'American Idol' Top 10 Comes To Jersey

There couldn't be a better mantra than "practice makes perfect" for the "American Idol" contestants. Although these kids are a far cry from perfection, by the time the top 10 head out on tour after the season wraps up, each has grown considerably from nerves-plagued amateurs into passable performers.

For AI Season 7's batch, it was obvious during the second night of the group's two-night stand at Newark, N.J.'s Prudential Center that the weeks and weeks of performing in front of millions of TV viewers and a critical judging panel has paid off. Runner-up David Archuleta no longer looked like a deer in headlights as hundreds of people screamed his name; Kristy Lee Cook (mostly) lost the uneasy waver in her voice that used to pop up from time to time. All were, at the very least, confident, which speaks volumes to how far they've come in such a short time.

In a different twist from the costumed, cabaret-like numbers and awkward between-song banter of last year's tour, this year saw each contestant singing a minimum of three songs solo, kicking off with the first-eliminated and ending with the winner, David Cook.

Stand out performances came courtesy of Carly Smithson, the tattooed 24 year old from Ireland and arguably best singer this season who met her fate too soon, and Chikeze, who fell victim to poor song choice and was the first contestant voted home. Smithson showcased her vocal prowess by tackling Heart and Celine Dion, as well as Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life," an uncharacteristic song choice that her range matched perfectly. Chikeze meanwhile had an infections spirit about him and an ear-to-ear grin that was hard to beat, winning over the crowd with a slick take on Usher's "Caught Up."

An entire row of middle-aged women were devoted Jason Castro fans, waving around washcloths decorated with a cartoon picture of the heartthrob's dreadlocked hair. "He's just TOO cute," gushed one woman before screaming hysterically when he appeared onstage. He sang a sweet, ukulele-backed "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as he did on the show, but seemed to lose the audience after launching into Gnarls Barkly's "Crazy." The same happened during Brooke White's cover of Feist's "1, 2, 3, 4," which left the elementary-schoolers in the audience with looks of confusion on their faces.

Third-place contestant Syesha Mercado aimed a bit too high by covering Rihanna, Alicia Keys and Beyonce. Her big hair and short, flashy outfit looked the part of superstar diva, but her voice didn't come close to topping the originals. The adorable Ramiele Malubay was spunky but a bit flat, and Aussie hunk Michael Johns was borderline bad karaoke as he bounced around the stage, but still an entertaining watch.

Archuleta offered a soulful, piano-led rendition of Robbie Williams' "Angels" as well as One Republic's "Apologize," which proved a good fit for the 17-year-old singer and his youthful fanbase. His stage presence was more assured and steady, and his vocals were one of the strongest and most improved.

Sporting dark, heavy eye makeup, a bright pink "BAD" T-shirt and a sparkly belt, Cook looked like he was taking his hard-rock image into glam territory. He revisited his wildly popular rock-tinged covers of Lionel Richie's "Hello" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," which didn't provide the same impact as his first performances. Aerosmith's "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" sounded a bit rushed, and his take on the Foo Fighters' "My Hero" was the best of his set.

Much like the show, the Idols Live tour had its ups and its downs, and more product placement than most entertainment vehicles out there ("Guitar Hero," anyone?). It's a great venue in which to see your favorites from the show truly shine in person, and though still not perfect, it brings the contestants one step closer.

Staind: Room To Grow

Staind guitarist Mike Mushok calls the forthcoming "The Illusion of Progress" "a very different record for us, but better different."

The same can be said for the way Flip/Atlantic is bringing the rock quartet's sixth studio album to market in advance of its Aug. 19 street date.

While first single "Believe" is making an impact at active and alternative radio, the Massachusetts band's traditional base of support, the label is planning an intensive and ambitious viral campaign to launch and sustain the album via a broad array of Web sites and platforms.

Staind has created an exclusive edition of "Illusion" that contains three bonus tracks and a one-year membership to the group's fan club. The "fan pack" will be sold at retail outlets but, according to Atlantic senior VP of pop/rock marketing Dane Venable, will encourage buyers to link to the group's Web site and expose them to Staind's online community, including access to a special 30-minute documentary on the making of the album.

"In the past two years they've gotten very, very active on their Web site, and they've seen results," Venable says. "That provides them with the motivation to do even more. They've completely embraced it."

The cycle started while Staind was recording the new album with producer Johnny K in frontman Aaron Lewis' barn in Massachusetts, creating what Lewis considers "probably the most musical record we've made yet." It comes in the wake of three consecutive albums—2001's "Break the Cycle," 2003's "14 Shades of Grey" and 2005's "Chapter V"—that have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and have sold at least platinum.

Besides taking "Believe" to radio, where it is No. 9 on the Mainstream Rock chart after just four weeks, the label released it for sale on iTunes and premiered it on MySpace, generating more than 200,000 hits in its first week. The song's video premiered July 24 through AOL, and Flip/Atlantic is planning a multiweek Staind promotion with imeem that will include advance listening parties and exclusive content.

iTunes began selling an exclusive Staind bundle July 22, which includes two bonus songs, a video and access to an "instant gratification" download track. The digital retailer and the label are working on an iTunes Originals as well.

While on its current tour, Staind plans to perform Aug. 28 on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The group will play two weeks of European dates with Nickelback in September as part of its first concerted campaign overseas, then return to North America for a headlining tour from October through December, with more touring expected in 2009.

Mushok says Staind is looking forward to seeing how the new initiatives play with its fan base but likes the fact that everything that's planned "gives a little bit more back to the fans. It gives them more options and ways of getting more from us."

One Day As a Lion

A new Los Angeles-based duo featuring Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha and former Mars Volta member Jon Theodore, One Day As a Lion kicks up a tough-minded rap-rock racket on its debut EP. The music is stripped-down but robust, with de la Rocha on vocals and keyboard and Theodore on drums. There's no guitarist or bassist in One Day As a Lion, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from the sound of these five tracks, which throb with fuzz and groove. On opener "Wild International" de la Rocha describes his tongue as being "dipped in funk arsenic," and that gives you an idea of his outraged lyrical focus here. (Let's just say he hasn't warmed up to the Bush administration since Rage started playing shows again last year.) A bracing introduction.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody
Here is a list of Queen lyrics. Try to find matching music videos or video codes for all of the lyrics by searching with the correct keywords using the search button. Other users might find this page by searching for Queen Letras, Queen Song lyrics, Queen Song texte, Queen paroles or Queen testo. On the right you might find the best lyrics artists and also video codes if we have them.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
A little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooo
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters

Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody - I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooo - (anyway the wind blows)
I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

Guitar Solo

I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?
Thunderbolts and lightning - very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro - magnifico

But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from his monstrosity
Easy come easy go - will you let me go
Bismillah! No - we will not let you go - let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go - let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go - let me go
Will not let you go - let me go (never)
Never let you go - let me go
Never let me go - ooo
No, no, no, no, no, no, no -
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
for me
for me
for me

Guitar Solo

So do you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So do you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh baby - can't do this to me baby
Just gotta get out - just gotta get right outta here

Guitar Solo

Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really mattered - nothing really mattered to me

Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo scored his second U.K. No. 1 single yesterday (June 29), as "Closer" (Def Jam/Universal) climbed 2-1, while Coldplay started a third week atop the album chart with "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Parlophone/EMI).

Ne-Yo topped the British singles survey in March 2006 with "So Sick" and visited the top five in each of the following two years, with "Sexy Love" (No. 5 in July 2006) and "Because of You" (No. 4 in April 2007). "Closer," from Ne-Yo's upcoming third album "Year of the Gentleman," drops 28-25 on the current Billboard Hot 100.

Ne-Yo replaced Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" at the top of the new U.K. singles chart. That song fell to No. 2 as Jordin Sparks' recent top three U.S. hit "No Air" (Jive/Sony BMG) featuring Chris Brown climbed 10-3 across the Atlantic. Brown saw his own "Forever," also on Jive, move 5-4 in the U.K., while "We Made It" (Interscope/Universal) by Busta Rhymes featuring Linkin Park climbed 14-10.

London DJ Ironik debuted at No. 11 with "Stay With Me" (Asylum/Warner Music) as Sam Sparro's former No. 2 hit "Black & Gold" (Universal Island) rebounded 15-12. The Jonas Brothers climbed 16-13 with "SOS" (Hollywood/EMI) and Scottish rock band Glasvegas scored its first top 40 hit as "Geraldine" (Columbia/Sony BMG) arrived at No. 16. "Elevator" (Atlantic/Warner Music) by Flo Rida featuring Timbaland rose 27-20.

Coldplay's third week atop the album chart kept them ahead of Duffy's "Rockferry" (A&M/Universal) in an unchanged top four. Icelandic band Sigur Ros made a No. 5 debut with, "Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust" (EMI), which translates as "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly."

Two climbers in the singles chart scored top 10 album debuts, as Chris Brown's "Exclusive" came in at No. 16 and the Jonas Brothers' self-titled set arrived at No. 9. The Ting Ting's "We Started Nothing" climbed 20-11 and Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black -- The Deluxe Edition" (Universal Island) rose 25-13.

Coldplay climbed 4-1 on European Top 100 Albums with "Viva La Vida...," while Duffy's "Mercy" leads Eurochart Hot 100 Singles for a third straight week, and fourth overall.

Jay-Z

The tents are packed up and most of the 140,000 music lovers have made their weary way home, but memories of this year's Glastonbury festival, and its headline act Jay-Z, are likely to linger.

The choice of the U.S. rapper to perform on the main stage at a festival best known for its guitar-based rock acts was widely criticized, and Oasis' Noel Gallagher riled the musician by saying the organizers were wrong to pick him.

Jay-Z's response was emphatic. He opened his show with a film using Gallagher's now infamous comments and a montage of clips parodying him, before launching into an acoustic rendition of one of Oasis's biggest hits, "Wonderwall." Most fans and critics were impressed.

"His performance will go down in Glastonbury history," wrote the Independent in a review of the festival.

Rather than being booed off stage as some predicted, "both audience and artist rose to the occasion and turned in a moment of real, euphoric, pop-culture history," added the Times.

The Guardian concluded: "It's brilliantly staged, utterly thrilling and it makes Gallagher look a bit of a berk."

The Daily Mirror tabloid, however, described his performance as dull. "I felt seriously short-changed as I walked away from this performance," it said.

Bon Jovi

New York officials say Bon Jovi will play at a free concert in Central Park on July 12. The concert is billed as a prelude to the July 15 Major League Baseball All-Star game, which will highlight the final season at Yankee Stadium.

The event will be announced this afternoon during a press conference at New York's City Hall, including details of ticket distribution.

Bon Jovi wraps its North American tour with a July 14-15 stand at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Nas

Rapper Nas has broken his tradition of sidestepping brand partnerships and inked a one-year partnership with athletic apparel company Fila, Billboard can reveal.

Fila will offer reciprocal financial support for Nas' print and TV ad campaign as well as his upcoming tour in support of his untitled album, due July 15 via Def Jam. In return, the MC will wear Fila products and co-create an apparel line that draws from fashions of the late '80s.

"My best friend Will and I loved Fila," Nas tells Billboard. "It represented prestige and everything that was cool to us. When Will passed, we buried him in a black Fila sweat suit, so doing a deal with them has a lot of significance for me."

According to Fila president John Epstein, it was a natural match. "One of my executives spotted Nas shopping in our Manhattan store and struck up a conversation with him," Epstein says. "Nas isn't interested in selling out. He's interested in being true, and that fits with our brand."

Nostalgia aside, some may view Epstein as brave to co-brand his company with an MC who's pledged to unpack America's racial struggles.

"I had some trepidation, and then I started talking to 16- to 20-year-old kids in focus groups," Epstein says. "They looked at me like I was crazy for not understanding his message of positive change. Nas is relevant to his followers and I don't have to understand it as long as they do."

Tony Yayo

We’ve already established a few things with G-Unit’s recent trip to Africa. First, 50 Cent is huge down there. Not just, “Oh hey, it’s 50 Cent” huge, but huge in the way that thousands of people sacrificed their regular weekly expenditures on, say, water or food, so that they could go to a concert.

Second, 50 Cent might just be bored with all his fame and wealth, enough that he was genuinely interested in learning about South Africa’s struggle with Apartheid. He met with Nelson Mandela, Mandela’s grandson and toured two Apartheid museums in Soweto and Johannesburg, taking it all in.

And third, I’m a lucky bastard for getting the assignment.

Now while 50’s G-Unit mates Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks are, by proxy, pretty famous down there themselves, they didn’t really pick up the social-consciousness vibe that 50 was feeling. Case in point, on the day we went with Curtis to the Apartheid Museum and to Nelson Mandela’s house, Yayo and Banks were sleeping in.

On the third day of our trip, we followed 50 to a platinum mine in Steelpoort, South Africa, a 45-minute plane ride north of Johannesburg. 50 joked about wanting to see “where his platinum plaques” came from, but he was really there to see the working conditions of a mine he said he may or may not be investing in. OK, he won’t win a spot on our “Hottest Humanitarians in the Game” roundtable — but it’s something. Where were Yayo and Banks that day? They decided to take a trip to a lion park in Johannesburg with the rest of the concert production crew.

It’s a tough call for a producer when you only have one camera and one cameraman (hey Nick!). Follow 50 deep into the earth or go on safari with Yayo and Banks. What’d we do? The only thing you could do: Follow 50, but give Yayo one of those hand-held Flip-Cams. Hilarity ensued!

Yayo had the camera for the entire week we were in South Africa, and while we certainly can’t show you ALL the footage, there’s certainly more than enough to keep you laughing. This man needs his own TV show! Enjoy …

Linkin Park

Linkin Park weren't sure they'd be able to top last year's Projekt Revolution tour, but with a lineup that includes veteran rap and rock performers Busta Rhymes and Chris Cornell, as well as the Bravery and Ashes Divide, this year's bill may prove to be their most eclectic yet.

"We just pick groups that we think would be a good match together," Linkin Park MC Mike Shinoda said of the tour, which will hit 24 cities, kicking off July 16 in Mansfield, Massachusetts, and wrapping up August 24 in The Woodlands, Texas. "We want to create a bill that we think we'd enjoy seeing this summer."

After collaborating with Linkin Park on "We Made It," the first single off his eighth album, Blessed, Busta Rhymes was determined to join them on tour.

"Apparently, Busta was telling people, 'You don't understand, I'm going to be on that tour; you need to get me on that tour,' " Shinoda recalled. "I was saying to our touring committee ... with the single, it would be really great to do at least some shows with Busta."

Rhymes laughed at his efforts. "I was going hard, though, shamelessly," he said. "I wanted this bad."

"Busta, he's a performer," Shinoda said. "This isn't a DJ on the stage playing records."

With Rhymes and Linkin Park spending so much time together on the tour, are other collaborations on the horizon? "Absolutely. Why not?" Rhymes said. "Make an album, a couple of albums. Make a movie together. You know what I'm saying?"

Cornell decided to join the tour after enjoying his brief time with Linkin Park in Australia last October. "It's not that easy to find bands or artists [that are musically] different from what you do but that you like and your fans are going to like them, and it all makes sense but it's completely different," Cornell explained.

The former Audioslave and Soundgarden frontman described his spontaneous approach to creating a set list. "I sort of decide on the moment what the set list will be and sometimes even when we're onstage — it depends," Cornell said. "The funny part is when I'll forget. There will be a song that everybody loves that everyone expected to hear, and I forgot that song existed."

Cornell may also be debuting material from his recent collaboration with chart-topper Timbaland, who is producing Cornell's third solo album, which is planned for a September release.

"The idea of playing some new material is good," Cornell said. "Not every day is the same for me. Sometimes an audience feels different, so for me it requires a couple of different songs. You never know."

Metal band Atreyu will headline the tour's smaller Revolution stage, where 10 Years, Hawthorne Heights, Armor for Sleep and Street Drum Corps will also play.

"We just kept sending manila envelopes full of $1 bills," Atreyu lead singer Alex Varkatzas joked of how they made the lineup.

Before the U.S. leg of the tour begins, Projekt Revolution will head to Europe for the first time in the tour's five-year history, with a completely different lineup that includes N.E.R.D., the Used, H.I.M., the Blackout, InnerPartySystem and Enter Shikari. After three stops in Germany (June 21, 27, 28), the tour meets up with Jay-Z in Milton Keynes, England, on June 29.

"For some reason, there's an interest in this tour, there's an interest in what it means, and I think that it's translating in other places," Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington said. "We've never showed up to the U.K. and sold 50,000 tickets, but when we say we're doing Projekt Revolution and we have these different bands, all of a sudden it's, like, awesome."

One thing that hasn't changed since last year is Linkin Park's commitment to making the tour "green" by donating $1 from every ticket purchased to help reduce global warming through their charity, Music Relief.

Even after five years of putting this tour together, Linkin Park are excited to hit the road again. "When all the musicians on a tour feel like this is really an opportunity, and we're probably not going to be able to do this again, you're living in that moment, and you're being present with the fact that this is a really special thing we get to do," Bennington said. "It's just like I'm living out a fantasy."