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The Idols perform tonight in the Land of Idols, Birmingham, AL…

ETA:  RollTide’s Birmingham recap: (Fixed the html problem!)

The crowd was *way* off from last year. I’m not sure why - maybe because there was no Alabama contestant? Anyway, it was sort of embarrassing, and made me hope the two-er will still come to Bhm next year.

Of the text messages that mentioned contestants, Blake probably got like 90% of them. Birmingham loves some Blake Lewis. He got the most applause by far as well.

The format of the two-er is so much better this year. I love all the group numbers. It was a fun show. I think it lasted longer than last year too. It was close to 2 hours. There’s been so much hate for this season of AI, but in my opinion, this concert blew last year’s away.

Chris R. is featured soooo much, and Melinda doesn’t get much attention.

Nearly all the contestants sounded sooo much better live than they had on the show.

I like the vanilla side of the poptart better than the chocolate side. Weird.

OK, on to the show.

Being the Team Plaid-er that I am, I was so excited about the start of the show because I knew Blake came out first. So he came out and everyone went wild. They all sang Let’s Get It Started, and it was pretty much awesome and a great way to kick off the show.

My recap is going to be a mess because I can’t remember the order anyone sang in. And ummm, I kind of glazed over every time Blake was on stage.

Some of the girls (I think Melinda and Lakisha, maybe someone else?) sang I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Then they went into Stop in the Name of Love. At some point Chris R. came out so we could admire the hotness that is Chris R. At some point, several of them sang Life Is a Highway.

Haley sang When God Fearing Women Get the Blues - I think that’s what it’s called. I’m not a fan of country, but she sounded pretty good. Better than on the show by far.

Phil - Phil blew me away. His voice had started to really impress me about 3 weeks before he got voted off the show, but live, he owns the stage. He sang Blaze of Glory and it rocked. After last night, I am totally a Phil fan. Later on in the show, he came out to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (?) in his Navy uniform. I loved the patriotic Phil songs. He sang a gorgeous version of America the Beautiful. At some time, Phil and Gina sang It’s Your Love, and it sounded great.

Chris Sligh - He sang Typical, and he, like many others, sounds much better live than he had on the show. His mic was wayyyyy loud, and I think it would’ve sounded better if they had fixed it earlier on. I noticed that for the more rock-ish songs, the mics were way too loud. Chris also played the guitar on a song (sorry can’t remember which one) and he plays some mean guitar. Oh and loved the Thanks for the Memories duet with Gina. It rocked! At some point, Chris talked about auditioning in Bhm a year ago, and that now he was here again on the tour. He even pointed out the section he had been in.

Sanjaya - glad they didn’t make it a Sanjaya show. Anyway, he did his Thriller/The Way You Make Me Feel and it was cute.

Gina - I loved Gina, and thought she got voted off way too soon. Anyway, she rocks live. She sang the Pink song, and like Chris Sligh, her mic was way too loud. She also sang with the girls several times and with Chris and Phil as I mentioned before. I love Gina. :)

Lakisha - she blew out the roof with I Will Always Love You and the crowd loved her. That girl has got some pipes. She is amazing. I can’t stand that type of song, but she owned it.

Melinda - the only song she sang by herself was Natural Woman. Of course she owned it. She, believe it or not, even sounds better live. She is flawless. She was in several of the group numbers, but I think they under-used her for the two-er.

Chris R - He was pretty much in every other number. He sang some country song with Jordin towards the beginning. My SIL said it is a Rascal Flatts (?) song. I’ll take her word for it. He also sang This Love. While his version was respectable, Blake’s was by far better. But Chris definitely sounds better live than he did on the show. Oh and he’s hot.

OK Blake. Blake…….
Sorry, I glazed over there for a sec.

He came out to Time of the Season, and I’m pretty sure I died a little right then. As hot as it was on AI, (and it was so hot that I still have that 2 hour show on my DVR) it is SOOOOO much hotter live. His voice is gorgeous, he is gorgeous, and his moves are amazing. Oh and I love that the blonde-ish hair is back. Blake owned the stage and he owned the crowd. Everyone went crazy every time he came out.

His next song was She Will Be Loved, complete with loop pedals, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I was so excited about hearing him sing this live and it did not disappoint.

Then he went into his beatboxing and the crowd of course loved it. Especially when he got to the part at the beginning of YGLABN. It completely rocked live. Soooooo. freaking. awesome. Anyway, the 3 song Blake set went by way too fast for me. But luckily, he was sprinkled throughout several other songs. The Blake and Chris part of the show was on fire. Seriously, I am surprised the stage didn’t burst into flames with that much hotness. They started with Ain’t No Sunshine, then Blake went into Virtual Insanity (and I died a little more) and then Geek in Pink. At least I think that’s what they sang b/c I’m not sure I was completely conscious when Blake was on stage. At some point Chris beatboxed and it was cute. Anyway, I loved their songs together. They work really well together, and it was pretty much awesome.

The guy number freaking rocked! They started out singing Crazy and it was one of my favorite parts of the night. Blake sang a lot of it and he sounded amazing. Then they went into Hey Jude and it was pretty much awesome. But Crazy blew me away.

The girls sang Lady Marmalade and Ain’t No Other Man at some point.

Jordin sang You Were Meant for Me (while playing guitar), I Who Have Nothing, Broken Wing, Heartbreaker, Livin on a Prayer and This is my Not. Sadly, we were subjected to that song twice. Just ugh. The highlight of Jordin’s set IMO was the Jewel song. Everything else was just a’ight.

They all came out for their song snippets at the end.

So that’s it. Sorry this was amazingly long. Did I mention that Blake rocked?