American Idol' 9 recap: Casey James, Aaron Kelly steal the Top 11 performance show for the men

Casey James and Aaron Kelly stole the show for the men on the "American Idol" season nine Top 11 performance show Tuesday, March 23. In fact, if Casey and Aaron hadn't shown up for filming, the men would've made the episode a complete waste of time.

Find out the Top 11 female performances went

The performances

Aaron Kelly - "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," Aerosmith

• Simon - Making himself old fashioned for his age; Zero chance he will be going home
• Kara - Best song choice of the night; Really knows how to pick a song that accentuates his voice; Needs a little more stage presence
• Ellen - Perfect song choice; Could tell that he was under the weather; Still amazing performance, though
• Randy - Loved the first verse; Definitely a fan; Took it up a notch

Andrew Garcia - "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," Marvin Gaye

• Simon - Thinks maybe they overrated his "Straight Up" performance; Arrangement was horrible; Sucked the soul out of the song
• Kara - Feels like he is confused and completely screwed up from having a moment so soon; Didn't even know who he was
• Ellen - Wasn't fantastic enough
• Randy - Not good; Wrong song choice

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Casey James - "The Power of Love," Huey Lewis and the News

• Simon - Like watching and listening to an 80s cover band; No effort; No originality
• Kara - On a completely different level; Totally ready to make an album right now; Just gets better and better every week
• Ellen - Best vocal of the night; Didn't like the song choice, though
• Randy - Believable

Lee DeWyze - "The Letter," The Box Tops

• Simon - Corny; Not a recording performance; Sounded good; Performance doesn't define him as a contemporary recording artist
• Kara - Finally owning the stage; Control over vocals is great; Set a new bar for himself
• Ellen - Fantastic; Felt like a favorite pen she thought was dying regained some ink
• Randy - Knocked it out of the box with a blues/soul version of the song

Michael Lynche - "When a Man Loves a Woman," Percy Sledge

• Simon - Wished it had been simpler; Like he asked for one scoop of ice cream and got 11
• Kara - Technically really good; Boring and loungy at times
• Ellen - Safe choice; Loves him
• Randy - Not sure if it was the perfect song choice; Not sure if it was his best vocal; Loves that he knows who he is as an artist

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Tim Urban - "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," Queen

• Simon - Pointless; Silly
• Kara - Didn't do much with the song; Very Zac Efron in "Hairspray"
• Ellen - Felt corny and pushed; Seemed like an audition for "High School Musical"
• Randy - Vocals were boring

Next episode (Wednesday, March 24, 2010): One contestant is eliminated, revealing the season nine Top 10

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