wife has been watching it in the other room. between last night and tonight....worst season ever from what im hearing. the wife said they have been horrible

I don't know. I think they have some great talent, more so on the girls side. Problem again is America. Eliminated 2 girls and 2 guys tonite that were better than others who deserved elimination.

I might buy that Credence Clearwater song by Crystal. I thought she was lights out on everyone else this week and the most natural performer in the competition. Real Chicago type of girl.

I agree Crystal Bowersox is by far the best on the show.Lilly Scott and Michelle Delamor are not to bad.As for the guys,I would say best is Lee Dewyze

Completely agree though I'd add Andrew Garcia in as well. Lee has that raspy voice that can really catch on. Crystal has enormous potential and is a natural, and the one to beat. She also looks fearless up there while a lot of them this year are nervous on stage.

Yes,forgot to mention him.

Lastnight Michelle Delamor sang Open Arms by Creed.that is the kind of song lee should have sang

Plus almost anything by Bryan Adams.

the girl that sang the miley song at the end was pitiful! at this stage of the game(even if she was upset) it shouldn't sound that bad. even miley live was better, and thats not saying much.

She should never have made the top 24 in the first place. They let much better female singers go than her.

Crystal Bowersox has now done 2 songs in 2 weeks that were so good I bought the first off Itunes and will soon by the second. She's in a league of her own in this competition - girls or guys.

I agree,she is by far the best.

I can't believe America voted let Lily Scott off. With the exception of Crystal she was better than any other girl in the top 12. I'm convinced that the judges should hold serve to the the top 12 in the future, ensuring the best cmpetition there is before handing it to America to vote on. Seeing Lily sidestepped was unfair to her talent. America actually voted an excellent singer and a real artist off the stage in favor of 4 girls that she was noly far superior to, but all 4 girls are lost and have no identity. All they are doing is singing songs others sang rather than developing an artistic identity.

Agree.she definatly deserved to be in top 12,and should have gone far in the compition

I d'ont see anyone that can touch Crystal Bowersox in this competition. Her rendition of Me and Bobby McGee was just phenomenal tonite. And I have to agree with Simon. I d'ont know what the heck anyone is seeing in Casey James. Last week he took a classic Stones song and made it sound like a country banjo song and tonite he was lifeless and so far inferior to Huey Lewis it was almost comical. Ellen is a great comedian but totally lost as a judge. As for Crystal - I'd actually buy her version of the song over Janis Joplin's original and I am a huge Janis Joplin fan and own all of her great hits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV0rK7wgfgk

Agree Ice.
Simon's assessment was spot on. I'm not an Idol fan but have taken notice of this girl. Her version last night was flawless; didn't miss a note.

What song did Casey perform?

Power of Love and a much weaker and boring version of Huey. I was wondering what the heck Randy (who Ok'd it without saying abything great), Ellen and Cara were thinking until Simon came along and said "I d'ont know what the heck you guys are hearing". Simon thought it was awful. Ellen actually called it the best vocal of the night which shows you how bad she is as a judge. I actually think she sad that and wished she could have ad the words back. Personally I agree with Simon anfd thought it stunk and was pure karaoke. I also thought he butchered a classic Stones song last week.

Here's last night - judge for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_gOVI4s6ok

she is a musician, the others should be singing in the shower alone.

Huey Lewis is the epitome of 80's cheese pop so that's the first mistake right there LOL. I have noticed this Crystal girl from my wife watching the show. She does seem pretty legit.

Here was Crystal's performance. This could be a record today as far as I'm concerned. I would've also loved to see her also sing "White Rabbit" or "D'ont you need somebody to Love". You need a heck of a voice to sing Joplin's songs, particularly White Rabbit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTI3ubZeLuU...feature=related

If Paige Miles is not eliminated tonight,something is wrong.Last night was the worst I ever heard anyone sing in all the seasons(from top 12's)!!!!My dog could have sang better then her.It was a train wreck!!!!!!

I see only 3(maybe 4) people worth the save,Crystal Bowersox,Siobhan Magnus,Lee Dewyze,and maybe Aaron Kelly

the worst performer last night was mily cyrus!! i would love to hear simon honestlly critique her. i 've heard her before live and figured maybe she has gotten better by now...nope. damn shame that parents have to pay for this crap to make the kiddies happy.

I said that to my 11 year old daughter and almost got run out of the house.

lmao!! can only imaging.....truthfully she is a terrible singer.

Johnny Maestro, from The Brooklyn Bridge just passed away.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/arts/mus...idge&st=cse

Here's the current betting odds to win Idol;

Aaron Kelly 30/1

Andrew Garcia 15/1

Casey James 7/1

Crystal Bowersox 7/4

Didi Benami 14/1

Katie Stevens 18/1
Lee Dewyze 11/2
Michael Lynche 6/1


Siobhan Magnus 3/1

Tim Urban 40/1

Crystal and Lee were really great tonight.

Crystal Bowersox just continues to amaze on this show. This girl has a heck of a career in front of her. Lee DeWyze is getting better and better and is the only legitimate threat to Crystal. After these two I don't see anyone else making it.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/...est/?test=faces

Ice, what do you think of Ryan?

Agree.but Siobhan Magnus could slide in there..

Tim Urban has got to go,I can not stand this guy,boring and annoying!!!


On a side note....I would like to see Casey James do a Bob Seager song.Don't know if anyone else hears it,but his voice is very similar to Seagers(but obviously not as good)

He's been acting very strange this season. Initially I thought it was due to Simon leaving and him trying to fill the power vacancy. As an emcee he has no chance to do that. While my initial thought might be the case there have also been times where Ryan almost looked "high" on stage, going out of his way to clown with Simon, who seemed embarrassed and annoyed by his actions.

Now in this case with Crystal, I d'ont know if Ryan is trying to seize a moment for his own fame or trying to truly save the show. Crystal is so far above everyone else on the show that I think it would lose half the audience if she ever left. The combo of the judges using a save early, and Ryan pulling this move tells me Crystal is way above everyone else in vote count, probably similar to the way Carrie Underwood was in the season she won. I doubt she'd leave but it's quite possible that AI over-reacted to a moment of homesicknes and had Ryan intercept her. Clearly they could not make any of the judges or producers do that. Plus anyone watching the show is seeing some better and multi-dimensional talent voted off while lesser (Tim, Aaron) and one dimensional (Mike, Casey) stay around. The 3 best singers are by far Crystal and to a leser degree Lee and Sibojan. They are multi-dimensional and have powerful voices, especially the 2 girls. Lee's a raspy Bryan Adams type with low but quickly growing confidence, who can sing almost anything. Sibojan is very erratic though and can have some of the best notes of the year and some of the worst in the same song. She also will go from a soft ballad to a wild scream in the same song, usually forced, so you almost think every song is split in two. If she's going to do that she needs the right song choice that splits into 2 songs - say a Hey Jude type song. Crystal can sing anything, has a powerhouse voice, brings a lot of energy to every performance and always and deservedly so gets the biggest audience cheers, usually by a wide margin. A buddy of mine in the industry says every label wants her.

I love Seger. "We've got tonite" is one of my favorite songs of all time. But I actually think Lee would pull Seger off a lot better. Casey has a small fraction of the talent of Seger IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAwOZvvGsRs

Janey Cutler!

Ok here's my take.

I'm happy to see some excellent bands on the show for once -- Bon Jovi and Daughtry. Although I wasn't thrilled with the song choice for either (seemes like they always pick their worst songs), it beats Lady Gaga.

Mike - nice guy, good personality and voice. Thought the Free Willy song was unimpressive and certainly didn't help him this week. He's not an excellent singer but probably just as good as Casey who's still in the competition.

Casey - nice guy, boring personality, decent voice. He's had a trend for choosing slow, sleepy songs week after week which don't really portray him as a strong artist. Sometimes I wish they'd give these guys more advice on song choice as that's half the problem. Who wants to listen to dull ballads every week. Seems to have a great fan base though as the judges have been ribbing him yet his position in Idol is firmly intact after tonight.

Crystal - great voice, but comes across as pompous, not a fan of her personality. Judges seem to be favoring her and Lee in the final 2 at this point, which should be the case based upon vocal talent. But after tonight's votes I wouldn't be surprised to see Crystal get knocked out before Casey. Apparently they're seeing the same things I am with her personality. She's just not as likable as Casey, Lee, or Mike for that matter.

Lee - my pick from the beginning and still is tonight for the win. Outstanding voice although falls short of Cook, Daughtry, and Clarkson. Better than most of the winners though, including Fantasia (her voice doesn't do much for me). Nice humble guy and also thought he did a good job answering questions tonight.

They have to change the decision making on this show. The fact that Casey is still there ia absurd. With Simon leaving the whole show needs to be revamped and it'll never survive if it's best singers keep losing. Casey winning will be disastrous for the show similar to Taylor Hicks victory.

As for Crystal I d'ont really think she cares if she wins or not. Labels are after her the most.

Agreed. The show is already going downhill and with Simon gone there's no turning back. As for Crystal, las we saw with Lambert and Allen, 1st vs 2nd doesn't really matter in terms of benefits afterward.

It was a really stupid decision to make Casey safe early on. The moment Ryan said this is not in any particular order I said to my wife Casey was safe and they were going to hope for drama with Crystal and Mike. But how can you have drama when it's well known that Crystal has been winning by wide margins week after week while Mike has been fighting for his life. This decision was made all the more worse by the fact that she was far and away the best last night so what the show did tonight was telegraph who was gone as soon as they made this silly move. Casey is also putting out almost no effort. i actually think he's afraid to win because he knows he's got nothing compared to the talent in the show. Last night's Mrs Robinson was off the charts lousy.

As for personality issues - I d'ont find Crystal obnoxious at all. She really almost left the show a few weeks ago out of being homesick and they had no choice but to get Ryan to talk her out of it. They knew if she left the show the ratings drop would hurt them badly. The inside story I'm hearing is that Crystal is wiinning each week by margins as wide as Carrie Underwood was winning.

Lee - great guy and he has that unique voice that should land him a job in the industry either win or lose. The duet he and Crystal did last night was phenomenal. Gotta love his humbleness and honesty.

Latest betting odds on Idol:

http://www.betvega.com/american-idol-betti...ason-9-0323104/

Tonight confirms my thoughts on Lee winning this competition and IMO Simon did him a great favor by choosing Hallelujah. His performance was comparable to Jeff Buckley's version of the song, if not better. I thought Lee's "Simple Man" vocal was also excellent. Casey has a great voice but acts like he doesn't want the win as much as the other two. Maybe I'm just reading his personality, but Casey must feel inferior to Lee and Crystal as his energy is severely lacking. All of his song choices, week after week, are laid back, safe, somewhat boring, which don't really show off much talent. I can see based on the judges comments tonight, they're expecting Casey to be gone this week, and probably Lee for the win. The past several weeks everyone on the show, including Simon, seemed to be favoring Crystal as number one, but tonight changed things in a big way for them at least. Crystal's Come to my Window version fell way short of Melissa's IMO and her second song was good, but nothing spectacular. As Simon would say, I think Lee crushed both Casey and Crystal tonight, and I'd be very disappointed to see him lose. Honestly they're all great singers and should do well with their own unique records after the show's done, but I see Lee making it the biggest.

Well the two best singers by far are in the finals and it's so much better to have boy vs girl. I think Crystal will win it but I like both contestants so much that I couldn't care less who gets it at this point. These are two of the most likable contestants I ever saw and I almost get the feeling they like each other so much that they'd rather not compete. They may even record a few songs together as their duet last week was a lights out great song. You almost get the feeling they are both rooting for each other rather than themselves. We'll see how it turns out but both will get record contracts and and both should be very successful regardless of who wins. Aside from these two I think Siobhan and Aaron have a shot at meaningful contracts. Aaron is young enough to coach and develop and Siobhan needs to be coached and mentored. Lee and Crystal are already artists and as much as Siobhan hit all those notes I think we saw last night that Crystal can hit them also but only brings them when the song requires it rather than forcing them in. If Siobhan can get control of that and be less erratic she can make it big. I like big Mike and hope someone signs him but I d'ont see him hitting it big.

One thing I like about Lee and Crystal is they both bring a lot of energy to their songs. Casey's a nice guy but he's as dull as it gets. If he were competing against either one next week the show would be a disastrous bore. I hope he does well but I see him in a band, probably as a second singer as his range is very narrow. Lee and Crystal can sing anything and Lee's type of voice reminds me a lot of Bryan Adams, who has always been one of my favorite singers.

I'm really interested to see how they handle Simon's retirement from the show next week.

BTW - I wish I could understand Dialidol.com results. Vote count showed Crystal as the clear winner by a pretty wide margin last night but Lee garnered the highest score. Casey was left in the dust on both counts.

Don't forget Alex Lambert. He was a dark horse in this competition and got shortchanged with the early vote out. Very interesting and unique voice, reminded me a bit of Rob Thomas. Hopefully he comes out for Idol again next year or decides to make his own career.

It's going to be difficult to pick the winner. Lee and Crystal are both great.

I love both contestants but Crystal blew Lee out of the water tonight. All three of her songs could be hits overnight. Simon's been pulling for Lee because of the storyline and because he knows Crystal has it made. A win would solidy him a lot more. He's a very likable guy and he may win on popularity though the story I've heard is Crystal has been winning each week by wide margins. If that's the case Lee has no chance as he was left in the dust tonite based on vocals and energy of each song. Nonetheless he has a great radio voice and should easily get signed and make an album if he loses. I certainly hope so as he's a nice guy and deserves it. I much prefer him over Kris Allen from last year.

I watched a video online today w/ Simon being interviewed on Ellen's show; he said that 4-5 weeks ago he was solidly in Crystal's camp but in recent weeks Lee has performed remarkably well contrasted w/ Crystal's rather subdued song choices. I've never seen Simon make a pick based upon storyline, he judges vocal talent, and Lee certainly proved to be a better singer the Crystal overall this season. Tonight I agree that Crystal blew him out of the water and I think Lee's nerves really got to him. Didn't seem anywhere near as confident as his tremendous Hallelujah last week, best performance of the entire season IMO. It's unfortunate that tonight was easily Lee's worst night of the past 6 weeks (again, pressure related I'm sure) as this is the one night fresh in everyone's mind. Although I don't agree with putting all the weight on the final exam; I definitely wouldn't want my GPA to be calculated, 75% based on the final test. Looking back at the year, Lee has had more shining moments than Crystal. They're both great singers but Lee is a better vocal artist, as well as a nice and humble guy. You were right about Adam Lambert making it bigger than Kris Allen, although I dislike both Lambert's voice and his personality. But we'll see how this one goes down. We've been across the fence each year - I remember 3 years ago you were for Archuletta and I wanted Cook, Lambert and Allen last year, and now Lee and Crystal. I'm pretty sure Cook has made it bigger than Archuletta.

Dial Idol indicates Lee in the lead by far right now.

http://www.dialidol.com/asp/predictions/predictions.asp

Never wanted Archuleta as I much preferred Cook. I just thought Archuleta had him on popularity. I also thought the judges weren't all that fair to Cook. Archuletta made a lot of mistakes forgetting lines on songs, including a great Beatles song that the judges ovelooked while killing others for the same mistake. Funny story on that is that one of the most famous forgotten lines of all time on a recording became a big reason for a songs popularity. D'ont know who knows about this but Sinatra's scoobey dooby doo in Strangers in the Night was a forgotten line. They decided that the song sounded better that way than with the original line.

On sales Lambert is way ahead of Allen and he's also much more popular on tour. Allen won on a massive popularity vote from his home state while losing almost everywhere else. Like him on not Lambert is a great singer and entertainer. I also thought he was one of the best mentors on this years show, though no one could touch Harry Connick Jr.

Re Crystal - I d'ont think anyone was more consistent than her this year. Lee improved the most though.

I have never understood dial idol. If you look at the raw numbers Crystal is way ahead in their sample. Do you understand it?

Just today Simon stated that his favorite Idol is Fantasia because of her poor roots and her maintaining herself as a humbe person all these years. Listen closely and you'll see that Simon states the same exact thing about Lee. He said it on Ellen yesterday and he said it again last night. Simon does have a rooting interest for those who are unchanged in fame and Lee does fit that well. Again I think Simon wants Lee to win it because he needs that to get a good contract a lot oreso than Crystal does. One problem with this show is that it's gotten too far away from the best singer winning now. It's popularity and it's even technology driving votes now. I thnk the format needs to be changed and soon. I wonder how many of those home grown votes for Kris Allen last year translated into record sales. Therein lies the big problem the show faces on top of Simon leaving.

I keep forgetting to note that Crystal Bowersox's father looks just like Daniel Day Lewis in "There will be Blood".

Thank you America! My pick has been winning each year, can't complain. The better singer and person has won in my opinion -- Lee looked genuinely surprised and grateful tonight. I'm sure he was nervous as hell after last night's shower of compliments for Crystal. But it seems to me every year on the finale night, the judges tend to favor the person who they view has less fan base, and I think they knew Lee was more likable than Crystal.

Show started out a disaster with the singers and the Simon tribute, but turned around for the second half. The performance with all the American Idol winners and runner-ups on stage sounded phenomenal. Could tell Simon was emotional in his goodbye speech; great judge, fun person to watch, loved his brutal honesty. He's someone that simply will never be replaced on that show, and although it will technically go on, I'm not sure for how much longer. The remaining judges are far less interesting (Kara's downright annoying); Simon kept the ratings up on there for sure. Will be missed.

Both Crystal and Lee are fantastic singers and will make it big with their records, so I don't think Crystal cared too much about the 2nd place finish. Everyone will have their different taste in music but my favorite Idol contestants in no particular order: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, David Cook, and now Lee. Singers that were likable people but not as talented as those mentioned vocally: kris allen, Taylor Hicks, Reuben, Jordin Sparks, Fantasia. Also Clay Aiken has a phenomenal voice but he seemed to have fallen off the map after the whole sexuality debacle occurred.

Overall I'd rate this year as one of the best seasons in terms of vocal talent in the top 12.

Last year all over again. The winner of the battle will be runner-up in the real world again. This is becoming common place now on Idol as teenage girls rule the voting with massive text votes and they d'ont buy the songs. This is no longer a singing contest unfortunately and unless the show goes back to that, it will be it's death knell. All that happened here is that a high majority of Casey's teenage female votes went to Lee. Idol is going to have to do something about this as none of it's male winners has done well yet and most are forgotten. Meanwhile just about all the female winners are having big careers and in the post idol life Crystal will also have a big career and will dwarf Lee's. D'ont get me wrong I love Lee but line up 10 music heads (and I know a few of them) and 9 of them (if not all 10) will pick Crystal on talent and post idol - that's all that matters.

saw the last two shows and have to admit crystal is far superior, though lee is good. i was thinking they would do a great duet. they did it, it was fine, but lee was dwarfed by crystals voice.
few things could have done without..pants on the ground with hung?! really? then the dane cook gig with the leftovers running on stage, worthless.