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Rockstar: Supernova Week 6
Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006, 12:42

Wow, what a week on "Rockstar: Supernova".  Seriously, I could not say that any of the ten performances were poor - well, apart from Zayra.  But it actually wasn't that bad, just a bit misguided.  And as you know I do my round-up in three phases.  First of all I'll discuss the ten performances from the initial audition and rank their performances as per my own tastes...

** New this week - click on the hyperlinks for the actual performances where available !! **

The recap
10. Zayra (All the Young Dudes) - Oh my God.  What next for Zayra?  Wearing a skin-tight, gold singlet and a black top hat, she tackled the David Bowie classic (lot of classics on this show) with a strange understated lack of gusto.  It wasn't that it was awful, it's just that I think the arrangement actually out-performed her.  She took a back seat vocally, letting the backing band (with Magni playing acoustic guitar for her) sing the chorus while she tried to rile up the crowd with ad-hoc cries of "I want to see you standing".  The guys seemed to think it was interesting but correctly pulled her up for her flat vocals.  Nice to look at but not much beyond the stylish surface.

9. Jill (Mother Mother) - Jill down the bottom again.  This week she styled her hair in a more "rocky" way, put on some black eye make-up and dressed in black.  "Mother Mother" by Tracy Bonham is a song I actually knew - and really like - although I didn't know it was well known and was Grammy nominated a decade ago.  Jill was ok.  She seemeed to restrain her vocals after being accused of "over-singing" in previous weeks and only let loose on the chorus lyric of "everything's fiiiiine!!" which she brilliantly screeched.  She finished with a mini jump in to the crowd which was ok but has been done better. 

8. Patrice (Instant Karma) - A John Lennon track (sounding suspiciously like "Nobody Told Me"?) that I didn't know although Supernova were excited to hear it and they thought Patrice did well.  I thought it was alright.  She played guitar and seemed to be enjoying herself but I did find it a bit non-descript.  I'm placing her ahead of Jill because I just think she has more "rock star" credibility when performing.

7. Storm (We Are the Champions) - This is probably a little harsh on Storm as her performance was really good.  It's just that she was better last week when performing "Changes" and this seemed a bit of a comedown.  Her vocals are quite amazing, her facial expressions are spot-on and she has a great chemistry with the audience.  Dave Navarro pointed out that singing any Queen song is hard and that she did a good job.  I sensed that they like Storm but maybe thought she had a very difficult job on her hands this week to blow us away.

6. Toby (Burning Down the House) - Ok so I knew this song but didn't know that Talking Heads sung it.  I actually find it quite an irritating track but Toby did a good job.  First of all he threw all his natural charisma at it and performed a bit like Robbie Williams I thought - it was quite impressive.  Secondly, and I loved this, he was handed a megaphone half-way through the song and sung a verse through it.  Awesome stuff.  Dave Navarro shook his head and gave that bit a thumbs down.  Jason and Tommy were more receptive and thought it was pretty neat. 

5. Josh (Interstate Love Song) - Josh got a shock when Tommy Lee leapt up to play drums on this Stone Temple Pilots song.  But he took it well and although he was restricted by playing guitar, he still acknowledged TL's presence a couple of times during the performance.  I like Josh and again I thought he did a fine job here.  His head-wagging soul-thing, the confident glint in his eye, the fact that he looks to be enjoying every second - I think Supernova have warmed to it all.  Vocally he did a great job.

4. Ryan (Paint it Black) - For the second week in a row, Ryan hit a home run with this classic (see?) Rolling Stones hit.  Entering from the crowd, dressed in black, with a black hoody and black eye-liner, Ryan surprised everyone by totally tearing it up.  So much energy and confidence, and a clever conceptual performance.  I loved it.

3. Dilana (Won't Get Fooled Again) - Gilby Clarke took center stage with Dilana - and the rest of the Supernova stars took it in the neck for not putting up a fight to choose this song.  "If it were up to me, Dilana would win this right now," said Dave.  But she could win it anyway because this was a brilliant performance and her sparring with Gilby looked natural.  "This did not look like an audition to me," Dave piped up again, "this was a rock show."  Gilby added: "This proved to me that a woman can front our band."  So why is she only third this week?  There must have been two absolutely brilliant performances keeping her down...

2. Magni (The Dolphins Cry) - This was interesting.  I said a few weeks ago that Magni reminded me of Ed Kowalczyk from Live, and here he is performing one of his songs - one of my favourites too.  While the studio version is a heavy, melodic rocker, Magni stripped it down and performed with just an acoustic guitar.  The song lost none of its raw power though and frankly it was a note-perfect version.  Having his wife and baby son (with massive headphones on) sitting in the crowd was a nice touch.  Amazing - what a star.

1. Lukas (Creep) - This will cause some controversy but Lukas was back on form again this week.  It really was a toss up between the top three with a hair's breadth seperating them all.  Lukas was playing catch-up after his debacle last week but he responded in remarkable style.  The fact that Dilana told him he had to do "Creep" to prove himself was spot on - and it could actually count against her.  Not only did he prove he could sing (Thom Yorke's range in the original was difficult to pull off but he managed it), he showed once again that he carries as much stage presence as anyone, interacts brilliantly with the crowd and demonstrated the "exaggerated swagger" that is becoming his calling card.  He also got over the hump that was his "closed vocals" that annoyed Jason Newsted.  Lukas is back in the running.

So I'm writing this before the bottom three are announced and I predict that Zayra, Patrice and either Jill or Toby will end up there.  I'm going to plump for Toby as the third because there's a shock most weeks.

The next night
Well I was a fair bit wrong - just on the personnel, not on the fact there would be a shock.  Zayra, Patrice, Jill, Josh and Ryan were all in the bottom three at some point with Zayra (!) and Patrice told to sit down. My money is on Jill going home here.

In the meantime, (and you can click on the links to see them) Lukas and Magni were both chosen to do encore performances (mirroring my thoughts on the top two), with Magni performing his electrically this time, and just as impressively.

There was a further announcement from the band that the remaining singers after tonight's show would fly with them to Vegas to step on the stage at the Hard Rock Hotel that Supernova would play their first gig on New Year's Eve.  That's going to be absolutely off the hook.

So down to the last three.  Jill stepped up first, performing "Respect".  It was a reasonable performance but really reeked of karaoke and I think that Jill is a club singer rather than a rock star.  Will Supernova agree?

Josh was next, singing the catchy "Shooting Star" from Bad Company.  Josh is a super singer but he seems to continuously make his own way and it's not something that sits that comfortably with Supernova.  Still, he should get another chance.

Here comes Ryan.  He's becoming one of the guilty pleasures of this show and this time he took his hand to Depeche Mode's utter classic "Enjoy the Silence".  Wow, this was amazing.  I'm really digging this guy - he's going to walk this.

So the boys made their choice.  They sent Ryan back to his seat - no shock there.  But here's the shock - for the first time on the show they decided to swing the axe twice, cutting both Jill and Josh.  I feel sorry for Josh in one sense as he's one of the most talented people on the show.  But having said that he would never have worked in the band so I suppose they are just speeding up the process. 

The behind-the-scenes show followed them around Vegas and boy did they have fun.  Toby and Lukas got off-their-face drunk, Dilana flirted her ass off with Tommy and Patrice looked like a lost lamb.  She's next.

How they rate
So after a very interesting week, how are the remaining eight looking?
08. (07) Patrice - She's ok but she's like a rabbit in headlights and with Zayra picking up some bizarre momentum recently you'd have to consider her the outsider now.
07. (08) Zayra - That's not to say that Zayra is making a comeback.  She's doomed too but she entertains with her "Planet Pluto" ((c) Dave Navarro) performances.
06. (05) Storm - I'm going to shove Storm down a place here because overall I have a doubt, outside of Dilana, about a woman fronting the band.  Super-talented but maybe those above her are just better placed.
05. (06) Ryan - His "Paint it Black" was cool, although sometimes awkward, but his "Enjoy the Silence" was awesome.  Like Storm, he might be just a step off the top four but it's not a huge gap.
04. (04) Toby - I liked his energy on "Burning Down the House" but again I think he's dropping more towards the b-list than the a-list.
03. (03) Magni - It was tough to keep Magni in third but that's just how stiff the competition is.  His two versions of "The Dolphin's Cry" were brilliant. 
02. (01) Dilana - More controversy.  Dilana is awesome and if it wasn't for Lukas she would probably have this gig by now.
01. (02) Lukas - Simply because he bounced back with "Creep" in a way that sent shivers down my spine.  He and Dilana are simply A .

There you go - week six down.  See you next week!

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