Tugging emotions to the very end

The Times’ pop music critics’ take on “American Idol”:

The most palpable emotion inside Walt Disney Concert Hall during Wednesday’s two-hour “Idol Gives Back” special was the collective gasp from the 1,600 onlookers when Ryan Seacrest told Chris Richardson he was safe after America cast some 70 million votes following Tuesday night’s competition, briefly, and cruelly, letting fans think that 17-year-old Jordin Sparks had been booted.

Of course, that moment was short-lived, despite the false promise that one prospective Idol would be sent home during that night’s “results” show, which also pulled out all stops in eliciting viewers’ donations to help alleviate poverty in the U.S. and Africa. Seacrest quickly explained that it wouldn’t be right to dump anyone on charity night; to compensate for this week’s 11th-hour reprieve, next week two contestants will be sent packing.

The end (good intention) appeared to justify the means (shameless heart-tugging) of video clips putting dying children and desperate parents on display on two continents while star performers in Disney Hall tapped one power ballad after another to loosen purse strings nationwide.

“Idol Gives Back” provided dramatic and in many ways disheartening contrast to the approach during the “Live 8” concert/consciousness-raising effort in 2005 that culminated in industrialized countries forgiving billions in debt owed by Third World nations as a step toward helping stem suffering of the planet’s poorest citizens. Case in point: To dramatize the reality of the death rate in Africa, Live 8 simply yet dramatically showed a string of celebrities snapping their fingers every three seconds, the interval during which someone dies every day in Africa because of AIDS.

The same statistic was illustrated Wednesday with video images of children blowing out the candles lighting their faces, as “Idol” judge Simon Cowell’s pet “popera” quartet, Il Divo, steamrollered over Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s otherwise-glorious “Somewhere.”

“American Idol’s” returning Prodigal Daughter, Kelly Clarkson, offered the night’s most in-the-moment live performance in her duet with British guitar hero Jeff Beck on the inspirational ballad “Up to the Mountain.” Beck affixed his eyes on Clarkson, echoing and answering her bluesy vocal with sinuous finger-picked fills from his trusty Stratocaster.

Midway through, musical director Rickey Minor unnecessarily cued the strings, as he did on all the selections from high-powered performers Annie Lennox, Rascal Flatts, Il Divo, Josh Groban and even in the refreshingly funky Earth, Wind & Fire medley that provided one of the show’s few upbeat numbers.

The dynamic bell curve in the Clarkson-Beck number was a welcome contrast to the never-ending crescendo of most of the other live performances, although Lennox poured as much heart and soul as could reasonably be expected on such a night into her reading of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

Still, even Lennox and Clarkson couldn’t match the night’s true high point, though it’s hardly their fault that they’re both still alive. The resurrection of Elvis for a high-tech posthumous pairing with reigning Las Vegas monarch Celine Dion demonstrated the lengths -- depths? -- to which “Idol” producers were willing to go to court donations, which Seacrest said had hit $30 million even before the tape-delayed broadcast brought West Coast viewers into the picture.

For all Dion’s drawing power, her lightweight soprano quickly faded into the woodwork against Presley’s impassioned growl as he once more sang “If I Can Dream,” the closing number from his celebrated 1968 TV special that reasserted his musical credibility following nearly a decade of Hollywood-bred vacuity.

The same Hollywood mind-set that reduced Presley’s talent to its least common denominator in the likes of “Clambake” permeated Disney Hall on Wednesday, as brief periods of frenzied attention to remote host Ellen DeGeneres and various guests musicians were segregated by minutes-long lulls while the telecast shifted to Seacrest and the Idols across town in the CBS-TV studios.

Bono brought the message home to the six surviving Idols at the end with a previously taped pep talk about how music has the power to whisper possibility while voices in the world may speak only of what can’t be done. When it comes to taking action toward making poverty history, he noted, there’s no incongruity when an Irish rock star hangs with American Idols.

That’s inspiration.

randy.lewis@latimes.com