Two acts were eliminated last week, giving the surviving seven acts something to really be thankful for. Two more acts will be going home again this week, so hopefully none of the acts really went overboard buying gifts on Black Friday in anticipation of winning $5 million before the credit card bill comes due.

Paula Abdul will be a judge only this week, as the last of her Groups, Lakoda Rayne, bit the dust last Wednesdasy. Will Nicole Scherzinger’s Over 30s be next?

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.

It’s “King of Pop” night on The X Factor, as the contestants take on the songs of Michael Jackson. This could make for an interesting night, as Michael sang a wide range of songs. And it’s possible that the catalog could include Jackson 5 songs.

Hopefully, though, the Top 7 won’t make Michael roll over in his grave. Or make us wish we were in a grave.

The host has come out and the judges have been introduced. That means it’s time for a video recap of Michael Jackson’s career. Will they mention the 4-year sentence that Conrad Murray received today?

Wow. Three of the Jackson brothers have just been introduced: Marlon, Tito, and Jackie. No mention of Jermaine. However, Michael’s three kids, Prince, Paris, and Blanket, along with the Jackson mom, Katherine, are all in the audience.

The only Over 30s act left, Josh Krajcik, takes the stage first tonight. I have little faith that Josh can do justice to a Michael Jackson song. Josh admits during the pre-performance video that Michael Jackson is not his style. Simon thinks this will be the first week that Josh is nervous, followed by Josh saying this may be one of the toughest weeks in the competition for him. Josh is singing “Dirty Diana” tonight. I can’t understand a single word he is singing, and he hasn’t even touched the guitar he brought out on stage. It really sounds like he is trying too hard with this song, and the dirty dancing the girls on stage with him are doing aren’t helping matters. Josh finally takes up the guitar, but it doesn’t do him any justice. A quick shot of Michael’s kids clapping make me think they would prefer to be anywhere other than the audience. I feel the same way. L.A. Reid thinks Josh landed on his feet. I really thought L.A. knew the difference between feet and rear end. Oh well.

Shanethewise is in the Shoutbox and thinks that Josh just killed it. I have to agree. Josh did kill it. Unfortunately, it suffered a cruel and unusual death. Totally violates the U.S. Constitution.

Next up tonight is a Boys act, Brian “Astro Turkey” Bradley. Do we really want him doing one of his interpretations on a Michael Jackson song? In the pre-performance video, Brian’s mom says he wrote his first song at the age of nine. I guess he liked it so much, he continues writing like he is nine. He is “singing” to the song, “Black or White.” A shot of Michael’s kids after Brian starts singing makes it clear that they are NOT enjoying Brian. At least they have taste. The problem I’m discovering with Brian is that his rapping is all at one level. There is absolutely no depth to how he sounds. It’s all at one level. He needs to learn how to add some layers to his rapping. Needless to say, the judges are mostly gushing at him. Ugh.

When we come back from the commercial, Steve throws it over to Michael’s mom and two of his kids. Paris is nice enough to say she is enjoying the show.

Drew is first up for the Girls tonight. In the pre-performance video, we see Drew arguing with Simon. He wants her to sit down for this performance, but she claims Michael would never do that. Simon says to trust him, that he has stripped everything else away from this performance. In other words, I’m going to hate it. As is almost always the case, she starts off in such a low register, I can’t understand what she is saying. She does finally move it up a couple of octaves, and we discover she is singing a horrendously redone “Billie Jean.” This is beyond horrendous. It’s so bad, Billie Jean has actually just filed a restraining order. She has also moved to a new continent and has made sure that her address and phone number are unlisted. In addition, the lights that lit up under Michael’s feet when he walked in this video have now gone dark. L.A. claims he liked this version of this song. Ugh.

Rachel Crow is next to represent the Girls. I was too busy listening to David Cook’s version of Billie Jean back on Season 7 of American Idol to realize that Rachel’s pre-performance video was on. Rachel is singing “Can You Feel It.” Unfortunately, I can feel every note she is missing. This is far from being Rachel’s best performance. In fact, it may be one of her worst performances to date. The song, the backup dancers, her interpretation of the song……. everything about it is off. Very off. Simon is beaming like a proud pop, but he shouldn’t be. If anything, he should be burying his head in the ground for this. L.A. says he didn’t feel like Rachel was having a great time up there on stage. We weren’t having a great time down here listening to it.

Chris Rene is the last of the Boys to take the stage tonight. In the pre-performance video, Chris says his family has a connection to Michael: His grandfather wrote “Rockin’ Robin,” which the Jackson Five sang. That was a great song. Simon says that Chris has a very risky song choice tonight. Chris says it will be difficult to do justice to a Michael Jackson song. Chris is singing, “I’ll Be There.” Chris is looking very prepped out wearing a Michael Jackson letter jacket, but it’s a very smooth arrangement. Chris breaks out into a rap in the middle of the song. I suspect a lot of people will greatly dislike this performance, and just as I type that, mj tweets that “this blows.” But I think it was an excellent performance that showed several sides to Chris. And with the exception of a small rough part at the beginning of the song, he did a great job. Absolutely loved it.

So what did you think of tonight’s performances? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. And head over to IdolBlogLive.com to vote in the “Who Will Go Home” poll.

Also, 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.