With Chris on stage, It’s A Beautiful World indeed!

First off, thanks again to Travis of mr.daughtry.com for making video clips and mp3s of Chris Daughtry’ Tuesday night American Idol performance available on the fan site. Because out here in our part of the world, we get to watch the show only after something like 24 hours!

Now, to set the ball rolling, let’s first start with the week’s theme: with the emphasis on Rod Stewart’s The Great American Songbook songs - y’know songs from 1930s and 50s - I was a tad worried for Chris. I mean he has this whole rocker thing going on so well for him and suddenly they drop that Rod Stewart bomb. What song could he possibly perform from that era? It was a million dollar question that had stumped many Doubting Thomases like me. But that was until the rocker dude casually walked into stage and blew everyone away; yes, including Simon the Great who even tried to take credit for Chris’ performance!

Chris belted out What A Wonderful World wonderfully and with relaxed ease too [though, in the pre-show footage, he is shown saying: “It’s harder for me to sing a song like this as I’m used to belting out at the top of my lungs”]. It was something totally different from what he usually does. And he dressed the part too! And thankfully, the eye make-up he was sporting last week is also gone!

Okay, now, let’s get some things straight. For those under the impression that all contestants had to belt out Rod Stewart songs this week, here’s the lowdown - The Great American Songbook series is a compilation of American classics performed by Rod Stewart and not his originals, as some of us dimwits initially thought. What A Wonderful World, originally by Louis Armstrong, is featured in Stardust, the third installment in the Great American Songbook series. Though I’ve heard only the original version, I’m sure Chris made Rod Stewart a happy man, besides showing us a new side to him and - this is important - making a certain Mr. Simon Cowell look like a total ass.

As shown in the pre-show footage, after hearing Chris do his thing during rehearsals, an impressed Rod Stewart says: “You did great! Let me give you a hug. Well done!”

In the next clip, Rod is again all praises for Chris: “Chris, he was brought up on heavy metal… I think he did a wonderful job! You know, this is a break out for him. I mean I can’t imagine Ozzy Osborne singing this song for instance; no disrespect to Ozzy Osborne, but it’s a vocal push.” Now, how dope is that!

Now, time for the judges’ comments, ad verbatim:

Randy ‘The Dawg’ Jackson: “For everyone who thought there wasn’t another side to Chris, dude you just slayed them. You showed the sensitive side of you and it was the bomb!”

Paula ‘fluttery’ Abdul: “You have definitely proven to this guy [points at Simon] … you have shown that you are in this to win. You broke out of any mold that he [Simon] thought you were in and you did a fantastic job!”

Simon ‘$#@*’ Cowell: “I have to take a certain amount of credit for that performance, because I’ve said for a while that you have to change your style. I think you have proven the point by listening to me that you could do better in this competition. Chris, I thought it was a great performance. Congratulations!”

It’s 6.30 pm right now, which means it’s another hour and a half worth of wait before I get to view the entire show on TV. Oh, by the way, I read somewhere online that Ace did a pretty decent job Tuesday night. Still I stick to what I said earlier – it’s Ace’s time to get the boot this week, since Kellie Pickler still continues to reign as the worst contestant at votefortheworst.com, a site dedicated to the cause of promoting and voting for the worst American Idol contestant.