Last week saw five acts going through to the Top 10. America voted through Team iLuminate, Poplyfe, Lys Agnes, and Miami All Stars. America also voted West Springfield Dance Team and Daniel Joseph Baker into the fifth and sixth spots, which left their fate to the judges. Thankfully, the Howie and Sharon went with the lesser of two evils, the West Springfield Dance Team.

Twelve more acts will take the stage in the hopes of making the Top 10. They are Anna Graceman, Fatally Unique, Gymkana, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., Landon Swank, Professor Splash, Silhouettes, Smage Brothers Riding Show, Snap Boogie, Steven Retchless, Summerwind Skippers, and The Kinetic King.

This is a MUCH stronger group of acts than last week. I’m looking forward to the performances of nine of the above acts, and America could have a difficult decision on their hands if they all bring their A-game to the stage.

I will be blogging the performances live after the jump.

The opening credits roll followed by Nick Cannon being lowered onto the stage since it is set up for The Kinetic King’s performance. Nick is screaming at us from the rope, like we couldn’t hear him in his normal voice. At least his suit this week isn’t as loud as his voice.

As stated, The Kinetic King is up first. He’s talking about how women now want to be his wife. His pre-performance videos have always been the most boring. Nick asks the King a question, to which he responds, is it too late to go home? Nick them gives a safety goggle warning to the audience. His trick works tonight, and unlike last week, goes quickly. Very quickly. The music is still playing long after everything on stage has fallen down. While I admit that his act can be fun to watch, I don’t see how it can be a Las Vegas act. Will we get a Fetal Position of Victory this week?

Nope. He says if he does, he might fall asleep.

Fatally Unique takes the stage next. The first part of the routine is shown in black-and-white on TV, and it appears to be a routine where the mental patients take over the asylum. There doesn’t seem to be as much symmetry between the dancers this time around, though that may be as much to do with the strobe lights than the dancing itself. It’s an extremely high-impact routine that makes every dancer give 150%. The speed and theme make up for any mismatch I felt.

Next up is Landon Swank. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does this time, especially after chaining himself to the bottom of a water tank last time. In his pre-performance video, he says his dad flew in from Alaska to help put together tonight’s trick. At the end of the video, he says he’s performing a real life version of Russian Roulette. There are four boxes above the stage, which a button for each in front of the judges. Each judge picks a button. Howie accidentally presses Sharon’s X in the process. Landon is in one of the boxes, trying to pick which one wouldn’t be selected. Each box has explosives in it, which means as the judges presses the buttons they pick, those boxes will explode. All but #2 explode, and Landon drops out of it. He has Piers explode the box afterwards. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Time for Gymkana to take the stage. There is a stack of chairs at the back of the stage with one of the performers balancing upside down on it. The rest of the group jumps over a large box in front of the chairs, alternating at different angles. Piers buzzes, likely because he felt the act was repetitive, which it was. Gymkana then lights a large ring on fire and begins jumping through it. One of the guys messes up, causing the fire ring to fall on top of him. The act has to come to a complete stop because he can’t get out. Once they get the ring off, we see that he’s not in injured. Thankfully.

Summerwind Skippers brings their jumpropes on stage next. I like this group and have really high hopes for them. They start with each of the performers having their own rope. It starts off a little slow for me, but finally picks up. They change over to two large ropes with four people on the ground jumping over them, followed by people coming in an out. A mistake occurs when one guy jumps over the group. Piers buzzes right at the end, and I understand why. It was a slower routine with a mistake, and Piers doesn’t tolerate mistakes at all. I don’t think the mistake overshadows the difficulty of the routine, and I get the slowness once the routine was done. I’m hoping this doesn’t affect their chance at making the Top 10, but there are still 7 more acts to go.

Piers says there was a second mistake, which I didn’t see.

We hit the halfway point of the show when Snap Boogie. So far, this high-school student has been able to stand out as a single dancer in a season full of amazing group dancers. This is partly because of his effective use of back-up dancers that highlight his performance, not take away from it. He starts off with a slow song as a way to build things up, then breaks out into a fast . There is a lot going on behind him on stage, yet he once again remains the center of attention. I like the routine, and I think he may have charmed America into voting him into the Top 10.

Wow. Piers just lit into Snap about how bad the routine was. And he did this without buzzing the routine. Sharon wasn’t much of a fan either. I don’t think they get these performances sometimes.

We go straight into 11-year-old Anna Graceman. She is going to do a rock song with a twist tonight, so she says. She plays the piano for her performance tonight as well. The song is Home Sweet Home. Anna does a great job in her performance, much better than all the other singers that got this far this season. If she has any nerves, she doesn’t show it. Technically, it’s a great vocal performance. She is a little blank in her facial expressions, though. And, as much as maybe I shouldn’t, I’m comparing her to last season’s phenom, Jackie Evancho. I was happy to hear her sing, but I’m not sure I want her to move on. And I certainly don’t agree with Piers and Sharon that she has the best performance of the night so far. I’m about ready to call for their eviction from the judges’ table.

Taking the stage now is Steven Retchless. Quick, where is my remote? I need to change the channel. It’s not that I don’t think Steven is talented, because he is actually quite amazing. I just don’t care for his costume choices. Tonight, there are two other people on poles with him, along with three people dancing in and around boxes at the bottom of the poles. Steven’s strength is amazing, doing tricks that most people couldn’t even dream of. And his costume choice tonight is very, very good. Piers buzzes him though, because he can’t see this being a million dollar act in Vegas. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I loved the performance. I hope he makes the Top 10, though I may regret that later.

One of my favorites this season, the Smage Brothers Riding Show, takes the stage next. I can’t wait to see what they do tonight and what danger they put the third member of their team in. The stunts are amazing, and I keep thinking they are going to hit that poor guy they are jumping over. Then a twist, the entire family comes out and lays down to allow each of the guys to jump over them all. Amazing. There is no way to appropriately describe their performance, and they remain one of my season-long favorites.

Three more acts to go tonight, and Professor Slash is the first of the remaining acts to take the stage. He says he is jumping 70 feet into an eight foot pool that is lit on fire. I don’t have the stomach for routines like this, so I’ll be turning my head. He jumps in, but doesn’t come right back out, causing the audience to gasp. But he was just waiting for the flames to go out. The judges sort of take him to task for jumping into an eight foot pool this time, despite the fact that he doubled the height he was jumping from. In other words, jumping 35 feet into 12 inches of water is more exciting than jumping 70 feet into eight feet of water. My problem is that for all the acts Piers states he can’t see being a million dollar Vegas act, he doesn’t say anything about how Professor Splash would fill an entire show. Sorry, but this one is out for me.

The next to last act tonight is Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.. I haven’t been as impressed with his voice as many other people seem to be, mostly because I haven’t seen the Frank Sinatra comparison that others have. For some reason, it just sounds like a bad imitation. I’m trying to have an open mind tonight, as he has a band on stage with him along with back-up dancers that make you feel like you are at a 50s club. The voice still seems a little off to me, but if I remove the Sinantra comparison, I do like it. I don’t think he’s going to be one of my picks for the Top 10, though.

The final act tonight is Silhouettes, the dance group that formed amazing silhouettes of famous landmarks the last time we saw them. I would love to see this act team up with Team iLuminate, Summerwind Skippers, Gymkana, and Fatally Unique to create one extremely awesome dance show. Silhouettes start underneath a sheet tonight to create an amazing light effect along with dancing before going into their normal behind the screen dancing. There is no way I can do the group justice in describing their performance, other than to say that it was amazing and should guarantee them a Top 10 spot.

I just don’t get Piers and Sharon saying their performance wasn’t on par as last time. The only reason it wasn’t was because last time was an emotional performance. Routine wise, this one was just as good. Can we please vote those two out?

As I expected, this was a difficult night to pick who I think should make it through to the Top 10. However, my picks to go through tonight are Landon Swank, Summerwind Skippers, Steven Retchless, Smage Brothers Riding Show, and Silhouettes.. This list, however, is void of acts that I do like. I ended up not putting Fatally Unique in that list because something about their performance seemed off to me tonight. I also didn’t put Snap Boogie on my list simply because I truly believe this is the year of the group dancers. I wouldn’t be upset if either one of them made it through, but the only act I would be willing to replace is Steven Retchless because I haven’t cared for his performances until now. But based on tonight, Steven deserves to go to the Top 10.

What did you think about tonight’s America’s Got Talent performances? Do you agree with my picks? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

And don’t forget to join me and Rickey, from Rickey.org, tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT for the Idol Radio Show as we discuss tonight’s performances, tomorrow’s results show, and other entertainment news.