The American Idol 11 Top 6 performed songs from Now and Then. Read my Recap. Now, read what the rest of the blogosphere had to say about the performances.
‘American Idol’ recap: No Escape From Reality – Since Queen’s “Somebody to Love” was somehow left out of a Queen-themed American Idol, I have taken the liberty of paraphrasing Ryan Seacrest’s internal monologue moments before showtime. I just can’t get no relief, Lord! Somebody (somebody) somebody (Nigel) Can anybody find me some bucket to puke in? – Entertainment Weekly
‘American Idol’ Recap: Finalists Take on Queen, With Mixed Results – On Wednesday’s American Idol, the remaining six were given two assignments: a song from Queen, and one of their choice. Some contestants won perfect scores in the first and second rounds, and others missed the mark at least once on a stage solo. All in all, like Jennifer Lopez said, “Everybody had one good performance. It’s about who America loves.” – Hollywood Reporter
‘American Idol’ Recap: Show Must Go On – Before tonight’s show, Twitter was atwitter with news that Ryan Seacrest was ill. Nikki Finke even tweeted “American Idol Scrambling to Find Substitute for Ailing Host Ryan Seacrest” while Seacrest was actually already on the air, doing his job. Like a professional. Well, a professional who has no qualms about spreading his Ebola-like virus across Idol’s top six performers and their devoted judges. Somewhere Jimmy Iovine is chortling in his safe room. – Read more at Rolling Stone
Sick Ryan Seacrest takes center stage on ‘American Idol’ – Pre-show rumors indicated that he was too sick to take the stage and would be replaced by a substitute host. While he soldiered on and fulfilled his contractual obligations, all the time in the world with the makeup folks couldn’t keep him from looking like death warmed over or get him to stray far from either a chair or the judges’ station. His usual dapper look also took a hit in the form of a missing tie and a rumpled-looking dress shirt that wasn’t even buttoned all the way up. Even the presence of girlfriend Julianne Hough couldn’t get him to his usual energy level, perhaps because (as Ryan explained it) she was a little too amped up to see Phillip Phillips sing. – MSNBC
‘American Idol’ Recap: The Top 6 Tackle Queen – Here’s a scary fact: Four out of the Top 6 “American Idol” contestants weren’t even born when Freddie Mercury died in 1991, so expecting them to nail Queen classics might’ve been something of a stretch, especially since out of the remaining hopefuls, only Elise Testone truly qualifies as a rock singer. – Huffington Post
Recap: ‘American Idol’ Top 6 Performances – The Music of Queen – It isn’t easy to sing the music of Queen. It’s not enough to be a talented singer. Remember when the mentors from “The Voice” did that awful Queen medley last season? Exactly. All four of them could sing, but being able to sing isn’t the same as being able to sing a song specifically tailored for the voice of Freddie Mercury. – Hitfix.com
‘American Idol’ Top 6 Night: But Is It Art? – Back on “American Idol” Season 8, when critiquing Scott MacIntyre’s self-described “artistic” song choice, Simon Cowell dared to utter the immortal, dreaded words: “It’s fine being artistic…JUST NOT ON THIS SHOW.” And I got serious déjà vu this week on “Idol,” when Simon’s replacement judge Jennifer Lopez similarly criticized this season’s resident remaining risk-taker, Phillip Phillips, for covering the dark, relatively obscure Dave Matthews Band song, “The Stone.” – Reality Rocks
‘American Idol,’ Season 11, The Top 6: TV Recap – Generations merged tonight as the “American Idol” hopefuls got a pep talk from Queen originals, and then opened the show performing a Queen medley with Roger Taylor and Brian May. It may have been one of the cooler things seen on the Idol stage. Then each singer sang a Queen song for their first performance of the night, with Stevie Van Zandt in the audience watching the show. – Wall Street Journal
‘American Idol’ : Ryan Seacrest sick on Queen night – It’s Queen Week on “American Idol” and, of course, we’ve already been tipped off by the show’s official press mouthpiece, TMZ – it’s where Idolettes are sent each season for Paparazzi Training – that show host Ryan Seacrest is some kinda sick with a flu-like bug, but will muddle through because, as Queen sang, “The Show Must Go On.” – Washington Post
“6 Finalists Compete” – An Idol performance episode beginning with a medley? Sounds like an awful excuse for time-killing. But wait! It’s no ordinary medley: The singers kick off the show with a mix of Queen songs, backed, no less, by Brian May and Roger Taylor. May and Taylor performing on Idol may sound like a sad state of affairs for such an epic pair, but the producers make sure to emphasize that they’re the stars of the segment, with Randy providing the voiceover for Queen’s introductory package and footage of the band playing throughout the medley, while Brian rocks the solo during “We Will Rock You,” taking center stage as the singers gather behind him. How’s the singing? By and large, not too bad. – AV Club
‘American Idol’: Queen and the Damned – Last night’s Top Six episode of American Singing Competition began what I fear are the two or three most languid weeks of the season (other than auditions, naturally): The Top Six Creep really doesn’t end until there are about three people left and the show starts to get exciting again. So we’ll just have to endure it together. We’ll have to keep calm and… eh, you know the rest. – Atlantic Wire
