Lee DeWyze wins American Idol by less than a 2% gap in the votes!  Honestly it was the most inspiring and gracious win ever.  If I’m being honest (total Simon comment), I got all teary-eyed and smiley throughout the whole thing. ; -)  Lee just kept repeating, “thank you, thank you everybody!”

You know my opinion (as referenced in my post titled The Next American Idol… Lee DeWyze or Crystal Bowersox) – I’d have been happy for either one.  Crystal Bowersox was gracious and supportive, and I’m sure Lee would have been the same had it been the other way around.

Not only was this the American Idol Season 9 finale, but it was also a tribute to Simon Cowell, as it’s his last night on the show.  For me, it was the coolest finale ever.  It sort of took me back to the 80′s – I think the only band missing was Huey Lewis and the news.

The top 12 finalists opened the show with Alice cooper and his conglomerate of black-eyed, rogue school kid choir.

Chris Allen, the season 8 winner, performed his new single and sounded awesome!

Siobhan Magnus and Aaron Kelly grooved to How Deep Is Your Love with the BeeGee’s.

Big Mike Lynch and Michael McDonald sang Taking It To The Street and had a cute little connection there at the end of their performance.

Dane Cook sung the ‘Simon Said’ song – a mock tribute with many of Simon’s over-the-top derogatory comments to contestants.  Very funny, it was.  Just when you thought it was funny enough on its own, previous contestants came out to the stage who received these very comments.

The top 6 girls belted out Christina Aguilara’s You Are Beautiful and Fighter.  X-tina appeared at the end of Fighter and then sung her song off Bionic, You Lost Me.  She put a lot of energy into that performance and even got all teary-eyed.

Ricky Gervais, from the British The Office, offered a satellite tribute to his good buddy Simon.  Of course it was full of jokes, including that he was going to raid Simon’s house garbage cans because he knew he wasn’t home right now and that he knows Simon throws his money away if it gets too wrinkled.  ;-)

The top 6 guys sung Can’t Go For That and then Maneater with Hall and Oats.  Darryl Hall and John Oats then sang, You Make My Dreams Come True.  Dude, I don’t remember John Oats being so dang short!  Other than that, they looked exactly like I remember them from the 80s.

Crystal Bowersox started in on Ironic before introducing Alanis Morissette to the stage.  They then powered through You Oughta Know, complete with Alanis’s usual bobble head.  I will say Alanis’s hair was quite rockin’!

Carrie Underwood, looking exceptionally slim and great, entertained with her new single, Undo It.  It’s definitely more of a pop song than country and it was an awesome performance.

Chris Allen presented Lee and Crystal with the keys to the Ford Fiesta cars they designed way back several episodes ago.  Though it was supposedly a surprise, they seem more surprised to see Chris and they seemed to get the cars.

Casey James rocked out to Every Rose Has It’s Thorn, and much to my satisfaction, Bret Michaels even showed up!  That was pretty amazing considering all of his medical issues he’s been dealing with.  Great throwback song.  I love that song.

Lee and Chicago did a medley – Chicago not on top of their game, sadly.

Ryan welcomed the Pants on The Ground General dude from the infamous audition!  He sounded okay, but his dance moves were the real show!  Joining the General halfway through was William Hung; who sadly, acted as ignorant as could be.  We should all just put the William Hung thing behind us.  It’s over.

A very nice surprise was… Paula Abdul!  She showed up on stage looking really stunning in a cute pink mini dress.  She was poised and funny and sincere, paying a Simon tribute.

Another great surprise was 7 previous season winners graced the stage as a thank you to Simon… Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Jordan Sparks, Taylor Hicks, and Chris Allen.  David Cook was missing… Halfway into their song, a bunch of prior seasons contestants joined them on stage.  My guess is they were ones who have gone on in the recording industry.

Finally, the top 12 did a little intro for Janet Jackson, who was sporting a super short new do.  She sang her song ‘Nothing’, and I swear, if you closed your eyes and didn’t know it was her, you’d think for sure it was Michael Jackson.  Spot on.  It was beautiful.  And let me just say, her makeup was perfect and her skin is luminously perfect.  Her second song was ‘Nasty Boys’.  I’m telling you, it was a total 80s night as far as music goes.  It was great!

Before the grand announcement of who won, Lee and Crystal sang ‘A Little Help From My Friends’ with Joe Cocker.  The dude is getting old, but he can still sing it.

Yay Lee.  Of course, Crystal will put out albums too, so let’s not go feeling sorry for anyone.  It was just Lee’s destiny, especially considering the gap was less than 2%.