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Rockstar: Supernova - Week 11 - The Grand Final
Wednesday, Sep 27, 2006, 18:08

This is it - by the end of this blog you are going to know how the new lead singer of Rock Star Supernova is going to be.  Yes, that's right - the band are now called Rock Star Supernova (although the exact grammar may be still up for confirmation).  A little known Califnornian band called Supernova sued CBS and won the rights to their name.  It could be worse - check out the shortlist on Tommy's website.

The final is a bit convoluted involving an initial show where the four remaining rockers perform two songs - a cover and their original from the previous week.  The following night - in a bloated two hour finale - the two singers with the least votes sing off again and Supernova send one of them home.  With three remaining, they will perform once more each and then the winner will be chosen.

Before the fun began Dilana introduced the fan's choice for an encore performance from an eliminated contestant.  The winner, unsurprisingly, was Ryan Star who once again ripped it up with his original, "Back of Your Car".  I've missed that guy.

The recap
4. Magni (Hush and When the Time Comes) - Great job from Magni on "Hush", a Deep Purple song brought to my consciousness by Kula Shaker about 9 years ago.  However, his original paled in comparison to everyone else's - something that Tommy Lee (who usually has nothing insightful to say) rather harshly pointed out.  Magni's response was dignified and effectively said that all music cannot to be loved by everyone.  

3. Lukas (Fix You and Headspin) - "Headspin" has been one of my favourites of the series but the acoustic version is awful and removes the angst that is apparent in the electric version.  "Fix You" is not one of my favourite Coldplay songs but this is actually better than their recorded version - exciting performance.

2. Toby (Karma Police and Throw It Away) - Toby sounded particularly Australian on "Karma Police", not necessarily a bad thing as it lent an interesting characteristic to the vocals.  I particularly liked the drum track on it too.  Good effort.  His original has grown on me in the last week and it was another good performance of it.  This time he stayed on the stage rather than resorting to the rather over-done "walk in to the crowd" move.  It was really cool the way the entire crowd sang the chorus line as well.  I think Ryan was the most improved over the course of the show but Toby is probably a close second.  

1. Dilana (Roxanne and Supersoul) - A late contender for one of the performances of the series.  "Roxanne" was stripped down to an acoustic guitar and Dilana's amazing vocal.  She also had the other three lending backing vocals which was a cool touch.  Close to perfect.  Her original once again sounded good and belies the belief that she is not a good songwriter.  

So a fighting performance from Dilana and strong performances across the board will ensure that this will be a close run thing.  I expect Magni to go first but who will be in the bottom two with him is hard to call.  It could be Lukas on the basis that his acoustic track was not great this week and the fact that Toby is totally over with the crowd.


The next night
The bottom two were announced from three - Lukas, Toby and Magni.  Dilana was the only one who didn't, at any point in the voting, drop in to the bottom two.  In the end it was the Australian and the Icelandic who were forced in to the sing-off.  

Magni re-visited his excellent version of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" while Toby performed "White Wedding" just like he had done on week 4.  Both performances were pretty good but the band decided that there was more potential for Toby in their final three and sent Magni home.  Their main point about Magni was that he looked like a great band performer rather than a lead man.  Once again he took it graciously, thanking a lot of people before he departed backstage.  

So the final three and it was time for one more song each.  The academic nature of the night is actually quite tiring.  The votes are in and, let's face it, the band have no doubt already made their decision (I wonder how many weeks ago they made it).  Still, they all took to the stage again.  Toby sung "Somebody Told Me", Lukas did "Bittersweet Symphony" and Dilana tackled "Zombie" again.  I'm actually quite jaded by it all now and I'm sure the performers just want to get down to the nitty gritty.  



Toby unsurprisingly bit the dust first.  The band seem to see themselves as a gritty rock band and Toby, as talented as he is, just hasn't got the edge of the other two.  But what a ride for a man who was struggling half-way through the show with less well-received performances like "Runaway Train" and "Burning Down the House".

Who is it to be [cue tense incidental music].

Look, it's Lukas ok?  I'm not shocked but I do think Dilana actually redeemed herself after her problems a few weeks back that painted her in rather a bad light.  She has since come out and said that the show's producers admitted picking on her since she was the most interesting.  She also said she was never fell out with anyone and that the show just painted it that way.  While Dilana is aggravated about the fact that ratings was the name of the game, what do you expect if you enter a reality show?  

Lukas rounded off the series with performances of two of the three Supernova songs he hadn't sung on ("Be Yourself and Five Other Cliches" and "It's All Love" - the first single).  It should be noted that "Leave the Lights On" - an embarrassing tune that Dilana was forced to sing on - was the odd one out.  "It's All Love" is not a terrible song but the chorus isn't as strong as the verse.

The end...
Supernova contained no surprises in the end as the final four were the same ones I thought would make it six weeks ago.  Dilana can count herself unlucky not to have made the grade but Lukas was a strong performer and probably the best man for the job.  

The only contentious part for me is just how "massaged" things were.  Lukas supposedly got the most votes on the final night (even though he appeared in the bottom two at some point while Dilana didn't) but how do we know that?  Is it just the band trying to justify their decision?  What would have happened had Toby got the most votes - would they have gone with Toby?  No, I don't think they would have.  Their minds were made up some time ago.

And they had to be sure.  There's a lot of money at stake as well as their own professional careers.  You can't just pick someone to work with you because the public like his catchy original or blonde hair.  How many of these people are going to buy the albums or go to the shows?  The band knew who was best for them and even if Lukas had appeared in the bottom two in the final, he would have still been picked.  You only have to look at how they bigged-up Magni so much even when he had two weeks in a row in the bottom three but were quick to remind the lesser stars like Patrice and Zayra that two or three appearances in the bottom three was a disaster.

The top ten
I'll be back next week with my top ten "Rockstar: Supernova" performances of the season as well as pointing out some interesting performances that are worth watching.

Can you wait?  I bet you can't.

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