Thursday, May 26, 2011

"American Idol" season finale thoughts

I'm definitely glad I watched Wednesday night's "American Idol" season finale on DVR, rather than live. There was plenty I needed to fast forward through.

Does Beyonce really have to turn up on seemingly every show this week (Billboard Music Awards, Oprah Farewell)? And I'm getting mighty tired of Lady Gaga being everywhere all the time. I know she's on Interscope Records - the label that "Idol" mentor Jimmy Iovine runs - but c'mon! Gaga was already a mentor and performed on the show then. It was cool though to see the E Street Band's Clarence Clemons reprising his sax role from Gaga's album, yet the melody was lacking. Both female vocalists have reached media saturation. 

While I am a Tom Jones fan, the "Idol" male contestants' medley was kind of rocky and it was so obvious the Welsh singing legend would turn up after the third song or so that he made famous. Jones was definitely straining at the end there. When I caught him live a few years ago, he did a little better.

"Rise Above," the song from Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark that Reeve Carney did with Bono and The Edge, was mediocre at best. Hopefully, the recorded version is better.

So much for Aerosmith appearing on the finale with "Idol" judge Steven Tyler. I'll bet all is still not well among the Beantown Boys. The show's truncated version of "Dream On" with Tyler backed by STP's DeLeo Bros., Marti Frederiksen and others, was rushed and just plain odd.

I feel a little sorry for last year's "Idol" winner Lee DeWyze, who didn't get to sing and wasn't even mentioned as host Ryan Seacrest passed by his row in the Nokia Theatre. Not even a slap on the back from Seacrest. It was surprising that Carrie Underwood was the only past "Idol" to be included. Usually the finally is packed with former members of the Top 10.

On the upside, my favorite segment came early: James Durbin's appearance with Judas Priest was great and probably the hardest that show has rocked since Adam Lambert duetted with KISS. 

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