Subscribe
Last night the Australian Idols turned their hand to rock, but unfortunately the theme exposed the weaknesses of many of our contestants. The odd star shone, but it was a very dark night in the Idol studio indeed.
Matt Corby kicked off the night with a great rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song.” This is such a challenging song, but Matt kept his cool and rocked hard. While the song choice failed to impress Kyle, I was thrilled. Your average teenager knows “Stairway to Heaven,” and the like, but this more obscure option showed this kid’s got real musical depth. Very cool.
We all expected rock week to challenge swing king Carl Riseley. But it didn’t. Coldplay are about as rock as Michael Bublé. By choosing “Clocks,” Carl showed that his musical knowledge is sorely lacking. The vocals were adequate, but by copping out in the song choice I think he’s really in danger this week.
Luckily for Carl, his performance was followed by Brianna Carpenter’s equally dismal attempt. “The Logical Song” should have been a great fit for her, but again she struggled with pitch problems. Brianna insists she’s deaf in one ear and struggling to hear herself. That may be so, but I wonder how long her fans can keep her around based on what she can do, rather than what she is doing. I love Brianna, but I really think her number may be up.
Marty Simpson did a respectable job with Paolo Nutini’s hit “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty.” However, I’m not sure it was as good as the judges believed. Perhaps it was just great compared to Carl and Brianna’s songs. I believe song choice let him down here. This is a fun song, but it really flatlines and doesn’t go anywhere. Still, I think he’s done enough to stay in the comp.
Lana Krost made a big improvement with her take on Little Birdy’s “Come On, Come On.” We saw a little grit in her voice, and a little spontaneity in her movements. There were a lot of things that could have been better, but it was a start. While the judges were still unmoved, I think this could be the turning point for her.
Jacob Butler gave the crowd the show stopper they were waiting for with his performance of “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory.” He was the first person to really rock the performance, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Tarisai Vushe got a rousing reception for her take on “Hard to Handle.” Technically I think this was closer to the soul-laden Otis Redding original than the rocking Black Crowes cover, but it didn’t seem to worry anyone. She’s a born performer, and her voice is stunning. My only criticism is that she seemed to be shouting in patches, but I can forgive that.
Ben McKenzie was the second performer to sing some Little Birdy; he chose “Bodies.” It was a really solid effort, especially considering he felt uncomfortable with the genre. His vocals really soared in places, and it was great to hear. However, I’m not sure about the song choice at all. This is a fairly obscure song, and I’m not sure he completely sold it.
Daniel Mifsud stepped up next with Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire.” It was a great song choice, combining rock with his soul background, and he gave an energetic and fun performance. I just wish he was less imitative. As a fan of the original, I was disappointed that Daniel delivered the song as Jimi did including all the same “ad libs.” He needs to learn who he is, rather than just rehashing someone else’s work.
Natalie Gauci then brought her own unique version of “Sweet Child of Mine.” I loved the way she built this, although I wasn’t as convinced by the performance once it amped up. Natalie really knows who she is though, and that’s great to watch.
Mark Da Costa closed the show with AC/DC’s “High Voltage.” The rocker was always going to be in his comfort zone on rock week, and it showed. I honestly think this was the best performance I’ve seen him do. For the first time I saw the rock god everyone always claimed he was. The vocal was particularly strong, matching his showmanship.
Tonight we’ll say goodbye to one of these contestants. My hunch is that it will be Brianna. After two pitchy performances, I’m not sure even her fans can stand up for her. Quirky performers always have to fight a bit harder for their place, and I’m not sure they can get away with the mistakes she’s been making. I guess we’ll see tonight!
I’m not as convinced that Matt Corby did a particularly good job. He doesn’t seem to have a strong enough voice and would’ve been better off picking something that plays to his strengths, whatever they are. This is the first week I’ve bothered watching so I’ve nothing invested in any of them.
I want to like Brianna, I really do, but harsh as it may be to say this, it’s true: if she can’t keep pitch because she can’t hear herself sing, then she shouldn’t expect to win a competition like this. But I was expecting her to play to that a bit and do a bit of Bjork. Cliched, perhaps, but at least she’d survive another week.
Carl didn’t just cop out big-time (he thinks Coldplay are “rock”?!), he screwed around with the song in a way that really didn’t work for me. It felt a bit too Richard Cheese. I love Richard Cheese, but I don’t see him getting far in something like Idol either.
Lana really impressed me, more than any of the others. Not because she was great — she wasn’t — but because she showed a real willingness to get in there and give it a go even though she was out of her comfort zone. Because of this she’s my “one to watch” for the time being.
I know there were some flaws with Matt’s vocals this week, but I really admired him for giving the song a go.
Brianna’s a really interesting one. During the semis she did a great version of Regina Spektor’s “Fidelity” … that sort of territory is really where her home is. Her pitch wasn’t suffering then either. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you sing it’s got to be in tune, right?
I did neglect the mention the schizophrenic bossa nova stylings of Carl’s Coldplay effort … it didn’t work for me either.
I’d honestly prefer to see him go over Brianna, but she’s always going to be the harder sell with middle Australia.
I agree with your comments about Lana wholeheartedly. Especially when you compare her efforts to Carl’s, she certainly gets into the spirit of the competition.
Matt, are you the singer. That was a bad showing for them all. Thats just my opinion.
No, not the singer.