Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Katy Perry snaps a photo of the American Idol cast with Season 20 finalists Leah Marlene, Noah Thompson and HunterGirl. (ABC Photo)

The American Idol Top 3 will take on the songs of Bruce Springsteen in Sunday night’s three-hour Season 20 finale.

That means each finalist will perform at least twice during Sunday’s show.

Also on tap are first-ever performances of the original songs released last Friday.

That would be “One Day Tonight” for Noah Thompson, “Flowers” for Leah Marlene and “Red Bird” for HunterGirl.

As of Monday afternoon, “One Day Tonight” and “Red Bird” were still clinging to spots in the Top 10 on iTunes Top 200.

Since ABC began airing Idol in Season 16, the show has typically eliminated the third-place finisher at some point during the live show.

The final two then typically perform a third time before results are revealed.

Plenty of guest performers will be on hand as well and all three judges — Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie — will perform at some point during the evening.

Guest performers will include Carrie Underwood, Gabby Barrett, James Arthur, Sara Bareilles, Michael Bublé, Deana Carter, Earth, Wind & Fire, Melissa Etheridge, Flo Rida, Ben Platt, Thomas Rhett and Tai Verdes.

You’ll note that after a season of celebrating its past, there aren’t many past Idol standouts on that list.

I would have preferred more.

But unlike The Voice, Idol has recently done a very good job of making the finale seem like a celebration of the season just completed, so I’m guessing a number of those guests will be performing with contestants from Season 20.

Sunday’s fun starts at 8 p.m. and we should have a Season 20 champ by 11 p.m.