We have been worried for Tim Urban in recent weeks. He certainly hasn’t managed to set the American Idol stage on fire yet and when we heard he would be singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ on last night’s live show, we thought it might be too big a song for him.

However, Tim surprised us with the strength of his vocals and with the emotion he conveyed in his voice. While he doesn’t come close to Jeff Buckley’s version of the track, it was certainly the best performance we’ve seen from Tim so far. Ellen was so impressed that she jumped on stage and gave Tim a hug, he might just have saved himself for another week with that song!

Judges Comments:

Randy Jackson: One of the greatest songs ever and you walked in some pretty good shoes and I think you did a good job.

Ellen DeGeneres: Every week I have been so hard on you and now I have to do this right now (jumps on stage and hugs him). That was fantastic, you did so well.

Kara DioGuardi: I thought you would go home two weeks ago and now I think you’re kind of in it and you might just be at the top of the boys right now. That was an honest interpretation.

Simon Cowell: I feel responsible for you doing well tonight after what I said last week. I gave you a confidence boost and you needed it. Very smart with that song, I’ve had a big hit with that song and for you it was terrific. By far the best performance you’ve given in this competition.