Talk about "American Idol" taking the save-the-best-for-last approach.

St. Louis was the first city producers of the reality show visited last June for season 11 auditions, followed by judges Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson's visit in September.

But St. Louis was the last audition show to air, with Thursday night's broadcast finally putting the city under the "Idol" shine again before Hollywood rounds begin next week.

"American Idol" first visited St. Louis during season four, where Oklahoman Carrie Underwood was discovered during filming here in 2004.

Thursday night's show, which showcased obvious locales such as the Gateway Arch, Busch Stadium and Scottrade Center, opened with a pre-fame Underwood reel, posing the question whether lightning could strike twice.

Lopez entered the auditions saying they should be so lucky as to find another Underwood, while Jackson asked where the Arch was.

By show's end, 46 singers who auditioned in St. Louis got the golden ticket to Hollywood.

The first Hollywood-bound audition of the night, held at the Hilton at the Ballpark, was also the first audition shown, a 22-year-old Florida man who looks like a true early frontrunner for the "American Idol" title. The photogenic Johnny Keyser's take on Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" blew the judges away.

Rachelle Lamb, 26, of Mountain View, Mo., presented a tearful story to the judges, yet another one about a singer being held back by a unsupportive husband. The judges pushed her straight through to Hollywood after her take on Faith Hill's "Find Somebody New."

Reis Kloeckener, 20, of St. Louis, came with a story that felt lifted straight from "Glee," and that has been a popular headline the last two years. He was a bullied boy in high school until the school choir rescued him. Tyler said Kloeckener's version of Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" was so beautiful it made him cry, and off to Hollywood he went.

After receiving a pep talk from Tyler, Ethan Jones, 22, of Pontoon Beach, Ill., performed Edwin McCain's "I'll Be" with a bloody cut on his forehead. His excitement had led to his scratching himself a little too hard. Jones' story, a great one, included the fact his father helped start a popular St. Louis band, but left to enter drug and alcohol rehab.

Though his father's band wasn't identified, Fox 2 KTVI names the band as the Well Hungarians.

Mark Ingram, 28, of Collinsville, who works as a hotel auditor at Hilton at the Ballpark, auditioned surrounded by hotel workers. But his performance of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" fell to pieces and the judges passed on him.

That wasn't the case with Lauren Gray, 22, of Hardy, Ark. Lopez said Gray, who sang Adele's "One and Only," possessed one of the best voices she'd ever heard. Her trip to Hollywood was swift.

The hour, which felt short on actual auditions, oddly enough didn't spend much time promoting its biggest selling point, a preview of the new Madonna video for her "Gimme All Your Luvin." The video features rapper Nicki Minaj and singer M.I.A.

The quick clip from the video, perhaps not even a minute's worth, was unceremoniously dropped into the middle of the show, as Madonna channeled bits of vintage Toni Basil.