Performances
- Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks sang "I Saw Her Standing There".
- Gwen Stefani sang "4 in the Morning" via satellite.
- Kelly Clarkson sang "Never Again".
- Top 6 male finalists sing "Ooo Baby Baby", then are joined by Smokey Robinson for a medley of "Being with You" and "The Tears of a Clown".
- Blake Lewis beatboxed with Doug E. Fresh, performing variations upon "The Show".
- Top 6 female finalists sing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", then are joined by Gladys Knight to sing a medley of "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)" and "Midnight Train to Georgia".
- Tony Bennett sang "For Once in My Life".
- Melinda Doolittle sang "Hold Up the Light" with BeBe and CeCe Winans, with whom she used to sing backup.
- The 12 finalists sang "Time After Time" in a Ford music video which featured outtakes of the previous music videos.
- Carrie Underwood sang her charity single "I'll Stand by You".
- The African Children's Choir performed.
- Sanjaya Malakar performed "You Really Got Me" with Joe Perry of Aerosmith as well as an appearance by "The Crying Girl", Ashley Ferl.
- Green Day performed their charity single "Working Class Hero".
- Taylor Hicks sang "Heaven Knows".
- Ruben Studdard, with Jordin Sparks, sang "You're All I Need to Get By".
- Bette Midler sang "Wind Beneath My Wings".
- An ensemble tribute to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with the past Idol winners as well as the top 12. Included were portions of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" featuring Kelly Clarkson and Joe Perry, "A Day in the Life" featuring Taylor Hicks, "She's Leaving Home" featuring Carrie Underwood, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" featuring Ruben Studdard, and "With a Little Help from My Friends" from the top 12.
- Jordin Sparks performed the songwriter contest winning single "This Is My Now" after the announcement of her victory.
Read more about this topic: American Idol (season 6), Grand Finale
Famous quotes containing the word performances:
“This play holds the season’s record [for early closing], thus far, with a run of four evening performances and one matinee. By an odd coincidence it ran just five performances too many.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)