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Rockstar: Supernova - Week 5
Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2006, 13:32

Week five of "Rockstar: Supernova" took place this weekend - well in Ireland at any point...once again, no spoilers please!

Before I start I just want to say that I know this blog is not relevant to many of you since you don't watch the show. But bear in mind that this is the talented person's equivalent of that Big Brother crap that most of you watch. Right, back to your regular scheduled programming now.

This week the standard was much improved. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read my previous blog.

So starting in reverse order here is how I rated this weeks performances...

The recap
11. Zayra (867-5309/Jenny) - I'd never heard the song before but I wonder if it sounds anything like the racket that Zayra made on the night. Her wildcat perormance and off-the-wall strip-club attire left Dave Navarro unable to find the words to describe her performance. He insisted that they take a break so he could "process what I just saw". On return he said that Zayra brings something different every week and that's why they kept her around. I hope she doesn't get another week frankly. She's entertaining but entertaining in terms of the comedy value that nutcases bring to reality shows.

10. Lukas (Celebrity Skin) - Lukas got it wrong for the first time with this Hole shout-fest. He spent half his song with his back to the audience and it turns out that he forgot his lyrics and totally ballsed it up. What I liked about the experience though was that his vulnerability came to the fore and the arrogant swagger disappeared. He acknowledged that he didn't "bring it".

9. Jill ((Don't You) Forget About Me) - Lovely Jill. She really is beautiful. Don't know who she reminds me of. Maybe she is what a rock-doll would look like if one existed. Her take on the Simple Minds track though was shocking. She totally missed the mark. I couldn't work out at the time why it was so bad but Tommy Lee was on the money when he pointed out the appeal of the song was in the low register of the original's vocals. Gilby described her performance as "uncomfortable". I really like Gilby. He's intelligent and charming, but cutting and honest when required too.

8. Dilana (Can't Get Enough) - Dilana took on the Bad Company classic but it didn't work for me. She went through the crowd and then gyrated in a punky way (not in a "Jill way") in front of Supernova. Her performance was not bad but the song is not very exciting outside of the main riff. The band, it should be said, loved her.

7. Dana (Baba O'Reilly) - I'd never heard of this track by The Who but it was a band favourite and Dana did it no disservice according to Dave. She got a thumbs up across the board and Tommy said "there is hope!". It was a solid performance alright but I'm not convinced that Dana has a cat's chance in hell of winning,

6. Magni (Clocks) - I really like The Ice Man (as he has been affectionately referred to by Supernova). He oozes confidence and professionalism on stage and although this was not my favourite performance - I thought his vocals were a little ropey at times - it received top marks from the panel.

5. Josh (Santeria) - Never heard of this song or the band, Sublime. Josh went his own way on it doing a funk/reggae groove that was totally infectious. I thought the band were going to rip him apart for it but they loved it. And rightly so - it rocked.

4. Toby (Pennyroyal Tea) - After receiving some criticism for his previous performance, Toby performed a slightly rocked-up version of this Nirvana classic - a song that was due to be released as a single before Kurt died. It worked for me as I thought he really embraced the song and cut out the sexy flaunting of previous performances. It was quite an absorbing effort.

3. Patrice (Higher Ground) - She grabbed life by the balls and took the song that had Tommy Lee performing drums behind her. She "80s-punk"-ed up her hair (reminding me of Claire Grogan of Altered Images) and cavorted around the stage like a woman possessed. She did a real good job and pulled it off vocally. Dave did make a barbed comment though about how seeing her in front of Tommy demonstrated to him that about 8 of the 11 people left would "disappear" if they were in the band. Not a ringing endorsement.

2. Storm (Changes) - I mentioned last week how this was her gamble. She stripped it back and let it rip. And it was absolutely beautiful. She got it spot on and it's among one of the top ten performances on the whole show so far.

1. Ryan (Losing my Religion) - I was turned in to a believer tonight. This could be *the* best performance of the show. In a completely original move (for this show), Ryan sat himself down at a grand piano and was thoroughly captivating. I know that sounds a bit metrosexual but it really was awesome. His voice, his delivery, the emphasis he put on certain parts of the lyric. Quite amazing.


The next night
When all the votes are counted presenter Brooke Burke reads out the names of any contestant who were in the bottom three at any time during the previous 24 hours. This week there were five names called out - Dana, Jill, Patrice, Zayra and Toby. Zayra and Toby survived... Zayra was probably fortunate but seems to have acquired some fans with her outrageous performances. Toby's appearance in the bottom three for the first time was puzzling considering the goodwill he has built up through his earlier performances (and his good looks!). Lukas acknowledged that it should have been him in the bottom three.

Jill was first out of the block, doing Heart's "Alone", a rather beautiful hair-ballad from the late 80s. I think it was a clever choice because Gilby played guitar for Heart in recent years and probably had a soft-spot for the material. In fairness to her she nailed it - great voice. She survived.

While Dana performed "House of the Rising Sun", Patrice did Jeff Buckley's "Eternal Life". I've never listened to Buckley before and I have to say it sounded brilliant. I like Patrice, I think she's got talent and could still be in with a shout with the band. Dana did a decent job with "House of the Rising Sun" but it was a slightly ambitious tune to try - and it backfired. The Hatchet Man sent her packing.

So Dana is out and this is how I rate the ten who are left (number in brackets is where I rated them last week).

How they rate
10. (10) Zayra - rank outsider and didn't enhance her chances with her bizarre performance.
09. (07) Jill - It all went wrong for Jill this week. I'm not going to talk about how beautiful she is anymore. This week.
08. (08) Patrice - I think Patrice is still hanging in there and has leapfrogged Jill at this point. She just seems to "get it" a bit more.
07. (06) Josh - He oozes much talent and his performance was excellent this week. But is he Supernova material?
06. (09) Ryan - I could over-do it on Ryan and put him up in the three but if he pulls out another performance like this week, he could be.
05. (05) Storm - She was awesome and closed the gap on the previously "out on their own" top four. It's going to get interesting in the coming weeks.
04. (03) Toby - I had a slight doubt despite his performance this week. I'm not sure there's enough variety in his locker.
03. (04) Magni - I wasn't crazy about his "Clocks" performance but I love his stage presence and he shows a little more than Toby at this point.
02. (02) Lukas - Even though he messed up his track this week he still showed enough on a bad night to suggest he's got "it".
01. (01) Dilana - I'm a bit wary of some of Dilana's stage moves as she seems a bit too much like Tina Turner at times. But this is still one hell of a talented woman.

More next week!

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