Now that Brian “Astro Turkey” Bradley is gone, I can finally enjoy a night of X Factor performances. As long as the Top 5 sing well, that is. And tonight, they will each get two chances to impress me. After all, impressing me is what is really important.

Join me after the jump as I live blog The X Factor Top 9 Performances. And chat with other X Factor fans during the show in our Shoutbox.

NOTE: DJ Slim will be posting the audio performances from tonight’s The X Factor over at IdolBlogLive.com. If you missed a performance, or want to hear one again, go check out our sister site.

The pre-opening credits video on tonight’s The X Factor has Simon Cowell telling the camera that Nicole and Paula were simply playing games when they voted out Drew last week and that if they want a war, they are getting a war.

Vanity, thy name is Simon Cowell.

The first set of songs for the Top 5 tonight are all versions of dance hits. There are even two DJs on the stage to help things out tonight. Oh joy! Another stunt! Because we all know how well all the previous stunts have gone on this show.

Host Steve Jones takes a chance by asking Simon what he thought about last week’s results show. Simon actually replies this time (unlike last week, when he threw a tantrum on stage and refused to answer). Of course, Simon said he was really, really, REALLY happy with how things went last week.

Sarcasm, thy name is Simon Cowell.

First up tonight is one of Simon’s girls, Melanie Amaro. This will be the first time that Melanie has gone first in this competition, so it will be interesting to see how she fares tomorrow night (in other words, does she have as big a following as we think she does). With 10 songs to be sung in 90-minutes, there are no pre-performance videos tonight. And that’s fine here, since it gets us to Melanie’s amazing singing that much faster. She is singing an Adele song tonight, so let all the “how the heck is Adele a dance hit” questions begin. Melanie hits all the notes perfectly, both literally and figuratively, once again. Nicole says Melanie looks and sounds like the rock star diva that she is.

L.A. Reid’s Boys is up next in the form of Marcus Canty. Ugh. We’re going to have to put up with those two DJs all five songs, aren’t we? Anyway, Marcus tells the DJs to drop those beats, and they comply. Marcus immediately gets lost on stage behind all the colorful backup dancers on the stage. That said, Marcus is giving one of his best vocal performances in weeks (not counting his sing-off song last Thursday). Sadly, this won’t keep Marcus out of the Bottom 2 tomorrow night. But it was a good performance.

The second of Simon’s Girls, Rachel Crow, is up next. When Simon introduces Rachel, he says, “With her own choice of song, and no chair, it’s Rachel.” Maybe Simon learned his lesson after all. Rachel is sitting down to start the performance, though. She has a very, very grown up look to her tonight. Maybe a little too old of a look. There is a lot happening on the stage behind her, but she is standing out in front of it all. As is her voice. I think this is the best Rachel has sounded in weeks. Very good. Tonight is turning out to be a great night for music. Nicole says she is waiting for the Rachel Crow doll to come out….. complete with its own bathroom. lol

Nicole’s only Over 30s act, Josh Krajcik, is up next. And just like everyone else so far tonight, he nails it. We finally get to hear an uptempo song from Josh, and it is his best yet. Loved it. L.A. says he just can’t see Josh doing this song, so he didn’t buy it. Paula disagrees with L.A. completely. I agree with Paula on this one. While uptempo may not be his comfort zone or his normal style, he pulled this one off quite well. Ouch, Simon is ripping Josh and Nicole apart. Will that affect how America votes?

Getting the pimp spot tonight is one of L.A.’s Boys, Chris Rene. I’m not sure what Chris is singing. It starts off sounding like the U.S. version of O-Zone’s “Dragostea din tei,” but it varies off from that. He doesn’t sound like he is on the same beat as the music. It appears that Chris wrote the song himself, and big parts of the music does sound like “Dragostea din tei,” so maybe he based his performance around that song. Whatever it was, it didn’t work for me. The judges all seem to love it, however. Go figure.

Now I know why the song sounded like O-Zone’s “Dragostea din tei.” He was singing T.I.’s and Rhianna’s 2008 single, “Live Your Life.” Ugh. Please tell me that I will never have to hear that version again. “Dragostea din tei” is one of my all-time favorite songs, and I really don’t want it tainted by what I just heard.

So the second song category tonight was suppose to be from the Pepsi Song Choice that America voted on, but something about an “error in communication” (say what?) caused plans to change. So that category has been moved to next week. And with only 24 hours notice, the Top 5 has to pick a song themselves to sing. Talk about pressure.

Melanie Amaro is up again, and she looks ravishing on stage in her floor-length black dress. And she sounds just as amazing as she looks. In the short pre-performance video (I guess we are getting them this go-round), Simon said if anyone could pull off singing a song on such short notice, Melanie could. And she certainly is doing just that. Seriously, people….. can we just give Melanie the crown right now and save us two more weeks of this show? After the performance, Melanie explains why she sang this song. L.A. is in shock that Melanie picked this song last night and it was that amazing. Safe, but amazing. Really, L.A.? You think singing that song was “safe?”

Idiotic, thy name is L.A. Reid.

Marcus Canty is up next. In the pre-performance video, we see Paula and Nicole giving Marcus comfort after he was saved for the second week in a row by the judges. That will really calm down all those who sent death threats for them voting off Drew. It’s a slow song for Marcus, something I expect most, if not all, the acts to do given they only had 24 hours to put this together. But Marcus is once again nailing it, giving him his best night in the competition! Will this keep him out of the Bottom 2?

Time for Rachel Crow to take the stage again. In the pre-performance video, Rachel says the song she is singing tonight is a song she has always wanted to sing but hasn’t sung before. Yikes! That could be dangerous! And dangerous is right, unfortunately. Rachel starts off off-key, and has a hard time getting on-key. She does finally find the right key when she gets to the higher-range, louder part of the song. But the key change throws her off again. This is by far her worst performance of the season. I hadn’t thought of Rachel as a Bottom 2 pick for this week, but I may have to change my mind now.

Josh Krajcik is up next. In the pre-performance video, Josh mentions that he doesn’t want to go back to trying to make ends meet, so going out in fifth place is not an option. He is singing “Something” by the Beatles, and it is amazing. He nails every note, commands the stage very well. Simply unbelievable. His best night of the competition so far as well. L.A. shows his ignorance again by saying it was slightly karaoke. Say what?

Stupidity, thy name is L.A. Reid.

Chris Rene has the last performance of the night. L.A. says that Chris wrote the song that he is about to sing. In the pre-performance video, we see Chris and Marcus get a call from Stevie Wonder. Wow! Chris talks about how scary doing an original song is. And I have to agree, especially after that disastrous first performance. Chris is sitting on stage playing the guitar. In fact, the only music playing is his guitar. Extremely smart move on Chris’ part. Even smarter since it is working. He is killing this song, and I mean that in a good way. A musically and vocally stripped-down Chris Rene is something to behold and listen to. He may have just saved himself from the Bottom 2 this week.

So what did you think of tonight’s performances? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

And don’t forget to join me for the Idol Radio Show tonight at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as I talk about tonight’s X Factor performances, American Idol news, and anything else in the entertainment industry that needs to be discussed. Simply click the “Listen Live” banner in the right column when the show starts.