Adam Lambert's 'Mad World' #3 of Top 20 show performances

3. ADAM LAMBERT, ''Mad World'' (Season 8)
Sure, Adam's interpretation of Gary Jules' cover of a minor Tears for Fears hit was vocally flawless. But that was pretty much par for the course during the season 8 runner-up's Idol run. What made ''Mad World'' so absolutely electrifying was the way Adam connected emotionally with the material. As he delivered the lines ''I went to school and I was very nervous/No one knew me, no one knew me,'' Adam, bathed in blue light, managed to tap into that wellspring of pain and insecurity that pretty much every person on the planet has felt at one time or another: The kid at school who can't find anyone to sit with in the cafeteria. The panic-stricken worker in the first week at a new job. The guest who shows up at a party and realizes, ''Oh, crap! I don't know anyone here but the host.'' There's something really special about a musical performance that can transport you to any number of places or scenarios. In the end, I think the British judge's standing ovation said it all.

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