Word.
I arrived at Canadian Idol late on Tuesday because of some other obligations and stories that I have been working on.
This actually worked out well as I got to avoid the non-stop waiting that I have become accustomed to.
I saw Erica/Toni Ferrari (one of the audience co-ordinators) and she ushered me inside. She said that the show was overbooked and that it would be packed. As I would find out later, she wasn’t kidding.
Because of the amount of people that were expected, I was relegated to the balcony. A sad cry from my beloved floor, the night that I was seranaded by Matt Kennedy. Haha.
I was excited. The wild card shows are always my favourite and I had no doubt that I would be left wanting more.
I will skip the warm-up as a result of a prior arrangement that I made. Just an inside joke here.
My initial feelings as I pondered before the show began were that Dianelys, Danian and Julie would not be given the chance to perform. I just didn’t think that the voters would come out in droves for them.
As I thought about it, I started to witness the chaos build around me. Kind of like a Tom Cruise movie. Scratch that. Kind of like a Tom Cruise romance.
People just started flowing in. It was a mass exodus. Before I could blink my eyes or say my name, I saw babies in laps, Vince Benenanti signs all over and of course, the horrible sounds of Happy Birthday being sang to basically every person in the world (at least that’s what it sounded like to me). I have never seen a venue so full in my life. People were sitting on the floor, in the aisles… anywhere I would look there would be a pair of eyes.
For some odd reason, despite the pervasive feelings of discomfort, I was revelling in the disorder. It added an aura to the place and definitely a degree of intrigue to the show. To use the cliche that I already dropped in the teaser… it was putting the “wild” in wild card.
The program opened with host Ben Mulroney saying that the wild card show was always the most high-energy. I agreed and there really was an electric vibe surrounding the Masonic Temple.
At the 7:58 PM EST mark, Ben gave the fist-pump to all of the cameramen around him. I thought this was incredibly classy. Sometimes, I give Ben a hard time for being overly cheesy but this should not be overshadowed by how nice of a guy he is.
At the 7:59 PM mark, some of Devika Mathur’s family members were asked to lower their signs because they were blocking the camera.
The show started and Ben said that last week’s show was a world first and Canadians were given the opportunity to vote in which wild card performers they wanted to see. A record 2 million votes were cast.
Ben asked the judges for some opening comments.
Jake said that the contestants should have used their 20 second plea last week to sing.
Farley advised the contestants to be memorable.
Sass said that for those who didn’t make it, to pick up the pieces and turn it into something positive.
Zack said that despite there currently being 6 girls and two guys in the Top 10, whoever made it in would be in tough.
After a SUBWAY recap of all the speeches, the eight performers were introduced.
Vince
Aaron
Dianelys
Luke
Josh
Stephane
Barrett
Devika
That meant that the eliminated contestants were Julie, Danian and Jenn.
Julie was a shocker, especially after Zach encouraged Canadians to vote in a Top 10er from Quebec. I know that she was one of Kevin Wong’s favourites, and that he will be disappointed (when he hears). I was surprised that Dianelys received enough support to perform. It appeared that no one fell for Jenn’s promise of a surprise for Canadians. I was surprised that the three were not cut live, but I guess that’s why Canadians are nicer.
Ben asked the contestants for some thoughts and Luke said that he found it harder to speak than to sing to the camera. Devika said that she would have to “play the pipes” as Zach advised.
Let’s get to the performances and quickly go through them.
Stephane:
– Stool was set-up for him to sit on.
– Picked a slow song, “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Wither.
– He was one of my picks, but I think the slow song coupled with performing first will do him in.
– An average performance.
– Zack: “Good on you.”
– Farley: “You became lactose intolerant and removed the cheese.”
– Sass: “Fantastic.”
– Jake: “Great!”
Barrett:
– Sang “At This Moment” by Billy Vera.
– I don’t think that he has the vocal range to move forward.
– This was still one of his better performances.
– His shouting still was unbearable.
– Jake Gold still clearly doesn’t like the guy as he has even retorted to using reverse psychology to ensure that Barrett doesn’t move forward.
– Jake: “They keep voting you in when I say something mean, so maybe I should say something nice.
Devika:
– I was pulling for her, but not one of her best performances.
– Chose “Unbreak My Heart” by Toni Braxton.
– Tone of the song is low, and I think that she should have picked something to highlight her upper skill. I suggested Whitney Houston last week.
– It was an alright performance on a night that was generally alright, I think that she could breakout in the Top 10, but I don’t see her getting the chance.
– Zack: Two words. Amber Fleury.
– I thought that this comment was unnecessarily rude. Sure, Amber Fleury sang “I Can’t Make You Love Me” amazingly well (so well that I can actually remember the song title). But to bring her up when she wasn’t even performing in the same night in his comments to Devika was horrible. Zack? Boourns.
– Jake: “Underwhelming, messed up on the words.”
– Farley: “Lack of control.”
Vince:
– Clearly the crowd favourite.
– He is getting one of the positions regardless of how he performed on Tuesday.
– Sang “I Could Not Ask For More” by Edwin McCain.
– I do not understand why he didn’t follow the judges advice and select a song that would highlight his age more.
– Still my second-favourite performance of the night and a clear improvement over his last.
– Sang one part that I didn’t understand (he later explained to Mulroney that it was Italian).
– Vince is a good strategist. Played the outfit last week to get into the wild card and used the Italian this week.
– Jake said that it was breathy.
– The judges were not blown away in general.
Aaron:
– My favourite performance of the evening.
– Sang “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray.
– He used Suzi’s step-and-the-crowd-will-step-with-you strategy and got most of the audience with him.
– Absolutely tore the house down which is what made Zach’s reaction even more interesting.
– Zack: “It was absolutely awful.”
– Tough to say if he will make it in, but I think that he will.
At this point in the show, I thought that the big money performance would belong to Josh Palmer. Whatever he did would determine the fates of everyone outside of Vince (who I am sure will go through).
Dianelys:
– Performed Ray Charles’ “Unchain My Heart.”
– She was wearing big heels and while she sauntered across the stage, I legitimately thought that she was going to fall several times.
– I thought she was good?
– Her style of music is not the same as mine, so I can’t really offer an opinion as to whether or not she did a good job.
– Wasn’t really good or really bad.
– Her last note was awesome and I liked how she laughed to herself in the middle of it.
– Judges salivated over her, just like they did the first time that she sang.
– Zack: “Potentially the only real musician on the show.”
– Jake: “You’re a professional.”
Luke:
– Sang “Amazed” by Lonestar.
– I have never been a big Luke fan.
– The performance showcased the fact that he is too young.
– Plays more to camera instead of focusing on belting notes out.
– Reminds me of Will on Rockstar: INXS.
– Zack: “You don’t sing well enough to be in the Top 10.”
– Jake: “I just don’t feel you.”
– Farley: “Performance highlighted your weaknesses.”
– See you later Luke. Actually we might. I know that he has a strong fanbase. Might be enough to carry him through.
Josh:
– Interesting guy.
– Kept jumping up and boxing to motivate himself during the commercial breaks.
– In his vignette before the song, he said that he sang “Love Having You Around” the last time and that this time he would sing “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” by Elvin Bishop so that he would “remain true” to himself.
– As soon as the song started, I knew he made a mistake. The judges advised him to sing a song that people know and that’s what he should have done. Vocally, I thought he was one of the best, but he has a tendency to do these annoying runs with his voice that really kill the performance for me.
– The judges basically asked Canadians to move him forward and that is an assessment that I just cannot concur with.
– Zack: “You deserve to be in the Top 10.”
So there you have it. I think that Aaron and Vince were the best and will move forward. We shall see if the public agrees. I’ll hit you up after the results show on Wednesday.
