The Top 8 men of American Idol 9 performed on Wednesday night, following a few amazing performances by the competition’s female contenders from Tuesday’s performance round. It’s all boiling down to Thursday night, where four more contenders will be released from their reality duties. The Top 12 will subsequently be voted off one at a time.

Lee DeWyze kicked off the show with “Fireflies.” As usual, Lee delivered engaging vocals that got the crowd fired up immediately. It was another solid performance from DeWyze, who has been winning high praise from the judges. “For me, it was a strange song choice,” Randy Jackson critiqued. “But, you made it work,” he offered a positive note. “I think it was great,” Ellen DeGeneres smiled at him and called DeWyze “adorable.” “You looked confident tonight,” Kara DioGuardi observed, saying “I think you made the song a better song.” “There’s nothing to rave about,” Simon Cowell told him, however Simon thinks Lee has “a great chance at making the Top 12.”

Alex Lambert sang “Trouble” during his turn in the spotlight, softly strumming a guitar as he belted in his unique twang. Lambert’s a great singer, but he hardly paints the portrait of a successful star. That said, his vocal performance was probably his strongest of the entire season…and there seems no doubt he’s going to make it all the way to the Top 12. Someone should start a “Get Rid of the Mullet” letter-writing campaign. Randy Jackson wasn’t “jumping up and down” over the performance, but Ellen DeGeneres was. “Every single week, you get better and better and better,” she declared, and again gave Lambert several banana-heavy remarks. “You have so much,” Kara DioGuardi told him, cautioning “you are still stiff.” Simon Cowell wants Lambert to relax, and advised him to “think about Randy in a bikini.”

Tim Urban stepped into the spotlight wearing his guitar to sing “Hallelujah,” the song that gave Jason Castro his biggest Idol moment. Urban is no Jason Castro, but he does have a pretty good singing voice when the notes are low and sweet. Some of the bigger parts of the tune may have escaped Tim a little, but it was an extremely brave performance. “We’ve had some good times on this show with that song,” Randy Jackson observed, telling Tim “good job.” Ellen DeGeneres jumped out from behind the desk and rushed the stage to hug Tim, screaming “That was fantastic!” in a big display. Kara DioGuardi was impressed, telling him “You may be at the top.” “I kind of feel responsible for you doing well tonight,” Simon Cowell claimed his victory. “This week, very, very smart with that song, because it’s a song that reacts,” Cowell told him, telling Tim “it was terrific.”

Andrew Garcia boldly chose to sing Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle.” This was truly a mind-boggling choice from Garcia, but when he started the song the crowd was immediately with him. His fast-paced singing and guitar playing created a nice blend, and Garcia’s voice displayed lots of depth. It sounded like a whole new song coming out of Andrew, and it was likely a definitive moment for him on the show. The judges, however, seemed to hate the whole thing. Randy Jackson first complimented Garcia’s cardigan, but found that the performance “didn’t quite work for me, dude,” saying it was “a little pitchy, all over the place.” Ellen DeGeneres loved the song choice, but wished the genie had “come out of the bottle” sooner. “You peaked so early. You had that moment that just blew us away,” Kara DioGuardi again referred to his Hollywood Week performance. Simon Cowell agreed with DioGuardi, calling the performance “a little bit desperate.”

Casey James also played the guitar to sing “You’ll Think of Me.” His charismatic twang and good looks could certainly be enough to shoot him to country superstardom, though James could use a little more technical perfection. Randy Jackson thought the tune was “a bit of a safe choice,” telling James not to “pull away.” “I thought it was great,” Ellen DeGeneres cried. Kara DioGuardi found the performance “better than last week,” but said she’s “missing that spark.” Simon Cowell voted the performance to be Casey’s “second-best.”

Aaron Kelly also picked a country tune and a stool, with “I’m Already There.” Kelly’s usually strong voice started off on a weak warble that didn’t get straightened out until he hit the chorus. When the tune went big, however, Aaron rose to the challenge as usual. The stool was kicked away, and Kelly’s voice was totally on point for the rest of the number. “This was really good,” Randy Jackson told him, declaring “job well done.” “You have the confidence of someone so much older,” Ellen DeGeneres complimented Kelly, but thought the song was a little too big for him. Kara DioGuardi didn’t like the song choice, saying “it’s not relevant to your life.” Simon Cowell then broke in to correct DioGuardi, saying “Kara, I think what you just said there is complete and utter rubbish.” Cowell called the song “beautiful,” and said “it was the right type of song” for Kelly. “It’s just a nice song,” he put a cap on the comments.

Todrick Hall chose a huge song for his performance: Queen’s “Somebody to Love.” He started the number on a shaky falsetto whine, then sank straight into the lower register. There’s no question that Todrick has massive amounts of vocal skill (and a seemingly endless range), but the song was still a bit big for him - and would be for most singers. “Todrick is back!” Randy Jackson screamed. “That was one of the best vocals I heard all night, all the last couple of weeks,” he declared. “You are a brave, brave, brave man,” Ellen DeGeneres praised, telling him he “did a good job.” “It was really good singing,” Kara DioGuardi offered, but said “There were moments when I didn’t know whether to laugh at it or love it.” “I would say it was good in parts, not the whole way through,” Simon Cowell announced, calling Hall “a Broadway singer.”

Michael Lynche was the last performer of the night, with “This Woman’s Work.” He started his song on a true falsetto (way to show Hall how it’s done), then began singing with smooth perfection. Michael Lynche is amazing. His performance was truly the best of the night, from the incredible vocals to the dance moves. “Really?” Randy Jackson cried, yelling “that was hot!” “Oh my God, that was so beautiful, and it feels like the show just began,” Ellen DeGeneres commented. Kara DioGuardi was in tears, calling the performance “amazing.” “This was so needed tonight,” Simon Cowell told him. “You 100 percent nailed it. Not just the best performance of the night - it’s the best performance we’ve had of all these live shows,” Cowell offered very high praise.

Performance nights are inevitably followed by eliminations, and then the Top 12 will at last be determined. Keep up on all the events - check out all our American Idol 9 posts.