Las Vegas Night: The Last Cut Is the Deepest

The saying goes that the first cut is the deepest. But with “American Idol,” it’s the last cut. And tonight’s last cut hurt the most.

It was kind of sad that such a great performance show had to be marred by some cruel, last minute, unexpected cuts. But we’ll get to those later…

First, we saw 70 happy contestants on the buses to Las Vegas preparing to take the “Viva Elvis” stage at the Aria Resort and Casino to sing a an assigned song from the 50s and 60s in groups of three or four.

My #1 annoyance, Richie Law, tried to draw on someone’s face with a Sharpie marker while riding on the bus. Seriously?! What grade is he in?...

#Heejunism Alert: “I don’t know if I’m dreaming or not, but I’m on this program called ‘American Idol.’”

We didn’t have to wait long to see if Point Pleasant’s Chase Likens would get any camera time. Chase teamed up with Colton Dixon and Cari Quoyeser. But when Skylar Laine was left without a group, she was placed with them. The group sang “Dedicated to the One I Love.” JLo complimented their harmonies and Steven complimented Chase for doing something outside of his comfort zone. When the verdict came, only Cari did not go through…

YEA CHASE!!!

Next up, Jeremy Rosado, Ariel Sprague, Gabi Carrubba and David Leathers Jr. did a strong version of “Rockin’ Robin” and all went through…

Adam Brock, Erika Van Pelt, Shelby Tweten and Angie Ziederman did “Great Balls of Fire” with Adam on the piano. They all went through…

#Tylerism Alert: “For a skinny girl, you don’t have any tailfeathers, but you sure shook.”

Schyler Dixon, Brielle Von Hugel and Molly Hunt teamed up for “Why Do Fools Fall In Love,” dressed as an Andrews Sisters type of trio. Only Molly did not go through…

Also not going through were Wayne Wilson, Ashley Robles, Stephanie Renae, Aubree Dieckmeyer, Janelle Arthur and Tenna Torres…

Haley Johnson, Reed Grimm, Elise Testone and Eben Franckewitz (From Loveland, OH) did an amazing rendition of “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes” that got a standing ovation from the judges. They all went through…

MIT kicked Richie out (Good for them!) and Jermaine Jones couldn’t find anyone that would harmonize with his deep voice. So Jermaine and Richie teamed up as the only two-person group. Richie kept up his annoying ways by saying the changes voice coach Debra Byrd made to the song were all ones he had heard before. Richie and Jermaine sang “Make It Easy On Yourself” with Jermaine completely outsinging Richie. But the judges let them both through…

#Heejunism Alert: “[Jermaine] might lose lots of hair. I feel bad for him.”

Hallie Day, Baylie Brown and Chelsea Sorrell all went through…

Michael Orland and Peisha McPhee arranged a doozy of a rendition of Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” for Jessica Sanchez, Deandre Brackensick and Candice Glover. The performance got a standing ovation from the judges…

At the end of Day One, the contestants were brought back to the stage and told they may not all be safe after all. If there were contestants on Day Two that were better than them, there may have to be more cuts at the end of Day Two…

Clayton Farhat, Scott Dangerfield, Adam Lee Decker and Curtis Gray kicked off Day Two with “Jailhouse Rock.” Only Curtis did not go through…

Caleb Johnson, Joshua Sanders, a girl I didn’t recognize and River St. James were next and I think they all went through. I actually didn’t write that down for some reason…

Curtis Finch, Joshua Ledet, Shannon Magrane and Amber Holcomb were shown next. Joshua and Shannon went through while Curtis and Amber went home…

The Neopolitans—Britnee Kellogg, Courtney Williams and Jessica Phillips—sang a fairly weak version of “Keep Me Hangin’ On.” Jessica went home, while Britnee and Courtney moved on. Jessica angrily declared that the show must not be looking for “real artists”…

The tough vocal coach, Peggy Blu, made a return to the show tonight telling Lauren Gray, “There’s no cryin’ in music!” Lauren teamed up with Wendy Taylor and Mathenee Treco to do “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.” Only Mathenee did not survive…

Heejun Han managed to charm Peggy, however and the coach even got a thank you after Heejun’s group finished their performance. The entire group of Neco Starr, Jairon Jackson, Phil Phillips and the guy who is racing up my faves list, Heejun, made it through…

The final group was Lady and the Spectacles, aka Groove Sauce without Reed. The group had great harmonies, but Peisha encouraged them to be their own stars since this is a competition. Creighton Fraker, Aaron Marcellus, Nick Boddington and Jen Hirsh did a strong rendition of “Sealed With a Kiss.” Only Nick did not make it through…

But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, all of the remaining contestants were called back to the stage and were informed that another round of cuts needed to be made…

The cuts were fast and furious and I still don’t recognize all of the faces, so I know I missed a ton of them. But here’s who I got…

Gabi Carubba out…

Colton Dixon, Skylar Gray, Chase Likens in…

YEA CHASE!!!

Schyler Dixon out, which crushed her brother, Colton…Brielle Von Hugel in…

Eben Franckewitz, Reed Grimm, Haley Johnson, Elise Testone in…

Angie Ziederman out…

Also out were…

Candice Glover, which I thought was a huge mistake…

Jairon Jackson…

Britnee Kellogg…

And the big shocker, Johnny Keyser, who I thought was a lock for the Top 24. We didn’t hear Johnny tonight, but he must have stumbled pretty badly…

At the end of Vegas, only 42 remained…

Next week we’ll see final performances and the Top 24 will be named over three hours over two nights…

And for the record, the previews showed Chase making the long walk and also crying in front of the judges. We also saw Heejun crying, but he could have been crying happy tears. Or at least he better be…

So what did you guys think? Did you enjoy tonight’s show as much as I did? And what eliminations shocked you?

Discuss…