Tragedy struck for thousands of tween Idol fans (and Murtz), as Brandon Jones was sent home last week. For the rest of us, we breathed a sigh of relief as a guy who arguably shouldn’t have even made the Top 22 was voted off, and now we’re left with six strong singers – and Tyler, who isn’t a bad singer, but I think he’s a bit inconsistent. But luckily for him, it’s Classic Rock week on Canadian Idol, and it starts… now.
Opening Credits
Welcome back to the Bassett Theatre in Toronto, ON, and as always, your host is Ben Mulroney. Rock continues to be an ongoing theme on CanIdol, as this week we’re featuring “Classic” Rock, which more or less is rock music from the seventies and perhaps the early eighties. Helping the singers out this week were Roger Hodgson (formerly of Supertramp) and Dennis DeYoung (formerly of Styx). Now here are the judges: Jake Gold, Sass Jordan, Farley Flex and… Zack Werner?
Question/mic check time
Jake – talks about the great progressive rock bands.
Sass – Who is more qualified to show the kids what to do? (than Dennis DeYoung)
Flex – Canada has moved beyond regional voting and vote based on performances
Zack – We are ready to rock!
Now, here are your Top Seven! And here’s a look at Hodgson and DeYoung!
First up is Rob James, and he’s singing “Some Kind of Wonderful” by Grand Funk Railroad. Maybe he thought this was the song done by Sky? Or maybe he heard Joss Stone sing it. Mmmmm, Joss Stone.
Jake – That was awesome.
Sass – It’s so gorgeous to see you blossom week after week.
Flex – What’s really amazing for me is that that song brought out more of your skill set. Really, really good performance.
Zack – You gotta show everyone what’s different about you.
The thing about this theme is that you’re going to get comparisons to Rock Star, and I’ll probably be making a few here. That being said, my best Rock Star comparison here would be to Ty Taylor, who always tried to put a gospel or RnB vibe on his songs. And it’s not too bad, actually. I guess that Rob figured that he’d did enough of the “out of the pocket” stuff, so he returned to his comfort zone. Will it pay off? We’ll see.
6.5/10
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Hey, there’s Elvis Stojko! Now it’s time for Tyler Lewis, and he decides to sing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” all acoustic and such.
Sass – That was insane. You showed off the sweet edge of your voice, and it SLAMMED.
Flex – Your voice is distinct, you understand which songs to choose for yourself.
Zack – I thought it (song selection) was sort of predictable, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Jake – Last week I asked you to try something else. Whatever you did, you did a fantastic job.
Probably Tyler’s best performance to date. It’s funny to see Jake backtrack on his comments last week about changing things up, although given that the theme was classic rock, I don’t see how Tyler could really throw a curveball in there. Overall, I think that Tyler’s better here than with the real hard stuff. Or Nickelback. 8/10
Ben, of course, is in awe that someone would sing with only two guitars (TWO!).
Two people you’d never expect to sing classic rock (Eva and Craig) are up after the
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We’re back, and former contestants Aaron Walpole and Kaleb Simmons are filling up the “Comfort Zone”. Now, singing Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever?” (from Highlander) is Eva Avila.
Flex – I’ve made a turning point from a judge to a fan.
Zack – That was barn on the best performance of the Top Ten (gives her a standing O)
Jake – You came right back to your comfort zone and showed everyone why you should be here.
Sass – The singing was out of this world.
Well, there can be only one, and I’m still of the opinion that Eva should be that one. However, with last week’s visit to the bottom three, I guess Eva felt that she needed to go back to her comfort zone. And shockingly – shocking I tell you – it was good. I’m not as gaga over it as the judged, but I’m a cynical bastard. 7.5/10
Craig Sharpe is up next, and he’s singing “Cold as Ice” by Foreigner.
Zack – Star power is so much about being unique. Dude, in this competition you are so unique. It’s a cool thing.
Jake – I gotta be honest with you. That was not believable to me.
Sass – I loved that performance. You sucked me right in.
Flex – The performance was off the chain.
I think that Craig may be the one contestant left who can rely on his fanbase to carry him (by this I mean that the others are all probably earning more votes based on merit than fanbases), although he hasn’t really needed the help at this point. He might need it this time. This was just a really flat performance for some reason. The voice and the movements were all there, but you got the sense that Craig was just going through the motions. He wasn’t no J.D. tonight. 5/10
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Putting her own twist on Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” is Ashley Coulter.
Jake – A really great rock performance. Whether you win this or not, you will have a career.
Sass – That was cool, really cool.
Flex – The phrase off the hook is really appropriate here.
Zack – It was cool, but it’s predictable. You got to show that you’re really unique.
Um, damn. Ashley just dropped another great performance on us. So much so that I think Murtz has forgotten about that other Ashley that was one of his Final Four picks. I think that having that live band behind her has put Ashley back into her comfort zone, and she’s been nailing her performances every week now. I loved “Eternal Flame” last week, but this week I think I have to give her a 10/10, and I don’t give out many of those.
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I’m hoping that Chad Doucette can rebound from last week’s performance, but we’ll see as he sings “Bad Side of the Moon” by April Wine.
Sass – Chad, your voice is undeniable. That’s it.
Flex – There’s three memorable voices in this room – Roger Hodgson, Dennis DeYoung and Chad Doucette.
Zack – For those people that were actually listening out there, I thought the first half was really cool, and you tried to turn the corner and kick it, and your flaws kicked you.
Jake – Actually talks to Zack about talking about uniqueness, and ignoring that Chad is the most unique singer in the competition.
Vocally, Chad is back to where he should be – he’s trying to sing again. However, this was a song that required him to use a bit more power, and I didn’t see that from him. Chad could be in trouble this week. 5.5/10
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Steffi D is our final singer of the night, and she’s singing a David Bowie song I’ve never heard of – “Life on Mars”. Although to be fair, there’s a lot of Bowie songs I’ve never heard of.
Flex – You’re killing me. That was awesome. You’re amazing.
Zack – You’re so weird. You’re a one woman rock opera spectacular.
Jake – You turn every song into a performance number.
Sass – Yes, there’s life on Mars (well, duh. I mean, didn’t you read JLA?) and thank God it’s Steffi D.
I’m still seeing Steffi as a strong singer, but like Chad, Steffi always feels the need to put a full on performance on. The difference between the two is that Chad tries to lounge it up, while Steffi makes like she’s in “Rent”. Now, it’s conceivable that her many Bottom Three appearances has caused her to say “You know what? I’m just gonna do whatever makes me feel happy,” which is cool, and may get you to a certain point but probably won’t net you the victory. Curious, though, that the judges haven’t called her on it yet. Anyways, she’s capable of better, and I hope she’s around to show it next week. 4.5/10
We have time left for the Name Brand Cereal recap and now… it’s time to vote! Let’s have the Canadian Idol band play us out!
