After missing a couple of weeks due to life issues that needed to be taken care of (don’t you just love it when someone simply claims “life issues” and never really explains what those issues were), I am finally back to live blogging this show.

So as a way to help me remember what has happened before, let’s recap the first three weeks.

Week 1 saw the first half of the Top 16 perform, with Fannin Family and Cat’s Pajamas singing their swan songs.

Week 2 saw the second half of the Top 16 perform, this time with Messiah’s Men and Soul’d Out walking out the back door of the auditorium.

Week 3 saw the Top 12 split in half again, with the first half singing two songs each. Kinfolk 9 sang a third song as well, though since it meant they were leaving the competition, that isn’t a good thing.

The second half of the Top 12 will sing two songs each this week. The theme for one of the songs being Current Hits and the theme for the other song being The 60s.

I posted the song spoilers earlier today, so if you are interested in what they the groups will reportedly sing tonight, feel free to take a look.

Live blogging after the jump.

The Collectives, Deltones, Sonos, Pentatonix, North Shore, and Dartmouth Aires are up on tonight’s double song night. But first, all the acts will sing “Rhythm of Love” by Plain White T’s. They have the stage decked out in a bright, sunshine motif that makes you think of a ’60s sunny day out on a hill somewhere. And all the acts are “dancing” like they are straight from a ’60s TV show. Combining Current Hits with the ’60s. Brilliant.

After the introduction of Nick Lachey and the judges, the Deltones take the stage. They are singing “Edge of Glory” by Lady GagGag (can you tell what I think about her?). The group is really going to have to impress me to get over my negative view of the song. And hearing in the pre-performance video that they have changed the arrangement four times already doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me. The beginning of the song puts me off as the back-up singers are not in tune with each other. The song doesn’t get much better, as the lead singer gives us a bland, limp, and uninspiring delivery of her vocals. Courtney, the lead singer, was sick the day before the show. Shawn says she did a great job. Sarah says Courtney killed the lead, and she doesn’t mean that in a bad way. I’m now taking up a fund to mail some Q-Tips to them so they can clean their ears out.

Pentatonix is next with “Your Love is My Drug” by Ke$ha. This five-member group is always at a disadvantage since they only have five members, which can make it difficult to bring all the parts needed for some of the songs out there. This fact is highlighted in their pre-performance video, where they also say they have completely redone the arrangement for this song. The group is decked out in orange and black outfits, which looks really cool on stage. The arrangement is extremely different, and it works. All the members are hitting their notes and beats, rocking this song out in a way that Ke$ha could only dream of. Ben didn’t like the arrangement in the beginning, but it sounds like he liked the middle and end. Sean likes the futuristic feel of the arrangement and praises one of the members, but seems to take them to task otherwise. Sara seemed to like it.

The Collective is up next with “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement, the biggest song risk of this first set of songs in my opinion. In the pre-performance video, one of the members says they are trying to keep their sanity, which meant practicing while sitting in a hot tub. Hey, whatever works. Another member, Rachael, went to the doctor after problems with her voice. She has acute laryngitis, though no word on if she will be performing. The problem with this song is the high falsetto that the beginning of the song has, and that problem rears its ugly head as Ruby fails to get the notes. Rachael overcomes her throat issues to nail a great song. Unfortunately for her, the vocal rhythms are extremely uninspiring. They fail to provide a strong enough beat for much of the song, and the back-up notes are pitchy. It was an inspiring performance that, unfortunately, was also very disappointing.

Doo-wap group North Shore is going outside of their comfort zone with “Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars. One of the members of the gorup says he has never heard of Bruno Mars. The group sings while sitting in chairs and on a couch. I never would have thought you could doo-wap a Bruno Mars song, but North Shore does it without no problem. My feet are tapping along to their version. Another five-member group, they have no problem imitating all the parts they need for the song. And I love all the whistling one of the members was doing, though I have no idea when during the song he had time to breathe. Sara starts by saying she loves the guys, then follows that it was a great version of the song. Clean, crisp, and simple, which I agree with. Ben and Shawn love it as well.

Dartmouth Aires are next to take the stage, singing “Animal” by Neon Trees. Lead singer Michael talks about having to go home a couple of days the past week to be with his ailing mom. Brendan is singing a solo for the first time this week as he fills in for Michael, and he’s having a rough time of it during rehearsals. The group is wearing some kind of preppy pink and blue outfits, most with plaid pants. Ugh. But the singing is terrific, as Brendan more than capably does what he needs to do. The performance was extremely energetic, as the entire group is all over the stage, including this week’s lead singer, Brendan. Change the uniforms, and I’ll be on board with them.

Sonos takes on “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, one of the most overplayed songs currently on the radio. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great song. I enjoy hearing it every time I hear it. But it’s an extremely well-known song, which is dangerous. To make matters worse, the group is learning how to sing without effects pedals. The pedal is how they’ve gotten their base in the past, which allowed one of the singers’ voice to be lowered an octave or two. Some people will debate whether that truly makes them an a capella group, and the show would agree as they don’t allow such help. So one of the females of the group will be singing bass. Sonos has improved ten-fold since they sang two weeks ago, but there is still work to be done. There were some pitch issues, both by the lead singer and the other singers. The back-up vocals are still somewhat lackluster, though they manage to compensate with the arrangement, which smartly plays to their strengths. The female bass does a great job, somehow managing to keep her voice from sounding tinny. And their beatboxer is amazing. If they get another week, they may become a force to reckon with.

When the show returns, Nick is wearing a suit jacket. He references the cancelled The Playboy Club, which makes me wonder when this show was taped (the show was cancelled last Tuesday). We also get a video of what the groups think/thought of the 60s and how they are trying to bring that to their song this week.

First up on this theme is Pentatonix with “Piece of My Heart” by Janis Joplin. Janis is one of those singers that has caused contestants to go down in flames. But Pentatonix has a great arrangement for this song, giving it a reggae feeling. One of the members even imitates a saxophone solo. They nail this song, which is why they are one of my favorite groups in this competition. Shawn is amazed at the arrangement. Sara loves the versatility of the group. Ben praises them for taking such a risk with the arrangement. And this is the crux of this competition: to make songs that shouldn’t be sung a capella work, you sometimes have to go way out with your arrangement. And for Pentatonix, it worked.

Singing “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes, the Deltones take the stage for their second song. Most every song by The Supremes just begs to be done a capella, so there is no reason for them not to nail this. The girls in the group are wearing yellow dresses, and they are rocking those dresses. The same cannot be said about their song. The lead singer is too weak for this song, despite the fact that the original song had a weak lead on it as well. Or maybe it’s the backup singers singing too strongly. Either way, it doesn’t work. To make it worse, they are wildly off-key in various spots. So many sharp and flat notes throughout. Frankly, Motown should be demanding the song back. The judges all do the “positive-negative-positive” constructive criticism, mainly agreeing with me on the negative parts.

North Shore takes the stage with “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers, likely the most dangerous song to tackle in this second set of songs. Many a contestant in the past has sank to the bottom of the contestant pool with this song. But North Shore is the only group who actually lived through the ’60s, and they know how to tackle the song. They have everything they need to not only do this song justice, but to make it something kids today would want, and should want, to listen to. The entire audience, as well as the judges, are all on their feet. Ben mentions a pitch issue during a small part of the song, though I never heard it. He says he only mentions it because just once he needed to find a small chink in the group’s armor.

The Collective is next with “Hold On I’m Coming” by Sam & Dave. The song probably has the least name recognition of all the songs in this theme’s list of songs, but everyone recognizes it the moment the song starts. And The Collective does all parts of this song justice. Unlike their first song, there was no rhythm issues or off-key problems this time. Caleb delivers a falsetto that will make most singers jealous. Ben, Shawn, and Sara all feel like the group started off too slow, which I completely disagree with. I felt they started the song off on a high note and only got better as the song went. I have no clue what the judges were listening to or what the heck they really wanted.

Sonos takes on the Jackson 5 with “I Want You Back.” They have cut the speed of the song by about two-thirds. The arrangement doesn’t work in any shape, form, or fashion. Slowing the song down this much just destroys it. Earlier we had a great example of the perfect way to change an arrangement to make a song your own. This is a great example of the perfect way to not change an arrangement. It’s not that they couldn’t have slowed down the beat a little, because the original is really, really fast. But this much was just too much. This group is now my pick to go home this week.

Dartmouth Aires takes on The Who’s “Pinball Wizard,” from the uber-classic Tommy album. I take back my earlier statement about “Unchained Melody” being the biggest risk of this set of six, as “Pinball Wizard” has so many different sides to it that all has to be properly overcome. And Dartmouth did just that but turning this classic into an over-the-top silly song, which work better than it had any right to work. Ben compared the song to Jesus Christ Superstar. I agree with Ben and Shawn about the pitch issues, but they weren’t so glaring that they destroyed the rest of the song.

Now that all the songs have been sung, it’s time for the judges to decide which group will sing a third song, something none of the groups want to do since it means they are leaving the competition.

Nick has the results of tonight’s show in his hand. The first two groups to advance to the next round are North Shore and the Dartmouch Aires.

Four groups left. The next two groups that are safe tonight are Pentatonix and the Deltones.

That leaves just Sonos, my pick to go home tonight, and The Collective. Drew reviews the judges’ comments on the groups songs tonight.

The last group safe this week is The Collective.

Which means that my pick to go home, the Sonos, do indeed go home. I’m not sad to see them go home, though I will miss the beatboxer’s talents.

Before the show ends, Nick tells us that all ten groups will sing next Monday and will be taking on the ’80s and ’90s. In addition, two more groups will be going home next week.

So what did you think of tonight’s The Sing-Off? Were you happy with who the judges sent home? Or do you think the judges need medication and therapy to get over their issues? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

If you watch The X Factor, join me back here Wednesday night at 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT as I live blog the first night of the Judges’ Home phase for that show. Also, don’t forget the live Idol Radio Show on Wednesday at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as I talk about The Sing-Off, The X Factor, American Idol, and any other entertainment news that needs to be discussed.

And join me next Monday at 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT for more live blogging of The Sing-Off.