Top 12 Guys Perform Live on American Idol Season 9

It was another rough start for live singing on American Idol Season 9. Tonight the men took the stage in hopes of continuing their Idol dreams. Nerves and poor song choice got the best of most of the male competitors tonight, as it did with the ladies last night. The guys did make more attempts at changing songs to make them their own, most failed.

There were a few standouts and surprises for me on American Idol Season 9.

Aaron Kelly is the youngest male on AI this season, and he's had his share of nervous moments. Aaron Kelly forgot his words in his final performance in Hollywood week. It appeared that Kelly had been advanced solely on his looks and age group, not so thankfully. Aaron showed tonight that he can sing. With his performance of "Here Comes Good-bye" by Rascal Flatts, I was surprised at the size of the voice he has. You could still tell that Kelly was very nervous and has very little stage presence, but he'll get by on his cuteness for a few weeks. If he can get lost in the song during his performances I think he will go far this season.

Judges comments for Aaron Kelly:
Simon: "... bearing in mind that it's your first live show, that was a very good performance... with you it's all about self belief and confidence"

Kara:".. you have no idea how great your talent is... what you do naturally, you cant' teach... I think you did a great job.."

Randy: "... you got all those pipes dude... I'm a big fan..."

Ellen:"... I think you're gonna be here a long time and I love how humble you are.... you need confidence...."

Lee Dewyze was the biggest surprise of the AI Season 9 for me. I did not expect that big of a voice, and a rocker at that. I expected him to be a rocker, the appearance gave it away, but he can really sing. Lee Dewyze had not been heard from in the Hollywood auditions, I thought because he was not going to make it. I actually think Lee Dewyze could be a front runner for the AI competition. His problem will be with finding a voting pool large enough to support him. Idol audiences are notoriously young and vote on appearance. "Chasing Cars" by Stone Patrol was a weird song choice to me, but he made it work.

Judges comments for Lee Dewyze:
Ellen:"...I thought that was a really good song choice except when you started screaming it a little... it got a little too pushed.. I love the tone..."

Randy:"... I didn't like the song for you... you more of a rocker kind of dude..."

Kara: "...the song has a limited range... take a song like Bad Company and get into it..."

Simon: "...I'm gonna completely disagree with Randy and Kara...this guy is a genuinely good singer.. I think you're going to do well in this competition..."

Casey James was the only other standout for me. I think he is going to be a sexy and consistent and sexy...oops. Let's face it, Casey James can sing anything he wants, and it's just a bonus that he sounds good doing it. He is now well known as the Idol contestant the stripped his shirt for Posh Spice and Kara in his first audition, and has been the faux love interest of Kara DioGuardi's ever since. It was almost unfair as Casey James started to sing "Heaven" by Brian Adams, Randy Jackson moved behind Kara and lifted her arms in a swooning motion of a love-sick fan. Clearly Casey was singing to me, so I'm not sure why Kara thought differently.

Judges comments for Casey James:
Randy and Simon both backed completely away from the judging table to yield to Kara DioGuardi.
Kara: "um... Casey I don't recognize you with your shirt on... I'm married (honey I love you)... I think you got a little pitchy when I was in your arms in the chorus..."

Ellen: "... I couldn't hear you over Kara undressing you with her eyes...it wasn't really fair with everything going on...."

Randy: "... we're both models... dude you are gonna get a lot of votes..."

Simon:"... we both were cursed with good looks... you absolutely chose the right song...obviously the cougar (Kara) loves you... this was the best singing performance for you of this competition..."

There were more train wrecks tonight than last night, many many more. It was just a long night for the AI Season 9 guys. Even two of my favorites, Andrew Garcia and Big Mike Lynche, had weak openings due to poor song choice. Andrew Garcia was not bad, I don't think he will ever sing bad, he was just boring. Michael Lynche was terribly nasal throughout his song and looked like a BK commercial. They were far from the worst of the night though.

The worst of opening night for the guys included John Park, Tyler Grady and Tim Urban. John Park sounded like a backup singer on Glee, maybe not even that good. Tyler Grady sounded like he was in his dad's garage with the radio turned up. Tim Urban was the worst karaoke performance of all of the AI Season 9 hopefuls from both nights. Sad since he was called back by producers after Chris Golightly was disqualified. Simon told Tim Urban they had made the right decision the first time, and he was absolutely right.

Now the fate of the American Idol hopefuls is in the hands of America. We will find out tomorrow night who will be the first four singers to leave AI Season 9. The two girls and guys with the lowest votes will be cut live. More AI drama! From what the live performances showed I think the four to leave should be: John Park, Tim Urban, Haeley Vaughn and Lacey Brown.

Read complete details and judges comments here.