“American Idol” on Tuesday entered the last week of competition before the finale, and we at “Fan Fare” had the good fortune to land second-row seats in the talent show’s live studio audience. (For the record, this twist of fate had nothing to do with our coverage of the show — it was good old-fashioned standing in line combined with almost two years of being on a waiting list.)

Watching “Idol” in its natural habitat revealed dozens of quirks imperceptible to the 25 million or so viewers who tune in at home. First off, the studio was smaller than expected — even more intimate than watching a live show in a theater. One audience member in our row even remarked that it was smaller than her college lecture hall.

Also, the judges seemed to spend more time out of their seats than in them. Accompanied by massive bodyguards, they walked backstage at every commercial break, rushing back to their seats sometimes with two seconds to spare. Judge Paula Abdul at least spent some time greeting celebrity audience members such as Kim and Kourtney Kardashian and their mom, Kris Jenner, as well as “The Hills” star Audrina Partridge.

Many in the mostly young, female audience also appeared to be partial to one contestant — supposed dark horse Kris Allen. There were more Kris-themed homemade signs (”Krazy 4 Kris”, for instance) being waved than those for either of the other contestants. And, one young fan was overheard after the show gloating that she had waved to Allen — and that he had smiled back!

So is “Idol”’s resident pretty boy Kris really a dark horse after all? His acoustic performance of Kanye West’s “Heartless” received universal praise from the judges, with Randy Jackson deeming it “better than the original.” His first song, “Apologize,” however, was less well-received.

But Allen rival Danny Gokey’s performances were by no means stellar, getting similar mixed reviews from the judges. They loved his version of “You Are So Beautiful” but were less enthused by his take on Terence Trent D’Arby’s “Dance Little Sister,” for which he was criticized for his dancing.

Golden child Adam Lambert, predictably, got rave reviews for both of his performances. Judge Simon Cowell, however, warned “Idol” viewers not to assume that Lambert would sail through to next week’s finale and reminded them that they needed to vote.

So who will be sent packing tomorrow night? Host Ryan Seacrest, toward the end of the show, made a point of saying that he had no idea what would happen on Wednesday night.

Is Lambert really the juggernaut he has been made out to be, and does Allen have a stronger wind at his back than many expected? Gokey is the only contestant never to be placed among the show’s bottom three vote-getters — but has he finally run out of steam?

In contrast to last week on “American Idol” when it seemed the contestants could do no wrong, the judges found plenty of stones to throw at the Top 4 on Rock Week. Except for Adam Lambert, who as usual thrilled the panelists.

Lambert, coming off his shocking first trip to the Bottom Three last week, sang British supergroup Led Zeppelin’s hit “Whole Lotta Love” and struck all the high notes, jerking his head to the side in rhythm with the band and glowering with an expression Elvis Presley might have worn if he was fused with John Travolta. The judges loved it. 

“You are a rock god,” said judge Kara DioGuardi, who was wearing a studded leather jacket that looked a lot like Lambert’s own outfit.

Even alpha judge Simon Cowell was impressed. “No one can top that now,” Cowell told the contestant nicknamed “Glambert,” who on Tuesday night sported his usual eyeliner.

But after Lambert wowed everyone, the rest of the contestants all ran into some criticism. Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash was the night’s guest mentor, and told the camera that 17-year-old contestant Allison Iraheta had a natural rock style, but had to get past her “fear.” 

Iraheta went on to earn mixed reviews from all the judges, except the easily swayed Paula Abdul, with her version of “Cry Baby” from the late Janis Joplin. Cowell and a couple other panelists faulted her for poor song choice, which prompted an interesting exchange when Iraheta explained why she picked the song and was interrupted by Cowell. “Allison, at this point just beg,” he said. “Beg.”

“I’m not,” Iraheta said. “And you always say that I don’t talk enough, so maybe I should just talk a lot.”

“American Idol” judge Paula Abdul has opened up about the effect her dependence on painkillers had on her life, after her sometimes erratic behavior on the show and in television interviews has caused many commentators to say she at times appeared to be under the influence.

In an interview with Ladies Home Journal posted on the magazine’s Web site on Tuesday, Abdul said that for the first time in a dozen years she is no longer dependent on medication, after checking into a California resort last fall to wean herself of the medication.

“I could have killed myself … Withdrawal — it’s the worst thing,” Abdul told the magazine. “I was freezing cold, then sweating hot, then chattering and in so much pain, it was excruciating.”

Abdul, 46, said she suffered a series of a injuries that caused her lingering pain, including an accident when she was a 17-year-old cheerleader, before going on to pop star fame in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Abdul suffered a broken leg from a stage routine gone wrong, a car collision and an airplane crash into an Iowa cornfield. She told the magazine she began taking painkillers and Chinese medicine to keep up with her performance schedule.

“I didn’t want anyone to count me out,” she said. “I tried to keep everything hush-hush.”

Adbul admitted to the magazine that the pain made her “get weird.” Her admission differed from past interviews she has given. The pop star told ABC News program “Nightline” last month that she has never abused prescription drugs. In 2007 on NBC program “Today,” co-anchor Matt Lauer asked if she had been addicted to painkillers.

“I’ve never been addicted to painkillers,” Abdul told Lauer. “Painkillers don’t work for me.”

Abdul is expected to perform her single “I’m Just (Here for the Music)” on the “Idol” results show on Wednesday.

In other “Idol” news on Tuesday, the show’s alpha judge Simon Cowell said on TV chat program “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” that Kara DioGuardi, a new judge to the panel this season, will return next season. DioGuardi had said as recently as last week that she was not sure of her future on the show, telling TV Guide Magazine, “I’m only here for one season. That’s what we have discussed. So we’ll see what happens. Hopefully they’ll keep me on.”

At the time, Cowell was non-committal about DioGuardi’s future, telling TV Guide only that he would not appear on the show without host Ryan Seacrest and fellow panelists Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul, and conspicuously not mentioning DioGuardi. Despite the possible change of heart, Cowell is still complaining that the addition of DioGuardi as the fourth judge slows down the show.

“American Idol” has experienced a death in the family, as the 37-year-old brother of the show’s 2008 winner David Cook died of brain cancer on Saturday, media outlets reported.

Adam Cook had suffered from brain cancer for years, and when David Cook competed on “American Idol” last year, Adam was there to cheer him on.

Singer David Archuleta, who was last year’s runner-up to David Cook, said to People magazine that he was saddened by the death and that his “heart really goes out” to Adam Cook’s loved ones. “Idol” judge Simon Cowell told People that he met Adam Cook a few times at the show, and he called him “an incredible guy.”

David Cook announced his brother’s death on Sunday at a brain cancer fundraiser in Washington, D.C.  On his debut album last year, the artist released a song dedicated to his brother called “A Daily AntheM.”

He may have lost the race to become the ”American Idol” but Matt Giraud says he couldn’t have wished for a better way to go out of the TV singing competition than with his rendition of ”My Funny Valentine” in jazz week.

“Going out with Simon (Cowell) calling you brilliant and comparing you to Nat King Cole is pretty much the best way you could go…I was at complete peace with myself, ” Giraud, 23, told reporters on Thursday after being voted off the show .

The dueling piano player said that being saved by the judges from elimination two weeks ago under the new “judges save” rule introduced this year, was something he will always remember.

“I’ve never felt so much love in the room. It was one of the coolest moments of my life…I really didn’t know that people felt that passionately about me,” he said.

Giraud had some advice for other “Idol” wannabes that echoes the weekly refrain from the judges — song choice. “There are a million songs that you love and they move you. But picking a song that you sing well is the hard part. Picking the song that is good for you is a different part,” he said.

But would things have turned out differently for Matt if he had picked another jazz standard?  “I’ve listened back to it and I wouldn’t change a thing…I’m proud of what I did,” he said.

“American Idol” golden boy Adam Lambert hit a big speed bump on Wednesday night after he landed among the show’s Bottom Three vote-getters for the first time this season.

And, just when it seemed lone woman contestant Allison Iraheta was standing on thin ice, she skated handily into the next round.

Host Ryan Seacrest played up the surprise results for all it was worth, taking Lambert by the arm to join fellow low vote-getters Matt Giraud and Kris Allen, leaving Iraheta and Danny Gokey to stare at each other slack-jawed.

For Gokey, the surprised reaction might not have been completely warranted, since alpha judge Simon Cowell had nice things to say about him the night before. But Cowell had told 17-year-old Iraheta that her performance left him feeling she “could be in trouble.”

None of the judges has ever said anything that ominous to Lambert, whose ride to the Top 5 was among the smoothest of any contestant this season. After Lambert ended up in the Bottom Three, panelists Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi both expressed shock.

“It’s crazy,” Abdul said.

It was an unusual week, with the contestants trying their best at standards from crooner Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack, in a theme that Los Angeles Times writer Ann Powers said seemed a strange fit.

“The final five showed almost zero awareness of or interest in what Sinatra and his cronies granted pop in the autumn of their years, when the Rat Pack came to stand for fun of the most adult (and, in the background, melancholy) kind,” Powers wrote.

“Instead, the ‘Idol’ finalists mostly came across like prom dates: really adorable, precocious even, but corsage carriers nonetheless,” Powers wrote.

So, maybe this was a lost week for the “Idol” contestants.

It certainly was for Giraud, who was eliminated. Now audiences can watch if Lambert bounces back next week. Looks like things just got a lot more interesting.

“American Idol” still has five singers left in the competition. But acid-tongued judge Simon Cowell has already decided who he would like to see in the final round next month.

“I’d ike to see Adam (Lambert) and Danny (Gokey) in the final because they are the best two singers,” Cowell told reporters at a TV industry event in Los Angeles on Friday.

Adam is hardly a surprise as he’s been the clear favorite of all four “Idol” judges for  weeks.

 But Cowell’s choice of Danny might come as more of a surprise to fans after some of his lukewarm comments recently.  On Tuesday,  Cowell called Gokey’s performance in disco theme week “clumsy”.

Cowell has an option to sign the eventual winner of the talent show to his record label and his comments are influential. But it’s still America who gets to vote for their “Idol”.

 So has Simon got it right?

Before he went on stage, the camera swooped down on “American Idol” contestant Adam Lambert as he stood beaming in the crowd. But as usual, Lambert was more than just a face in the crowd on Tuesday night, as he again wowed the judges and solidified his frontrunner status.

It was Disco Week on “Idol,” and true to the theme Lambert sang the Bee Gees hit “If I Can’t Have You,” effortlessly hitting the high notes and inspiring judge Paula Abdul to gush that his performance made her feel his “pain.” Abdul was not alone. All the judges said they loved the performance, with alpha judge Simon Cowell commending Lambert for surprising him by picking a Bee Gees song.

“I would have put $10,000 you were going to do Donna Summer, but that’s what’s so good about you, you did something we weren’t expecting,” Cowell said.

Speaking of betting, it seems the smart money is on Lambert. Online betting firm BookMaker.com, which usually confines itself to sports gambling, said on Tuesday that the “Idol” title appears to be Lambert’s to lose, if he does not slip up.

At the other end of the spectrum, embattled singer Lil Rounds continued to leave the judges unimpressed. She sang the Chaka Khan hit “I’m Every Woman,” and although her performance was energetic and confident, judge Randy Jackson faulted her for a lack of vocal control. Lil said that she had a good time with the song, which only gave Cowell an opening to tear her down.

“I’m glad you had fun, because I think this is going to be the last week we’re ever going to see you,” Cowell said.

Cowell had a similarly biting critique for Anoop Desai’s version of the Donna Summer song “Dim All the Lights.”

“It was a horrible version of that song, and in my opinion, genuinely that was your worst performance by a mile,” Cowell said.

With a completely different take, judge Kara DioGuardi told Desai he has been at the top of his game the past couple of weeks, even though the voters put him in the Bottom Three for each of the past three weeks.

Allison Iraheta continued to hold her own with her version of “Hot Stuff,” another Donna Summer hit. Cowell called the slowed-down rendition “brilliant” and Jackson said the 16-year-old Iraheta was one of the best singers in the competition.

Matt Giraud, who was saved from elimination by the judges last week, sang the appropriately-chosen Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive,” a disco-era hallmark. The judges gave him mostly positive reviews, as they did for Danny Gokey’s rendition of “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Judge Paula Abdul saved her best comment for contestant Kris Allen, who sang yet another Donna Summer song, “She Works Hard for the Money.” Allen gave a new twist to what is a very feminine song, bringing the band on stage with him and performing the tune with an acoustic flavor.

“A lot of women are known to shop in the mens’ department, but there aren’t many men that are willing to shop in the womens’ (department),” Abdul said. “I’ve got to tell you that you shopped and you found a perfect fit.”

Which contestants were a perfect fit for the audience on Tuesday night? And which two will get the axe tomorrow night? Will the disco ball finally come down on Lil Round’s “Idol” dreams, or will the audience ignore the judges’ criticism of her and give the Memphis mom another chance?

A lot has happened to Jennifer Hudson since she last took the stage on “American Idol.” In her highly anticipated return to the show on Wednesday night’s broadcast, Hudson sang “If This Isn’t Love” from her Grammy-winning 2008 debut album.

If the performance was not as poignant as her power ballad “You Pulled Me Through” during the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, it was a moment to be savored for a singer who has experienced life’s highs and lows since she finished a disappointing seventh in 2004. Ironically, when producers this season introduced a rule allowing them to save one contestant from elimination, Simon Cowell mentioned Hudson’s early exit as a justification for giving him and his fellow judges veto power over America’s votes. And on the same night that viewers saw Hudson’s performance, they saw the judges use their save power to rescue Matt Giraud.

As it turns out, Hudson was not in the studio when it happened. Her performance was taped three weeks ago, and Hudson herself is currently on tour. Judging by a review from a writer with the Atlanta Journal Constitution posted on Wednesday, the tour is going well. “Hudson is a wonder,” the reviewer wrote. “And not just because it is remarkable that she is out in front of audiences mere months after her mother, brother and nephew were killed. But because on the first night of her two-night stand in Atlanta  - the second show being Thursday- this relative newcomer arrived with an ease with the audience that never let on that this is her first tour ever.”

On “Idol” Wednesday night, host Ryan Seacrest (who was careful to dress the same for the pre-tape as for Wednesday’s live broadcast), mentioned Hudson’s Oscar win for her role in the 2006 movie “Dreamgirls” and her Grammy win for best R&B album this year.

“You’ve got an Oscar and a Grammy, what else is left?” Seacrest said.

“I don’t know, well I guess coming back here and singing,” Hudson replied.

How did Hudson do? Was her return everything viewers wanted from the “Idol” favorite?

A British TV talent show has uncovered an unlikely star in the form of Susan Boyle, an unemployed 47-year-old from West Lothian in Scotland. In the mould of tenor Paul Potts, the winner of the show two years ago who went on to top the charts, Boyle is now the bookies’ favourite to win the 2009 edition of “Britain’s Got Talent” after she wowed judges and audience members alike on Saturday with an assured performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”.

A video clip of the performance on Youtube has already been watched nearly six million times, and, according to broadcaster ITV, Boyle was applauded on Easter Sunday by friends in the congregation of the church she attends. “It was incredible. Although we sing in church not a lot of them know how good I was, so it was a bit of a shock for them”, she said.

The straight-talking contender, who told viewers she had “never been kissed”, clearly impressed the judges, including Simon Cowell, and is expected to win the top prize — a chance to perform before Prince Charles at the prestigious Royal Variety show, win a cheque for 100,000 pounds, and, perhaps most importantly, get a crack a stardom.

“The whole village is cheering me on,” Boyle said. “West Lothian would wish me well, I hope, that is the kind of community it is. And I will be doing my best. Before I left, they told me, ‘If you can behave yourself and stop your carry on, you will do well. You can sing okay’ Who am I to let them down?”