a solid second place on what was a very entertaining show.
For the night: Phil, Melinda, LaKisha, Blake, Jordin, Chris
For the season: Melinda, Jordin, LaKisha, Blake, Phil, Chris
Both LaKisha and Phil were almost, but not quite, good enough to move up a spot.
Who should go home: Phil & Chris
Who will go home: Phil & Chris. Jordin's misstep will be mitigated by her stellar performance last week, while Phil will not be able to over come his.
