Basically, they're all scared shitless after last week; and well they should be.
Everyone knows that Storm, Dilana, and Magni are pretty safe, but everyone else is on the block; and they're afraid of playing with Gilby.
Oh, and the Nirvana/Stones string continues, only now they're alternating.
The Reviews:
Dilana Robichaux - The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again": Pressure Much? It's one of my favorite songs of all time, it's frikken HARD, AND she's gotta go up with Gilby. Opening, a little too quiet, a little too much vibrato, and a little too stiff. She was drowned out in the refrain; in fact in general she needs to up the scream, though the reprise of the refrain was nice and loud, I don't think it worked. Was it bad? Not at all, it was OK, but it should have really kicked ass. I didn't think it did. She was good, she was competent, but I think she was a little nervous, and maybe not sure of herself there. She's safe, but she could do better. Everybody loved it, and I'm just not sure it was worth that.
Jill Gioia- Tracy Bonham, "Mother Mother": She looked like Britney, which is kinda wrong for a 35 year old. Her voice just sounded wrong for the arrangement, and the PA settings were way off. The reverb on the mike was horrible. Jills customary power wasn't there, and I cant tell if that was because of the PA or not. Fun performance though, and I'd guess she's safe. Very high energy, and much better lead on stage. Probably her best performance, even if her vocals weren't quite there; as Jason noted.
Ryan Star - The Rolling Stones, "Paint It Black": Well, this is my favorite stones tune, so I'm maybe a bit biased against him here. Big shoes to fill. Odd arrangement, though I like the creepiness. Ballsy yes, but I think it was a bad idea. I can barely hear him the way he's singing the opening, and he's flat and off key when he gets louder. Looks like this is a big performance night for folks, but the vocals just aren't there in my mind. Too much drama, not enough respect for the material. Ryan is trying to show he's a rock star not a pop star, but I didn't like it.
Storm Large - Queen, "We Are the Champions": Anybody has to have brass ones to cover Freddie Mercury (especially after Mig last year). Great power, and intensity, but she's a big flat in spots, and the dynamics aren't quite right. Good performance, good working the crowd, but again, a little flat, and nowhere near loud or high or powerful enough. Of course anyone suffers in comparison to Freddie Mercury. She did a good job, but not a great one. She HAS shown over the past few weeks that she can do a little bit of everything, from Rock, to Punk, to the sweet stuff.
Zayra Alvarez - Mott The Hoople/David Bowie, "All The Young Dudes": Ummm, yeah the wardrobe... uh.... ok. Now as to the song choice... Zayra has English diction problems when she sings anyway, and she picks a song that is mostly spoken? No, I don't think so. The actual sung parts weren't bad, but she really did have trouble being clear, and she was flat in the halfsung parts. Not a bad performance overall, great moves, certainly her least irritating so far, but again, I don't think it worked. She's probably still in the bottom three, but better.
Josh Logan - Stone Temple Pilots, "Interstate Love Song": Sweet, Tommy on the drums. Tough song man, and one of my faves. A real great ROCK tune. It's a not bad selection for his voice actually, though I'd have gone a little lower in the pitch. Oh and the head bob man, he's channeling Phil. A little flat and a little quiet in the refrain, but overall pretty good. Not bad guitar work actually (assuming his amp was mixed up), but I think having the guitar there hurt his vocals and performance a bit; just not enough power or flow. He did pretty well in front of Tommy though.
Magni Asgiersson - Live, "The Dolphins Cry": Remember when I said Magni looked a bit like Ed Kowalczyk? Well here's another live tune, and yup, Magni is right there. Cute kid. Good solo guitar work, again too much reverb in the PA, but it wasn't as bad as with Jill. We get to see the power in his voice on the refrain, without any interference from the band, and it's damned impressive. I love the arrangement, and this is a virtuoso performance from him. Amazing soul, great dynamic range, great emotion and expression.. perfect. He gets the encore absolutely.
Patrice Pike - John Lennon, "Instant Karma": I don't know if a rollin, kinda hippy tune like this is the right choice for Patrice to prove she's right for this band. Also, coming on after Magni blew it up like that.. good luck eh. Flat, sour, off beat, and she's just lost behind the guitar. She kinda disappears, even in the refrain, even singing her heart out. The singtalking isn't working for her, she just doesn't sound right. The look on her face is kinda psycho. I think she knows she's gone. It wasn't bad, it was OK, but she's just not a rock star. I think she's gonna be bottom three again.
Lukas Rossi - Radiohead, "Creep": Radiohead eh... I said a while back he could do radiohead if he could sweeten up the vocals, like the vocal coach suggested for example. This is a great song that I love, and I don't think he can do it... Too slow, too breathy, a little off key; but he's getting the sweetness almost right. He needs more plaintive wail, but Thom Yorke isn't exactly easy to cover. What I'm happy about is the growl is gone. A little off in the falsetto, too much vibrato, and not enough breath, but he transitioned into the vocal bridge really well. The performance itself was really good too; not too much drama, but lots of intensity. I think this is Lukas' best performance yet, I actually kinda liked it... at least if I can separate what he did from radiohead.
Toby Rand - Talking Heads, "Burning Down the House": Umm, wow, weird and interesting choice there. David Byrne is a character, I'm not sure Toby can pull this off, but it should be fun to watch. I like the opening, and the arrangement. Great wardrobe choice. A little hollow sounding, but again I think that was the PA. Amazing energy and showmanship, plus he obviously loves the material. Going into the first vocal change, he punks it up hard, and he's playing the crowd real well. I don't know about the megaphone bit, but it's showmanship, and honestly, I think he kicked some ass here.
Seriously, there is no obvious bottom three here. Patrice, Zayra, and Ryan were all kinda mediocre to my mind, but not horrible by any means, even Zayra; and the band LIKED Patrice and Ryan. Jill wasn't very good, but she wasn't very bad either...
Magni, Lukas, and Toby all kicked it so hard that everyone else suffers in comparison. I was absolutely sure that Magni had the encore locked, but honestly it could be any one of the three; and really nobody else is 100% safe either.
Okay, I'm just not sure here. I'm reasonably certain that Patrice and Zayra are on the block, but the third could be almsot anybody. Maybe Ryan, maybe Jill, maybe not...
