I decided to watch American Idol tonight. We’ve been dipping in and out of it for a few of the live shows, but it’s time to commit! If you’re watching American Idol, drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you thought.

The theme this week seems to be 80′s songs. Here’s my run-down of each performance.

Luke Menard – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go: A good, clean performance from Luke. I like the clarity of his voice, but ironically he couldn’t ‘hit that high’ and frequently lost control of his pitch during the song. Cue Randy Jackson’s favourite comment – it was a little bit pitchy. Paula loved loved loved his interpretation of the song. Simon – predictably – thought it was weak and girly. In his nastiest comment of the night he said he didn’t think Luke would get past the night.

David Archuleta – Another Day In Paradise: David’s a youthful 17 years old, so taking on a Phil Collins song might have been a big mistake! He started off at the piano, then went to standing at the front of the stage. My feeling was that the singing was a bit weak.

Randy didn’t think the song choice showed off David’s vocal range, while Paula fawned over him. Simon’s venerable opinion was that the music was far too gloomy, so he told him to lighten up a little bit.

Danny Noriega – Tainted Love: Could Danny be this year’s Sanjaya? He seems like he’s all hair and mincing around. Randy seemed to pick up on this and noted that he wasn’t vocally confident at the start. Flakey Paula spent as much time critiquing his haircut as reviewing his performance. Lord Cowell called it like we saw it – horrible. Far too camp for my liking.

David Hernandez – It’s All Coming Back To Me Now: Oh yeah! Dudes singing Celine Dion songs – that’s what I’m talking about! David was a tiny bit shouty in his performance – not so much singing as bellowing.

King of Pitch, Randy Jackson pointed out some…pitching problems. Paula said nothing worth repeating. Simon said that he didn’t like it as much as last week, but that he’d secured a place for next week.

Michael Johns – Don’t You Forget About Me: Moderate rocker Michael takes on the Simple Minds classic performed in the style of the dearly departed Michael Hutchence. Not bad at all, if a little pedestrian.

Woo-hoo! Randy did exactly the same comparison to Hutchence. Paula said something, sounded a bit like “blah blah blah”. Simon doesn’t think that he’s found the right song for him yet, but says that he really really likes him. But maybe to stick to soul material rather than act like a wannabe rocker.

David Cook – Hello: Left-handed guitarists freak me out. David is no exception, it’s just not natural dude. After a rough start, David pulls of a sensitive and soulful rendition over a warmly distorted guitar. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Randy quipped that he made a “slightly emo version of an extremely pop Lionel Ritchie song”. Simon loved it. Simple as that. He said he liked it when people took risks. Did I miss a judge? Don’t think so.

Jason Castro – Hallelujah: takes on Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley or ‘that song from Shrek’ depending on your age. And he managed it beautifully, and that’s despite the simpering face he kept pulling during the song.

Randy thought he did a great job and a good choice not to come out with the guitar. Paula thought Jason showed great vulnerability and had great phrasing and technique. Simon thinks he’s improving and said it was one of the best performances of the night.

Chikezie – : The no-surnamed Chikezie chooses to play Whitney’s All The Man That I Need. It doesn’t seem to last long at all. A smooth soul performance.

Randy seemed surprised by the end note. Paula complimented Chickezie’s vocals, but Simon said it didn’t work for him and said it was a cabaret performance.

There ya go folks – if you watched American Idol this evening, share your thoughts with us in the comments!

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