Can anything stop American Idol's Adam Lambert?
Fresh off his magnificent "Mad World" performance last week, the 26-year-old former theater actor lit up the stage Tuesday night with another sizzling, over-the-top, dramatic performance that Paula Abdul loved and Simon Cowell, well, not so much.
Wearing layers of black mascara, Lambert sang "Born To Be Wild," in his trademark Adam-style high-pitched vocals. The guy has sensational stage presence and an uncanny ability to connect with the live crowd, who gave him the evening's longest extended standing ovation.
Whatever "It" is, Lambert's got "It," and he appears destined win the whole show, barring any major meltdown in the final six weeks. The only thing that can hurt him at this point is the array of video clips available on the internet of him dressed in gender-bending costumes and engaging in other eccentric behavior. But even then, not all is bad. A remarkable YouTube clip of him playing a sleeveless Joshua in a stage performance of The Ten Commandments has recently caught fire on the internet, and only highlights the guy's incredible talents.
But Lambert wasn't the night's only star. Singing movie hits and mentored by director Quentin Tarantino, all but one of the final seven turned out good to great performances.
Teen-ager Rocker Alison Iraheta delivered a strong version of "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing," and with a few more performances like that, she could wind up in the final Top 2.
Matt Giraud's "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" was emotional and sensitive; it should keep him on the show another week.
Kris Allen's take on "Falling Slowly" was a hit with the crowd. He seems to be getting stronger every week, and in a world without Lambert, he'd have a shot at taking it all.
Wannabe hip-hop star Anoop Desai was all good last night with his version of "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)," taking the thirtysomethings who remember 90s music, right back to high school.
Danny Gokey dropped the glasses and reminded us all of how great of a singer Lionel Richie is, by singing "Endless Love."
Gokey's a good singer too, but he comes across a little hokey, and his performance bordered on boring.
And speaking of boring, if there's any justice in the television world, Lil Rounds will be sent packing tonight. Another talented singer, she just continues to underperform, picking weird songs that don't highlight her vocal range.
She stumbled through "The Rose" and just about put the audience to sleep.
Television's No. 1 show also debuted yet another format change last night. Fresh off last week's fiasco, when the show ran over by nearly 10 minutes, leaving people who record Idol using a DVR irate because they missed the last performance of the night, the show's producers switched up the judging process.
Rather than have all four judges comment, only two offered their critiques of the singers. Let's hope the show goes back to its four-judge format, because as annoying as they are, the words of Simon, Randy, Kara and Paula, still are part of the show's crazy allure.
