Rock and roll (said someone, once) is here to stay. Perhaps it was. Now? It's more of a once a year thing. And tonight is that once, as the remaining four contestants take cherished rock classics and do things with them you never imagined.
"Tonight" begins Ryan Seacrest "…your top four will take on a new genre, a new mentor and get another shot at becoming a star. THIS, is rock week and THIS …"
Is basically where Allison can sit down and praise the producers, because she's getting a licence to RAWK (as she's been doing every week)? No, silly. This …
" …. Is American IDOL!"
But of course.
Seacrest takes some time to explain that they've had an eventful week and a pre-dress rehearsal adventure in which the stage, in expectation of the pure, unadulterated RAWK that would be taking the stage this evening, fell apart of its own volition.
So the contestants haven't had a run through: and they'll be singing all six songs without rehearsing as much as they might have wanted.
"Six songs?!" You say, startled and perhaps a little alarmed. "Have we gone back in time? Have people come back? Do we therefore have a month MORE of this than we thought?"
No, don't worry, in an effort to try and bring the show in at under an hour, tonight they'll be doing four solo songs and two duets. They'll also be cutting short the mentoring slots (this week with Slash) and just getting on with the rest of it.
And now … Getting on with it:
Adam Lambert, first: he's rocking a lot of leather this evening, and singing Whole Lotta Love. Which works - it's very theatrical, it's got a good use of the upper register and allows him to perform. I'm ever so surprised that they managed to get licence to do it: you'd think that it would be prohibitively expensive. But I'm glad they did, because it displays the non-controversial, rock side of Adam, which people will love.
(On a side note, the interesting thing about rock week is this: rock music sounds good loud. Very loud. The careful balance of TV sound engineering and the fact that they have to push the vocals way further up in the mix than they should be - this being a singing competition and that -mean that this right here might end up with some interesting sound quality. And by interesting I mean 'godawful', obv)
Randy: "This is the Adam I LOVE! Dawg!:Kara: "You're not a rock star - you're a rock GOD!" Paula: "Whole lotta love? You're a whole lotta perfect!" Simon: "One of my favourite performances. Problem is; no one can top that now."
Allison has had her hair done by Adam's hairstylist. On a practical level this means that she now has crazy purple streaks running through the electric red. I wonder if Adam's hairstylist ever branches out into something else.
ANYWAY. She sings Cry Baby, by Janis Joplin. Vocally, it's a good performance - and should be, she was practically born for this round. It's a little subdued, there's some element of confidence missing form it: but vocally, with the soft (well, soft-ish verses and the shouty-rock chorus, she's in little Allison Iraheaven.
Randy: "You can sing your face off" (what?) "But I didn't love this song choice for you. Kara: "Janis Joplin is the right choice for you, but Paula:" I think you're fearless, and I think if they want a Janis Joplin a biopic made, you should star" (Or the Jackie Jormp-Jomp Story, if they can't get the life rights?) Simon: "I thought it was a bit soundalike. In a good way: and also a bad way"
Allison tries to argue with Simon - which is interesting, because in a TV Guide interview this week he happened to mention how much he would like Allison to argue with him. She does … and he's mean about it. "Oh why don't you just BEG, Allison?" He says, dismissively. Hopefully, this will have more people on her side for standing up to him. Otherwise that was just meanness for doing exactly what he publicly requested she do.
DUET ALERT
Kris and Danny turn up to sing Renegade, by Styx. There's not much to comment on here - it shouldn't really be what people are voting on, since this has always been an individual competition - but the moments together, the harmonies, are nice.
Generally, though, it does make you worry slightly about the fate of Kris, depending on what song he picks for his own. He's still as cute as pie, but he doesn't sound very strong. In fact, both of them - vocally, are a little too clean for good old helping of dirty dirrrrty rock. (But you don't worry about Danny because, come on: he's Danny. What's the worst that can happen?)
Randy says: "Good harmonies." Kara says: "A bit pitchy" Paula says: "Powerful. Compelling." (The audience says 'Huh?') Simon says: "Danny was better than Kris.
Unfortunately, it's Kris Allen who has to come back and sing immediately after that.
And he's singing Come Together by the Beatles - and playing guitar at the same time. It's a decent performance of the song, slightly weak voice, but with great style … just: he's not really a belter. The others can do 'belty', oh yes. Kris: not the beltiest. It's good to see him playing the guitar again, but in this context, weirdly, with the full band behind him, he just looks less like a star than he should at this point.
Randy: "All in all I really enjoyed it, especially coming from the guy who's not really a Rock-rock guy" Kara: "It didn't do it for me" Paula: "You are an artist on this stage, you need to have a little more energy, but you are deserving" Simon: "I didn't really like it. It was like eating ice for lunch."
Danny Gokey comes back with Dream On from Aerosmith, and I hope to god that his monitors weren't working and there was a a damn good reason for it to sound that horrible because otherwise? Crikey. There are some dodgy moments near the beginning, and in the slide from power ballad to the rock chorus - but then there's that scream at the end. And … well, that's not a rock scream, as much he might think it is. That's 'someone's twisting my nuts off with a pair of pliers' scream. And it hurts.
Randy: "A+ for a valiant effort. But …" Danny: "Was it perfect? No. But …" Paula: "I don't know if this was the right song for you, but I'm a Danny Gokey fan. Hey everyone, scream if you're a Danny Gokey fan! Simon: "That scream at the end? It was like watching a horror film."
A sign in the audience says "Simon Cowell: king of common sense" He agrees with that sign. But not much else this evening, it seems.
Then, to end the evening, there is the duet between Allison and Adam - singing Slow Ride by … wait, wait, I'm checking … Foghat. Again, it's not what people should be voting on, there are certainly no voting numbers running underneath - but this is miles above the other guys. You can see why they paired them up as they did. With the more natural rock vocals of these two, Danny and Kris would have just been made to look ridiculous in comparison.
Still, the audience likes it, they stand and ovate for whole minutes, taking the show over time once more while the judges make comments on how bally good it was.
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