INXS Back in Action
Well, reality TV show Rockstar INXS is over, and they've found a new lead singer.
In case you're not into reality TV (I really only watched for the music, honest), the band INXS has been auditioning new lead singers on television. In an elimination contest format, they found a number of candidates, made them all perform various bits of music, with their own arrangements, take voice and performance lessons, do some of that rockstar PR stuff, and sit in on little interviews. The performances were judged by the public, and each week the bottom three had to perform an INXS tune and face elimination by the band itself. One-by-one the losers were whittled from the crowd, leaving just the favorite three.
Step back a bit, and their top five were something to watch. Local (to me) girl-rocker Jordis Unga and near-local Canadian Suzie McNeil were the last women eliminated, in that order. While they gave righteous performances, and both deserve rockstar careers of their own, they were deemed to not be right for INXS. I'm looking forward to the solo or future band releases of both.
The top three, as chosen by voters worldwide and INXS by not getting eliminated, were JD Fortune, Marty Casey, and Mig Ayesa. Two of the three were our expected most-likely-to-succeed candidates, and one was our talented-but-don't-like-him-anyway guy.
For the finale, the performers were allowed to choose from all of the songs that had been performed on the show previously.
Mig started the finale show with a heartfelt performance of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Mig chose the song because he passed on the song before (which Suzie did up righteously), but wanted to do it now because he felt it showed who he is. He is a stage performer outside this series, and for some of that spent time in a Queen rock opera. Since Bohemian Rhaposody is the quintessential rock opera, why not.
Marty followed with a soothing performance of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. He'd performed it early in the series and got raves from INXS, and was hoping to show he still had it, and that perhaps he'd show how much he felt he'd improved, too. Marty started out as a heavy rocker; more to the stylings of the show's mediator, Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction. The softer side afforded to him by this ballad shows some of his range and growth.
JD finished with a strong jam of the Rolling Stone's You Can't Always Get What You Want. JD chose the song as a personal anthem. In an un-JD statement, he said he wanted to show his appreciation and understanding if he wasn't chosen to be the lead singer, which he was sure he should be. JD spent plenty of time as an Elvis impersonator, and many of his stylings and lyrical twists show it. Elvis is the king, right?
After the performances, INXS deliberated who would be sent over to sit with the losers who'd returned for the performance, although their participation was limited to shots of them singing along with the performances.
