"Soul Patrol!" yells Taylor Hicks in tribute to the legion of fans who have just made him the American Idol 2006! ...

Song: Try a Little Tenderness   (Otis Redding  )

...Taylor trys a little vocal tenderness at the beginning and ramps up the intensity as the song continues. By the time he gets to the end he's going wild in a way that only he can...

Song: You Are So Beautiful   (Joe Cocker  )

Randy Jackson has often likened Taylor to Joe Cocker and tonight he selects a classic from the Cocker songbook for the Alabaman soul patrolman...

Song: Dancing In The Dark   (Bruce Springsteen  )

Clive Davis was so keen for Taylor to sing "Dancing In The Dark" that he put in a personal call to Bruce Springsteen asking for his 'okay'. It's the first time one of Bruce's numbers has been performed on Idol and Taylor doesn't let 'The Boss' down...

...One pair is the bottom two, the other pair the top two... "Which is which?" asks Ryan. The audience figure it out... we'll find out "after the break". Grrr! ...

Song: Jailhouse Rock [1957]   (Elvis Presley  )

Taylor begins his "Jailhouse Rock" from way back in the audience and there's a big smile on every face that he dances past on his journey up to the stage...

Song: In The Ghetto [1969]   (Elvis Presley  )

...Taylor shows us more of his deep and soulful side with a haunting, heartfelt vocal reminiscent of when he sang Ray Lamontagne's "Trouble" ...

Birth Year 1976
Song: Play That Funky Music   (Wild Cherry  )

Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" is Taylor's licence to boogie tonight. Loud shirted and dressed for disco he hits the stage looking for fun and whips the audience into a frenzy from the get-go...

Song: Something   (The Beatles  )

Somehow Taylor has managed to select a song released in 1969 as his current Billboard song! George Harrison's "Something" is a clever choice for other reasons too, not least that it fits his voice like a glove...

Song: Just Once   (James Ingram  )

...He's dressed smart-casual, white-shirted and open-necked, with a showy black jacket and matching trousers. Uh-oh, we've gone straight into the fashion talk, just like Paula does when she can't find anything that good to say about the performance!...

The Great American Songbook and Rod Stewart made last night one of the best theme nights in Idol history...

Rod performs "The Way You Look Tonight"... he sings quite sexily for a sexagenarian, although we wouldn't go so far as to say we want his body!...

Song: You Send Me   (Rod Stewart  , Also: Sam Cooke  )

It was "You Send Me Up" a few days ago for Taylor when Saturday Night Live parodied his "whoo-ing". SNL's version of 'Taylor' (aka Jason Sudeikis) said he loves singing so much he could sing gibberish and still give it feeling! ...