The final "American Idol" show of the season is always a shell game: Thirty seconds of information must be stretched to two hours of viewer engagement. The night's rumored appearances by Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney soon yielded to the reality of Bette Midler. (We love her, but, you know.)
Here's a look inside the Nokia on finale night.
And so it begins: The judges make their grand entrance to the Paula-Randy tune, "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow." Some 7,000 people bark for Randy Jackson and scream for Paula Abdul. Of course, Simon Cowell.
Then the two Davids, dressed in white, bound onto the stage -- and here we go!
With Ryan Seacrest's announcement at the top of the show that one David received 56% of the vote, Dialidol.com watchers wondered whether they now knew who won.
The Nokia is about 100,000 times better for live performance than "Idol's" former finale home. During breaks at the Kodak, the room would die.