MAMA SOX aka Crystal Bowersox dominated the stage at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles during the American Idol  finale on Wednesday performing three great songs – Me And Bobby McGee, Black Velvet and Up the Mountain – with all the class of a seasoned performer. Still, she lost the American Idol title to Lee DeWyze (left).

DeWyze, while obviously the favourite to win, appeared to be suffering from stage fright. Just when victory was within his grasp, the former paint salesman got a bad case of the jitters.

On the final performance night, his delivery of The Boxer was a far cry from his previous brilliant performance. He also gave an almost whinny rendition of Everybody Hurts, and the arrangement he did for U2’s A Beautiful Day made it completely pointless.

Still the judges had faith in him. DeWyze looked like he was about to faint when the results were being read out and when it was announced that he had won, he looked paler than he usually was and sang an even worse version of A Beautiful Day which will be his first single.

With only 2% difference in votes between Bowersox and DeWyze, it was obvious that the former’s fantastic performance the night before had given her a surge of new fans or that DeWyze must have lost some of his.

However, being runner-up may be a good thing for Bowersox. She gets a record deal but at least she can make music on her terms and not be forced to fit into a mould.

As for DeWyze, having a band like Daughtry would be the best solution. Although DeWyze was constantly good throughout the season, he let his fans down on the night when he should have been at his best.

During the live telecast of the results show, former Idol winners as well as previous finalists (except for David Cook) came onstage to pay tribute to Simon Cowell who would be leaving the show with the end of this season.
It was great to also see Paula Abdul back to pay tribute to her friend Cowell. Too bad no one did the same for her but considering the way she left the show, it was a surprise to see her return.