Idol Recap - May 1, 2007

I'll take this Idol Recap, since Jeremy might do something silly like reveal his undying love for Richie Sambora if I don't. It was Bon Jovi night. A potential disaster that came off surprisingly good.

In order of greatest to suckiest, here is how tonight went:

1) Blake - Blake delivered the best performance in the history of American Idol. He didn't sing the best or dance the best, but he was by far the most entertaining ever. He had absolute balls of steel to take "You Give Love a Bad Name" and turn it in to a totally syncopated kick-ass song. He beatboxed a lot of the middle, and actually sounded great. As soon as the song was over, his drummer (who Blake owes a significant amount of money) threw his drumsticks straight up and walked off stage without ever looking at the crowd. For the first time, they could have told Blake the song would be a hit if it were released tomorrow and they would have actually been telling the truth.

2a) Phil - Phil sang "Blaze of Glory" from Young Guns. For the third week in a row, Phil nailed the song and had great energy. He obviously found his confidence recently and he's been nailing everything since.

2b) Melinda - Jordin needs to watch a Melinda performance. Melinda sang "Have a Nice Day", a song I was not familiar with. Even when her song selection isn't particularly good, Melinda sings every note from start to finish with great energy and perfect pitch. She's still the one to beat.

4) LaKisha - LaKisha was in a tough spot this week, especially with the pressure of a two-week cumulative vote after she did not do well with "Life Anthems" the week before. LaKisha sang "This Ain't a Love Song", another questionable song choice. She oversang a bit, but sang the song very well overall.

5) Chris R - Chris looked like his mother had shot his dog and then herself right in front of him. He was clearly shell-shocked by Blake's kickass performance. That being said, he oversang "Wanted Dead or Alive", even coming close to yelling at times. There was visible sympathy from the judges and Seacrest, though no one really nailed him.

6) Jordin - Jordin peaked too early. She had been steadily improving from the 12/12 boys/girls rounds to the top 8 or so, but she's hit the wall and bounced back hard. Jordin sang "Living on a Prayer". She sucked it up early, and even though she recovered, she lost me and probably most people watching by the end of the song. It's at least the 3rd or 4th week in a row that she's started very poorly. To make matters worse, she saved all the tone-deaf people in the country the trouble of trusting their instincts by basically admitting that she sucked throughout the judges' critique.

So which two are going home, based on two weeks' performance? I'd say Chris R and Jordin.

(Jeremy's non-Bon Jovi favorite band is Guns N Roses. He can't be trusted this week.)