May 01 2008
There are Two Types of People……
“There are two types of people…those who love Neil Diamond and those who don’t….” (Bob Wiley)
This week American Idol contestants were mentored by Neil Diamond and Diamond wrapped up the show with a single from his upcoming release, After Dark.
The contestants opened the show with a horrible medley of Diamond songs. The medley was poorly arranged with way too much unison singing, seemed to be out of the contestants’ ranges, and was riddled with intonation problems as a result.
Predictably, the 11 year old girl favorite, David Archuleta sand “Caroline” and “America”. Archuleta’s performance were very strong and will probably be what fans remember most from the show. Syesha Mercado continues to improve each week and with a powerful, yet controlled voice, she ha managed to survive being in the bottom 2 or 3 in votes each week.
“Paulagate”
Paula Abdul was at the center of controversy as the judges were told, only live on the air, that they would be giving their comments after each performer’s second song. Under direction from the show’s executive producer, Seacrest was ordered to get each judge’s comments after the first round of singing. This confusion. plus other circumstances as described here, led to Paula Abdul errantly giving a review of a song contestant Jason Castro had not yet performed, but Abdul had heard during rehearsal.
Diamond’s song, “Pretty Amazing Grace” wrapped up the show.
