I was kind of excited about rock week. I looked forward to finding out how tonight's contestants interpreted "rock” and seeing how Slash liked Adam, let alone what the hell Slash would tell the singers about SINGING, although compared to Jamie Foxx or Quentin Tarantino he is far from the least qualified guest mentor so far. But I was actually psyched to hear that the contestants would be singing duets this week. The group performances are my favorite during hell week and I think that the singers performing duets actually says a lot more about them than just their weekly solos.
Before we got to the singing, Ryan explained what he meant by announcing the show was "very live": basically, the set had begun to fall down earlier today (the Idol sign upside-down looked like something you'd see after the apocalypse) so nobody got a full dress rehearsal, but the show must go on.
We saw the singers meet Slash, and while he is rather ridiculously attached to his image after all this time he actually still seems like a cool guy, at least compared to, say, Bret Michaels. Adam chose to sing Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." Slash instantly became my favorite guest judge of the season when he advised him not to improvise so much in the high register, which is basically my pet peeve when it comes to Adam. "Thank you Slash" is something I need to start saying more often. So anyway, Adam, heavily made up and slightly resembling KD Lang, looked like he was playing a rocker in a Broadway musical, but he really commanded the stage and sang, easily, above the music which was pretty loud for Idol. I don't like Adam's music so much still, but I'm glad he exists. We need a famous glitzy gay rocker right now. The a capella ending was quite theatrical, but it was the most concert-esque I'd felt Idol. The audience went nuts and it definitely seemed like a winning sort of performance. Kara called him a rock god, Paula called him "a whole lotta perfect" and Simon said that nobody could top that. So that's really why Adam never goes first I guess.
Then we got to Allison, who got new extensions that I don't like, maybe because her hair only belongs on one guy and that's David Bowie in Labyrinth. She looked so cute next to Slash, though, like she could be his little rocker niece or something, and he gave her a peck on the cheek after their meeting and I thought it was adorable. He counseled her to get past her fear onstage, and she performed Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby." I thought she showed her singing skills, and not just her belting, but it wasn't an extra special performance for me from Allison. However, it made me hope that she does have a career after this, on the same landscape as those Demi Lovatoes and Miley Cyruses and whatnot. She's sort of Kelly Clarkson 2.0. Randy didn't like her song choice though, and Kara wasn't happy either except she gave Allison props for putting more personality out on stage. Simon liked it but didn't think that it showed enough originality. Then he and Allison went back and forth a bit about the song choice, and when he snapped at her she argued that he always wanted her to talk more when she's onstage, and this point and her making it seemed to mollify Simon.
Kris and Danny sang our first duet of the night, doing "Renegade" by Styx. I couldn't decide who less looked like a rocker. Kris looks too delicate but Danny's glasses are strictly adult contemporary. Plus, with the red shirt and jewelry, he kinda looked like KC from disco week. Their harmonies were nice together at times but clearly this wasn't up either of their alleys. The judges weren't wild about the performance, with Simon saying that Danny won the duet, perhaps because Danny seemed to sing all over Kris at the end of the song.