Before the season 19 American Idol champ is revealed at the end of Sunday night’s (May 23) three-hour season finale, viewers will be treated to the usual cavalcade of star performances. You’ll have to wait until the final few minutes to find out if your new Idol is Chayce Beckham, Grace Kinstler or Willie Spence, but in the meantime you’ll be treated to performances by the three judges — Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan — as well as Alessia Cara, Chaka Khan, Fall Out Boy, Leona Lewis and former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.
And that’s not all. Also slated to take the stage are Luke Combs, Macklemore, Mickey Guyton and Sheryl Crow. The episode will air live coast-to-coast from 8-11 p.m .ET (5-8 p.m. PT) on ABC. The top three were revealed on Sunday’s show, when popular teen rocker Casey Bishop was knocked out of the competition, leaving powerhouse R&B belters Kinstler and Spence and gritty country rock vocalist Beckham. Bishop’s exit came less than a week after top five finalist Caleb Kennedy left the show following a controversy over a video in which he sits next to a friend wearing what appeared to be a KKK hood.
“We get emotionally involved in these kids,” Bryan told People magazine in the first official statement on the incident. “We want the best for Caleb. As far as the nuances on how ABC gets viewed, either way, decisions got made and it’s our job as judges to show up and do our best job and comment on the kids who are in front of us. But we wish nothing but the best for Caleb. It does make for a very, very challenging and upsetting week.”
