Host Ryan Seacrest took the stage at the Nokia Theater L.A. LIVE last night for the final showdown of
American Idol Season 8, according to
AC.
After months of auditions and competition, it was down to the final two competitors,
Kris Allen and
Adam Lambert - "The Acoustic Rocker" versus "The Glam Rocker."
The Final Performance show first opened with a video montage of them talking about their journey from the audition to the last stage. It was then followed by the remaining contestants' highly anticipated last performances.
Allen and Lambert were required to sing three pieces, one picked by producer Simon Fuller, one chosen by themselves from one of the songs they had previously performed during the season, and another one- the winner's song - dubbed No Boundaries, co-written by Cathy Dennis, Mitch Allan and judge Kara DioGuardi.
Adam Lambert's favorite song pick was Mad World by Tears for Fears, a song that had garnered him a big applause before. Kris Allen opened his set with Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine with piano on and ended it with a falsetto.
The judges liked both performances. While Randy Jackson called Adam's delivery an "A plus performance", Cowell found it a "little bit overtheatrical." In the end Cowell declared round 1 a win for Kris Allen and told him "When your name was announced last week, I wasn't sure that America had made the right choice. I absolutely take all that back now after that performance."
The Simon Fuller pick for Adam Lambert was Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come while Kris Allen was given "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.
Randy didn't like the fact that Allen's performance was light for such stage of competition. Simon agreed with Randy, calling it "was like three friends in their bedroom strumming along to Marvin Gaye."
Cowell called Round 2 a win for Adam saying "that was the best I've ever heard you sing ever!" Paula raved. "I know with every fiber of my being that you will be iconic."
The show ended with the winning song called "No Boundaries." Lambert first took the stage and world premiered it live. While Kara was happy that her song was debuted by Adam, Randy calling it "pitchy" said it was not his favorite performance. Simon simply said, "I'm not going to judge that song." Meanwhile, Kris brought his version of "No Boundaries" to a little slower tempo than Adam's but he too, failed to pull off the song. Randy thought the key was too high for his vocal range and Kara just gave an ok nod to his performance. A neutral Paula told Kris to be proud of himself and Simon said that Lambert did a better job on the song and told Kris that his first performance was his best for the evening.
Before the show concluded Kris said "Me and Adam said we're not competing, we're just
coming out to put on a good show tonight."
Now it is up to America to choose their newest American Idol. The winner of season 8 will be announced on the FOX two-hour finale airing on Wednesday, May 20.
