Top 12 Men Perform On ‘Idol’ As Judges Go For The Quips

“American Idol” kicked off its performance round on Tuesday night with a host of memorable tunes from several of the show’s top 12 men, and the return of colorful comments from the judges – Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and of course, Simon Cowell.

The evening was kicked off by 24-year-old David Hernandez who put in a healthy rendition of “In The Midnight Hour.”

“I thought you did a really good job… Way to start it off baby, yo!” judge Randy Jackson exclaimed.

Things quickly turned though as Chikezie, who is no longer using his last name as the competition continues, stepped up to the mic. In an orange suit, the newly-slimmer gent sang “More Today Than Yesterday.”

“Here’s my problem Jacuzzi or Tkezie,” Simon began, butchering the young man’s name. “I absolutely hated the whole performance and I’ll tell you why — the suit is hideous, the wink was hideous, the woo was hideous. It was all old-fashioned, corny [and] cheesy.”

Things fared slightly better for David Cook, who covered The Turtles classic “Happy Together,” but Jason Yaeger’s “Moon River” was ripped by the British judge.

“I’m gonna be very honest with you, I think it was very cruise-ship that performance,” Simon said.

Robbie Carrico, the former pop singer, who dated a teenage Britney Spears, received a fair amount of praise for his rendition of the Three Dog Night song, “One,” but he wasn’t able to revel in his moment for long. Following his tune, 17-year-old baby-faced David Archuleta, brought the house down with “Shop Around.”

“I thought that was really brilliant and what I love dude, is you are just born with this gift,” Randy enthused.

“David, that was — by a comfortable mile, the best performance of the night,” Simon stated.

Danny Noriega was next up, bringing out the night’s first Elvis cover – “Jailhouse Rock.”

“I thought the performance was verging on grotesque,” Simon said to the young man’s dismay. “If you’re gonna take on Elvis at least do it well.”

Carpet cleaner Luke Menard stepped up next. While viewers may remember his angular jaw and classic good looks, Simon said his rendition of “Everybody’s Talkin’ About Me” would be forgotten.

“No one is going to remember that as a great performance or a great vocal,” the judge stated.

Colton Berry, the last contestant chosen during Hollywood week, took on Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds,” and gave a rendition of the song that Simon once again took a disliking to.

“Colton, it was OK. It wasn’t quite as bad as the other Elvis song,” he said. “What did I get from that performance? Nothing. It’s just a young kid who might have a career in musical theatre.”

It was Garrett Haley, the 17-year-old who Ryan Seacrest compared looks-wise to ‘70s teenage pop sensation Leif Garrett, who was up next, performing a slow version of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.”

“I love the song, but the thing that struck me with this performance is you didn’t do anything with it,” Randy said.

Dreadlocked Jason Castro was the first and only contestant of the night to bring a guitar with him on stage, performing the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream.”

“For me, you did blow me away,” Paula said. “You picked a song that was really, absolutely perfect for you.”

“Jason I thought that was in the top two performances of the night,” Simon added. “You, like David, have just got it.”

The final performance of the night was by Australian Michael Johns, who took on The Doors’ “Light My Fire” to great review.

“What a way to end the night man,” Randy said. “You’re like a Michael Hutchence [of INXS]. You were the bomb, baby. That was hot.”

“American Idol” continues Wednesday with performances from the top 12 women.

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