American Idol Men Set the Bar Low

Nerves seemed to rule the evening, with the men setting the bar incredibly low. Not one to concur with Simon, I found myself shaking my head yes to his snarky comments more than I care to mention. The standout performances of the evening, by miles were Chris Sligh and Blake Lewis. In a night paying homage to mediocrity, these guys brought their A game, well at least their A -, B + games. Blake's rendition of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" was really quite good. Melodic with spot on pitch the song was one of the the evenings standout performances. One of the things working against Blake or all the guys for that matter, seemed to be that the judges had their eye out for something in particular and no one was delivering. Blake proved that he can indeed sing, which shows he's not just a one-trick, beatboxing, pony.

No slouch was Chris Sligh, who brought Mute Math's "Typical" to the party and got the party started. Where Blake got the girls out of their seats, Chris had everybody up. Working the stage and overcoming the nerves that seemed to be the night's nemesis, Chris delivered the nights' only other standout performance. Put a check in Chris's win column for a gutsy move. In a fit of chutzpah, he lobbed one of Simon's signature nasty comments back onto his court and Simon seemed genuinely hurt. Who can say, if pissing Simon off is a good strategy or hara-kiri, only time will tell. Early favorite Sundance Head is going to have to do some serious praying. His cover of "Knight's in White Satin", had him channeling an English lounge singer. Head's strong audition made him an odds on favorite to be one of the top six but now he's not safe. While, this writer feels that Chris and Blake should be safe for this round of judging, who really knows. With a fickle American public and people voting for favorites instead of outright ability, it is anybody's guess who the six men are going to be.

While Randy intoned the many problems with pitch and his little mini me Paula followed his lead 95% of the time, Simon was unimpressed with the lot and looked at times as if he'd rather go back through the audition process than listen to another maudlin uninspiring performance. However, the mens performance does give the women a leg up, mainly because they know the judges appear to be looking for an old fashioned belter with modern music sensibilities, a la Mary J Blige. The crop of women singers seem to be up to the task. One can only hope they take a lesson from the men and get the nerves under control before taking the stage.

Based on the Randy and Paula twinset and Snarky Simon, the twelve ladies tonight have their work cut out. So tune in to your Fox affiliate @ 8/7c and cast your votes and good wishes.

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