Video: James Durbin Fights The Good Fight For Rock N Roll

April 13 – There were a couple of standout performances on American Idol Wednesday night, one of which was James Durbin’s rendition of Heavy Metal by Sammy Hagar to close out the show.

Durbin made Idol history earlier this season when he sang the first-ever Judas Priest song on the show (You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’). On Wednesday’s performance night, he fought the good fight for rock and roll once again and went against the recommendations of mentors Jimmy Iovine and wil.i.am to perform Sammy Hagar’s hard metal tune. Durbin pleaded, “Give metal a chance!” in the preview package which aired before his performance.

As an extra treat for us heavy metal fans, legendary Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde joined Durbin on stage and strung his heart out. 

Jennifer Lopez stole Randy Jackson’s line, saying, “Yo! Yo! Give it up give it up! That felt really really real.” She continued, “I really loved that. I don’t know what these are sounding like at home but here they are killing it dead in here.” She asked, “Who would have ever thought that on Idol we would have heavy metal?”

Randy had to come up with a new sound bit real quick: “My God, you guys were just at a James Durbin concert. And at a Zakk Wylde concert. I’m happy you stuck to your guns….I can see you on stage with Ozzy at the next Ozzfest! Durbin rocks!

Steven Tyler of course loved it. “Outstanding Durbin. I’m glad you went with your feelings. … Nice lip to Jimmy, man.”

Watch the electrifying performance for yourself:

‘American Idol’: SHOCKING Results Show

TONIGHT’S RESULTS ARE ALL THE WAY AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE!
SPOILER ALERT: I am blogging live  from the result’s show. If you want to know who is in the bottom three right now and who gets voted off and eliminated on American Idol Thursday April 7, look below. If you want a behind-the-scenes of Wednesday night’s performance night – keep reading.

This season, I have heard a lot of complaints from fans about the judges’ comments being too nice. Well, let me tell you why they are seemingly too positive: When you hear the contestants sing live on the Idol stage and in person, they all sound fantastic.

These top nine finalists are extremely talented and they even sound better in person than they do on TV. That’s why Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson heap so much praise on them.

When Jacob Lusk sang Man in the Mirror last night, every person in the studio had goosebumps. We all knew we had just witnessed an Idol event to be remembered for years to come. While Scotty McCreery electrified the crowd, James Durbin moved us to tears. Pia Toscano sounded amazing on her first up tempo;song but JLo was right – she definitely needs to up her showmanship. Stefano Langone connected with the lyrics so much, we could feel it his passion for the song.


Paul McDonald was the perfect way to end the show with a bang! His style is so infections. His smile is even more infectious. And his teeth are so brightly white, we could see them from 200 feet away. His rendition of Johnny Cash’s Fulsom Prison Blues made the entire place so happy, that we all felt as we were kids at Disneyland. While Idol replayed of each Idol‘s performance and their phone numbers on TV, in the studio, all Idols ran to stage and hugged and congratulated Paul on his performance. And the entire time the numbers and replays played on TV, the Idols were dancing and doing the Dosey Doe! You could tell that they all really like each other.

The biggest Idol cheerleader in the crowd last night was Christian Slater! He was pumping his fists and rocking to every contestant’s song! He is obviously a true Idol fan. And the judges – unlike previous years when they left the studio during commercial breaks, they all stayed with the audience and during each break, a team of two to three makeup and hair people would work on each judge to make sure they looked pretty for the next segment.

Back to the contestants…they were all so mesmerizing last night that I am sad to see any of them go home…but that’s how Idol works, so, here are the results from Thursday’s (April 7) results show:

LIVE BLOGGING:
Safe: Casey; Lauren, Scotty, Paul, Haley, James.
Bottom three: Stafano, Pia, Jacob.
Voted Off: PIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VIDEO: James Durbin Went Soft On Rock ‘N Roll Hall Of Fame Night

Each of the American Idol Top 9 finalists brought his/her A-game to the special Rock &Roll Hall of Fame episode Wednesday night.

I was on set tonight and will write a full recap and review later tonight about the experience watching Idol LIVE, I mean REALLY LIVE, in the quaint 700-person studio. So, check back to read the full story.

But for now – let’s focus on James Durbin for a minute who took a major risk and mellowed things down on a night we expected him to go full out rock ‘n roll on us. And, the risk paid off – James came out vulnerable, sweet and emotional…well, until the last screech which we know and love him for!

Watch James Durbin sing The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps, written by Goerge Harrison:

Video: James Durbin Leaves Jennifer Lopez Speechless

Wednesday night’s pimp spot on American Idol belonged to the show’s lone rocker, James Durbin.

Durbin sang Stevie Wonder‘s gritty urban anthem Living for the City, and showed off his incredible vocal power and range.

Sure, there were lots of yelps and shrieks and of course some Adam-Lambert-like histrionics, but he gave the song his signature rock grit, and reduced Jennifer Lopez into squealing five, six, or possibly even seven audible, “Oh my Gods!” Lopez continued: “It’s just an incredible thing to watch. You leave me speechless!”

Apparently not “speechless” J.Lo, just with nothing else to say but, “OMG!”

Watch Durbin’s performance for yourself: