America’s Got Talent – And the winner is …

Before I give you the recap of what happened, I need to mention something that I’ve said every season: the finale is WAY too long and there are too many guest performers. One hour would be enough. NBC would surely disagree since AGT is the biggest show of the summer and stretching things for two hours equals more air time for commercials. That out of the way, let’s get on with the show!

The episode started with a recap of last night’s performances that also included some behind-the-scenes comments from the performers. Piers commented that last night was the best finale of the series thus far — I agree as it is the first finale where I would be happy if any of the finalist won — and that America surely had a difficult time deciding who should win.

Landau performed with Patti LaBelle. The song was more up beat and pop than what we are used to from Landau and he nailed it, proving that he can do other styles of music. Compared to previous performances, Landau seemed really at ease on stage and was moving much more. It’s surely partially because producers didn’t restrain his movements by having him stand on a platform and because the pressure of giving the performance of his life was gone. Landau rocked the stage and truly seemed to have fun on stage.

The first guest performance of the evening was of Def Leppard. They haven’t lost the magic that made them popular in the ’80s and early ’90s as they sounded pretty much the same. The best part of their performance was when they played “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” one of their huge hits.

We then saw footage of the technical issue that happened last night that caused Silhouettes’ act to be delayed: the stage doors would not open so they couldn’t get the props out on stage for the performance.

Next up to perform: Team iLuminate with Cobra Starship. Sadly, the magic of Team iLuminate was not as efficient since the stage lights were not completely turned off. Therefore, we could see the costumes, faces, etc. However, it gave us an idea of how the dancers move around the stage to make the various figures.

We took a walk down memory lane with footage of shocking auditions followed by the usual live performance from some of these not-so-good performers. As expected, it was an entertaining nightmare. Nick even joined in the fun as he did with quite a number of these bad performers during their audition.

Silhouettes performed with LeAnn Rimes. This pairing worked really well as Silhouettes danced in the background to enhance LeAnn’s singing.  The latter and her musicians were off stage, thus allowing the camera to get shots that only focused on Silhouettes. The dancers did some of the best inspirational moves from their previous performances which the crowd enjoyed very much and which worked really well with LeAnn’s song.

In order to stretch things out even more and make us wait a tad longer for results, we saw backstage footage and interviews with the judges about what happens behind the scenes for them. This segment mostly focused on the feud between Howie and Piers as well as on Howie’s pranks.

One Republic performed two of their hits.

At the start of the second hour, Jerry Springer joined Nick on stage. For those of you who may not have watched previous seasons of AGT, Jerry was at one point the host of the show. He announced that the show the winner would headline in Vegas would start on October 28 at Ceasar’s Palace and that the three other finalists as well as the best of the Top 10 and Michael Grimm would join too. You can buy tickets by going to nbc.com/agt.

After the usual “That’s What’s Poppin'” segment in the Orville Lounge, Tony Bennett and Queen Latifah performed on stage. It was an outstanding soulful performance.

Stevie Wonder joined Poplyfe on stage for a performance. It wasn’t as entertaining and lively as previous performances from Poplyfe but it was efficient and the singing was great, which helped Poplyfe redeem themselves for the so-so performance from yesterday.

Cirque du Soleil offered us a taste of their show “Iris,” which they perform at the Los Angeles Kodak Theater. Maybe I’m biased because I live in the Province of Quebec, Canada, also known as where Cirque du Soleil started, but their performance tonight was amazing, entertaining, and original. Bravo!

Finally, after an hour and a half of recaps and performances, the first results are announced. Silhouettes, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr, Poplyfe, and Team iLuminate came on stage to learn their fate. After an extremely pause, Nick announced that Poplyfe finished fourth. This is not surprising as the singing was not stellar last night. So far so good for the voters in our not-so-scientific poll from last night as Poplyfe placed fourth in our poll.

It was now time to announce who finished in third place. In our poll, Silhouettes finished third but in reality, Team iLuminate got the third spot.

Last season’s sensation, Jackie Evancho, performed next. Her voice has matured since last season and it’s even more amazing than last year. It’s incredible that such a small girl can have a voice that sounds like a professional opera singer. It’s surreal. The stage setting was grandiose which helped make this performance the best one of the evening.

Finally, the moment we have been waiting for has arrived: time to unveil who won season six of AGT. As expected, we have to wait a few minutes more while recaps of Silhouettes’ and Landau’s road on the show air. In CliqueClack’s poll, voters said Landau would be crowned the winner. I voted for Silhouettes as I wanted a non-solo singer to win for once and Silhouettes did amazing throughout the competition. After yet another long pause, Nick announced that the winner is: Landau Eugene Murphy Jr.

Even though I didn’t pick the winner, I’m satisfied with him winning; I would have been with any of the Top 4 contestants. However, I am a bit bummed that yet again, a solo singer wins the series. It’s great for Landau as he is going from car washer to winner of one million dollars and surely a singing career! Congrats!

This has been one of the best seasons of AGT. Loads of diversity in the acts. Fantastic performers. Did you enjoy this season? Are you happy with the winner? Sound off in comments below. See you next summer for season seven of AGT!

Clacked by Isabelle Carreau
on Sep 14, 2011 @ 22:06 EST5EDT