American Idol finale 2010 performances: Pants on the Ground, Bret Michaels, Janet Jackson, Michael McDonald

Here are some performance highlights from Wednesday's "American Idol" season finale.

The show kicked off with a performance of "School's Out for the Summer." Orianthi and Alice Cooper joined the top 12 contestants on stage. The music sounded fine, but most fans concentrated on the Harry Potter-inspired schoolkid costumes. Perhaps was an attempt to channel some wizardry and erase the majority of this lackluster season.

Last season's "Idol" champ Kris Allen performed his new song, "The Truth." Host Ryan Seacrest's mike was on during the beginning of the song, so we heard him talking over Kris. Hey, at least he wasn't waltzing again. Right?

Season nine contestants Siobhan Magnus and Aaron Kelly sang "How Deep Is Your Love" and they were joined by the Bee Gees. The whole thing was a little too lounge-tastic for me, but I'll limit my Bee Gees bashing for now. Something tells me things could be waaay worse.

Michael "Big Mike" Lynche sang "Takin' It to the Steets" while accompanied by Michael McDonald. Perhaps the most random pairing to ever grace the "Idol" stage.

Christina Aguilera sang "You Lost Me." Go ahead, call her a Gaga wannabe. But so far, this performance was my favorite of the night. It was emotional without being too flashy. I'm back on team Christina. Or Xtina. Whatever.

After the guys sang a Hall & Oates medley, Hall & Oates appeared on stage to sing "You Make My Dreams Come True." A not-so-secret part of me really wanted Tim Urban to do the "500 Days of Summer" dance. You know what I'm talking about.

Then, in the biggest surprise so far, Alanis Morissette paired up with Crystal Bowersox for "You Oughta Know." Best lyric change EVER: "Would she go down with you to the theater?"

Carrie Underwood performed her new hit, "Undo It." Can anyone from this season match her level of star power? Don't answer that.

Contestant Casey James paired up with Bret Michaels for "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." Meanwhile, viewers crossed their fingers and hoped Bret suffered no major health mishaps post-show.

Lee DeWyze teamed with Chicago for a medley of hits. Sadly, a lot of those notes were pretty rough. Lee's lucky it wasn't a voting night.

We got our obligatory "Pants on the Ground" performance, thanks to General Larry Platt and William Hung. Don't say you didn't see it coming.

Paula Abdul showed up to say goodbye to Simon Cowell. After that, all the "Idol" winners -- well, except David Cook -- sang "Together We Are One" joined by a bunch of "Idol" finalists. It was like a twisted version of "We Are the World" and I loved it. David Cook was reportedly at a charity event. Adam Lambert wasn't there, either.

Janet Jackson sang "Nothing" while flaunting her new super-short haircut. Man, I thought the whole Janet thing was just a rumor. Just when I got bored with "Nothing," Janet switched to "Nasty." All the performance needed was Tim Urban as a backup dancer.

Finally, Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze teamed with Joe Cocker to sing "With a Little Help From My Friends." What would you do if I sang out of tune? Um, keep watching because it's my job.

This story was originally published May 26, 2010 at 7:49 PM with the headline "American Idol finale 2010 performances: Pants on the Ground, Bret Michaels, Janet Jackson, Michael McDonald."