Oh my God, Crystal….
I’ll keep this short: Crystal’s last performance was the best song, the best vocal, the best performance of Season 9. Every singer dreams of that one perfect song, that perfect vehicle that allows them to soar above mortality and obscurity and stake their claim to a small piece of eternity. This was it for Crystal. Everything about it was perfect. I started out listening, almost distracted while I was thinking about what I was going to write about tonight. By the end of the song there were tears running down my face. I had to rewind several times to listen to Crystal’s final thoughts. I was buzzing, just blown away by that one incredible performance; after a season without very many defining moments.
The audience was speechless at the end of the song. There was a stunned silence for just a beat, before the audience jumped to their feet for a standing ovation. It was very wet in the Nokia Theater.
I could spend a few hundred words on the rest of the show, but why? This was the defining moment of the season, by the season’s defining performer. It pretty much erased the rest of the night.
Lee, my man, you were terrific. I liked “The Boxer” more than the judges did, and “Everybody Hurts” less. You should be back stage yelling at whoever sent you out with your “single”, that overproduced and melodically vanilla mess. I can’t say that you got hosed, because Crystal should win anyway, but that sure didn’t help your cause.
Crystal’s other two songs were very good, and she left it all out there on the stage for both performances. That set her up perfectly for her final, commanding performance.
This was the year of the singer/songwriter, so it’s fitting that the best singer/songwriter is going to win. Before tonight I expected Lee to win, because he has been the leading vote-getter for a couple of weeks, but I would be pretty shocked if Crystal didn’t win after that last song.
