X Factor USA Show Highlights & Videos from 10/27

Now that the judges’ home rounds are over, the competition get live, and tough. The contestants sang in front a stadium level audience and probably felt more pressure than ever before. The show was already long and it was a small miracle that they managed to get all 17 performances in the two and a half hours.

These rounds are going to be entertaining. Not only the acts performing, but the competition we see from the judges. They can now slam each other for song choices etc, and they do not disappoint.

In this round, each judge will drop a single contestant, taking the total tally 12 performers. In Simons case, he drops two, thanks to his last minute recall of Melanie Amaro.

LA Reid’s group of Boys are first to take the stage. Here is a rundown of their performances:

Astro sings Kriss Kross’s classic rap “Jump”. Strange song selection but he owns the song. All four judges are very impressed and have nothing but praise.

Chris Rene performs his own version “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”, sounds ok but it is style charisma that carries the song.

Phillip Lomax does a cover of “I’m a Believer” cover. Not only does he not perform well, but his mentor LA Ried gets scathing remarks for song selection.

Next was an uneven performance of “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” by Marcus Canty. A decent performance, but definitely not the best.

Elimination time and Chris, Marcus and Astro are through! Phillip Lomax becomes the first contestant to be eliminated.

Now we have Paula’s groups to perform:

The Stereo Hogzz perform “Try a Little Tenderness”. They get praised all round, and so does Paula for her song choice.

The Brewer Boys do a mix of Hall & Oates with George Michael and it didn’t really impress the judges.

We then get the two groups formed from the remnants of the remaining single contestants, Intensity. They perform well enough for Simon to call the next Glee kids. Straight after we get Lakoda Rayne.

Sure enough, The Brewer boys are out. Now we have two more to go.

Now are the Over-30s.

Dexter Haygood does a version of Katy Perry’s “I kissed a girl” to much praise. Nicole going so far as to say that he has the Dex-Factor.

Leroy Bell, is up next. A good, but not the most comfortable performance as Simon points out.

Stacey Francis did a bit of a shaky George Michael cover. Simon’s resposne: “This needs a massive, massive improvement in the right direction,”.

Josh Krajcik sounds as Michael Bolton-y as ever here. Great performance so it is not a suprise to see that he is picked, along with Stacey and Leroy, leaving Dexter eliminated.

Simon’s Girls are next and last.

Simone Battle is on first, in a candy-colored superhero nightgown. She’s pretty bad and really off-pitch and Simon gets a roasting for putting her through.

Rachel Crow appears next. She rips through a Motown medley to praise from the judges. She should definitely be going through.

Drew Ryniewicz does a stunning version of the Flashdance hit “What a Feeling”, impressing everyone. “Simon, that was so good,” LA adds.

Dressed up in Catwoman gear, Tiah Tolliver does “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics. A decent performance but Paula reminds her once again of her pitch issues, despite Simons defense.

Melanie Amaro does Whitney justice with her powerful pipes on “I Have Nothing.” Melanie is flat-out fantastic. She easily makes it through elimination, along with Drew and Rachel.

Next weeks episode will switch to the standard format of performance and results shows. No more two and a half shows.